Latest news with #partisanship
Yahoo
5 days ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Bitter partisanship threatens to engulf Senate as critical deadlines loom
The battle over nominations is spelling trouble for the Senate in other areas, as lawmakers on both sides of the aisle feel the pressure to ratchet up the partisanship in an extended tit for tat with no obvious off-ramp in sight. The Senate adjourned Saturday until next month after protracted talks to expedite the confirmation of dozens of President Trump's lower-level nominees in the face of Democratic resistance went belly up. This left Republicans fuming and increasingly likely to 'go nuclear' by changing the chamber's rules to quicken the confirmation process. At the same time, Democrats are under pressure to oppose Trump at every turn, with the confirmation process and the looming government funding fight being the most immediate examples. It's all leading much of Washington to wonder if the bipartisanship train can get back on the tracks — and at a crucial time. 'I think it is a complete breakdown of the Senate and just absolutely destructive that there can't be a deal reached on nominations, appropriations, confirmations,' said Jon Kott, a longtime top aide to former Sen. Joe Manchin ( 'The Senate used to work pretty easily in a bipartisan way on those three issues,' Kott continued. 'And when you break down on those three, you're really close to breaking the Senate and turning it into the House.' While the Senate hasn't had a sea change moment along the lines of eliminating the filibuster, the chamber could be on the precipice of a major overhaul starting next month. Chief among them are potential rule changes eyed by Senate Republicans, who were outwardly exasperated toward the final days before August recess over the Democratic blockade of Trump nominees. Sen. Mike Rounds (R-S.D.) told reporters Tuesday that talks have centered on chopping down the amount of time between cloture and confirmation votes. Other members have raised the idea of eliminating a cloture vote altogether, or the possibility of working through multiple nominees at the same time. The South Dakota Republican also said that if he had his druthers, members would change the law to shift one-quarter to one-third of the roughly 1,200 jobs that currently require Senate approval to just need a presidential appointment. 'That's too many,' Rounds said. 'Most members of the Senate will tell you that they don't believe it is necessary to go that deep into government to have Senate approval on them.' Under regular order, Senate rule changes require 67 votes. But Republicans could use a shortcut that requires only 51 votes, giving them the ability to bypass Democratic opposition. That rarely used shortcut, which more and more Republicans are floating, is known as the 'nuclear option' because it is viewed as a major escalation of partisanship. Going that route could have major ramifications for Senate work coming down the rails, and not just on nominations. Congress faces a Sept. 30 shutdown deadline, and while the Senate passed its first three-bill government funding package prior to breaking for recess, that lone bit of bipartisan work could be overtaken by the one-two punch of a rule change or a second bill to claw back already appropriated funding. Democrats were already outraged last month when Congress passed a first package with only GOP votes to claw back funds that had been previously appropriated through a bipartisan process. They warned a second such bill would only poison the well further — as a rule change without Democratic buy-in would also likely do. 'One of these days, Trump is going to have to learn that he needs to work with Democrats to help the American people,' Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) told reporters Saturday. 'The Trump-Republican 'go-it-alone' strategy ain't working, and the American people aren't happy.' Complicating the state of play is the pressure both leaders are facing. Schumer, in particular, in a tricky bind as he attempts to manage a conference that wants to take on Trump at every juncture, but faces a government funding deadline next month. He came under heavy fire for marshaling Democrats to help pass a GOP spending bill in March, and lawmakers in his party are already warning him against doing so again. In addition, the Democratic leader will have to balance home-state politics, where the New York City mayoral race is among the preeminent races this fall, with progressives and Democrats siding with Zohran Mamdani over former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) in the primary. According to a recent survey, Schumer is underwater by 18 percentage points with the electorate in his backyard, with 70 percent of respondents also saying they are dissatisfied with the direction of the city. Fifty-one percent also said that they want the next mayor to 'stand up' to the president rather than work with him to secure federal funding. Across the aisle, Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) has gotten high marks for his opening months atop the conference, having helped shepherd members through the passage of Trump's mammoth tax package and the rescissions bill, as well as the confirmation of a number of high-stakes nominees. But balancing a potential rule change with the government funding process and maintaining as much harmony as possible will be a difficult task. In the background are his past calls to uphold the filibuster, which he maintained during his leadership bid that he will not weaken. 'I do think they see the value in the Senate's role as the cooling saucer for the hot cup of tea. I think that you can still say that with a straight face,' one former Senate GOP leadership aide said. 'I don't think it's in anyone's interest, and I don't think Republicans want to do it first,' the former aide continued. 'But I do think all the pressure building up on the noms [nominations] side needs a valve, and it probably will get and needs the valve on the personnel side.' Over the last 15 years, the filibuster has remained despite a number of attempts to chip away at it. Former Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's (D-Nev.) decision to change the threshold for lower-court judicial nominees from 60 votes to 51 votes creaked open the door, which was finally blasted open by Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) when he extended that threshold to Supreme Court nominees. Senate Democrats twice during former President Biden's tenure also pushed to overturn the legislative filibuster, but were thwarted by Manchin and former Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (I-Ariz.). Whether there is a way out of this tumult remains to be seen. Rounds believes the government funding exercise coupled with the upcoming work on the annual National Defense Authorization Act is a prime chance to steer in a bipartisan direction. But the rules change for nominees and a second rescissions bill looms, potentially dashing those hopes. 'If you turn [the Senate] into the House, you're going to lose a lot of the top people who want to be in the Senate, who want to actually get huge legislative wins done for the country,' Kott warned. 'And that … will be the death knell for Congress if that happens.' Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Washington Post
6 days ago
- Politics
- Washington Post
Can NPR do without federal funding? Its CEO says she's optimistic.
As the chief executive of NPR, Katherine Maher faces the fallout from an act portended in the corridors of Washington for a generation: the end of federal funding for public radio and its television counterpart, the Public Broadcasting Service. 'I don't understand why they call it public broadcasting,' former Republican House speaker Newt Gingrich said back in 1995. 'As far as I am concerned, there's nothing public about it; it's an elitist enterprise.' Republicans under President Donald Trump finally accomplished last month what Gingrich wanted last century, defunding the two national networks that Trump said 'fueled partisanship and left-wing propaganda.'
The Independent
31-07-2025
- Politics
- The Independent
Ex-Biden official yanked from West Point blames ‘casually manufactured outrage' after Laura Loomer targeted her
Jen Easterly, a former Biden-era cybersecurity official, said the Trump administration's decision to rescind her appointment to a prestigious position at West Point was motivated by 'weaponized' outrage and warned partisanship would erode trust in the military. Easterly, an Army veteran who served in the Bush II, Obama, and Biden administrations, was briefly appointed to serve as distinguished chair of the Social Sciences Department at West Point. But in a matter of days, her appointment was nullified after Laura Loomer, a far-right advocate and ally to President Donald Trump, raised complaints about her affiliation with the former president. In a LinkedIn blog post made on Thursday, Easterly said her opportunity to serve at West Point was rescinded due to 'casually manufactured outrage that drowned out the quiet labor of truth and the steady pulse of integrity.' On Wednesday, Secretary of the Army Dan Driscoll announced that he had directed the military academy to rescind its employment offer to Easterly and said non-government groups would no longer be permitted to select employees at the school. That decision arrived after Loomer tagged Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth in an X post, criticizing Easterly because she allegedly 'worked to silence Trump supporters.' 'Why are Biden holdovers who worked to silence Trump supporters under Biden getting elevated to high level jobs under the Trump admin?' Loomer wrote. 'There are some serious moles over at DOD.' Easterly reiterated that she was a 'lifelong independent' who had served in government under Republican and Democratic administrations She also pushed back on Loomer's comments, warning that 'weaponsized' outrage based on partisanship undermines trust in the military. 'When outrage is weaponized and truth discarded, it tears at the fabric of unity and undermines the very ethos that draws brave young men and women to serve and sacrifice: Duty, Honor, Country,' Easterly wrote. 'We must guard against the corrosive force of division—and stand firm in defense of these values that should bind us together.' Though she's not an official member of the administration, Loomer has taken it upon herself to 'vet' members of the Trump administration and publicly target those whom she believes are disloyal to the president. Multiple staffers and officials have been fired or left as a result of Loomer using her platform to claim they are unfit to serve under Trump. Earlier this month, Hegseth refused to promote a senior Army officer because he had too close a relationship with the former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, whom Trump dislikes.
Washington Post
07-07-2025
- Politics
- Washington Post
Ted Cruz: ‘This is not a time for partisan finger pointing'
Climate Ted Cruz: 'This is not a time for partisan finger pointing' July 7, 2025 | 4:44 PM GMT Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) said on July 7 that there would be a 'reasonable conversation' about detecting flash floods earlier and improving evacuation procedures.
CNN
03-07-2025
- Politics
- CNN
Analysis: Many Americans want a third party. But where would it fit?
Americans are entrenched into their partisan corners, but the party lines keep moving in weird new ways. Republicans who grew up in the Grand Old Party might not recognize a party overtaken by the Make America Great Again movement. Democrats who cheered when President Bill Clinton declared the era of big government to be over might wonder how it is that a democratic socialist is their party's candidate for mayor of New York City. Others have followed Democratic expat and scion of Camelot Robert F. Kennedy Jr., with his Make America Healthy Again mantra, to vote for Trump. For a variety of structural reasons, two options is what most Americans get, even though poll after poll suggests few are happy with either party. Against that backdrop, it's interesting to consider Elon Musk's pledge to form an 'America Party,' an alternative to Republicans and Democrats, if President Donald Trump's megabill becomes law. 'Our country needs an alternative to the Democrat-Republican uniparty so that the people actually have a VOICE,' he wrote on his social media platform. Musk's primary concern is that the megabill adds to the national debt, he said – and not, as Trump alleges, that he's sore about the end of tax credits to encourage Americans to buy electric vehicles. The third-party pledge follows Musk's musings last month that the US needs a party 'that actually represents the 80% in the middle.' It's an interesting thought experiment to consider what the political middle might look like to a space and computer nerd and technocrat like Musk. He cares deeply about climate change and wants desperately for humans to be interplanetary and to live on Mars, but he opposes the megabill for all its government spending. He has strong thoughts about encouraging more American women to have babies, but thinks the addition of people to the country through illegal immigration is an existential threat to the US. The same thought experiment crossed my mind last month when Karine Jean-Pierre, who was White House press secretary under former President Joe Biden, announced in the run-up to the publication of her memoir that she's leaving the Democratic Party. 'We need to be clear-eyed and questioning, rather than blindly loyal and obedient as we may have been in the past,' she said in a statement to CNN. But it doesn't seem like Jean-Pierre's version of independence will be in the same galaxy as Musk's. One of the more interesting political campaigns of the coming months is likely to be the New York City mayor's race, in which the upstart Democrat (and democratic socialist) Zohran Mamdani will take on Eric Adams, the sitting mayor who is also a Democrat but is running as an independent. Also on the ballot as a 'Fight and Deliver' independent will be former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, another Democrat, although it's not clear if he'll seriously campaign between now and November. That's a lot of different versions of Democrats New Yorkers will be able to sort through. There are, of course, existing third parties in the US. The Green and Libertarian parties appear on most ballots for president, which means they have dedicated followings across the country, but they lack the power to get anyone elected to either the House or Senate. Former Rep. Ron Paul of Texas mounted presidential campaigns as both a Libertarian and a Republican, but he got the most traction as a libertarian-minded Republican. His son, Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky, is one of the few Republicans now willing to cross Trump and oppose the megabill. Paul, like Musk, is worried about the national debt. A senator closer to the middle, Alaska's Lisa Murkowski, did vote for the bill, but only after securing carveouts that will help her state – but could aggravate every other American. Murkowski is that rare moderate who can survive without party backing. She won a write-in reelection campaign – the triple lindy of politics – after losing the Republican primary in 2010. That was before her party veered even more toward Trump, but Murkowski recently told CNN's Audie Cornish there are more quiet centrist Americans than people realize. She's representing them, she said, even if Washington is a dangerous place to be a moderate. 'You're roadkill in the middle,' Murkowski told Cornish for her 'The Assignment' podcast. Another Republican who opposed the megabill is Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina. He said cuts to Medicaid would cost too many North Carolinians their health insurance. But prioritizing the people you represent rather than the national party is anathema in today's political environment. 'In Washington over the last few years, it's become increasingly evident that leaders who are willing to embrace bipartisanship, compromise, and demonstrate independent thinking are becoming an endangered species,' Tillis said in a statement Sunday. Fearing a primary and Trump's wrath, or maybe just tired of defending the shrinking middle ground in the Senate, Tillis also announced he would not seek reelection next year, which immediately made his North Carolina seat Democrats' top pickup priority. Democrats must hope that a moderate like former Gov. Roy Cooper will jump in the race and defy Democrats' national branding. Perhaps Cooper would play the same kind of role as former Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia. Manchin voted with Democrats most of the time, but his tendency to buck the party leadership made him a thorn in the side of progressives. Coincidentally, when Manchin left office, Democrats lost their majority in the Senate. On his way out the door, Manchin said it was time for a third-party alternative, but he opted not to run for president. Kennedy did run for president after leaving the Democratic Party and his ultimate support for Trump likely brought in some new support for the president, who is now letting Kennedy rethink US vaccine policy to the consternation of the scientific community. Kennedy is also trying to take on the food industry. Help from Kennedy's independents probably helped Trump win, but maybe not as much as the nearly $300 million Musk is known to have spent, mostly on Trump's behalf. Musk's political ventures may have now turned off Tesla's natural climate-concerned consumer base as well as the MAGA faithful. Regardless of the wealth he could spend, what middle would his America party fit into?
