Ocasio-Cortez still mum on taking paycheck despite 13 in Congress refusing during shutdown: report

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Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, left, and D-N.Y., Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., center, walk down the House steps. (AP)

Newly-elected Democratic House Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortex, D-N.Y., who despite tweeting last month that members of Congress should ‘have some integrity’ and not take a paycheck during the government shutdown, has remained silent on whether she’ll take a salary during the partial government shutdown, despite 13 of her fellow congress members vowing that they won’t.
Ocasio-Cortez’s office on Thursday reportedly refused to respond to The Daily Mail’s inquiry about whether she’ll be taking a salary, while approximately 800,000 federal workers are furloughed or working without pay.
It was not the first time she appeared to evade or ignore the question. When asked last week by The New York Post whether she would take a salary during the government shutdown, the 29-year-old representative said: “I’ve gotta run.”
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Congressional staff and members of Congress are being paid through the shutdown because the legislative branch was funded last year through fiscal year 2019. Ocasio-Cortez’s salary kicked in last Thursday after she was sworn in as a Democratic lawmaker representing New York.
The departments of justice, interior, transportation and homeland security were either sent home or are working without pay. The first pay period for those workers is Jan. 11.
Other newly-elected lawmakers – both democratic and republican – have said they will either refuse or donate their paycheck during the shutdown, The Washington Post reported.

Trump, in first-ever prime time Oval Office address, laments 'crisis of the heart and a crisis of the soul' at border

President Trump used his first-ever prime time address from the Oval Office on Tuesday night to make his case for funding a southern border wall -- as well as to emphasize the human cost of what he called the "growing humanitarian and security crisis" of surging illegal immigration.
The speech, which was followed moments later by a rebuttal from Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, drew seemingly deep lines in the sand as Republicans and Democrats plan to meet Wednesday to continue negotiations to end the ongoing partial federal government shutdown over border wall funding, now in its third week. Trump has said the shutdown could last for "years" if no deal is reached.
Noting that "more Americans will die from drugs this year than were killed in the entire Vietnam War," the president, looking directly into the camera, called for closing the pipeline that permits "vast quantities of illegal drugs – including meth, heroin, cocaine and fentanyl" from crossing the border.
"Every week, 300 of our citizens are killed by heroin alone – 90 percent of which floods across from our southern border," Trump, who signed a bipartisan opioid bill into law late last year, remarked at the beginning of his address.
He continued: "This is a humanitarian crisis – a crisis of the heart and a crisis of the soul. Last month, 20,000 migrant children were illegally brought into the United States – a dramatic increase. These children are used as human pawns by vicious coyotes and ruthless gangs. One in three women are sexually assaulted on the dangerous trek up through Mexico. Women and children are the biggest victims by far of our broken system."
The president then paid tribute to several Americans killed by suspected illegal immigrants, including California police Cpl. Ronil Singh, who was murdered the day after Christmas -- allegedly by an illegal immigrant suspected of driving drunk. The suspect had multiple prior arrests, and Republicans have charged that California's sanctuary laws -- which prevent local law enforcement from cooperating with federal immigration authorities -- led to Singh's murder.
"America’s heart broke the day after Christmas when a young police officer in California was savagely murdered in cold-blood by an illegal alien who just came across the border," Trump said. "The life of an American hero was stolen by someone who had no right to be in our country."
TUCKER CARLSON: WHY DO SOME CONTINUE TO DENY ISSUES AT THE BORDER?
Trump added: "In California, an Air Force Veteran was raped, murdered and beaten to death with a hammer by an illegal alien with a long criminal history. In Georgia, an illegal alien was recently charged with murder for killing, beheading, and dismembering his neighbor. In Maryland, MS-13 gang members who arrived in the United States as unaccompanied minors were arrested and charged last year after viciously stabbing and beating a 16-year-old girl.

"Wealthy politicians ... don’t build walls because they hate the people on the outside, but because they love the people on the inside."
— President Trump

"Over the last several years, I’ve met with dozens of families whose loved ones were stolen by illegal immigration," Trump continued. "I’ve held the hands of the weeping mothers and embraced the grief-stricken fathers. So sad. So terrible.  I will never forget the pain in their eyes, the tremble in their voices, or the sadness gripping their souls. How much more American blood must be shed before Congress does its job?"
Apparently responding to Pelosi's widely reported comment that a wall would be immoral, Trump remarked: "Some have suggested a barrier is immoral.  Then why do wealthy politicians build walls, fences and gates around their homes? They don’t build walls because they hate the people on the outside, but because they love the people on the inside."
In a joint, nationally televised response broadcast minutes later, Pelosi, D-Calif., and Schumer, D-N.Y., condemned Trump's rhetoric and what they called his "obsession" with building a border wall.
"Much of what we have heard from President Trump throughout this senseless shutdown has been full of misinformation and even malice," Pelosi, standing next to Schumer, charged. "The President has chosen fear.  We want to start with the facts."
"The fact is: On the very first day of this Congress, House Democrats passed Senate Republican legislation to re-open government and fund smart, effective border security solutions," Pelosi said, referring to bills that did not include funding for Trump's border wall.
"But, the president is rejecting these bipartisan bills which would re-open government – over his obsession with forcing American taxpayers to waste billions of dollars on an expensive and ineffective wall – a wall he always promised Mexico would pay for," Pelosi continued.
Schumer added afterward: "There is an obvious solution: separate the shutdown from the arguments over border security.  There is bipartisan legislation – supported by Democrats and Republicans – to re-open government while allowing debate over border security to continue.
"The symbol of America should be the Statue of Liberty, not a thirty-foot wall," Schumer concluded. "So, our suggestion is a simple one, Mr. President: Re-open the government and we can work to resolve our differences over border security.  But end this shutdown now."
On social media, the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) called out Schumer and Pelosi's previously strong support for border wall funding, and appeared to join in with other Twitter users mocking the two senators' demeanor during their response address.
Conservative commentator Ben Shaprio compared Pelosi and Schumer's look to that of the nefarious fictional villains from the James Bond spy franchise, before reposting another Twitter user's image depicting Schumer as a used car salesman. Others likened Pelosi to the aristocratic character Lucille Bluth in the television comedy series "Arrested Development."
Vermont Independent Sen. Bernie Sanders, widely considered a potential 2020 presidential contender, delivered his own rebuttal that asserted climate change and health care are more urgent crises than illegal immigration. Sanders listed a variety of people who will potentially suffer if the shutdown continues.
"Security at our nation’s airports could be threatened if TSA employees and air traffic controllers are not getting paid," Sanders said. "You want a national emergency?  30 million Americans have no health insurance and many more are under-insured."
Negotiations are slated to continue throughout the week to resolve the shutdown, which has furloughed 380,000 federal workers and forced an additional 420,000 to work without pay. On Wednesday, Fox News learned, Trump will head to Capitol Hill for a policy lunch with Senate Republicans. Congressional leaders from both parties have been invited to the White House for a 3 p.m. ET sit-down afterward.
The president, during his address Tuesday, vowed that the wall "would very quickly pay for itself" in part because the cost of "illegal drugs exceeds $500 billion dollars a year – vastly more than the $5.7 billion dollars we have requested from Congress." Trump added that "the wall will also be paid for, indirectly, by the great new trade deal we have made with Mexico."

Migrants running as U.S. Border Protection officers threw tear gas to the Mexican side of the border fence on Jan. 1, 2019. (AP Photo/Daniel Ochoa de Olza)

On Thursday, Trump plans a personal visit to the Mexican border, where his administration said an illegal immigration "crisis" has been worsening by the day.
Reacting to Trump's speech, Senate Republican leaders -- who have said they will not pass Democrats' spending bills without border wall funding -- reaffirmed that they've stood by the White House's position.
“Tonight, President Trump reaffirmed his commitment to addressing the humanitarian and security crisis at our nation’s southern border," Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said in a statement. "His proposal to increase security through physical barriers suits the reality on the ground. It’s what career Border Patrol experts support and are asking for. And it simply builds on earlier legislation that Senate Democrats like then-Senator Obama, then-Senator Clinton, and Senator Schumer previously supported with enthusiasm."
McConnell continued: “The past eighteen days have shown that Democrats’ refusal to negotiate is not due to any principled objection, but simply due to partisan spite for the president. For the men and women of the Border Patrol, for the safety of American families, and for all Americans who deserve a fully operational federal government, I sincerely hope my Democratic colleagues will come to the table and help deliver a solution.”
Some legal and political analysts were less enthusiastic. “As expected, [Trump's address] was laden with emotional appeals, with the president presenting a parade of horribles," John Cerone, Professor of International Law at The Fletcher School, told Fox News. He added that a wall would have only "limited efficacy" compared to other options.
"Ultimately, the only way to stop irregular migration is to give people some hope of regular migration," Cerone said. "Expanding pathways for regular migration, in particular by creating new employment visas and raising the limits on existing categories, is a win-win situation."
The number of illegal border crossings is down from 1.6 million in 2000 to less than 400,000 last year. But, the number of families coming over the border has risen sharply, putting a strain on health care and immigration services that came into sharp focus with the deaths of two migrant children in December.
Administration figures have shown that 161,000 family units crossed the border in fiscal 2018, a 50 percent increase from the year before. Homeland Security officials also have said 60,000 unaccompanied children crossed the border last year, a 25 percent increase.

Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen, left, Vice President Mike Pence, White House legislative affairs aide Ja'Ron Smith, followed by White House Senior Adviser Jared Kushner, and others, after a meeting with staff members of House and Senate leadership last Saturday in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

After a sit-down with Democrats over the weekend, the White House issued a series of budget demands, including a new request for $800,000 for humanitarian needs. But, mostly, Trump still wants his wall, which Democrats have described as immoral as well as no solution to illegal immigration.
In a pre-emptive move, the White House said Monday that tax refunds would be paid despite the shutdown. That shutdown exemption would break from past practice and could be challenged.
Emphasizing that he was not abandoning his security argument, Trump said in a fundraising email Tuesday: "I want to make one thing clear to Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi: Your safety is not a political game or a negotiation tactic!"
Pelosi, for her part, has also sparred openly with the White House. She reportedly engaged in a tense confrontation with Nielsen on Wednesday in the Situation Room, interrupting Nielsen’s presentation on border security and illegal immigration, telling her, “I reject your facts.”
In her brief response address on Tuesday night, Pelosi used the word "facts" six times, in an effort to contrast with what she called Trump's rhetoric of "fear."

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Pelosi, Schumer say Democrats should get 'equal airtime' after Trump address

Democratic leaders on Monday night called for equal airtime in response to President Donald Trump's primetime address to the nation on southern border security scheduled for Tuesday evening.
Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., argued that since Trump's speech will be broadcast, the other side of the aisle should have their fair share of broadcast time, too.
“Now that the television networks have decided to air the President’s address, which if his past statements are any indication will be full of malice and misinformation, Democrats must immediately be given equal airtime," they said in a statement.
Trump said he'll be talking at 9 p.m. ET about the U.S.-Mexico border — the fight over which sparked the partial government shutdown. The address will be carried live by ABC, CBS, CNN, Fox Broadcasting, Fox News Channel, Fox Business Network, MSNBC and NBC.
Pelosi and Schumer said that Democrats "and an increasing number of Republicans in Congress" have urged Trump and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., to "re-open the government while Congress debates the President’s expensive and ineffective wall."
The government is on day 16 of the partial shutdown — the second-longest in history slated to become the longest this weekend.
Trump told congressional Democratic leaders during a meeting on Friday that he was willing to keep the government shutdown for as long as necessary — possibly months or even years — in order to get the border funding he wants.
After a weekend filled with meetings about the shutdown, the president moved to call for a steel wall, rather than a concrete barrier, at the southern border. Trump framed the pitch for a steel wall as a concession to Democrats to move negotiations along, although they do not appear moved by the president's message.
"President Trump keeps rejecting the bipartisan House-passed bills, which have already received strong bipartisan support in the Senate, to re-open the government," Pelosi and Schumer's statement read. "Instead, he is still demanding that American taxpayers pay at least $5.7 billion for his wall, which can’t pass either chamber of Congress and of course Mexico is not paying for."

Newsom pushes sweeping new California health-care plan to help illegal immigrants, prop up ObamaCare

Shortly after he took office on Monday, California's Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom unearthed an unprecedented new health care agenda for his state, aimed at offering dramatically more benefits to illegal immigrants and protecting the embattled Affordable Care Act, which a federal judge recently struck down as unconstitutional.
The sweeping proposal appeared destined to push California -- already one of the nation's most liberal states -- even further to the left, as progressive Democrats there won a veto-proof supermajority in the state legislature in November and control all statewide offices.
"People's lives, freedom, security, the water we drink, the air we breathe — they all hang in the balance," Newsom, 51, told supporters Monday in a tent outside the state Capitol building, as he discussed his plans to address issues from homelessness to criminal justice and the environment. "The country is watching us, the world is watching us. The future depends on us, and we will seize this moment."
Newsom unveiled his new health-care plan hours after a protester interrupted his swearing-in ceremony to protest the murder of police Cpl. Ronil Singh shortly after Christmas Day. The suspect in Singh's killing is an illegal immigrant with several prior arrests, and Republicans have charged that so-called "sanctuary state" policies, like the ones Newsom has championed, contributed to the murder by prohibiting state police from cooperating with federal immigration officials.

California Governor Gavin Newsom taking the oath of office from state Supreme Court Chief Justice Tani Gorre Cantil-Sakauye during his inauguration Monday in Sacramento, Calif. Looking on: Newsom's wife, Jennifer Siebel Newsom and their sons, Dutch, second from right, and Hunter, right. (AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli)

As one of his first orders of business, Newsom -- who also on Monday requested that the Trump administration cooperate in the state's efforts to convert to a single-payer system, even as he bashed the White House as corrupt and immoral -- declared his intent to reinstate the ObamaCare individual mandate at the state level.
ANALYSIS: AS CALIFORNIA'S PROGRESSIVE POLICIES GET CRAZIER, WHAT'S THE SILVER LINING FOR THE GOP?
The mandate forces individuals to purchase health care coverage or pay a fee that the Supreme Court described in 2012 as a "tax," rather than a "penalty" that would have run afoul of Congress' authority under the Commerce Clause of the Constitution. Last month, though, a federal judge in Texas ruled the individual mandate no longer was a constitutional exercise of Congress' taxing power because Republicans had passed legislation eliminating the tax entirely -- a move, the judge said, that rendered the entire health-care law unworkable.
As that ruling works its way to what analysts say will be an inevitable Supreme Court showdown, Newsom said he would reimpose it in order to subsidize state health care.
Medi-Cal, the state's health insurance program, now will let illegal immigrants remain on the rolls until they are 26, according to Newsom's new agenda. The previous age cutoff was 19, as The Sacramento Bee reported.
Additionally, Newsom announced he would sign an executive order dramatically expanding the state's Department of Health Care Services authority to negotiate drug prices, in the hopes of lowering prescription drug costs.
In his inaugural remarks, Newsom hinted that he intended to abandon the relative fiscal restraint that marked the most recent tenure of his predecessor, Jerry Brown, from 2011 to 2019. Brown sometimes rebuked progressive efforts to spend big on various social programs.
"For eight years, California has built a foundation of rock," Newsom said. "Our job now is not to rest on that foundation. It is to build our house upon it."
Newsom added that California will not have "one house for the rich and one for the poor, or one for the native-born and one for the rest."

"The country is watching us, the world is watching us."
— California Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom

In a statement, the California Immigrant Policy Center backed Newsom's agenda.
“Making sure healthcare is affordable and accessible for every Californian, including undocumented community members whom the federal government has unjustly shut out of care, is essential to reaching that vision for our future,” the organization said. “Today’s announcement is an historic step on the road toward health justice for all.”
The Sacramento Bee reported on several of Newsom's recent hires, which seemingly signaled he's serious about his push to bring universal health care to California. Chief of Staff Ann O’Leary worked in former President Bill Clinton's administration on the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), which offers affordable health care to children in families who exceed the financial threshold to qualify for Medicaid, but who are too poor to buy private insurance.
And, Cabinet Secretary Ana Matosantos, who worked in the administrations of Brown and former GOP Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, has worked extensively to implement ObamaCare in California and also worked with the legislature to expand health-care coverage for low-income Californians.

Conway blames Congress, courts for crisis at border, hedges on use of emergency powers

Kellyanne Conway, the senior counselor to President Trump, told Fox News on Monday that lawyers inside the White House are researching the legal implications of declaring a national emergency to build the border wall, and placed the blame squarely on Congress and courts for the crisis at the Southern Border.
In a wide-ranging interview on "The Ingraham Angle," Conway said the president is "considering" using a national emergency declaration to circumvent Congress and the budget stalemate in Washington. Trump wants $5.6 billion to fund the wall.
Declaring a national emergency would draw legal challenges, and Trump — who told lawmakers he would be willing to keep the government closed for months or even years — has said he would like to continue negotiations for now.
"There are probably some people who want him (Trump) to declare it (the emergency) so that Congress, again, can fail to do its job," she said. "The Congress and the courts have failed to do their jobs. They’ve given us this crisis."
Conway defended the use of the word "crisis" to describe the situation at the border, and talked about illegal drugs that enter the U.S. from Mexico.
The talks over ending the shutdown have been at an impasse over Trump’s demand for the wall. He has offered to build the barrier with steel rather than concrete, billing that as a concession to Democrats’ objections. They "don't like concrete, so we'll give them steel," he said.
But Democrats have made clear that they object to the wall itself, not how it’s constructed. They see it as immoral and ineffective and prefer other types of border security funded at already agreed-upon levels.
Trump announced that he will address the nation on Tuesday night before traveling later in the week to the U.S.-Mexico border, as he seeks to highlight border security and presses Democrats for wall funding amid the protracted standoff that triggered a partial government shutdown now stretching into its 17th day.
"I am pleased to inform you that I will Address the Nation on the Humanitarian and National Security crisis on our Southern Border. Tuesday night at 9:00 P.M. Eastern," Trump tweeted on Monday.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and top Senate Democrat Chuck Schumer called on the networks to give Democrats a chance to respond.
“Now that the television networks have decided to air the President’s address, which if his past statements are any indication will be full of malice and misinformation, Democrats must immediately be given equal airtime,” they wrote in a joint statement released Monday night.

Rashida Tlaib accused of anti-Semitic slur, days after profane anti-Trump tirade

Trash Mouth

Less than a week after issuing a profanity-infused call to impeach President Trump on her first day in office, Michigan Democratic Rep. Rashida Tlaib is under fire from Republican politicians and commentators for openly posting what they call an anti-Semitic dog whistle on Twitter.
Top Republicans in the Senate are also alleging that Democratic leaders are hoping to hide the fact that Tlaib is just one of many new Democratic politicians in Congress who harbor deeply anti-Israel views.
Tlaib, responding to a post by Vermont Independent Sen. Bernie Sanders on Monday, suggested that Senate Republicans were more loyal to Israel than the U.S., amid a report that GOP leaders were planning to introduce a bill that would punish companies that participate in the so-called "Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions" (BDS) global movement against Israel.  BDS proponents seek to pressure Israel through economic and other means -- often, until Israel ceases to exist in its current form.
"They forgot what country they represent," Tlaib, a Palestinian-American who made history last week by becoming one of the first two Muslim women to ever serve in Congress, wrote.
"This is the U.S. where boycotting is a right & part of our historical fight for freedom & equality. Maybe a refresher on our U.S. Constitution is in order, then get back to opening up our government instead of taking our rights away," she added.
Florida Republican Sen. Marco Rubio, one of the Republican senators to introduce the anti-BDS bill, immediately called Tlaib's post an "anti-Semitic line" that perpetuates a longstanding "dual loyalty" conspiracy that holds that Israel effectively controls Washington politicians.
The accusation that Jewish politicians could be vulnerable to having "dual loyalties" has been made for centuries in various contexts, and has been seen widely as a religious-based attack intent on undermining their leadership.
The posts by Sanders and Tlaib specifically criticized Senate Republicans for planning to introduce the "Strengthening America’s Security in the Middle East Act of 2019," a pro-Israel series of bills, instead of legislation to end the ongoing partial federal government shutdown, which entered its 17th day on Monday.
The package of legislation includes provisions reauthorizing the United States-Jordan Defense Cooperation Act of 2015, and providing for new sanctions against Bashar al-Assad's regime in Syria.
One of the bills in the package, the Rubio-Manchin Combating BDS Act of 2018, also would "increase protections for state and local governments in the United States that decide to divest from, prohibit investment in, and restrict contracting with companies knowingly engaged in commerce-related or investment-related BDS activity targeting Israel," according to Senate Republicans.
Critics have charged that the bill amounts to an unconstitutional First Amendment violation, because it involves an impermissible government punishment of speech based on its content. (Similar laws restricting boycotts of Israel have been ruled unconstitutional.)
Rubio wrote that the real reason Democrats were criticizing Republicans for introducing the pro-Israel bill is that "a significant # of Senate Democrats now support #BDS & Dem leaders want to avoid a floor vote that reveals that."
In addition to Sanders, who caucuses with Democrats, Maryland Democratic Sens. Ben Cardin and Chris Van Hollen have called on Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., to resolve the shutdown before pressing on with a vote on the pro-Israel bill.
READ JUDGE JEANINE PIRRO'S MESSAGE TO TLAIB
"The shutdown is not the reason Senate Democrats don’t want to move to Middle East Security Bill," Rubio wrote, noting that "a huge argument" had broken out last week over the issue.
Hours later, Tlaib responded on Twitter: "Sen. Rubio, it's clear my earlier tweet was critical of U.S. Senators like yourself, who are seeking to strip Americans of their Constitutional right to free speech," she wrote. "The American people need Trump and Republican Senators to focus on ending the shutdown instead of inventing controversy to distract from your inaction."
Nevertheless, there are visible signs that Tlaib's approach may be becoming more mainstream among the Democratic Party's progressive wing. The other Muslim woman to make history by winning her election with Tlaib last year, Minnesota Democratic Rep. Illhan Omar, tweeted in 2012 that "Israel has hypnotized the world." Omar added: "May Allah awaken the peoople and help them see the evil doings of Israel."
Other commentators similarly sounded the alarm about Tlaib's comments, and noted that the media reaction was conspicuously minimal. (Trump, late last year, was lambasted repeatedly in the media for allegedly issuing anti-Semitic "dog whistles" because of his criticisms of liberal billionaire George Soros.)
"Oddly, many of those who hear dog whistles for a living aren't exactly perking up at Tlaib accusing her critics of dual loyalty," Washington Free Beacon editor Alex Griswold wrote on Twitter. "Nor, for that matter, did they have much to say about Omar's 'Israel has hypnotized the world' tweet."
Conservative commentator Ben Shapiro went further, alleging in an op-ed that "Democrats have soured on Israel and warmed to anti-Semitism."
"The truth is that the Democratic Party has been flirting with, and in some cases openly embracing, anti-Semitism for years," Shapiro wrote. "That’s why top members of the Democratic Party continue to kowtow to open anti-Semites like Linda Sarsour and Louis Farrakhan; it’s why the Democrats booed Jerusalem in the 2012 Democratic National Committee platform; it’s why the Obama administration routinely played public relations arm for the Iranian government; it’s why no major Democrat will go on record condemning Tlaib or Ilhan Omar."
MEDIA SPREAD FALSE NARRATIVE THAT CONSERVATIVES WERE OFFENDED BY OCASIO-CORTEZ DANCING
Tlaib was photographed last week wearing Palestinian robes with Sarsour, a proponent of Louis Farrakhan and the Nation of Islam. Farrakhan has compared Jews to termites and praised Hitler.
Late last year, Tlaib publicly bucked Democratic Party leaders by openly endorsing a one-state solution in the Middle East, and calling for Israeli withdrawals and reduced military aid to Israel.
“It has to be one state," Tlaib told In These Times magazine. "Separate but equal does not work. I’m only 42 years old, but my teachers were of that generation that marched with Martin Luther King. This whole idea of a two-state solution, it doesn’t work.”
She added, referring to Israel: "Americans should not be aiding any country that doesn’t support human rights. I’ve been very clear. I will not support racist countries that pick and choose who gets access to justice.”
Tlaib's comments on Israel threatened to create new headaches for Democrats already wrangling to control the party's fresh new progressive wing. During a progressive MoveOn.org reception Thursday night, Tlaib drew widespread condemnation by calling for Trump's impeachment using vulgar language as her son looked on.
"People love you and you win," Tlaib shouted. "And when your son looks at you and says, 'Momma, look you won. Bullies don't win.' And I said, 'Baby, they don't, because we’re gonna go in there and we’re gonna impeach the mother****er.'”

Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) poses with Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) for a ceremonial swearing-in picture on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S., January 3, 2019. REUTERS/Joshua Roberts - RC1717918ED0

The next day, Tlaib stood by her comments but repeatedly attempted to avoid reporters asking her to clarify her remarks.
Speaking at the White House, Trump called Tlaib's comments "disgraceful" and said she had "dishonored herself and dishonored her family." But Democrats offered a muted reaction, with some offering support for Tlaib.
House Judiciary Chairman Jerry Nadler, speaking on CNN, remarked on Friday: “I don't like really like that kind of language. But more to the point, I disagree with what she said. It is too early to talk about that intelligently. We have to follow the facts." The Judiciary committee would oversee any impeachment proceedings against Trump.
But New York Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez tweeted that criticism of Tlaib' remarks was "Republican hypocrisy at its finest" given Trump's rhetoric, adding that "GOP lost entitlement to policing women’s behavior a long time ago."
Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, sitting on an MSNBC panel, largely agreed.
"I probably have a generational reaction to it," Pelosi said. "But in any event, I'm not in the censorship business. I don't like that language, I wouldn't use that language. I don’t … establish any language standards for my colleagues, but I don’t think it’s anything worse than what the president has said."
She added, "Generationally, that would not be language I would use, but nonetheless, I don’t think we should make a big deal of it."
Tlaib's office did not return Fox News' request for comment.

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First day of 116th Congress begins with prayer, ends with a profanity

Piece of Trash.

The 116th Congress began with prayer.
The first day of the 116th Congress ended with profanity.
It was 12:01 p.m. Thursday. Rep. Emanuel Cleaver, D-Mo., an ordained Methodist minister from the St. James United Methodist Church in Kansas City, climbed the dais in the House chamber to lead lawmakers in the invocation.
“In unbridled optimism, I offer this prayer,” said Cleaver.
Cleaver spoke of “the great challenges of this day, fraught with tribalism at home and turbulence abroad.” He beseeched the House “to rise as a legislative body above political selfishness” and “attempt to become architects of a kinder nation.”
“Dedicate ourselves to the healing of open sores in a land where there is far too much mistrust of those who are different,” said Cleaver.
The House had not even sworn-in freshman Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., at the time of Cleaver’s intersession. But by nightfall, Tlaib captured more headlines than even fellow freshman Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y.
Tlaib called the President of the United States a “m----- f-----.”
Tlaib’s expletive-laced rant presented House Republicans an opportunity on a platter.
“Is this the behavior that we are going to find with this new majority party in Congress?” asked House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif. “We watched a brand-new speaker say nothing to (Tlaib). Somebody should stand up to her. She’s the Speaker.”
A few minutes later, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., headed to the White House for a meeting with President Trump on the government shutdown.

“Are you going to talk to Tlaib about her language,” yours truly asked Pelosi as she headed for a Capitol exit.
“I’m going to talk to the president about his language,” retorted Pelosi.

Most Democrats were beside themselves over Tlaib’s vulgar epithet. But Members of Congress have long cataloged President Trump’s crude discourse, ad hominem attacks and swearing.
“Look at what we’ve heard for years from him,” observed one Democrat who asked to not be identified when speaking about the president. “He set the standard. Of course you’re going to start to hear talk like that from everybody now.”
“I think that you also have seen yesterday and over the course of the last 24 hours, in particular, a real ramp-up in rhetoric. Name calling. The kind of politicization and partisanship the American people are sick and tired of,” claimed House Republican Conference Chairwoman Liz Cheney, R-Wy. Cheney accused Democrats of unleashing a “level of vitriol.”
Some recalled that Cheney’s father, former Vice President Dick Cheney, infamously told Sen. Pat Leahy, D-Vt., to “go f&$ yourself” during a 2004 visit to the Senate floor.
Former House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., chastised Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., for suggesting that leftist demonstrators harass Trump administration officials in restaurants and stores.
Are Republicans trying to have it both ways? Calling out Tlaib’s obscenity and the suggestions of Waters while many GOPers ignore remarks of President Trump?
“I don’t think so,” replied Cheney.
Republicans relish a sideshow like this. It takes focus off the partial government shutdown and redirects attention on a still undefined Democratic House majority.
Many have heard of Ocasio-Cortez. She’s presented an unvarnished liberalism. A push for a “green new deal” and higher taxes. All politics is local. That may work in the Bronx and other leftist bastions. But does the public know much about moderate freshmen Democrats who won in November?
Have they heard of Reps. Joe Cunningham, D-S.C., Ben McAdams, D-Utah, or Jared Golden, D-Maine? They all secured hard-fought wins in battleground districts.
Maybe not.
But you can bet that when it comes to freshmen, people have heard of Ocasio-Cortez and now Tlaib. Their politics may resonate in Democratic strongholds. But the casual observer may perceive that the entire Democratic freshman class is full of nothing but borderline socialists and those who cuss out the President.
This cognizance could scare some swing voters and does little for Democrats trying to build a national brand that’s not urban-centric.
Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, questioned Mr. Trump’s character to lead in a Washington Post op-ed. Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ken., shot back that Romney portrayed himself as “holier than thou.” Paul suggested senators watch their language. Yet the Kentucky Republican sidestepped questions about the President’s attacks on others.
“I just don’t think the president deserves to have a new senator coming in, attacking his character,” said Paul.
As speaker, Pelosi has wrestled with disciplining members for intemperate remarks – of even the opposite party.
Rep. Joe Wilson, R-S.C., hectored President Obama during a speech to a Joint Session of Congress in September, 2009, shouting “you lie!” House rules bar lawmakers from making personal attacks or impugning the motives of a president during a House session. The House didn’t vote to reprimand or censure Wilson for his outburst. Pelosi opposed an official sanction. House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn, D-S.C., instead secured a less formal “resolution of disapproval” to discipline his Palmetto State colleague.
Emanuel Cleaver was visibly upset at Tlaib’s broadside against the president, especially considering his opening prayer.
“There’s a fear among some that we need to impeach the president. On the night of my re-election, I said I’m not going back to Washington for impeachment, but for improvement,” said Cleaver. “Obviously there are some who see things differently.”
That said, Cleaver observed that Mr. Trump’s own harsh rhetoric “has created a new kind of climate.” He added that if Congress is to “heal the open sores infecting the entire country” which he spoke about on opening day, lawmakers will “have to rise above.”
“This makes the sore nastier and increases the likelihood of contagion,” said Cleaver of Tlaib’s comments. “This young person who just got elected may think this is okay.”
On Friday, House Democrats rolled out their first big piece of legislation for the new Congress: H.R. 1. It’s a bill designed to improve government transparency. The legislation is numbered H.R. 1 because Democrats view it as one of the most important. The majority party always gets the first ten numbered bills in a Congress. Such a code would help observers track a party’s priorities.
If it were up to Pelosi, she’d probably assign number 100,000 to any articles of impeachment cooked up by rank-and-file Democrats.
But Pelosi’s been here before. Many Democrats pushed to impeach President George W. Bush over Iraq when Democrats won the House in 2006 and tapped Pelosi as Speaker the first time. The California Democrat quashed a revolt then. But can Pelosi subdue a similar rebellion now?
It’s a big challenge, especially if firebrand Democrats refuse to temper their language.

Dems claim no progress made in shutdown talks as Trump pushes steel barrier

After President Trump and Vice President Mike Pence wrapped up separate meetings on border security and the ongoing partial federal government shutdown on Sunday, Trump offered his strongest endorsement yet of a proposal to build a steel wall, rather than a concrete barrier, at the southern border.
Meanwhile, a Democratic source told Fox News that the Pence-led meeting with bipartisan congressional staff at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building (EEOB) near the White House had accomplished little, and started nearly an hour late because Trump administration officials were unprepared. Trump called the meeting "productive" afterward, although he was not in attendance.
The president framed his new pitch for a steel wall as a concession to Democrats to move negotiations along, as the shutdown entered its 16th day. Meanwhile, Democrats published the full text of several spending bills to reopen the government on Sunday that the White House and Senate Republicans have long said have no chance of becoming law because they do not include any funding for a wall of any kind.
"They don't like concrete, so we'll give them steel," Trump told reporters after returning to the White House from a meeting with his advisers at Camp David.
Trump also suggested he would rather wait until the Supreme Court rules on the legality of his administration's recission of the Obama-era Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program before negotiating with Democrats on the issue as part of the talks to end the shutdown.
Several federal judges have held that the Trump administration's reasons for terminating DACA were legally insufficient under a federal administrative law statute, which requires adequate notice and justification before the government terminates a right it has previously granted.
"I would consider DACA, but ... I'd rather have the Supreme Court rule, and then work with the Democrats on DACA,' Trump said. "I want to help with DACA, but ... you know, it's going to be before the Supreme Court very soon."
At the sit-down at the EEOB, Pence -- along with Trump adviser and son-in-law Jared Kushner and Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen -- on Sunday discussed a variety of border-security measures with congressional officials from both parties.
“Democrats were given what they asked for, which was a detailed, breakdown list of the administration’s proposals for border security that include the wall and other border protection measures," a House GOP leadership aide told Fox News. "Democrats were given the opportunity to ask questions of Secretary Nielsen and hear DHS’ justification for the specific funding requests. Their justifications made it abundantly clear why it is necessary to have this level of funding to effectively secure our border.”
A Democratic official familiar with the meeting, however, said "no progress was made" at the Pence sit-down and charged that the White House was unprepared.

Vice President Mike Pence, left, White House legislative affairs aide Ja'Ron Smith, Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen, second row left, White House Senior Adviser Jared Kushner, and others, walk down the steps of the Eisenhower Executive Office building, on the White House complex, after a meeting with staff members of House and Senate leadership, Saturday, Jan. 5, 2019, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

“The meeting today at 1 p.m. started approximately 45 minutes late because the White House did not have the information Democrats requested ready," the official told Fox News. "Yesterday, Democrats asked for a full budget justification for the administration’s position because the $5.7 billion wall request was not included in the administration's fiscal year 2019 request and the administration has not had a consistent position in various conversations with the Hill.  Democratic staff did not receive a full budget justification today.
  The Democratic source continued: "Three and a half months into a new fiscal year, the Administration did not present any commensurate cuts in the DHS budget to accommodate the increases they are seeking.  Given the failure of the White House to present a full budget justification today, the Democratic staff pleaded again for the White House to change course and re-open government by supporting the [bill to fund DHS through February 8] and the six bill package that the House has passed and has received broad bipartisan support in the Senate.  The Vice President said the President would not do that."
No further meetings between Pence and congressional staff are currently planned. For his part, Pence tweeted only that he was "back at the White House" Sunday afternoon.
While Pence noted that the president was "committed to securing the border, building the wall, & working to reopen our government," he did not characterize the meeting "productive," as he did on Twitter after a similar get-together with congressional staff on Saturday.
However, in his own tweet later Sunday afternoon, Trump called Pence's meeting as a step forward.
"V.P. Mike Pence and group had a productive meeting with the Schumer/Pelosi representatives today," Trump wrote. "Many details of Border Security were discussed. We are now planning a Steel Barrier rather than concrete. It is both stronger & less obtrusive. Good solution, and made in the U.S.A."
Trump's steel wall proposal was the continuation of a White House strategy that has developed in the past several weeks. Trump first floated the idea of using "artistically designed steel slats" for the wall, rather than concrete, in December.
He then suggested taking the concrete wall off the table at a Rose Garden news conference on Friday, as a concession to Democrats. And, acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney said in an interview on NBC News' "Meet the Press" on Sunday that Trump "was willing to agree ... to take a concrete wall off the table" in order to secure a deal to end the ongoing shutdown.
"We've been in touch with a lot of people, and I informed my folks to say that we'll build a steel barrier --- steel -- that it will be made out of steel, that it will be less obtrusive and it'll be stronger," Trump said. "And we're able to use our great companies to make it, by using steel."
Some ex-White House officials have suggested Trump abandoned the idea of a concrete wall in the early days of his tenure. In an explosive interview published shortly before his departure from the Trump administration at the end of last year, former chief of staff John Kelly told the Los Angeles Times that the White House had "left a solid concrete wall early on in the administration, when we asked people what they needed and where they needed it.

People look on from the Mexican side, left, as U.S. Border Patrol agents on the other side of the U.S. border wall in San Diego prepare for the arrival of hundreds of pro-migration protestors, seen from Tijuana, Mexico, Monday, Dec. 10, 2018. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)

Earlier Sunday, speaking to reporters before he headed out to Camp David to discuss border security with top advisers, Trump had predicted that the Pence-run meeting would not lead to any major developments.
TRUMP POINTS TO OBAMA, HILLARY'S PAST REMARKS TO BOLSTER PUSH FOR BORDER WALL
"I don't expect to have anything to happen at that meeting," Trump said.
Previous meetings between Democrats and White House officials have been heated: House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Nielsen, the DHS secretary, reportedly got into a tense confrontation on Wednesday in the Situation Room, with the California Democrat interrupting Nielsen’s presentation on border security and illegal immigration, telling her, “I reject your facts.”
The president additionally said he was "totally involved" in shutdown negotiations and claimed to have "tremendous support within the Republican Party."
The longest federal government shutdown in U.S. history lasted 21 days, and Trump has said repeatedly that current one may last more than a year if Democrats are not willing to fund some of the wall.

."They don't like concrete, so we'll give them steel."
— President Trump

The president also reaffirmed that he "may declare a national emergency dependent on what's going to happen over the next few days" to construct a border wall, and declared that Republicans and Democrats were "going to have some very serious talks" beginning on Monday.
However, speaking on "Fox News Sunday," Democratic Rhode Island Rep. David Cicilline suggested Trump did not have the authority to declare an emergency to build the border wall.
"I don’t think the president has that authority -- he would have to meet a very high standard," Cicilline said. "Article I establishes the Congress of the United States and gives us the responsibility of appropriating money, so I don’t think the president has the authority to do that, and I hope he will try to work with Congress to resolve this disagreement but open the government first."
The Democrat-led House last week approved one amalgamated spending bill, addressing six areas of spending and one measure to fund the Department of Homeland Security through Feb. 8. The House approved both bills on a bipartisan basis, but Senate Republicans and the White House have said they were non-starters without wall money.

A migrant from Honduras pass a child to her father after he jumped the border fence to get into the U.S. side to San Diego, Calif., from Tijuana, Mexico, Thursday, Jan. 3, 2019. Discouraged by the long wait to apply for asylum through official ports of entry, many migrants from recent caravans are choosing to cross the U.S. border wall and hand themselves in to border patrol agents. (AP Photo/Daniel Ochoa de Olza)

This week, the House is set to start approving these measures on an individual basis. On Sunday, Democrats posted the full text of the bills, in keeping with their recent rules change requiring 72 hours of advanced notice to the public before members vote on most new legislation.
Fox News has learned the House Rules Committee will meet late Tuesday afternoon to tee up some of these measures for the floor. The Rules Committee is the gateway for most legislation to reach the House floor.

The House is expected to consider the Financial Services and General Government appropriations bill Wednesday. This measure deals with the Treasury Department and funds the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).
By the end of next week, the House likely will have passed different versions of all funding bills to re-open the government -- twice.

In an interview Sunday, South Carolina Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham warned the shutdown could not end as long as the "radical left" insisted on calling Republicans racist for supporting immigration officials.
"We’re negotiating with people who will accuse all of us who support a wall as part of border security as racists," Graham said on CBS News' "Face the Nation" on Sunday. "As long as the radical left is in charge, we’re not going to get anywhere."