'Not even hiding the racism': GOP Rep. Eli Crane blasted for referring to 'colored people' on House floor
Rep. Eli Crane (R-Ariz.) set off a firestorm Thursday with a stunning choice of words to explain an amendment he was pitching for the National Defense Authorization Act, Forbes reported.
“Crane said his amendment to the NDAA would have prevented ‘race, gender, religion, or political affiliations,’ from being used in the recruitment of military members, adding the amendment had ‘nothing to do” with ‘whether colored people, or Black people, or anybody can serve,” Forbes reported.
Rep. Joyce Beatty (D-Ohio), who is Black, “responded on the floor that Crane’s remarks were offensive and very inappropriate and move to have his offensive words stricken from the record," the report said.
“Crane later claimed he meant to say, “people of color,’” Forbes reported. But it also noted that Crane’s amendment was one of several submitted Thursday centered around culture war issues, as the House passed multiple amendments that may hinder the passage of the must-pass NDAA.”
That context wasn’t lost upon angry legislators who took to Twitter, apparently not buying Crane’s curious explanation for his comments:
Rep. Jim McGovern (D-Mass.) tweeted, “The GOP is not even hiding the racism anymore.”
Rep. Jasmine Crockett D-Texas) tweeted: “You can’t make this up. This is who these people are, and who they’ve always been.”
Rep. Don Beyer tweeted about Crane’s comment, saying, “A House Republican just referred to Black Americans serving in our military as ‘colored people.’ In 2023.”
Crane has been allied with fellow Arizona Reps. Paul Gosar and Andy Biggs on various far-right causes, including a recent Qanon-inspired hearing on COVID-19 conspiracies.
Watch: https://twitter.com/i/status/1679617269758930944Republicans look to give themselves a pay raise after securing benefit cuts for the poor
After taking the global economy hostage to secure painful cuts to aid programs and other federal spending, House Republicans are proposing a pay raise for themselves and other members of Congress for the coming fiscal year.
Roll Call reported Thursday that under spending legislation approved by the Republican-controlled House Appropriations Committee last month, members of Congress "would stand to receive a 4.6%, or $8,000, pay increase" in 2024. Most members of Congress currently make an annual salary of $174,000, putting them in the top 10% of U.S. earners.
"Lawmakers last received a cost-of-living increase in 2009," the outlet noted, "but House Republicans left out the traditional language blocking a cost-of-living increase for members from this year's Legislative Branch bill."
House Legislative Branch Appropriations Chairman Mark Amodei (R-Nev.) told Roll Call that it is "not exactly greedy" to pursue a pay raise for lawmakers after more than a decade of no cost-of-living increase, but he acknowledged the optics are horrible.
"The policy supports, hey, once every twelve years, you can have a cost-of-living increase," Amodei said. "But the politics is—you know how that will go."
"House Republicans are moving to give themselves a raise while taking an ax to education, health, and other essential programs that help grow the economy by growing the middle class."
Colin Seeberger, senior communications adviser at the Center for American Progress Action, urged congressional Democrats to "raise hell over this."
"This is outrageous," Seeberger wrote on Twitter. "House Republicans are moving to give themselves a raise while taking an ax to education, health, and other essential programs that help grow the economy by growing the middle class."
One Democrat, Rep. Angie Craig (D-Minn.), slammed House Republicans for "trying to give themselves a raise while working families struggle to make ends meet."
"That's not what our constituents want—and certainly not what members of Congress need," Craig added.
But Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-Md.), the former House majority leader, expressed support for a raise, telling Roll Call that "precluding members from a COLA adjustment simply decreases their salary every year," which he said "doesn't make any sense."
The Republican-led push for a congressional pay increase comes just weeks after GOP leaders negotiated a debt ceiling agreement with President Joe Biden that imposes new work requirements on older recipients of federal food aid, a change that experts say is likely to strip benefits from around 750,000 low-income people.
Congressional Republicans are also pushing for even steeper cuts to federal spending than were agreed upon in the debt ceiling deal, threatening a government shutdown.
Meanwhile, the House GOP is working to pass legislation that would hand the top 1% of U.S. earners $28 billion in tax cuts next year.
Read More Here: https://rollcall.com/2023/07/13/house-gop-anti-spending-fervor-may-not-apply-to-member-pay-raise/Biden urges Republicans to stand up against senator's military holds
(Reuters) - President Joe Biden said on Thursday he expects Republicans to stand up against what he called Senator Tommy Tuberville's "ridiculous" block of top U.S. military appointments over the Pentagon's abortion policy.
It was bizarre and irresponsible to inject a domestic social debate into fundamental foreign policy, the Democratic president said in Helsinki after meeting with Nordic country leaders.
Tuberville, a conservative Republican from Alabama, has held up 250 nominees to senior Pentagon posts since March, when he began the holds to protest a Defense Department policy enacted last year that provides paid leave and reimburses costs for service members who travel to get an abortion.
"He's jeopardizing U.S. security with what he's doing. I expect the Republican Party to stand up - stand up and do something about it," Biden told reporters.
"I'm confident that the mainstream Republican Party no longer - does not support what he's doing, but they've got to stand up and be counted. That's how it ends," Biden said.
Biden said he would be willing to talk to Tuberville if there were any possibility of changing the senator's "ridiculous position."
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin spoke to Tuberville on Thursday, the Pentagon said.
"Secretary Austin explained to Senator Tuberville the impact the holds are having to military readiness and uncertainty in the force," Pentagon spokesperson Patrick Ryder told a news briefing.
Austin and Tuberville agreed to speak again next week, Ryder said.
Speaking earlier on Thursday, Austin told CNN: "He needs to lift the holds."
"This is a national security issue. It's a readiness issue. And we shouldn't kid ourselves," Austin said.
Tuberville said in a Twitter post late on Wednesday he had a 10-minute call with Austin months ago and accused Democrats of political theater.
On Tuesday, Biden's nominee to become the top U.S. general warned that Tuberville's blockade of military promotions could have a far-reaching impact across the armed forces, affecting U.S. troops and their families.
"We will lose talent," General Charles "CQ" Brown, the outgoing Air Force chief of staff, told his Senate confirmation hearing to become chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
Senior military nominations are approved by the Armed Services Committee and eventually the full Senate. Although the review is usually routine, a single senator can pause the process by putting a hold on nominations that force them to be considered one at a time, taking many hours each.
Tuberville's action already has had an impact. On Monday, when retiring General David Berger formally relinquished command, the Marine Corps was left without a Senate-confirmed leader for the first time in more than a century.
(Reporting by Doina Chiacu and Phil Stewart in Washington, Steve Holland in Helsinki; Additional reporting by Patricia Zengerle; Editing by Frances Kerry and Will Dunham)
© Reuters'Step into the alternate universe': Jerry Nadler welcomes witness to Jim Jordan's 'MAGA' hearingRep. Jerry Nadler (D-NY) blasted House Judiciary Committee Chair Jim Jordan (R-OH) for holding hearings in an "alternate universe" to support Donald Trump.
During a hearing on Thursday, Nadler told Federal Trade Commission Chair Lina Khan that Jordan had a history of spouting conspiracy theories.
"Mr. Chairman, yesterday, the director of the FBI sat at the witness table for nearly six hours, enduring a steady stream of baseless attacks and conspiracy theories meant to fit a far-right narrative that may resonate on Fox News but that lacks any basis in fact," Nadler said. "Today it is the chair of the Federal Trade Commission's turn to step into the alternate universe that is the House Judiciary Committee under MAGA Republican leadership."
"Unfortunately, I expect that today you will be the target of a barrage of personal attacks and wild accusations about the work of the FTC under your leadership," he added. "Ultimately, Chair Kahn, you will face attacks today because you are doing your job. That is what threatens Republicans the most."
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