Latest news with #119thCongress
CNN
14 hours ago
- Politics
- CNN
Homeland security chair to leave Congress after House votes on Trump agenda bill
GOP Rep. Mark Green, chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, announced Monday that he intends to leave Congress after the House votes again on President Donald Trump's sweeping domestic policy package. 'It is with a heavy heart that I announce my retirement from Congress. Recently, I was offered an opportunity in the private sector that was too exciting to pass up,' the Tennessee Republican said in a statement Monday. 'As a result, today I notified the Speaker and the House of Representatives that I will resign from Congress as soon as the House votes once again on the reconciliation package.' Green will be resigning in the middle of the 119th Congress, and his term was set to end after the 2026 midterm elections. A former Tennessee state senator and an emergency physician, Green was first elected to Congress in 2018. He became chairman of the Homeland Security panel in his third term in 2023, and he led House Republicans' impeachment of former Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas. Green is also a retired Army flight surgeon. He was involved in the raid that captured former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, and he interrogated him after his capture, according to his House biography. In 2017, Green was Trump's pick to be Army secretary in his first term, but he withdrew his name from consideration following a backlash after his past controversial statements on LGBT issues, Islam and evolution resurfaced. Green said in the statement there will be a special election to replace him.
Axios
21-05-2025
- Politics
- Axios
What to know about the oldest members of Congress
Three elder House members died in office this year, during the 119th Congress — most recently Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-Va.), who died Wednesday morning at 75 years old after battling esophageal cancer. The big picture: The health of the country's oldest lawmakers regularly reignites concern over America's aging leaders and their fitness to serve. Driving the news: Connolly is the third House Democrat to die since March, following Reps. Sylvester Turner (D-Texas) at 70 years old and Raúl Grijalva (D-Ariz.) at 77 years old. The 119th Congress is the third oldest since 1789, according to a January NBC News analysis. The House and Senate were both the third oldest in each chamber's history, as of January. By the numbers: At that point, the average age of the Senate was 63.8 years, and the average age of the House was 57.7 years. Between both chambers, 20 members were 80 or older, per NBC. State of play: America's political gerontocracy has been a focus across government branches in recent years, with voters worried about lawmakers' fitness for office. The country's two most recent presidents — former President Biden and President Trump — are the oldest in U.S. history. Meanwhile, Americans have indicated that they'd support age limits for Supreme Court justices and elected officials. Who are the oldest House members? What we're watching: Many of the oldest House Democrats are running for reelection in 2026, sparking internal party tensions. The 10 oldest U.S. representatives are: Rep. Hal Rogers (R-Ky.): 87 years old Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.): 86 years old Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-Md.): 85 years old Rep. Nancy Pelosi: (D-Calif.) 85 years old Pelosi in 2022 was among top House Democrats who stepped aside from leadership to make room for a new generation of leaders. Rep. Jim Clyburn (D-S.C.): 84 years old Rep. Danny Davis (D-Ill.): 83 years old Rep. John Carter (R-Texas): 83 years old Rep. Frederica Wilson (D-Fla.): 82 years old Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.): 82 years old Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-N.C.): 81 years old Who are the oldest Senators? Between the lines: The Senate reversed its aging trend with the 119th Congress after the death or retirement of some of its oldest members, according to Pew Research. The 10 oldest U.S. senators are: Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa): 91 years old Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.): 83 years old Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.): 83 years old McConnell said in February that he won't seek re-election in 2026. The longest-serving Senate leader in U.S. history, he stepped down from leadership in 2024. Sen. James Risch (R-Idaho): 82 years old Sen. Angus King (I-Me.): 81 years old Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.): 80 years old Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Ct.): 79 years old Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.): 78 years old Sen. Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii): 77 years old
Washington Post
20-05-2025
- Politics
- Washington Post
The fate of Trump's agenda rests with the House GOP's ‘five families'
The House GOP has found success in the 119th Congress by keeping it all in the family. The 220 Republicans have a narrow three-seat majority, but they have overcome policy hurdles by relying on each other — rather than Democrats — to pass legislation. This week will test whether they can agree to send President Donald Trump's One Big Beautiful Bill to the Senate.
Epoch Times
17-05-2025
- Politics
- Epoch Times
Here Are the Top Senate Primary Contests to Watch for 2026
WASHINGTON—After just five months of the 119th Congress, elections to the 120th Congress to be held in 2026 are on the horizon. Already, several longtime U.S. senators have announced their retirement at the end of this Congress, prompting several contenders to announce their candidacies. The primary elections for Senate seats—the first step in the process, where parties will determine their nominees for the general election—are expected to be hotly contested. Given that many of the states involved are safely governed by one party, i.e., 'red' or 'blue' states, as opposed to battlegrounds, a victory in the primary entails a likely victory in the general election and the possibility of long service in the Senate. Kentucky's Republican Primary One of the longest-serving members of the Senate, Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), is retiring. McConnell was first elected to the Senate in 1984, and was elected as the Leader of the Senate Republican Conference in 2007. He assumed the office of Senate Majority Leader in 2015, after Republicans won a majority in the 2014 midterms, and held that role for the entirety of President Donald Trump's first term.
Yahoo
15-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
George Washington saw Trump's plane gift from Qatar coming 250 years ago
The founders didn't foresee flight — but they knew a throne when they saw one. And to this George Washington scholar, Qatar's $400 million jet gift to President Donald Trump reads like a punchline 250 years in the making. Patriots fought against unchecked power, foreign entanglements, self-dealing and a ruling class blind to suffering. King George III and Parliament enriched themselves while ordinary people struggled. Palaces, ceremonial coaches, gilded thrones — these weren't luxuries colonists enjoyed. They were obstacles to the earliest articulation of the American Dream. In 1787, the Constitution's framers gathered in a sweltering room in Philadelphia to design a government that wouldn't collapse into monarchy or rot with foreign influence. They wrote the emoluments clause — Article I, Section 9 — which they saw as a firewall. It forbade federal officials from accepting gifts or titles from foreign states without congressional consent. The logic was simple: no monarchies by stealth, no subtle realignments of loyalty. If a prince gives you a jet and you take it, you owe him — even if you pretend you don't. In the founders' eyes, it's more than improper. It's a betrayal. They didn't fight a king just to watch a president accept a sky-high royal estate — or what Donald Trump calls a write-off. The early republic was on high alert for anything that resembled aristocratic excess. George Washington warned of 'the insidious wiles of foreign influence,' calling it 'one of the most baneful foes of republican government.' His successors remained hypersensitive: Thomas Jefferson returned a diamond-studded snuff box from the French ambassador on constitutional grounds and warned that the presidency could devolve into elective despotism. John Adams was publicly dragged for his taste in carriages, so his son, John Quincy Adams, surrendered horses and gilded gifts to the State Department rather than risk the appearance of impropriety. This Congress — stacked with elected officials who swore to uphold the Constitution — hasn't cried out, but the first one would have. When John Adams suggested calling the president 'His Majesty, His Highness, the President of the United States of America, and Protector of Their Liberties,' Congress balked. Too monarchical. Too much. Too soon. They didn't need to be reminded, as the 119th Congress so often does, that patriots waged a brutal eight-year war on domestic soil to get out from under a crown. This week, NBC News' Kristen Welker asked Trump whether, as president, he would uphold the Constitution. 'I don't know,' he replied. Fifty-three Republican senators refused to comment. Only Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul spoke up — on social media, naturally — reminding us that 'Following the Constitution is not a suggestion.' When referring to the document you swore to defend is treated as political bravery, we're already in trouble. But doing nothing? That's permission. This Congress isn't just tolerating the jet. It's underwriting the decay that made it possible. What Trump is doing is anti-constitutional — not 'unconstitutional,' a term we apply to so many of his official acts, as if they exist in a gray area of vague corruption that might be defensible. In reality, it violates the independence that was supposed to anchor the presidency. Thomas Jefferson didn't fear a tyrant who seized power. He feared one who bought it with borrowed luxury. And yet here we are. A $400 million soaring throne room from an authoritarian monarchy to a man who treats the Constitution like a nuisance. Trump's plane joins a long list of foreign giveaways he — or rather, his friends, family and future presidential library — have accepted: Saudi cash funneled through his hotel lobbies, Chinese patents fast-tracked for Ivanka, a $2 billion investment from the Saudi sovereign wealth fund to Jared Kushner's firm shortly after he left the White House, and so many more. It's classical corruption: the decay of the body politic, the collapse of civic virtue, the slow confusion of public service with personal reward. The founders fought for more than a break from monarchy — 1776 was the beginning of the American Dream. Not golden thrones, but ordinary people having a chance to get ahead. Trump's flying palace doesn't just violate the Constitution. It mocks the idea entirely. This article was originally published on
