Dems save Johnson’s $95B foreign aid plan from GOP rebel blockade

Speaker Mike Johnson’s $95 billion foreign aid proposal survived a key test vote Friday morning, setting House lawmakers up to consider its four individual components sometime Saturday.

In a stunning break from modern historical precedent, more Democrats voted for the GOP proposal than Johnson's fellow Republicans.

Democrats bucked party norms to support the plan through a procedural hurdle known as a "rule vote" after conservative foreign aid skeptics defected from Republicans to try to block the plan. It passed 316-94, with 165 Democrats and 151 Republicans in favor.

Rep. Jim McGovern, D-Mass., the top Democrat on the House Rules Committee that advanced the proposal on Thursday night, said before the Friday vote, "Democrats are providing the votes necessary to advance this legislation to the floor, because at the end of the day, so much more is at stake here than petty [brinkmanship]."

GOP REBELS DERAIL SPEAKER JOHNSON’S BORDER BILL AMID FURY OVER FOREIGN AID

The rule vote now sets up debate on the four individual bills followed by amendment votes and four votes on passage sometime Saturday. It’s highly unusual for Democrats, or any opposition party, to cross the aisle on a rule vote, but it underscores the urgency that lawmakers on both sides feel about sending aid to foreign allies.

The 55 Republican dissidents on this latest rule vote illustrate the fractured House Republican Conference that Johnson is trying to manage, with the House Freedom Caucus and their allies having wielded outsized influence for much of this term. 

Three of the four bills fund Ukraine, Israel, and the Indo-Pacific. A fourth bill includes national security priorities like the House’s recently passed crackdown on TikTok’s ownership, as well as the REPO Act, which would liquidate seized Russian assets and give that funding to Ukraine.

SENATE VOTE ON MAYORKAS IMPEACHMENT REACHES 'UNPRECEDENTED TERRITORY': CHAD PERGRAM

Johnson’s push for foreign aid has infuriated members on the right of his House GOP conference, putting added pressure on the Louisiana Republican as he also navigates a historically slim majority.

Earlier this week, Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., threatened to oust Johnson if he did not step aside after a House vote on his foreign aid plan. Massie is now signed onto Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene’s, R-Ga., motion to vacate resolution, which, if deemed "privileged" by Greene, would force the House to begin voting on Johnson’s potential ouster within two legislative days.

'DEFINITION OF INSANITY': FRUSTRATED HOUSE REPUBLICANS BLAST GOP REBELS' THREAT TO OUST JOHNSON

Massie said during debate ahead of the final vote, "I'm concerned that the speaker's cut a deal with the Democrats to fund foreign wars rather than to secure our border."

Greene’s amendment to strip all Ukraine funding from the foreign aid bill is slated to get a vote on Saturday ahead of the vote on final passage.

House takes key test vote for Johnson’s $95B foreign aid plan after Dems help it advance

The House of Representatives is voting on whether to proceed with Speaker Mike Johnson’s $95 billion foreign aid proposal on Friday after it cleared its first key procedural hurdle with Democratic help.

The Friday morning vote is a test vote of sorts for the four foreign aid bills, known as a "rule vote." If successful it will allow lawmakers to debate each of the individual four bills and vote on their final passage on Saturday.

Three of the four bills fund Ukraine, Israel, and the Indo-Pacific. A fourth bill includes national security priorities like the House’s recently passed crackdown on TikTok’s ownership as well as the REPO Act, which would liquidate seized Russian assets and give that funding to Ukraine.

Democrats had to help bail the GOP-led proposals on Thursday night in the face of conservative opposition. The Rules Committee, the final barrier before legislation traditionally gets a House-wide vote, spent all day considering the bills before advancing their "rules" package in a 9-3 vote.

GOP REBELS DERAIL SPEAKER JOHNSON’S BORDER BILL AMID FURY OVER FOREIGN AID

It’s highly unusual for Democrats, or any opposition party, to cross the aisle on a Rules Committee vote as well as a House-wide rule vote. But it underscores the urgency that lawmakers on both sides feel about sending aid to foreign allies.

The three conservatives on the panel — Reps. Chip Roy, R-Texas, Thomas Massie, R-Ky., and Ralph Norman, R-S.C. — all voted against the measure; an equally unusual move that’s become common in the 118th Congress, where members of the House Freedom Caucus and their allies have wielded outsized influence in Republicans’ thin majority by blocking procedural hurdles such as this. Democrats’ support will be critical for the rule vote and potentially even final passage of the bills. 

Johnson has faced furious pushback from the right flank of his conference over most of his plan, particularly sending $60 billion to Ukraine, which has become a politically fraught topic for much of the GOP.

Those same foreign aid hawks have objected to some of the Israel funding being aimed at humanitarian aid in Gaza, though its inclusion was critical to winning Democratic support. In a victory for Republicans, however, it prevents any of the Israel-Gaza funding from going toward the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), a Palestinian refugee agency alleged to have ties to Hamas.

SENATE VOTE ON MAYORKAS IMPEACHMENT REACHES 'UNPRECEDENTED TERRITORY': CHAD PERGRAM

Conservative rebels also decried House GOP leaders’ decision to combine the four bills into one before sending it to the Senate, arguing it amounted to the same $95 billion foreign aid package the Democrat-majority chamber passed earlier this year and which House Republicans oppose. Johnson has argued that packaging them together for the Senate would prevent them from neglecting the Israel bill at a time when the issue has divided the Democratic Party.

Earlier this week, Massie threatened he’d move to oust Johnson from the speakership if he did not step aside after having the House vote on his foreign aid plans. One GOP lawmaker who was present at the closed-door meeting where it happened told Fox News Digital on Tuesday that Johnson challenged him to do so.

Massie is now signed onto Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene’s motion to vacate resolution, which, if deemed "privileged" by Greene, would force the House to begin voting on Johnson’s potential ouster within two legislative days.

'DEFINITION OF INSANITY': FRUSTRATED HOUSE REPUBLICANS BLAST GOP REBELS' THREAT TO OUST JOHNSON

Some discussion over whether to raise the threshold needed to call a motion to vacate — currently just one member can call for it — ended with Johnson backing off of the controversial move after it enraged GOP rebels and spurred new ouster threats.

Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., suggested to reporters earlier that a wide swath of rank-and-file Republicans supported the idea; but Johnson denied having such conversations earlier on Thursday when asked by Fox News Digital.

"Recently, many members have encouraged me to endorse a new rule to raise this threshold. While I understand the importance of that idea, any rule change requires a majority of the full House, which we do not have. We will continue to govern under the existing rules," Johnson said on Thursday evening. 

Morning Digest: A new Democratic recruit could put an unexpected GOP seat in play

The Morning Digest is compiled by David Nir, Jeff Singer, and Stephen Wolf, with additional contributions from the Daily Kos Elections team.

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Leading Off

WI-01: Peter Barca, a Democrat with a long history in Wisconsin politics, announced Thursday that he would challenge Republican Rep. Bryan Steil for the state's 1st District, a constituency that's descended from the one Barca briefly represented three decades ago. While Republicans have held it ever since, Barca's entry could put into play a seat that the GOP has rarely had to sweat.

Barca, who stepped down last month as state revenue secretary, is the first major contender to enter the Aug. 13 Democratic primary, and it's possible he could be the last. Right after his launch, former Assembly Speaker Mike Sheridan informed the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel's Lawrence Andrea that he'd decided to back Barca rather than run himself.

The filing deadline isn't until June 3, but according to Barca, national Democrats would be pleased if no other notable candidates entered the race. Barca told Andrea in late March that the DCCC began recruiting him last fall, though he says he repeatedly told the committee, "No way." The former congressman, however, said that he began to reconsider after watching "month after month of total dysfunction" in the House.

Given Wisconsin's late primary, Democrats' odds of flipping the 1st could improve should Barca clear the field, especially since Steil begins the race with a big fundraising head start. The incumbent hauled in $618,000 during the first three months of 2024 and finished March with a hefty $4 million in the bank.

The 1st District, which includes the Milwaukee suburbs of Janesville, Kenosha, and Racine, favored Donald Trump by a small 50-48 margin in 2020 as Joe Biden was narrowly carrying Wisconsin, and it's continued to vote a few points to the right of the state since then.

Republican Tim Michels, according to data from Dave's Redistricting App, edged out Gov. Tony Evers by a skinny 49.5-49.3 margin in 2022 in 2022 as Evers was winning statewide 51-48, while Republican Sen. Ron Johnson took the 1st 52-48 that same evening amid his 50-49 reelection win. Steil, for his part, won his third term 54-45 against an underfunded Democrat.

However, the district hasn't been unwinnable for progressives. Analyst Drew Savicki says that Janet Protasiewicz carried it 53-47 in last year's officially nonpartisan state Supreme Court race as she was winning her race 55-45.

But while this seat is far from safely red, no House Democrat has won the 1st District in the decades since Barca prevailed in a tight 1993 special election to succeed 12-term Rep. Les Aspin, a fellow Democrat who resigned to become Bill Clinton's first secretary of defense.

Barca, as we detailed recently, earned a promotion out of the state Assembly that year by beating Republican Mark Neumann 50-49. Neumann, though, won a rematch by an even tighter 49.2-48.8 spread the following year as Newt Gingrich was leading the GOP to its first House majority in 40 years.

Democrats hoped to reclaim the 1st District in 1996, but Neumann fended off Democrat Lydia Spottswood 51-49. Neumann left the House in 1998 to wage an unsuccessful bid against Democratic Sen. Russ Feingold, but a 28-year-old former Republican congressional staffer named Paul Ryan held the seat by defeating Spottswood 57-43.

(Neumann went on to badly lose the 2010 nomination for governor to Scott Walker and take a distant third place in the 2012 Senate primary; Spottswood lost a bid earlier this month to serve as mayor of Kenosha.)

Ryan quickly became entrenched and won each of his reelection campaigns by double digits, but Democrats hoped they'd have an opening when the speaker unexpectedly retired ahead of the 2018 blue wave.

However, Steil, who was a member of the University of Wisconsin Board of Regents, kept the seat in GOP hands by turning back a well-funded effort from Democrat Randy Bryce 55-43. Following that win, Steil was not seriously targeted in either 2020 or 2022.

But despite that loss during the Gingrich revolution, Barca remained on the political scene. He returned to the Assembly in 2008 and became minority leader after the following cycle's red wave flipped control of the chamber.

Barca attracted widespread attention in 2011 when he led a 60-hour floor debate in the hopes of derailing a notorious anti-labor law pushed by Walker, but he stepped down from his leadership post in 2017 after he was one of just three Democrats to vote for Walker's infamous $3 billion tax incentive package to the electronics company Foxconn.

Barca still sought and won another term in the legislature, but he left in early 2019 after Tony Evers, who had just unseated Walker, named him to his cabinet as head of the state's Department of Revenue.

Governors

WV-Gov: Republican Gov. Jim Justice on Thursday endorsed former Del. Moore Capito, who is the son and namesake of Sen. Shelly Moore Capito, with just under a month to go before the May 14 Republican primary to replace him.

Justice, who is the GOP's frontrunner for West Virginia's other Senate seat, made his choice at a time when Capito and his two main rivals are engaged in a bitter air war that's turned into a battle over which candidate is the most transphobic.

The Cook Political Report's Matthew Klein recently collected many of the lowlights of this grim competition, which has been playing out for some time. Capito has been an active participant, debuting a new spot that claimed that the frontrunner, Attorney General Patrick Morrisey, "got rich lobbying for the puberty blocker companies." He's also airing another commercial that shows a male actor winning a women's track competition.

That ad, which does not mention any of Capito's intra-party rivals, concludes, "Thanks to Del. Moore Capito, girls' sports in West Virginia are protected." The spot was almost certainly produced before a federal appeals court blocked a 2021 state law this week that bans trans student-athletes from participating in the sport that corresponds to their gender identity.

A third GOP candidate, businessman Chris Miller, is airing his own commercial in which a woman declares, "The trans shouldn't get more rights than what our kids have." The spot, similar to Capito's, goes on to argue that Morrisey "was the go-to lobbyist for drug makers peddling puberty blockers and a gender transition clinic for kids." (Miller has also been running another anti-trans ad.)

Miller's allies at West Virginia Forward make similar arguments in another spot that also unsubtly attacks Morrisey's physical appearance. The ad features an animated version of the attorney general, calling him "small in stature." It shows the cartoon Morrisey barely rising above a podium before depicting him in front of plates of food as the narrator concludes he has "a big appetite for getting rich at our expense."

Morrisey's backers at Black Bear PAC, meanwhile, are arguing that when Miller was a university board member, he "looked the other way as pro-transgender events happened on his watch." The narrator goes on to quote from the far-right Daily Caller, saying one such event involved "a trans closet that provided items to support sex changes for students."

All of these commercials come during the final month of an expensive campaign during which, according to AdImpact, close to $19 million has been spent on or reserved for advertising. The firm reports that $7.5 million has gone into pro-Morrisey ads compared to $5.3 million to boost Miller, while Capito has deployed $2 million. AdImpact has also tracked another $2.1 million in anti-Miller ads and $2 million in spots hitting Morrisey.

The data does not mention any commercials run against Capito, though it may not yet reflect a new offensive from Morrisey's allies at the Club for Growth that began this week. Secretary of State Mac Warner, who is the fourth notable Republican candidate, still does not appear to have run any TV ads or been attacked on the air.

House

KS-02: Republican Rep. Jake LaTurner unexpectedly announced Thursday that he would not seek a third term in Kansas' 2nd District, a decision that makes the 36-year-old one of the youngest people to ever voluntarily retire from Congress.

This seat in the eastern part of the state favored Donald Trump 57-41 in 2020, so the winner of the Aug. 6 GOP primary will be favored in the general election. While major-party candidate filing has already closed in 34 states, LaTurner's would-be successors still have until June 1 to place their names on the ballot.

Two Republicans, Leavenworth County Attorney Todd Thompson and state House Majority Leader Chris Croft, were each quick to tell the Kansas City Star that they're interested in running to fill the newly open seat.

The paper also mentioned several other Republicans as possibilities, including 2022 gubernatorial nominee Derek Schmidt; LaTurner staffer Jeff Kahrs; and a pair of state senators who unsuccessfully sought the 2nd District when it last came open in 2018, Dennis Pyle and Caryn Tyson. Pyle, though, later ran for governor as an independent in 2022, and he has yet to rejoin the GOP.

Another candidate who also lost in that same 2018 race, former state Sen. Steve Fitzgerald, laughed when the Star asked him about another campaign, so he's presumably a no.

LaTurner, whom Inside Elections notes is the youngest Republican in Congress, is ending an electoral career that began at 20 when he lost a 2008 primary for state Senate 55-45 to Bob Marshall, who went on to win the seat. LaTurner soon began running a district office for Rep. Lynn Jenkins, who had been elected to represent the 2nd Congressional District that same year, before seeking a rematch against Marshall in 2012.

Kansas GOP primaries had long pitted relative moderates like Marshall against hardline conservatives, and right-wing groups were especially determined to purge centrists after they joined with the Democratic minority in an unsuccessful attempt to stop Gov. Sam Brownback's income tax cuts. LaTurner won the support of the Kansas Chamber of Commerce and the Koch family's Americans for Prosperity and defeated Marshall 57-43 on what proved to be a strong night for conservatives.

LaTurner won the general election 61-39 and easily secured reelection in 2016, but Trump would soon set off a chain of events that would elevate LaTurner to higher office.

Trump unexpectedly picked Mike Pompeo, who represented Kansas' 4th District around Wichita, to lead the CIA, prompting a special election that state Treasurer Ron Estes went on to win (albeit in remarkably weak fashion). Brownback then appointed LaTurner to replace Estes, a move that made the new treasurer the youngest statewide elected official in the country.

LaTurner easily kept his new job in 2018 even as Democrat Laura Kelly was pulling off an upset for governor. That same night also saw Republican Steve Watkins narrowly win the race to succeed the retiring Jenkins in the conservative 2nd District, despite the fact that multiple media reports had exposed Watkins as a serial liar and a woman accused him of sexual misconduct.

LaTurner almost immediately kicked off a campaign to replace retiring Republican Sen. Pat Roberts, but he struggled to gain traction. However, he got far more support when he announced in September of 2019 that he would instead launch a primary challenge against Watkins, who just weeks before had denied widespread rumors that he'd resign because of an undisclosed scandal.

Watkins attracted still more ugly headlines, including a Topeka Capital-Journal story reporting that he might have committed voter fraud by listing a UPS store in Topeka as his home address on his voter registration form and then proceeding to cast a ballot the previous month as though he lived there.

Things got worse the month before the primary when local authorities charged Watkins with three felonies over his 2019 vote—a development that awkwardly came just half an hour before he was set to debate his challenger.

LaTurner beat Watkins 49-34, news that came as a relief for Republicans who feared the congressman was too weak to hold what should have been a safe seat. LaTurner went on to defeat Topeka Mayor Michelle De La Isla, who hoped Watkins would be her opponent, by a comfortable 55-41 margin as Trump was carrying the 2nd District by a similar spread. (Watkins later reached a diversion agreement with local prosecutors that ultimately led to the voter fraud charges against him getting dropped.)

LaTurner, who joined the majority of his caucus in voting against recognizing Joe Biden's victory, won his second term without trouble, and he was on track to easily claim reelection again before his surprise Thursday retirement announcement. But LaTurner didn't just put an end to his congressional career: He also said on Thursday that he wouldn't seek state-level office in 2026, when Kelly will be termed out as governor.

The congressman insisted that he was cutting short his once-promising political future to spend time with his family and not because of GOP infighting, though he acknowledged Congress' deep flaws.

"Undoubtedly, the current dysfunction on Capitol Hill is distressing, but it almost always has been; we just didn't see most of it," LaTurner said in a statement.

But even LaTurner seemed surprised by the chaos last fall when he responded to the GOP's three-week speakership deadlock by exclaiming, "I thought we had reached rock bottom, but we hadn't."  

MI-03: The Detroit News' Grant Schwab reports that the brother of attorney Paul Hudson is the sole donor to a super PAC that announced last week it had taken in $1 million to promote Hudson, a Republican running for Michigan's 3rd congressional District. Schwab writes that Ryan Hudson is a co-founder of the browser extension Honey, a tool for finding coupons that he sold to PayPal for a reported $4 billion in 2020.

Paul Hudson is the GOP frontrunner to take on Democratic Rep. Hillary Scholten in a Grand Rapids constituency that Joe Biden carried 53-45 in 2020. Hudson only raised $59,000 from donors during the first quarter of 2024 but self-funded another $150,000, ending March with $342,000 in the bank. Scholten raised $643,000 during that time and finished last month with $1.8 million in her coffers.

OR-03: Primary School flags that the super PAC 314 Action so far has spent $816,000 to support state Rep. Maxine Dexter ahead of the May 21 primary to succeed her fellow Democrat, retiring Rep. Earl Blumenauer, in the dark blue 3rd District around Portland. The PAC, which promotes Democratic candidates with backgrounds in science (Dexter is a pulmonologist), is the only outside group that has spent anything on the contest so far.

Dexter, former Multnomah County Commissioner Susheela Jayapal, and Gresham City Councilor Eddy Morales are the main candidates competing in next month's primary. Jayapal, who is the sister of Washington Rep. Pramila Jayapal, outraised her rivals during the first quarter by taking in $333,000, and her $408,000 war chest was also the largest.

Morales outpaced Dexter $245,000 to $185,000, and he ended March with $251,000 in the bank, versus a similar $227,000 for Dexter.

Judges

WI Supreme Court: Wisconsin Court of Appeals Judge Chris Taylor, who was one of three liberal jurists considering a bid for the state Supreme Court next year, said on Thursday that she would not run for the new open seat created by Justice Ann Walsh Bradley's recent retirement announcement.

Two other progressives, Dane County Circuit Judge Susan Crawford and Court of Appeals Judge Pedro Colón, are still weighing the race. Crawford said Thursday she'd have "more to say in the coming weeks."

On the conservative side, former Republican Attorney General Brad Schimel has been running since the fall, while Court of Appeals Judge Maria Lazar has also expressed interest.

All candidates will run together on a single primary ballot on Feb. 18, with the top two vote-getters advancing to an April 1 general election. Control of the court will once again be up for grabs as liberals seek to defend the 4-3 majority they earned last year when Janet Protaseiwicz, then a Milwaukee County Circuit Court judge, flipped an open seat that had been held by a conservative justice.

Ballot Measures

CO Ballot: Reproductive rights supporters in Colorado turned in petitions on Thursday to place an amendment on the November ballot to safeguard abortion access and overturn a 1984 amendment that bans public funding for the procedure. That same day anti-abortion groups acknowledged that they'd failed to collect enough signatures to put a rival amendment before voters that would all but ban the procedure.

Constitutional amendments need to win at least 55% of the vote to pass in Colorado, but first campaigns must get them on the ballot. Amendment campaigns need to collect about 124,000 valid signatures, a figure that represents 5% of the total vote cast in the most recent election for secretary of state, and also hit certain targets in each of the state's 35 Senate districts.

Abortion rights advocates announced Thursday they'd submitted nearly 240,000 signatures with eight days left before their April 26 deadline, and Westworld says election officials have a month to verify them. That review will not be necessary for the opposite side, though: Anti-abortion groups only had until Thursday because they began their task earlier, but they fell short of legal requirements to make the ballot.

NV Ballot: The Nevada Supreme Court ruled on Thursday that a constitutional amendment to protect broadly reproductive rights, including the right to an abortion, does not violate state rules prohibiting ballot initiatives from addressing more than one subject, but organizers said they nonetheless plan to keep focusing on a separate proposal that only addresses abortion.

Advocates changed gears last fall after a lower court judge blocked the more expansive amendment, saying it "embraces a multitude of subjects." The Supreme Court, however, rejected that reasoning, concluding that "all the medical procedures considered in the initiative petition concern reproduction."

The group backing both measures, Nevadans for Reproductive Freedom, welcomed Thursday's decision but said in a statement it intends to put the second, abortion-only amendment before voters. The organization also said it had already collected 160,000 signatures for the narrower amendment, which is well over the 103,000 required by law. However, supporters have said their goal is to submit twice as many signatures as necessary as a cushion.

The original amendment could still appear before voters two years from now, though. The Democratic-led state legislature advanced an amendment last year that the Nevada Independent says includes "essentially identical language" as the version the state Supreme Court blessed on Thursday.

State law, however, requires lawmakers to approve the amendment again following the 2024 general election before it could go before voters in 2026, when it would need to win a majority to go into effect.

Because the newer amendment put forth by Nevadans for Reproductive Freedom is a citizen-sponsored initiative, it would need to earn majority backing at the ballot box twice, both this fall and again two years from now. Measures placed on the ballot by the legislature, however, only need to win voter support once.

Poll Pile

  • FL-Sen: Mainstreet Research for Florida Atlantic University: Rick Scott (R-inc): 53, Debbie Mucarsel-Powell (D): 36 (51-43 Trump in two-way, 49-40 Trump with third-party candidates)

Ad Roundup

Campaign Action

Vulnerable House Dems do a U-turn on illegal immigration after calling crisis ‘non-existent threat’

A handful of vulnerable House Democrats, all of whom dismissed concern about the southern border crisis and voted against measures to enhance border security in the past, have attempted to show their attention to the issue as they campaign for re-election.

Three Democrats in competitive House races this election cycle — Reps. Yadira Caraveo, D-Colo., Gabe Vasquez, D-N.M., and Eric Sorenson, D-Ill. — have introduced bills, resolutions and amendments over the last year that would do little to limit the flow of migrants entering the country illegally, but they acknowledge the crisis.

Caraveo, who represents Colorado's 8th Congressional District, introduced a package of legislation earlier this year pertaining to some of the immigration struggles facing the United States.

The first-term lawmaker introduced two bills — the HELP for Interior Cities ACT and the ANTI-Drugs Act — in February and insisted both pieces of legislation address "the needs of Colorado communities in the wake of a recent increase in migrant arrivals."

REPUBLICANS PREDICT DEMS TO PAY 'HEAVY PRICE' IN ELECTION AFTER MAYORKAS IMPEACHMENT BID FAILS

"This comprehensive plan would deliver funding to interior cities like Denver that are in need of support, reduce the financial burden placed on local governments, and stem the flow of illegal drugs into the U.S. It would also deliver much-needed funding to law enforcement both at the border and here in Colorado," she said of the measures at the time.

The HELP for Interior Cities ACT does little to address the flow of migrants entering the country and provides additional funding for migrant shelters located in cities not found along the border. The ANTI-Drugs Act, however, would make an already-existing Department of Homeland program titled "Operation Stonegarden" permanent and give law enforcement agencies grants for equipment and "personnel, including overtime and backfill, in support of enhanced border law enforcement activities."

Prior to introducing the measures, Caraveo was one of 211 Democrats who voted against the Secure the Border Act of 2023. That measure, which passed in the House, would have expanded the type of crimes that make someone ineligible for asylum, limited the eligibility to those who arrive at ports of entry, mandated a system similar to the E-Verify employment eligibility verification system and created additional penalties for visa overstay.

Caraveo was also one of 210 House Democrats who voted against a GOP-led effort in the House to impeach Homeland Security Sec. Alejandro Mayorkas.

During her previous tenure in the Colorado state House of Representatives, Caraveo joined other Democrats from across the nation to send a letter urging the Biden administration to relax immigration rules and "divest from immigration enforcement agencies like ICE and CBP."

Another Democrat who has brought attention to the issue in recent months is Vasquez, who represents New Mexico's 2nd Congressional District.

Earlier this month, Vasquez introduced a resolution that "condemns Republican inaction on common-sense solutions to our Nation’s broken immigration system and the challenges our Nation faces at the border."

Like Caraveo, Vasquez voted against the Secure the Border Act of 2023. Last October, however, he introduced a package of immigration bills amid a skyrocketing number of illegal immigrants arriving at the U.S. border. Those measures aimed to increase penalties for smugglers and cartels who engage in violent crimes, provide pathways for certain migrants to lawfully work in the U.S. and fund additional personnel at ports of entry.

ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT ARRESTED IN CRASH THAT KILLED DEMOCRATIC SENATOR'S ADVISER

Prior to joining Congress, Vasquez lashed out at then-President Trump amid immigration woes in 2018 and insisted the idea of "sending the military to quell a non-existent threat" is "beyond stupid."

In a November 2020 post to Twitter, now known as X, Vasquez responded to one social media user who called for the abolition of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection by writing, "the only ICE we need to be melting."

Vasquez was also one of many Democrats who applauded President Biden's decision to terminate construction of a border wall along the southern border. In a January 2021 post on social media, he said, "As of today, all construction on this racist, environmentally destructive, massive waste of money comes to a grinding halt. This vanity project was little more than a glorification of xenophobia and an insult to border communities. Lets tear it down."

Like Caraveo and Vasquez, Sorensen, who represents Illinois' 17th Congressional District, voted against the Secure the Border Act of 2023, which would have largely increased the total number of CBP agents.

Sorensen introduced two amendments to the Secure the Border Act — one that would require the hiring, training and assigning of "not fewer than 500 additional CBP officers" at points of entry and another that would have appropriated $25 million to "improve coordination" and "expand" a fentanyl task force.

Both amendments were not considered prior to a vote on the bill in the House, and Sorensen cited a lack of bipartisan cooperation in voting against the legislation.

After introducing the amendments, Sorensen went on to vote "nay" on impeachment efforts against Mayorkas earlier this year.

Sorensen, like most of his colleagues on his side of the aisle, has expressed opposition to the Trump-proposed idea of a southern border wall. In a November 2019 post promoting an Illinois restaurant, he wrote, "We don’t need border walls, we need more pancakes and burritos!"

Last July, Sorensen joined 201 other Democrats, including Vasquez and Caraveo, in voting against a measure that would have prevented the use of facilities of certain schools that receive federal financial assistance to provide shelter or housing to illegal immigrants. Additionally, the trio of Democrat lawmakers rejected a measure that aimed to prohibit the federal government from using certain federally administered lands to provide housing for illegal immigrants.

Caraveo and Vasquez are both seeking re-election to their seats that have been labeled "Democrat Toss Up" by the Cook Political Report, a nonpartisan election analyst. Sorensen's seat has been labeled as "Lean Democrat."

CBP records show the first six months of fiscal year 2024 had 1,340,801 total encounters, exceeding the first six months of fiscal year 2023, which set a record of 1,226,254 total encounters.

Caraveo, Vasquez and Sorenson did not respond to Fox News Digital's requests for comment.

Abbreviated Pundit Roundup: We have our jury

Abbreviated Pundit Roundup is a long-running series published every morning that collects essential political discussion and analysis around the internet.

The Washington Post:

The U.S. just changed how it manages a tenth of its land

The Interior Department rule puts conservation and clean energy development on par with drilling, mining and resource extraction on federal lands for the first time

The final rule released Thursday represents a seismic shift in the management of roughly 245 million acres of public property — about one-tenth of the nation’s land mass. It is expected to draw praise from conservationists and legal challenges from fossil fuel industry groups and Republican officials, some of whom have lambasted the move as a “land grab.”

Interior’s Bureau of Land Management, known as the nation’s largest landlord, has long offered leases to oil and gas companies, mining firms and ranchers. Now, for the first time, the nearly 80-year-old agency will auction off “restoration leases” and “mitigation leases” to entities with plans to restore or conserve public lands.

A prospective juror, talking about who he follows on Twitter, tells the court, “Let’s go with Twitter, I don’t call it X.”

— Olivia Nuzzi (@Olivianuzzi) April 18, 2024

The New York Times:

After Reports About Trump Jurors, Judge Demands Restraint From the Press

Some news reports have included details about jurors that had been aired in open court. One was excused after she developed concerns about being identified.

The judge in former President Donald J. Trump’s criminal trial ordered reporters to not disclose employment information about potential jurors after he excused a woman who said she was worried about her identity becoming known.

The woman, who had been seated on the jury on Tuesday, told the judge that her friends and colleagues had warned her that she had been identified as a juror in the high-profile case. Although the judge has kept prospective jurors’ names private, some have disclosed their employers and other identifying information in court.

She also said that she did not believe she could be impartial.

The judge, Juan M. Merchan, promptly dismissed her.

Moments later, Justice Merchan ordered the press to not report the answer to two queries on a lengthy questionnaire for prospective jurors: “Who is your current employer?” and “Who was your prior employer?”

They have 12 jurors as of Thursday afternoon and an alternate, and are now selecting the other five alternates.

Arye Deri and Moshe Gafni have both relayed to Netanyahu their rabbis’ warnings against launching an attack on Iran without coordination with the US. It’s a rare ultra-Orthodox intervention in security matters which could mean 3 things >

— Anshel Pfeffer אנשיל פפר (@AnshelPfeffer) April 18, 2024

3 The Haredi politicians are Netanyahu’s most loyal partners. If they’ve let it be known their rabbis are against attacking Iran, it’s because Netanyahu wants this to be known. He doesn’t want to rush an attack but he needs political cover from the far-right who are demanding it.

— Anshel Pfeffer אנשיל פפר (@AnshelPfeffer) April 18, 2024

Last night there was a limited attack on Iran. But:

It appears that the attack in Iran was executed through glide bombs. That is important, because those were likely launched not from Israel but elsewhere. In addition, they can’t be traced through radar. This goes with the radio silence from Israel. Meanwhile, an IDF source told…

— Shaiel Ben-Ephraim (@academic_la) April 19, 2024

Here is the full tweet above:

It appears that the attack in Iran was executed through glide bombs. That is important, because those were likely launched not from Israel but elsewhere. In addition, they can’t be traced through radar. This goes with the radio silence from Israel. Meanwhile, an IDF source told FOX News the operation was “limited.” What the attack was going for is plausible deniability. That will allow Iran to pretend this isn’t a big deal and react without major escalation. Iran seems to be playing along so far. That would also go with approval from the United States, which seems to have been obtained a day in advance.

Joe Perticone/The Bulwark:

Mike Johnson Finds a Way, Despite the Odds Plus: The shortest and silliest impeachment trial in history.

For some background on the unique process by which Johnson is going about this, see Tuesday’s edition of Press Pass. Today, I want to catch you up on the events that have unfolded since Johnson unveiled the four-bills-one-rule plan. Given the way the 118th Congress has functioned so far—it has been among the least effective Congresses in modern history—we may be on the verge of seeing a clever maneuver to circumvent the members who have been holding the chamber hostage.

Since Johnson laid his cards on the table on Monday, the individual bill texts have been released. The toplines are as follows:

Johnson created a plan that insulates him from potential scheming and alterations by the Senate, while structuring a package that essentially includes what has already passed the upper chamber.

Rep. Moskowitz's amendments to the Ukraine aid bill: 1. Rename Marjorie Taylor-Greene's office to the Neville Chamberlain Room 2. Appoint Marjorie Taylor-Greene as Vladimir Putin's Special Envoy to the US pic.twitter.com/Ep6Pfq6Vo7

— Kareem Rifai 🌐 (@KareemRifai) April 18, 2024

POLITICO:

Party leaders try to break standoff over Johnson's foreign aid package

The Rules Committee hasn't yet returned from a break, as Democrats and Republicans negotiate how to move the four bills to the floor.

In exchange for helping circumvent the conservatives, Democrats are hoping they’ll be able to extract concessions from the other side of the aisle and are actively talking with Republicans, according to those people. But it’s not clear what, if anything, Johnson would give them for helping bring the bills to the floor. Democrats have called on him to bring Ukraine aid, in particular, to the floor for months.

“I think Democrats will act in a manner that's incredibly united once we see the rule and see what it says,” Rep. Teresa Leger Fernandez (D-N.M.), who sits on the Rules committee, told POLITICO Thursday when the meeting recessed.

She wouldn’t comment directly on whether Democrats have heard from Johnson, but added, “I hear that [Johnson] has put a lot of time and thinking into this.”

Simon Rosenberg/”The Hopium Chronicles” on Substack looks at the newest Harvard IOP Youth Poll:

Winning Arizona, Making Calls For Ukraine, A Good Youth Poll, A Bluer 2024 Election

Note that the poll breaks out “likely voters” from “registered voters,” which is important as so many young people don’t end up voting. Some initial takeaways from me:

  • 18-29 year old vote intention is about the same as it was in the spring of 2020, a very high youth turnout year.

  • Biden leads 56-39 (+19) among voters 18-29 year olds likely to vote. He won 18-29 year old voters by 60-36 in 2020, so off a bit but with work we can match our 2020 results. As I say here every day, some of our coalition is wandering now, and we need to go get them back. To repeat - this result is neither suprising, or worrisome.

  • The data on Israel-Gaza is consistent with what I’ve been writing here - while an important issue, it is unlikely to be a voting issue for a large number of young people this fall: “When young Americans are asked whether or not they believe Israel's response so far to the October 7 attack by Hamas has been justified, a plurality indicates that they don't know (45%). About a fifth (21%) report that Israel's response was justified with 32% believing it was not justified.”

I also found this section to be particularly interesting: “Among the 1,051 "likely voters" in our sample, we found significant differences in support levels based on gender, age, race/ethnicity, and education levels, among other subgroups.

'Never bring James Comer to a Jamie Raskin fight': Republican skewered over testy battle https://t.co/zdppIo1Tv8

— Morgan Fairchild (@morgfair) April 18, 2024

Will Bunch/The Philadelphia Inquirer:

Fear and loathing on America’s college campuses as free speech is disappearing

Student activists say fear and paranoia has descended on college campus around free speech as college administrators cave into a new brand of McCarthyism.

Student activists told me they feel constantly watched, either by university officials they think are monitoring their Wi-Fi or watching from omnipresent cameras — or by pro-Israel outside groups that have “doxxed” the personal information of pro-Palestinian protesters.

This week’s jarring news out of the University of Southern California that its Muslim valedictorian, Asna Tabassum, would not be allowed to give her upcoming commencement speech because of what the school called “safety concerns” — after some critics had singled out some of her X/Twitter posts over Palestine — gave the rest of America a window into what students and some of their professors have been saying for months: Free speech and political expression at U.S. universities is facing its greatest threat since the 1950s “Red Scare” and the heyday of McCarthyism.

Two Carleton College professors who write frequently and host a podcast around questions of academic freedom actually argue the current crisis is even worse than that dark era.

The odds of Republicans losing AZ on all levels this year just continues to increase, quite frankly. https://t.co/lc0ZTXpG8y

— Chaz Nuttycombe (@ChazNuttycombe) April 17, 2024

Hannah Metzger/Westword:

Abortion Ban Fails to Qualify for Ballot: "Colorado Is Not a Place Where You Can Mess With Our Reproductive Freedom"

On the same day, an abortion rights initiative submitted nearly double the signatures needed for the November election.

An initiative seeking to ban abortion will not appear on Colorado's ballot in November after the campaign failed to collect enough legitimate signatures to qualify. The campaign behind Initiative 81: Protections for a Living Child says it collected "tens of thousands of signatures" but fell short of the 124,238 it needed to turn in by April 18. If approved by voters, the ballot measure would have banned abortion at any point after conception, classifying it as homicide. "God gave us a choice between life and death for our state," Faye Barnhart, who co-led the campaign, said in a statement. "Many didn’t have the faith or vision to see this amazing window of opportunity to lead our state to choose life. We mourn the loss of these children’s lives because we didn’t do everything we could to save them." The anti-abortion measure's failure comes on the same day that a pro-abortion-rights campaign says it turned in nearly 240,000 signatures in support of another proposed ballot measure, Initiative 89: Right to Abortion. That proposal asks voters to enshrine the right to abortion in the state constitution, and also allow state funds — including Medicaid and state employee health insurance — to be used to pay for abortions.

It takes 55% to pass, since it’s a constitutional amendment.

NEW: House Rules Committee just voted 9-3 to advance the foreign aid package to the House floor. In a rare turn, Democrats voted with most of the GOP, while Reps. Massie, Norman and Roy voted no.

— Andrew Solender (@AndrewSolender) April 19, 2024

The last time this happened was nearly thirty years ago.

Cliff Schecter on the media’s OJ trial coverage and its relevance today:

Missouri AG slams Kansas City mayor for welcoming Mayorkas’ illegal immigrant parole program

Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey is calling out Kansas City mayor Quinton Lucas after he announced that illegal immigrants would be welcome to come to the city and work under Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas’ illegal immigrant parole program.

Bailey highlighted how the open border policies have real-world consequences in a letter to Mayor Lucas that was shared exclusively with Fox News Digital.

"An illegal alien from Venezula, who had repeatedly flouted U.S. immigration laws, was actually granted a work permit under a misguided and illegal policy enacted by Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas," Bailey stated. "In February, he brutally murdered a young college student named Laken Hope Riley."

Bailey shared that Lucas failed to acknowledge this and openly welcomed all seeking refuge in Kansas City.

LAWMAKERS BERATE MAYORKAS ON LAKEN RILEY MURDER: ‘YOUR POLICIES IN ACTION’

"Yet, against the backdrop of literally millions of illegal aliens flooding our borders, overwhelming the social safety net of large American cities, and in some cases even committing violent crimes against our citizens, you are actively encouraging them to come to the Show Me State," Bailey said.

Bailey referenced the post Lucas wrote on social media proclaiming:

"All are welcome in Kansas City. Proud to work with my fellow mayors from Denver and NYC as we work to ensure decompression of new arriving communities." 

Bailey added that Lucas did later amend his statement and only extended the offer to "persons who are lawfully present, with lawful work permits," but said that Lucas ignored the underlying issue.

"Secretary Mayorkas' open border programs are themselves illegal. Your statements are wildly irresponsible," Bailey said. "Not only do you ignore the fact that Laken Riley's killer has a so-called "work permit," but you are actively encouraging Missouri businesses to become entangled in a fundamentally unlawful program, and exposing them to legal liability in the process."

DEM SENATOR'S CLAIM DOWNPLAYING BORDER CRISIS RESURFACES AFTER STAFFER KILLED BY ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT

Bailey said that allowing and welcoming illegal immigrants violates a Missouri law that prohibits state businesses from hiring or employing illegal immigrants. It also makes it a felony to knowingly transport illegal immigrants in the state of Missouri.

"Make no mistake, my office will do everything in its power to take legal action against any person or entity found to be in violation of these statutes," Bailey proclaimed. 

Bailey continued stating that Missouri will now join 19 other state attorney generals who are suing Secretary Mayorkas over his "disastrous" and illegal parole program that unlawfully creates a pathway to citizenship for hundreds or thousands of illegal immigrants.

In his letter, Bailey stated that Mayorkas' illegal immigrant parole program would allow up to 360,000 illegal immigrants from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Venezuela to be "paroled" into the United States every year.

"Your open invitation for illegal aliens to come to Missouri is not only dangerous but comes at great expense to Missouri taxpayers, residents, and business owners," Bailey said. 

DENVER MAYOR BOASTS 'SHARED SACRIFICE' IS REQUIRED TO MAKE CITY 'WELCOMING' FOR MIGRANTS

Bailey's letter to Lucas comes a day after Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., gave fiery testimony to the Senate for striking down Mayorkas' impeachment trial.

Sen. Hawley joined other Republican lawmakers who tore into Secretary Mayorkas on Thursday over the release of the Venezuelan illegal immigrant now charged with the murder of Georgia nursing student Laken Riley – accusing the agency of having released him into the U.S. unlawfully.

Lawmakers grilled the embattled secretary on Jose Ibarra, an illegal immigrant from Venezuela, who is accused of killing Riley on Feb. 22, while she was jogging at the University of Georgia in Athens.

In his testimony, Sen. Hawley revealed that Ibarra had been given a work permit, despite having been accused of a crime against a child in New York and having the charges later expunged by local authorities.

"Nothing is done to this guy. He had a criminal record to start with, he's in the country on illegal grounds. You have falsely and illegally allowed him in. He committed a crime against a child. He's not prosecuted, it's expunged. In November, get this, in November, Ibarra files an application for employment authorization. And unbelievably, on December 9, 2023, it's approved," Hawley said.

The Biden administration initially announced the parole program for Venezuelans in October, which allowed a limited number to fly directly into the U.S. as long as they had not entered illegally and already had a sponsor in the United States. 

However, in January, President Biden announced that the program would be expanded to include Haitians, Nicaraguans and Cubans and that the program would allow up to 30,000 a month into the U.S. The program also allows for migrants to receive work permits and a two-year authorization to live in the U.S.

Fox News Digital reached out to Mayor Quinton Lucas for comment. 

Fox News' and Caroline Elliott contributed to this report. 

ICYMI: Trump has yet another grift, and impeachment fail is late-night comedy gift

Trump's new grift: Charging GOP candidates to use his name

As if selling sneakers and Bibles wasn’t grift enough.

Jimmy Kimmel's late-night digs are driving Trump bonkers

Kimmel’s trolling of “yabba dabba doofus” is just what we need.

Cartoon: The running mate

Sometimes you’re just stuck with someone.

New poll shows when Republicans talk about abortion, they're losing

Despite what Republicans hope, abortion is not a subject that can be swept under the rug.

Trump wants to gut diversity programs. Guess whose company has one?

It’s all “do as I say, not as I do” with this guy.

Watch yet another House GOP hearing go totally off the rails

On one side, there are facts and reality and on the other, there’s a debunked Russian mole.

The 2017 GOP tax scam is paying for itself—by taxing scammed seniors

It’s the scam that keeps on taking.

Mike Johnson may be speaker, but Democrats run the House

Is he the worst GOP House speaker ever?

Watch Stephen Colbert's hilarious take on GOP's latest impeachment fail

The impeachment is already over, but the laughs will last forever.

Why the field to replace Mitt Romney may soon get a lot smaller

So much drama in Utah!

Click here to see more cartoons.

Campaign Action

Mike Johnson: The wartime Speaker battling on multiple fronts

"I regard myself as a wartime Speaker," declared House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La.

Only, we’re not sure if Johnson was referring to the internecine war among Republicans over whether he should keep his job.

Many members wear pocket squares with their suits. But not Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky. He walks around with a self-made, diode "debt clock" tucked into the breast pocket of his jacket, tracking the skyrocketing debt. Massie’s ascending fiscal chronometer may have read more $34 trillion dollars this week. But the only number which mattered on Capitol Hill Tuesday morning was "two." As in two House members who were ready to oust Johnson from his job: Massie and Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga. 

"The motion (to remove Johnson) will get called. And then he’s going to lose more votes than (former House Speaker) Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., And I told him this in private, like two weeks ago," said Massie. 

GOP REBELS DERAIL SPEAKER JOHNSON’S BORDER BILL AMID FURY OVER FOREIGN AID

A reporter asked Massie about what that meant, not having a leader – again – for the second time in less than a year. 

"Some would say we’d be rudderless. But we have a rudder. We’re steering everything toward (Senate Majority Leader) Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y.," replied Massie. "There has not been a change. I mean, if the country likes Chuck Schumer, then they should like what Speaker Johnson’s accomplished in the House." 

There’s strength in numbers – even if the numbers are low. After all, it’s about the math. It matters even more in a House which is currently split at 218 Republicans to 213 Democrats. That meager Republican majority shrivels to 217-213 after Rep. Mike Gallagher, R-Wisc., quits. Gallagher was supposed to leave Friday. But Fox is told that the Wisconsin Republican will at least hang around until Saturday as the House tries to approve the international aid supplemental package for Israel, Ukraine and Taiwan. 

Greene beamed at the support from Massie for her effort to remove Johnson.

"It was significant," said Greene of Massie’s backing. "It also lets people know this is a lot more serious than people realized."

Greene echoed Massie, suggesting "there’ll be more" Republicans who might vote to remove Johnson "than were against Kevin McCarthy." 

Here’s the problem for Greene. She doesn’t have someone who could win a Speaker’s vote on the floor. That’s why the House burned 22 days on the calendar last October and thrashed through three nominees for Speaker before finally settling on Johnson. If the House approved a "motion to vacate the chair" (a "MTV," which removes the Speaker), there’s no telling how long it would take the get a successor this time.

"I don’t think that the threat is really real at this point, just because you don’t have an alternative," said Rep. Garret Graves, R-La., who was a top lieutenant to McCarthy. "We saw what happened last fall when this all went down. There’s not an alternative."

HOUSE TEES UP 17 BILLS RELATED TO IRAN/ISRAEL FOR THIS WEEK

Graves said a number of conservatives who were mad at Johnson "don’t think past step one. Which is why we have so many problems here right now." 

Graves asserted that the "painful scars" of the McCarthy debacle would be "a major disincentive for folks who actually pull the trigger on a motion to vacate."

There was significant blowback from conservatives after Johnson announced a four-pronged approach to grapple with the Middle East. Especially after the House plotted a course for the week of 17 bills dealing either with Israel or Iran. Johnson tailored his pitch on the foreign aid measure. He planned one bill for Israel. One for Ukraine. One for Taiwan. The final bill would include a plan to repossess Russian assets and grant some of the assistance to Ukraine as a "lease." That’s an option endorsed by former President Trump. But the sweetener to the fourth bill would be a measure to curb the use of TikTok in the U.S.

The House would then package the four bills together and send them to the Senate.

"It's got a chance of passing," said Rep. Warren Davidson, R-Ohio, Tuesday morning. But if you "MIRV" them together and pretend that they were really separate votes, but at the end of the day, it has the effect of being one vote. I mean, that's all smoke and mirrors."

Davidson characterized the TikTok provisions as "camouflage for defending America."

"‘MIRV’ them together?"

"MIRV" is a Capitol vocabulary term you’re going to hear about as the House tries to advance the four separate foreign aid bills - and then blend them into one for efficiency purposes before sending the package to the Senate.

SENATE VOTE ON MAYORKAS IMPEACHMENT REACHES 'UNPRECEDENTED TERRITORY': CHAD PERGRAM

It’s pronounced "merve." A "MIRV" is a vestige of the Cold War and missile counts between the United States and Soviet Union. It stands for "Multiple Independently-Targetable Re-Entry Vehicle." Each MIRV had multiple nuclear warheads or "MIRVs" attached. This was an issue of contention between the U.S. and U.S.S.R. Was a MIRV counted as one missile or four or five? 

The idea is that the House would vote on each individual bill - then blend them together as one for the Senate. 

A parliamentary MIRV!  

Hence why conservatives are upset about the plan by Johnson. It’s four bills. Or is it one? 

Johnson defended the MIRV maneuver.

"I’m concerned that Israel might not pass through the Senate right now if it’s not included in the package," said Johnson. "If you separate them, then none of our priorities will be reflected, I’m afraid."

Conservatives have also implored Johnson to attach border security to the plan. But that might not be feasible.

"We don’t have the votes. If you put Ukraine in any package, you can’t also do the border because I lose Republican votes on that rule. My friends don’t get it," replied Johnson. 

"Are they still your friends?" asked yours truly.

"They’re all my friends," said Johnson. "I love everybody in this building." 

Johnson made his decision on Monday against taking the streamlined Senate aid bill approved in February and instead traveled his own route. Initial information about the plan was scant. 

"What are they doing over there?" asked Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., of your reporter on Monday night as we both exited the Capitol. 

The "what" was the House’s approach on an international aid package. But "over there" referred to the U.S. House of Representatives, that hostile, untamed, political wilderness which lies beyond the boundaries of the Capitol Rotunda.  

The Senate isn’t exactly a peaceful place. But considering the contretemps in the House, the Senate is practically Xanadu. Especially as Republicans skirmish with one another over foreign aid, leadership and a wartime Speaker.

Fox News Politics: Trial and Error

Welcome to Fox News’ Politics newsletter with the latest political news from Washington D.C. and updates from the 2024 campaign trail. 

What's happening? 

-Critics mock Biden for cannibalism story

-GOP rebels threaten more chaos over Ukraine spending

-Polish president meets Trump amid criminal trial

Twelve New Yorkers have been selected to decide Trump's guilt or innocence in hush money charges from Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg's prosecution.

The third day of jury selection (the court is not in session on Wednesdays) started with seven seated jurors. That fell five after one juror admitted that, upon further consideration, she could not be impartial and another was dismissed after it was discovered he was once arrested for ripping down right-leaning political posters.

But the court still needs to find several alternate jurors, a process that will resume on Friday.

DEEPENING TIES: Polish president meets with Trump in New York City amid criminal trial …Read more

BIDEN'S BLARNEY: Critics mock Biden for factually inaccurate war story as 'plot of a movie he once saw' …Read more

'A LOT OF TRUMP SIGNS': Biden dismisses reporter's concerns over so many 'Trump signs' in Pennsylvania …Read more

MILITARY SPOUSES: Jill Biden praises agreement to make it easier for military spouse federal employees to work overseas …Read more

SLAM THE BRAKES: 25 states hit Biden with legal challenge over gas car crackdown, EV push …Read more

SEEING RED: GOP lawmakers confront Johnson over foreign aid in tense House floor moment ...Read more

BEAT AROUND THE 'BUSH': Squad Dem promotes Middle East 'peace' while hometown plagued by violence …Read more

DEFENDING TIKTOK: Chinese diplomats reportedly met with congressional staffers in hopes to block social media platform's forced sale …Read more

'UNPRECEDENTED': Experts question constitutionality of Mayorkas impeachment trial killed by Senate Dems …Read more

AGENDA 2025: Congressional Progressive Caucus releases extensive 2025 policy agenda …Read more

LEFT OF CENTER: 13 Dems vote against resolution condemning Iran after Israel strike …Read more

BATTLEGROUND USA: Majority of voters in key swing states deeply unhappy with Biden in new Fox polls ...Read more

BAILING ON BIDEN: Left-wing activists take effort to punish POTUS to other swing states …Read more

WARNING FOR BIDEN: Trump cuts into Biden's lead among this key part of the Democratic Party's base …Read more

'A LITTLE BUSY': Biden mocks Trump for legal woes …Read more

MORE MONEY: Black Chicago voters rip mayor on extra $70M for migrants as recall petition gathers steam …Read more

SHUTTING IT DOWN: Trump lawyers tried to subpoena Stormy Daniels, but instead this happened …Read more

SUED AGAIN: Top aide to NYC mayor faces second complaint based on sexual harassment, retaliation allegations …Read more

TEFLON DON?: CNN legal analyst argues Trump could avoid conviction in hush money trial …Read more

NO GOING BACK: Gender clinic whistleblower says 'doctors acting like God,' kids regret surgeries …Read more

BACKHANDED COMPLIMENT: Kimmel says Biden's zinger against Trump was a 'pretty good one' for a president known for gaffes …Read more

Subscribe now to get Fox News Politics newsletter in your inbox.

Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more on FoxNews.com.

Democrat lawmakers who pushed Trump impeachment sing different tune on Biden border chief

Some lawmakers in Washington, D.C., who pushed for the impeachment of former President Donald Trump sang a different tune as they threw out articles of impeachment against Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas on Wednesday.

Both articles of impeachment against President Biden's Homeland Security secretary were deemed unconstitutional by the Senate on Wednesday in two party-line votes.

The first article alleged Mayorkas engaged in the "willful and systemic refusal to comply with the law" regarding the southern border in his capacity as DHS secretary, while the second claimed Mayorkas breached public trust.

Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., proposed a point of order declaring the first article unconstitutional, to which the majority of senators agreed following several failed motions by Republicans. It was then deemed unconstitutional with a vote of 51-48, with Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, voting present. 

INSIDE GOP PLAN TO FORCE AS MANY VOTES ON MAYORKAS IMPEACHMENT TRIAL AS POSSIBLE

The second article was deemed unconstitutional as well, with a party line vote of 51-49. This time Murkowski rejoined the process.

"The decision by the Senate to reject House Republicans’ baseless attacks on Secretary Mayorkas proves definitively that there was no evidence or Constitutional grounds to justify impeachment," DHS spokesperson Mia Ehrenberg told Fox News Digital on Thursday.

 "As he has done throughout more than 20 years of dedicated public service, Secretary Mayorkas will continue working every day to enforce our laws and protect our country. It’s time for Congressional Republicans to support the Department’s vital mission instead of wasting time playing political games and standing in the way of commonsense, bipartisan border reforms," Ehrenberg added. 

After the vote, Schumer turned to X to say, "Impeachment should NEVER be used to settle policy disagreements."

"If the GOP spent a fraction of the effort they spent on this meritless impeachment towards working with Democrats on border reform, we might have passed the bipartisan border bill," he said. "But Trump told his GOP allies in Congress to kill it. Trump even said: ‘Please, blame it on me.’"

‘CONSTITUTIONAL AUTHORITY’ OF SENATE DEMS QUASHING MAYORKAS IMPEACHMENT TRIAL QUESTIONED BY EXPERTS

Senate Republicans blocked the Biden-backed border bill earlier this year because they said it didn't address what's fueling the crisis. 

"They put forward this legislation, ask for more authority, more funds, and frankly, more flexibility — and they say if we don't go for it, Republicans are now responsible for the crisis at the southern border. It's preposterous," Sen. Bill Hagerty, R-Tenn., said back in February. 

Trump campaign spokesperson Karoline Leavitt fired back in a statement to Fox News Digital, saying, "Crooked Joe Biden and Secretary Mayorkas reversed President Trump's effective border policies have allowed a border invasion of more than 14 million illegal criminals, murderers, rapists, and even known terrorists into our country. They must be held accountable. In November, President Trump will fire Crooked Joe Biden and Mayorkas and secure the southern border on day one." 

When it came to Trump’s impeachment in 2021, Schumer sang a different tune.

The House impeached Trump for a second time in January 2021 after 10 Republicans abandoned the former president and joined Democrats.

RASKIN SAYS TRUMP'S REFUSAL TO TESTIFY AT IMPEACHMENT SUPPORTS ‘HIS GUILT’

Schumer said at the time, "I regret to say for 45 Republican senators to vote for a spurious constitutional objection to the coming impeachment trial was deeply, deeply irresponsible."

During the Trump impeachment trial, Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., broke from Schumer and said he believed the Senate had a responsibility to hold an impeachment trial but that it was an open question of whether the trial was constitutional.

But on the matter of Mayorkas, Murphy called the impeachment "bs."

"Republicans only see the border as a campaign issue," Murphy posted on X. "They don't want to solve the problem. They could have worked with us to pass the bipartisan border security bill. Instead, they wasted time on this bs impeachment, which doesn't solve the problem - just keeps it in the news."

Murphy and Schumer did not respond to Fox News Digital's request for comment on the impeachment.

40 HOUSE DEMOCRATS JOIN LEGISLATION TO BAR TRUMP FROM PUBLIC OFFICE

SENATE PREPARES FOR MAYORKAS IMPEACHMENT ARTICLES WHILE GOP BRACES FOR POSSIBLE DISMISSAL MOTION

Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., told Fox News at the time of the Trump impeachment that the process was "plainly unconstitutional."

Cotton joined several other Senate Republicans in signing a letter last week, lobbying for Schumer to hold a full impeachment trial for Mayorkas.

The Republican lawmakers said in the letter, "The American people deserve to hear the evidence through a Senate trial in the Court of Impeachment."

Cotton could not be reached for comment on Wednesday regarding the latest ruling in the Senate for Mayorkas and how it differs from Trump’s impeachment process.

Fox News Digital's Julia Johnson and Jamie Joseph contributed to this report.