U.S. Senate Archives

Senate Enters the ‘Foothills of Jackassery’

June 28, 2025 Buck Banks

“We’ve cussed it. We’ve discussed it. But we’re gradually going from thoughtful, rational deliberation into the foothills of jackassery. I mean, we’re talking about the same thing over and over and over.”

— Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA), quoted by Politico, on the Republican megabill.

Davis: Hegseth’s Faults Qualify Him to Be a Senator

December 9, 2024 Buck Banks

“Let’s get this straight: Pete Hegseth used to drink too much and couldn’t keep his dick in his pants. He’d make a great senator.”

— Former GOP Senate aide Mike Davis, on X, suggesting senators operate with a moral double standard.

Would Patel Confirmation Make the Senate Culpable?

December 3, 2024 Buck Banks

“The only reason to nominate someone like Patel to run the FBI is to commit impeachable abuses of power. Trump makes no secret that this is, in fact, his purpose. Patel is similarly explicit on the point. Yet the Senate might very well confirm the man once Trump removes the incumbent FBI director and nominates Patel to replace him. … If it actually does so, would that constitute ‘consent’ to impeachable offenses?”

McConnell Weighs Global Concerns Over MAGA Mewling

February 12, 2024 Buck Banks

“I know it’s become quite fashionable in some circles to disregard the global interests we have as a global power. To bemoan the responsibilities of global leadership. To lament the commitment that has underpinned the longest drought of great power conflict in human history. … This is idle work for idle minds. And it has no place in the United States Senate.”

— Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, a key Ukraine supporter, who has been loudly defending his decision to move on from the border fight after his conference rejected the compromise that Sen. James Lankford (R-Okla.) hammered out with Democrats, reports Punchbowl News.

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— Sen. Pat Leahy (D-VT), quoted by the Washington Post.

Some Optimism About Ending the Filibuster

March 16, 2021 Buck Banks

“Despite all of this, I am more hopeful today than I have been in a long time that Senate Democrats will eliminate the filibuster, pass H.R. 1, and save democracy. It’s very far from a done deal. There is a lot of work to do, but if you squint hard enough and read between the lines, you can see real reasons for optimism.”

Former Senators Say Senate Is Broken

February 26, 2020 Buck Banks

“The Senate’s abdication of its legislative and oversight responsibilities erodes the checks and balances of the separate powers that are designed to protect the liberties on which our democracy depends.”

— Seventy former senators from both parties wrote an open letter arguing that the U.S. Senate isn’t functioning as the Founders intended.

Why Doug Jones will Lose His Senate Seat to a Republican in Alabama

November 7, 2019November 7, 2019 Trish

When a less chewed up and spit out Jeff Sessions vacated his Senate seat in 2017 to become Donald Trump’s first U.S. Attorney General, it forced a special election in Alabama to replace him. And that’s about the only way a Democrat like Doug Jones was ever going to win in that state.

The reason is straight ticket voting (STV). Alabama (and six other states*) still offer this option for those who have one concern when casting a ballot: party affiliation.
[…]

Mitch McConnell’s ‘Very Expensive Lunch Club’

May 1, 2019 Buck Banks

“Three times a week the Senate Republicans meet for lunch… And occasionally they walk into that chamber and take a vote or two or three on judges. That is the sum total of the Senate’s work today. Mitch McConnell has effectively turned the United States Senate into a very expensive lunch club.”

— Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT), quoted by The Hill.

Senators Get One-Week Recess Instead of Four

June 6, 2018 Buck Banks

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Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) “told lawmakers that the Senate will recess for one week instead of four to work on nominations and legislation,” the Washington Post reports.

“We’ve cussed it. We’ve discussed it. But we’re gradually going from thoughtful, rational deliberation into the foothills of jackassery. I mean, we’re talking about the same thing over and over and over.”

— Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA), quoted by Politico, on the Republican megabill.

“Let’s get this straight: Pete Hegseth used to drink too much and couldn’t keep his dick in his pants. He’d make a great senator.”

— Former GOP Senate aide Mike Davis, on X, suggesting senators operate with a moral double standard.

— Benjamin Wittes</h2> Tweet

— Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, a key Ukraine supporter, who has been loudly defending his decision to move on from the border fight after his conference rejected the compromise that Sen. James Lankford (R-Okla.) hammered out with Democrats, reports Punchbowl News. Tweet

“Well, the Senate was never a perfect place. But it was a better place.”

— Sen. Pat Leahy (D-VT), quoted by the Washington Post.

— Dan Pfeiffer

“The Senate’s abdication of its legislative and oversight responsibilities erodes the checks and balances of the separate powers that are designed to protect the liberties on which our democracy depends.”

— Seventy former senators from both parties wrote an open letter arguing that the U.S. Senate isn’t functioning as the Founders intended.

— Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT), quoted by The Hill.

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Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) “told lawmakers that the Senate will recess for one week instead of four to work on nominations and legislation,” the Washington Post reports.

Poetic Justice

Verbatim

“If you’re not hiding anything, prove that to the American people. And if you are trying to hide something, as many of Donald Trump’s MAGA supporters apparently believe, then the Congress should work hard to uncover the truth for the American people.”

— House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY), quoted by the Washington Post, calling for the full release of the Jeffrey Epstein files.

— Charlie Sykes

“The president of the United States didn’t give us an assignment. We’re not a bunch of little bitches around here, okay? I’m a member of Congress. I represent almost 800,000 Wisconsinites.”

— Rep. Derrick Van Orden (R-WI), talking to reporters.

Numerati

33%

“The volume of Canadians taking road trips into the U.S.—the means by which most Canadians visit—dropped by 33% last month compared to June 2024, following a 38% drop in May,” Forbes reports.

53%

A new Morning Consult poll finds 53% of Americans don’t know why the American colonies adopted the Declaration of Independence to separate from Britain on July 4, 1776.

$1.6 billion

President Trump’s pardons and commutations have cost more than $100 million in fines owed to the federal government and another $1.5 billion in restitution to victims, Forbes reports.

58%

$3.3 trillion

— Benjamin Wittes</h2>

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— Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, a key Ukraine supporter, who has been loudly defending his decision to move on from the border fight after his conference rejected the compromise that Sen. James Lankford (R-Okla.) hammered out with Democrats, reports Punchbowl News.

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