Connolly challenges Mace over usage of transgender slur
During the House Oversight and Government Reform hearing Wednesday, Connolly, the panel's top Democrat, made an inquiry with Chair James Comer (R-Ky.) after remarks by Mace.
'The gentlelady has used a phrase that is considered a slur in the LGBTQ community and the trans community,' Connolly said.
It appeared Mace was trying to interject, and the Virginia Democrat asked to 'finish without interruption.'
Mace interrupted, repeating the transgender slur.
'I don't really care. You want penises in women's bathrooms, and I'm not gonna have it,' she continued. 'No, thank you. It's disgusting.'
Connolly said, 'a slur is a slur.'
'And here in the committee, a level of decorum requires us to try consciously to avoid slurs. You just heard the gentlelady actually actively, robustly repeat it,' he continued.
Connolly asked Comer if Mace could be counseled on decorum rules.
'We can debate policy discussion without offending human beings who are fellow citizens,' Connolly said. 'And so, I would ask as a parliamentary inquiry whether the use of that phrase is not, in fact, a violation of the decorum roles.'
Comer said he wasn't up to date on LGBTQ terminology and that he would look into the matter.
Over the last several months, Mace has worked to ban transgender women from using women's restrooms on Capitol grounds and has introduced measures to have the same rules in all federal buildings.
The Hill has reached out to Comer's office for comment.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Politico
25 minutes ago
- Politico
House Republicans back up Trump on DC crime push
But it will be difficult to get actual legislation to the president's desk. House Republicans moved quickly Monday to follow President Donald Trump's lead as he took unprecedented action to target Washington's locally elected government — further heightening the GOP's scrutiny of the capital city and its Democratic elected leaders. Oversight Chair James Comer (R-Ky.) said he would haul Mayor Muriel Bowser, Council Chair Phil Mendelson and Attorney General Brian Schwalb to Capitol Hill next month for a hearing. The public grilling is likely to come as Trump's takeover of Washington's Metropolitan Police Department approaches a 30-day expiration date, requiring congressional action to continue. 'For years, the D.C. Council's radical, soft-on-crime agenda has emboldened criminals and put public safety at risk in our nation's capital,' Comer said in a statement.
Yahoo
42 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Trump says he's placing Washington police under federal control and activating the National Guard
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump said Monday he's taking over Washington's police department and activating 800 members of the National Guard in the hopes of reducing crime, even as city officials stressed crime is already falling in the nation's capital. The president, flanked by his attorney general, his defense secretary and the FBI director, said he was declaring a public safety emergency and his administration would be removing homeless encampments. 'We're going to take our capital back,' Donald Trump declared, adding he'd also be 'getting rid of the slums.' For Trump, the effort to take over public safety in Washington reflects an escalation of his aggressive approach to law enforcement. The District of Columbia's status as a congressionally established federal district gives him a unique opportunity to push his tough-on-crime agenda, though he has not proposed solutions to the root causes of homelessness or crime. Attorney General Pam Bondi will assume responsibility for Washington's metro police department, Trump said, as he also railed against potholes and graffiti in the city and called them 'embarrassing.' The president did not provide a timeline for the control of the police department, but he's limited to 30 days under statute. As Trump spoke, demonstrators gathered outside the White House to protest his moves. And local officials rejected the Republican president's depiction of the district as crime-ridden and called his actions illegal. 'The administration's actions are unprecedented, unnecessary, and unlawful,' District of Columbia Attorney General Brian Schwalb said. 'There is no crime emergency in the District of Columbia." Schwalb, a Democrat, said violent crime in the district reached historic 30-year lows last year and is down another 26% this year. Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser said she would follow the law regarding the 'so-called emergency' even as she indicated that Trump's actions were a reason why the District of Columbia should be a state with legal protections from such actions. 'While this action today is unsettling and unprecedented, I can't say that given some of the rhetoric of the past, that we're totally surprised,' Bowser said. Combating crime The president dismissed the idea Washington needed to enlarge its 3,500-officer police force, even as he seeks to have more armed personnel going through the city with the goal of reducing crime. 'What you need is rules and regulations, and you need the right people to implement them,' he said. Trump invoked Section 740 of the District of Columbia Home Rule Act in an executive order to declare a 'crime emergency' so his administration could take over the city's police force. He signed a directive for Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to activate the National Guard. While Trump has portrayed himself as a friend to law enforcement and enjoyed the political backing from many of their groups, he pardoned or commuted the sentences of the 1,500-plus people charged with crimes in the deadly Jan. 6, 2021, U.S. Capitol riot, including people convicted of assaulting police officers. About 500 federal law enforcement officers are being tasked with deploying throughout the nation's capital as part of Trump's effort to combat crime, a person familiar with the matter told The Associated Press. More than 100 FBI agents and about 40 agents with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives are among federal law enforcement personnel being assigned to patrols in Washington, the person briefed on the plans said. The Drug Enforcement Administration, Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Marshals Service are contributing officers. The person was not authorized to publicly discuss personnel matters and spoke to the AP on the condition of anonymity. The Justice Department didn't immediately have a comment Monday morning. The National Guard Bowser, a Democrat, has previously questioned the effectiveness of using the National Guard to enforce city laws and said the federal government could be far more helpful by funding more prosecutors or filling the 15 vacancies on the D.C. Superior Court, some of which have been open for years. Bowser cannot activate the National Guard herself, but she can submit a request to the Pentagon. 'I just think that's not the most efficient use of our Guard,' she said Sunday on MSNBC's 'The Weekend,' acknowledging it is "the president's call about how to deploy the Guard.' Bowser noted that violent crime in Washington has decreased since a rise in 2023. She stressed during a Monday news conference that she believed Trump's views of the city were shaped by the 'challenging times' of the coronavirus pandemic, when he faced protests and crime spiked as the country began to recover from the outbreak. Focusing on homelessness Trump has emphasized the removal of Washington's homeless population, though it was unclear where the thousands of people would go, and he did not give details at his news conference Monday. 'The Homeless have to move out, IMMEDIATELY,' Trump wrote Sunday in a social media post. 'We will give you places to stay, but FAR from the Capital. The Criminals, you don't have to move out. We're going to put you in jail where you belong.' Trump said last week that he was considering ways for the federal government to seize control of Washington, asserting that crime was 'ridiculous' and the city was 'unsafe,' after the recent assault of a high-profile member of the Department of Government Efficiency. Crime statistics Police statistics show homicides, robberies and burglaries are down this year when compared with this time in 2024. Overall, violent crime is down 26% compared with this time a year ago. The president has criticized the district as full of 'tents, squalor, filth, and Crime,' and he seems to have been set off by the attack on Edward Coristine, among the most visible figures of the bureaucracy-cutting effort known as DOGE. Police arrested two 15-year-olds in the attempted carjacking and said they were looking for others. 'This has to be the best run place in the country, not the worst run place in the country,' Trump said Wednesday. He called Bowser 'a good person who has tried, but she has been given many chances.' Trump has repeatedly suggested the rule of Washington could be returned to federal authorities. Doing so would require a repeal of the Home Rule Act of 1973 in Congress, a step Trump said lawyers are examining. Bowser acknowledged the law allows the president to take more control over the city's police, but only if certain conditions are met. 'None of those conditions exist in our city right now," she said. 'We are not experiencing a spike in crime. In fact, we're watching our crime numbers go down.' ___ Associated Press writers Ashraf Khalil, Alanna Durkin Richer, Darlene Superville and Michelle L. Price contributed to this report.
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Gov. Whitmer faces lawsuit seeking special election to fill vacant Michigan Senate seat
A lawsuit filed Aug. 10 asks the Michigan Court of Claims to force Gov. Gretchen Whitmer to call for a special election to fill a vacant state Senate seat after demands have mounted for her to hold a vote in the swing district previously held by a Democrat that encompasses the Tri-Cities of Bay City, Midland and Saginaw. The lawsuit — brought by voters who live in the area represented by the vacant 35th Michigan Senate district seat — argues that Whitmer must call for a special election under the Michigan Constitution and asks the court to order her to do so. U.S. Rep. Kristen McDonald Rivet, D-Bay City, previously held the seat, but she won her bid to fill Michigan's 8th Congressional District in the Nov. 2024 election and was sworn in to her new office on Jan. 3, 2025. The roughly 267,000 residents of the 35th Michigan Senate District have gone without representation in the chamber since then. Republicans initially protested Whitmer's inaction on a special election with a gathering on the Capitol steps ahead of the governor's State of the State speech in February, urging her to schedule an election. Since then, some Democrats have joined their calls. The district covers parts of Bay, Midland and Saginaw counties. "Every legislative day that passes without a senator from District 35 silences an entire community in the lawmaking process," reads the complaint against Whitmer. "When a state legislative district is left without representation, its citizens are effectively disenfranchised in ongoing legislative debates, policy decisions, and votes." The Michigan Constitution states: "The governor shall issue writs of elections" to fill vacant seats in the Michigan Legislature. "Any such election shall be held in a manner prescribed by law," it continues. The lawsuit argues that language creates a "clear and mandatory requirement" for Whitmer to call for a special election. "The Governor's role is purely procedural — to issue the writ — and she has no authority to indefinitely delay or withhold it," the lawsuit states. Michigan election law says when a seat in the Michigan Senate or House is vacant, "the governor may call a special election... or direct that the vacancy be filled at the next general election." Elections for every Michigan Senate seat will take place in 2026. Whitmer has swiftly called for many special elections in the past to fill empty Michigan House and Senate seats, giving voters the opportunity to choose someone to fill the remainder of the term before the next regular election. But when it comes to a special election in the 35th District, Whitmer's refusal to call for one so far stands out for the length of time that has elapsed between a vacancy occurring and a special primary taking place. "No governor has taken this long to call a special election for a vacant seat since the Michigan Legislature went full-time in the mid 1960s," the Lansing-based Michigan Information & Research Service Inc. wrote in a June article. Whitmer press secretary Stacey LaRouche did not immediately respond to a request for comment. In 2022, McDonald Rivet won a competitive election to the Michigan Senate by nearly seven percentage points against sitting state Rep. Annette Glenn, R-Midland. The Democrat's victory helped her party win a narrow, one-vote majority in the state Senate. Michigan Politics: Matt Hall leads the Michigan House during a tumultuous period of divided government Democrats still control the Michigan Senate after McDonald Rivet vacated her seat in the chamber, but Republicans in the Nov. 2024 election flipped the Michigan House from Democratic control. That means any legislation that lands on Whitmer's desk must be bipartisan with GOP support in the House and Democratic support in the Senate. In theory, a Republican victory in a special election to the 35th District in the Michigan Senate could create a roadblock for Democrats to move bills across the finish line to the governor. Michigan Senate Democrats hold 19 seats in the chamber while Republicans represent 18 seats, giving Democrats the ability to pass legislation without any GOP support. If a Republican were to win a special election to the 35th District in the Michigan Senate, it would tie the chamber at 19 Democratic seats and 19 Republican seats. The Michigan Constitution gives Lt. Gov. Garlin Gilchrist II, a Democrat, the ability to break a tied vote as president of the Senate. While that allows Democrats, in theory, to overcome GOP opposition to legislation supported by every Senate Democrat, any Republican senator could abstain from voting, denying Gilchrist the opportunity to vote. Contact Clara Hendrickson at chendrickson@ or 313-296-5743. This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Gov. Whitmer faces lawsuit over inaction on special election
