Latest news with #R-KY
Newsweek
3 days ago
- Politics
- Newsweek
Republican Says US Should End All Military Aid to Israel
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content. Republican Representative Thomas Massie of Kentucky said Thursday night that the United States should stop all military aid to Israel, citing mounting civilian casualties in the Gaza Strip. Newsweek reached out to Massie's office via email Thursday for comment. Why It Matters Tensions in the Middle East remain high despite ongoing ceasefire negotiations between the Israeli government and Hamas, with the U.S. acting as a key interlocutor. Tens of thousands of people in Gaza have died as a result of Israel's war against Hamas, which was launched in response to Hamas' attack in Israel on October 7, 2023. President Donald Trump, meanwhile, has repeatedly suggested that the U.S. "take over the Gaza Strip," adding at a news briefing alongside Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu: "We'll own it and be responsible for dismantling all of the dangerous unexploded bombs and all of the other weapons on the site." Asked about the possibility of sending U.S. troops into Gaza, Trump said: "As far as Gaza is concerned, we'll do what is necessary, if it's necessary, we'll do that." Representative Thomas Massie (R-KY) is seen speaking to reporters following a series of votes at the U.S. Capitol on March 11, 2025, in Washington, D.C. (Photo by) Representative Thomas Massie (R-KY) is seen speaking to reporters following a series of votes at the U.S. Capitol on March 11, 2025, in Washington, D.C. (Photo by) What To Know Massie's remarks about ceasing U.S. military aid to Israel come as the U.S.-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) faces intense criticism over what critics describe as a chaotic approach to aid distribution. Video footage and photos posted to social media have shown thousands of Palestinians scrambling for food amid reports of Israeli gunfire and multiple casualties. In his post to X on Thursday, the Kentucky lawmaker said, "Nothing can justify the number of civilian casualties (tens of thousands of women and children) inflicted by Israel in Gaza in the last two years. We should end all U.S. military aid to Israel now." Massie has long been outspoken about his views of Israel and was the only Republican to vote against a bill condemning antisemitism in 2022. The Kentucky Republican later defended his vote on X, formerly Twitter, saying, "I don't hate anyone based on his or her ethnicity or religion." "Legitimate government exists, in part, to punish those who commit unprovoked violence against others, but government can't legislate thought," Massie added. "This bill promoted internet censorship and violations of the 1st amendment." In March 2024, Massie voted against a bill that would have forced then-President Joe Biden to approve more military assistance to Israel. Last October, while Israel was carrying out its military campaign in Lebanon, Massie posted on X: "If Israel insists on destroying civilian targets in Lebanon, let them buy and build their own weapons. American taxpayers should not be funding this." Massie is no stranger to criticism, including from members of his own party. He's repeatedly voted "no" on congressional budget proposals backed by the Republican Party. Most recently, he drew President Donald Trump's and senior GOP lawmakers' ire when he voted against the Trump-backed bill that recently passed the House of Representatives, arguing that it would balloon the national deficit. Nothing can justify the number of civilian casualties (tens of thousands of women and children) inflicted by Israel in Gaza in the last two years. We should end all U.S. military aid to Israel now. — Thomas Massie (@RepThomasMassie) May 30, 2025 This story is developing and will be updated as more information becomes available.
The Hill
23-04-2025
- Politics
- The Hill
RNC Chair Michael Whatley joins 'The Hill on NewsNation'
A reminder this week that the 2026 jockeying is well underway. For example, Rep. Andy Barr (R-KY) announced Tuesday that he's running for Mitch McConnell's soon-to-be open Senate seat. While that's a definitive move, there are also questions about a different Republican House member: could Elise Stefanik try to challenge New York Governor Kathy Hochul? 'She would be an absolutely fantastic candidate,' Michael Whatley, chairman of the Republican National Committee, told me. I asked Whatley if she'd be the best chance for Republicans to flip the Governor's Mansion, but he wasn't willing to go there yet. 'I think we'll wait and see who's going to get in that race.' This is indeed a big 'wait-and-see' for Republicans. It involves a rising star within the party potentially trying to close a six-point gap from the last gubernatorial race.
Forbes
22-04-2025
- Politics
- Forbes
GOP Lawmakers Move (Again) To Eliminate The Education Department
In late March 2025, Republican lawmakers reignited their long-standing campaign to abolish the Education Department. Senators Rand Paul (R-KY), Mike Lee (R-UT), and newly elected Bernie Moreno (R-OH) introduced a one-line bill that would eliminate the Education Department, setting December 31, 2026, as the agency's final day of operation. The straightforward proposal reads: "The Department of Education shall terminate on December 31, 2026." It aims to shut down the Education Department and hand education control back to states and local communities. 'It's time to empower families and local leaders to make the best decisions for their students, rather than relying on out-of-touch federal regulators,' said Paul in a press release. The Republican bill to abolish the Education Department arrives as part of a broader push by the GOP to scale back federal involvement in schooling, a goal popular on the right for decades. This isn't the first time Congressional Republicans have tried dismantling the Education Department. Senator Paul had introduced similar legislation in 2020 and 2021. Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) has repeatedly championed a companion effort in the House, as ABC News noted. Massie's House bill, which was most recently filed as H.R. 899 at the start of the 119th Congress, is one sentence long, changing only the termination date each time it's reintroduced. While previous attempts to end the Education Department stalled, GOP lawmakers argue that the need for action is more urgent than ever. Republican bills to abolish Education Department proposals have often been statements of principle. What's different now is the political wind at their backs – thanks mainly to President Donald Trump's recent actions. The reintroduction of the abolition bill comes on the heels of Donald Trump's Education Department agenda. Trump made eliminating the Education Department a key campaign promise in 2024 and moved swiftly to act after returning to the White House. In March 2025, he signed an executive order calling for the closure of the federal education agency. This Education Department executive order directed his administration to begin dismantling the Education Department, although legally, only Congress can close the Education Department for good. Trump's push goes beyond rhetoric – he's actively planning to the Education Department's responsibilities elsewhere. For example, the president announced plans to move the federal student loan program out of the Education Department. The entire $1.6 trillion student loan portfolio would be handed to the Small Business Administration (SBA) to manage. "The SBA…will handle all of the student loan portfolio," Trump declared, as reported by NPR, touting that it would be serviced "much better" outside the Education Department. These moves are intended to close the Education Department in practice, dispersing its duties throughout the government. Even with Trump's backing and Republicans controlling the House and the Senate, the plan to eliminate the Education Department faces steep legislative hurdles. In the House, Rep. Massie's Education Department abolition bill (H.R. 899) was introduced on January 31, 2025 and referred to the Education and Workforce Committee. House GOP leadership could bring it up for a vote, which would likely pass on a party-line basis. However, the Senate is another story. While GOP senators like Paul, Lee, and Moreno are enthusiastic, Senate rules require 60 votes, and Republicans would need Democrat support to close the Education Department, which is exceedingly unlikely. As The Guardian noted, the bill is unlikely to advance even in a Republican-controlled Senate next year. The newly reintroduced Republican bill to abolish the Education Department aligns with Trump's education agenda. However, barring an unexpected groundswell of support for the bill, the Education Department isn't likely to vanish by 2026. While the bill's legislative path is uphill, and the odds of it becoming law in this Congress are incredibly slim, the mere fact that it's even on the chopping block signals just how far the Overton window has shifted on federal education policy.
Forbes
21-04-2025
- Business
- Forbes
Trump Reforms Die Without An Abuse-Of-Crisis Prevention Act
Amid frustrations with interventionist elements of the Trump agenda—such as tariffs and revived antitrust zeal—many have nevertheless been encouraged by the renewed push for deregulation under the administration's second incarnation. Executive actions targeting bureaucratic sprawl, agency guidance abuse and taxpayer funding of left-wing causes mark a welcome return to limiting government's reach. WASHINGTON, DC - MARCH 27: U.S. President Donald Trump gives a pen to Senate Majority Leader Mitch ... More McConnell (R-KY) during a bill signing ceremony for H.R. 748, the CARES Act in the Oval Office of the White House on March 27, 2020 in Washington, DC. Earlier on Friday, the U.S. House of Representatives approved the $2 trillion stimulus bill that lawmakers hope will battle the the economic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. (Photo by Erin Schaff-Pool/Getty Images) But let's not kid ourselves. Even in the best political circumstances, a single crisis can undo it all. When the next economic shock or national emergency inevitably strikes, any GOP victories in trimming back the regulatory state will prove fleeting—unless the administration and Congress prepare for and preclude what otherwise reliably follows: permanent government expansion, both on the spending and regulatory fronts. The COVID-19 pandemic marked the third major 21st-century shock—after 9/11 and the 2008 financial crisis. In each case, Washington seized the moment to entrench hyper-spending and regulation through newly minted powers, agencies and social programs. Both parties are complicit. Republicans who supported unprecedented pandemic-era deficit spending and eviction moratoria later lined up behind Joe Biden's infrastructure and technology spending campaigns, deepening the cycle of crisis-driven expansion. A new Trump executive order aimed at restoring crisis-readiness at the state level—along with fresh efforts to manage procurement and slash government grants and contracts spanning education, climate initiatives, and nominally independent basic research—marks a critical move in the right direction. But executive action alone can't unwind the machinery of crisis opportunism and political predation. To break the shock-to-sprawl cycle, Congress should assemble and pass an Abuse-of-Crisis (AOC) Prevention Act—a legislative framework to curb political predation, block federal bailouts and institutionalize limits on government growth that endure through the next emergency. The Trump administration has already reignited the deregulatory agenda with a flurry of executive actions targeting red tape and bureaucratic bloat. But to make lasting change, Congress must go further—beyond trimming—to the wholesale termination of entire departments, agencies and commissions by repealing their enabling statutes. That means replacing sprawling federal economic and social programs—and their thicket of rules—with privatization and the restoration of residual authority to states and communities. This is where the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE)—a Trump-era initiative—can also play a role. While not referenced in every executive order on deregulation, DOGE embodies the broader push to root out waste, eliminate redundancy, and streamline the executive branch as the only entity specifically 'chartered' to do so. Congress should now codify DOGE—currently set to expire at America 250—and empower it or some variant as the institutional hub for agency elimination and structural reform, while also enacting the administration's aggressive new regulatory sunsetting and other mechanisms. In advance of the next crisis, businesses must accumulate abundant rainy-day (and year) reserves to deter lobbyist-driven feeding frenzies, flash-policy bailouts, and disruptions to supply chains and employment. A critical step is reforming the Internal Revenue Service's restrictive 'reasonable needs' limits, which currently constrain how much businesses can set aside for operating expenses and retained earnings. We now know with certainty that reasonable needs include crisis-preparedness. A constitutional amendment may ultimately be required to ban the hundreds of billions in bailouts, subsidies, loan guarantees, and other cronyist supports that otherwise undermine true resilience in both good times and bad. Policymakers must do more to enable household wealth-building across generations. This is urgent given the left's ongoing push for universal basic income (UBI)—a policy likely just one crisis away, as previewed by the COVID-era Economic Impact Payments that sent direct cash to nearly every American household. Congress should promote emergency and retirement savings, empowering families to protect themselves from fiscal collapse. A federal government barely noticeable--as opposed to one consuming 30 percent of GDP--is the way forward. While current entitlements would be honored, younger generations should have the option to opt out, and lawmakers should ban the automatic enrollment of newborns into federal benefit programs. Resilience at the state level may begin with Trump's new directive, but to proceed it requires the termination of the hundreds of billions in annual federal grants-in-aid, allowing funds to remain in states from the outset. This shift restores state sovereignty, enabling local governments to serve their citizens without federal interference. Congress must tightly limit emergency declarations and require affirmative reauthorization for any extensions. It should also liberalize and defederalize casualty insurance markets to promote private-sector readiness, reduce moral hazard, and eliminate the socialization of risk. Framing an "Abuse-of-Crisis Prevention Act" to Confine Washington The time to erect permanent barriers against the progressive vision of a custodial administrative state—one that subsumes business, states, communities, and households—is now. The executive branch cannot do it alone, so policymakers should seize every legislative and political opening to implement reforms with lasting consequences. By fostering self-reliance across sectors, an Abuse-of-Crisis Prevention Act can confront the root causes of both debt crises and hyper-regulation—protecting Americans from political opportunism both now and for generations to come. The Case for Letting Crises Go to Waste How an 'Abuse-of-Crisis Prevention Act' Can Help Rein in Runaway Government Growth, Competitive Enterprise Institute 'A Constitutional Amendment Banning Subsidies, Grants And Loan Guarantees,' Forbes
Yahoo
10-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
House GOP Hardliners Cave, Unlocking Process To Make Sweeping Medicaid Cuts
After two days of back and forth that involved House Republican leadership delaying a vote on the Senate-approved budget resolution, Republicans' 'one, big beautiful' budget blueprint passed the House in a 216-214 vote Thursday morning, unlocking the reconciliation process. Only two House Republicans — Reps. Thomas Massie (R-KY) and Victoria Spartz (R-IN) — broke with their conference and voted against the blueprint, which they say does not go far enough in enacting the sweeping cuts they have been calling for and will actually increase the deficit. The rest of the more than a dozen hardliners who initially opposed the blueprint came on board after House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) and Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) publicly promised early Thursday morning that Republicans will find ways to reduce the deficit by at least $1.5 trillion during the reconciliation process. Johnson said Republicans are 'committed to finding at least $1.5 trillion in savings for the American people while also preserving our essential programs,' adding that they will 'aim much higher' than just the $1.5 trillion. Johnson indicated Medicaid is one of those 'essential programs' that will be preserved, but major Medicaid cuts are baked into the budget resolution's requirements. 'Our ambition in the Senate is we are aligned with the House in terms of what their budget resolution outlined in terms of savings. The speaker has talked about $1.5 trillion, we have a lot of United States senators who believe that is a minimum,' Thune added. Now congressional Republicans will begin the reconciliation process where they will have to finalize where those cuts will come from, while also aiming for an extension of the 2017 Trump tax cuts and other fiscal priorities for the Trump administration. Despite successfully corralling the caucus, House Republican leadership faced a lot of obstacles getting there. A group of conservative holdouts brought leadership's plan to pass the Senate-approved budget resolution to a standstill earlier this week. On Wednesday, scheduled votes started a little past 6 p.m. ET, with the third vote expected to be on the budget resolution. The first two went as planned. But Republican leadership kept the second vote open for almost an hour and half as Johnson pulled more than a dozen holdouts off the floor reportedly to try to convince them to support the measure. In the end, despite Johnson and Trump's pressure campaign, Johnson wasn't able to whip enough votes, and leadership punted the vote to Thursday morning. House Democrats stood united against the Republican resolution during the Thursday vote. Democrats have been pushing back on the resolution and its outlined cuts to popular social safety net programs like Medicaid and Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). They have also sounded the alarm on the 'budget gimmick' Senate Republicans are indicating they will use to make portions of the 2017 Trump tax cuts permanent. Democrats say the attempt to mess with the cost estimates to zero out the more than $5 trillion cost of extending those tax cuts will be detrimental to the country's economy. A large block of fiscal hawks — including House Freedom Caucus Chair Andy Harris (R-MD), Reps. Chip Roy (R-TX), Scott Perry (R-PA),Tim Burchett (R-TN), Andy Ogles (R-TN.), Massie and others — publicly opposed the so-called compromise budget resolution in the days leading up to the vote. The hardliners in question wanted huge reductions in federal spending and argued that the Senate-passed resolution did not go far enough in enacting the kind of sweeping cuts they desire. The President put his weight behind the 'one, big, beautiful' budget resolution all week, trying to strong-arm the holdouts into submission in person and on social media. Trump posted on social media twice Wednesday morning, urging House Republicans to 'pass the Tax Cut Bill, NOW!' Tuesday night, speaking at the National Republican Congressional Committee Dinner, Trump called on the holdouts, saying: 'Close your eyes and get there. It's a phenomenal bill. Stop grandstanding.' 'If we don't get it done because of stupidity or a couple of people who want to show how great they are, you just have to laugh at them or smile at them or cry right in their face,' he said.
