Month: January 2019

Why Congress Is So Dumb

Buck Banks

“Our decay as an institution began in 1995, when conservatives, led by Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-GA), carried out a full-scale war on government. Gingrich began by slashing the congressional workforce by one-third. He aimed particular ire at Congress’s brain, firing 1 of every 3 staffers at the Government Accountability Office, the Congressional Research Service and the Congressional Budget Office. He defunded the Office of Technology Assessment, a tech-focused think tank. Social scientists have called those moves Congress’s self-lobotomy, and the cuts remain largely unreversed.”

— Rep. Bill Pascrell (D-NJ), writing in the Washington Post

Giuliani Wants Chance to ‘Correct’ Mueller’s Report

Buck Banks

“As a matter of fairness, they should show it to you — so we can correct it if they’re wrong. They’re not God, after all. They could be wrong.”

— Rudy Giuliani, telling The Hill that President Trump’s legal team should be allowed to “correct” special counsel Robert Mueller’s final report before Congress or the American people get the chance to read it.

Trump’s Shutdown Has Tied the Longest Government Shutdown at 21 Days

Buck Banks

21

“The ongoing partial government shutdown hit a new milestone on Friday by matching the record for the longest government shutdown in US history,” CNN reports. “Today marks the 21st day of the partial shutdown that started days before Christmas over a standoff between President Trump and congressional Democrats over funding for the President’s long-promised border wall.”

Pelosi: Trump Doesn’t Want a Wall, He Wants a Distraction

Buck Banks

“I don’t even know if the president wants the wall. I think he just wants a debate on the wall. And he’s having some difficulty with it.”

— Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), asserting that President Trump’s border wall push has nothing to do with border security, but is instead designed to energize his conservative base and distract the country from the various scandals dogging his administration, The Hill reports.