Tuesday, Dec 24th
Last update09:30:35 AM GMT
Congressional Glance
A narrowly divided U.S. Senate moved closer to passing a $95.34 billion aid package for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan on Sunday, showing undiminished bipartisanship despite opposition from Republican hardliners and Donald Trump.
Republican Rep. Ken Buck laid into his own party Sunday, blasting those who continue to propagate the lie that the 2020 election was stolen for “lying to America.”
“Everybody who thinks that the election was stolen or talks about the election being stolen is lying to America,” the Colorado Republican said during an interview in CBS’ “Face the Nation.”
Buck didn’t stop there.“Everyone who makes the argument that January 6 was, you know, an unguided tour of the Capitol is lying to America. Everyone who says that the prisoners who are being prosecuted right now for their involvement in January 6, that they are somehow political prisoners or that they didn’t commit crimes, those folks are lying to America.”
The House voted on an overwhelming bipartisan basis, 335-91, for a short-term funding bill, known as a continuing resolution or CR. The bill will now head to the Senate, where lawmakers there say they will not object to a speedy vote.
The Senate on Thursday confirmed Nusrat Choudhury, a longtime civil rights attorney, to the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York, making her the nation's first female Muslim federal judge.
Choudhury, a former American Civil Liberties Union attorney, was confirmed 50-49 on a mostly party-line vote. West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin, a Democrat, joined Republicans in opposing her.
Choudhury has served as the legal director of the ACLU of Illinois since 2020. She clerked for U.S. Circuit Judge Barrington Parker, who was nominated to the appeals bench in New York by former President George W. Bush and to U.S. District Court by former President Bill Clinton. She received her law degree from Yale.
She is also the first Bangladeshi-American to serve as a federal judge.
Biden also nominated the first Muslim federal judge, U.S. District Judge Zahid Quraishi, who was confirmed in 2021. The Biden administration has made diversifying the federal judiciary − including with professional diversity − a centerpiece of the president’s agenda.
Rep. Andy Ogles (R-Tenn.) is facing criticism following an investigation by a news outlet in his home state that claims he ― much like Rep. George Santos (R-N.Y.) ― embellished parts of his résumé.
The probe by Nashville’s WTVF-TV found that Ogles, who was sworn into office last month, has a background “filled with exaggerations,” such as his claim on his congressional website that he’s an economist and “studied policy and economics.”
There is little evidence to back up such a claim, according to the TV station, and his alma mater, Middle Tennessee State University, declined to confirm the nature of his degree from there.
A look back at Ogles’ website over two decades ago shows a claim that he studied foreign policy and the Constitution at Middle Tennessee State University and Western Kentucky University.
Western Kentucky told WTVF that Ogles majored in English and allied language arts in the 1990s.
Members of the panel, which held what was expected to be its final hearing before the midterm elections Thursday, had previously said that they were still considering seeking an interview with Trump or former Vice President Mike Pence. Sources familiar with the committee's plans told NBC News of the subpoena earlier Thursday.
The panel's chair, Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., said the panel had an "obligation" to hear from Trump.
"This is a question about accountability to the American people. He must be accountable. He is required to answer for his actions," Thompson said, acknowledging the move as a "serious and extraordinary action."
Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez took a break between visiting Amazon union workers and endorsing progressive candidates to get engaged to her longtime partner Riley Roberts.
Ocasio-Cortez, 32, confirmed to Insider on Thursday that she and Roberts, who met while both were at Boston University, got engaged last month while visiting her parents’ home town in Puerto Rico.
She then wrote on Twitter: “It’s true! Thank you all for the well wishes.”
According to Insider, the pair were quiet about their relationship even before Ocasio-Cortez became a popular political voice, and their friends at university did not always know they were together.
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