Tag: republicans

President Trump’s “Big, Beautiful” Bill FAILS in Committee After Five House Republicans Vote NO – Largest Tax Increase in American History Looms

The Trump agenda suffered a major setback today after a handful of Republicans voted a key bill delivering it down in committee. Now, the largest tax increase in American history looms unless the GOP does an about-face.

As The Gateway Pundit reported, the House Republicans on the Ways and Means Committee—led by Chairman Jason Smith (R-MO)—previously released the text of a monumental new tax reform package titled “The One, Big, Beautiful Bill.”

The bill, strongly backed by President Donald Trump, is aimed at delivering historic cuts to American families, workers, and small businesses.

The 389-page bill includes a long list of pro-growth, America-First provisions that echo many of the successful features of the 2017 Trump Tax Cuts—this time with added firepower. This includes no taxes on tips and overtime.

But five GOPers in the House Budget Committee shot it down primarily over cost concerns. One particular gripe was the Medicaid “cuts” and the expiration of several wasteful ‘green’ energy tax credits were pushed back several years, while most of the “goodies” were delivered up front.

The final vote was 16-21 against. Here were the Republicans who voted against the President’s agenda:

Rep. Andrew Clyde of Georgia

Rep. Chip Roy of Texas

Rep. Josh Brecheen of Oklahoma

Rep. Ralph Norman of South Carolina

Rep. Lloyd Smucker of Pennsylvania

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13 Republicans press leadership for more flexibility in green energy tax credit phaseout

A group of 13 House Republicans is asking for more flexibility for climate-friendly tax credits than what’s in the party’s current budget bill, underscoring the difficulty of getting the entire party on the same page.

In a written statement posted by Rep. Jen Kiggans (R-Va.) on the social platform X, the 13 Republicans ask House leadership to “consider three thoughtful changes” to the legislation that phases out a significant chunk of Democrats’ tax credits for low carbon energy sources. 

They point to provisions that are expected to make it difficult for energy companies to actually claim the credits during this phaseout period.

Specifically, they ask for more flexibility on newly proposed supply chain requirements and a provision that could make it more difficult for projects to get financing. They also ask for more time, saying the credit phaseout should be based on when projects “start construction” rather than when they’re “placed in service.”

“The last thing any of us want to do is provoke an energy crisis or cause higher energy bills for working families,” they said.

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Redefining Obscenity: Lawmakers Take Aim at More Online Content

Two Republican lawmakers are advancing a bill that could dramatically expand the federal government’s ability to criminalize certain content online.

Senator Mike Lee of Utah and Representative Mary Miller of Illinois have introduced the Interstate Obscenity Definition Act (IODA), legislation that aims to overhaul the legal definition of obscenity and give prosecutors wide authority to target more online content.

We obtained a copy of the bill for you here.

Supporters of the bill claim it is designed to protect families and children from harmful material, but civil liberties advocates warn that its sweeping language threatens to criminalize large swaths of constitutionally protected expression.

IODA discards key elements of the Supreme Court’s long-standing Miller test, which has served as the nation’s benchmark for identifying obscene content since 1973. Under that framework, courts assess whether material appeals to prurient interest, depicts sexual conduct in a “patently offensive” way by community standards, and lacks “serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value.”

Lee and Miller’s bill replaces that careful balancing test with a rigid federal definition. According to the proposed language, content is considered obscene if “taken as a whole, [it] appeals to the prurient interest in nudity, sex, or excretion,” if it “depicts, describes or represents actual or simulated sexual acts with the objective intent to arouse, titillate, or gratify the sexual desires of a person,” and if it “taken as a whole, lacks serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value.”

Promoting the bill, Lee declared, “Obscenity isn’t protected by the First Amendment, but hazy and unenforceable legal definitions have allowed extreme pornography to saturate American society and reach countless children.” He added, “Our bill updates the legal definition of obscenity for the internet age so this content can be taken down and its peddlers prosecuted.”

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GOP Congressman Humiliates a Grandstanding AOC as She Plays to the Cameras While Asking Questions About Medicaid – AOC Then Completely Snaps

Far-left Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) lost it early this morning after a GOP congressman humiliated her by calling out her grandstanding tactics during a committee hearing.

While the House Energy and Commerce Committee hearing entered the early morning hours as part of its marathon mega bill markup, AOC attempted to disassemble the GOP’s plans to reform Medicaid by asking witnesses a series of leading questions. Of course, she wanted to play to the cameras at the same time.

When she did finally act like a professional, Rep. Randy Weber (R-TX) took notice and roasted her.

“Um, in terms of some of the exemptions, pregnancy is covered, correct?” AOC asked.

“May I interrupt? I’m glad you’re addressing us instead of addressing the camera,” Weber quipped.

AOC then repeated her question about pregnancy, and the witness answered that pregnancy was covered. AOC then tried to ask a gotcha question about abortion laws.

“Given the Dobbs decision and the fact that many women and the fact that many women in many states are forced to…” she began before Weber cut her off.

“Okay, what about miscarriage?” AOC asked.

“Reclaiming my time. I just want to make the point that we’d like for you to address the Republicans and let’s have a dialogue this way & not through a camera,” Weber said.

“But, but, I’m just asking about a miscarriage,” AOC whined.

“The gentlelady is out of order!” Weber shouted.

A short time later, AOC started grandstanding again after getting some backup from Rep. Yvette Clarke.

“There are 13.7 million Americans on the other side of that screen there. Hello, hello,” Ocasio-Cortez stated, waving to the camera. “I’m talking to you because I work for you. They deserve to see what is happening here because there are plenty of districts, including Republican ones, where 25 percent of your constituents are on Medicaid, 40 percent of your constituents are on Medicaid.”

“Will the gentlelady yield?” Weber asked.

Upon hearing this, AOC finally snapped completely.

“I will not yield because it was a terribly disrespectful comment, and I will not yield to disrespectful men!” she whined.

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GOP Senator Introduces Bill to Make All Porn a Federal Crime, Following Project 2025 Playbook

Last year, the rightwing think-tank the Heritage Foundation launched Project 2025, which laid out much of the policy blueprint for the current Trump administration. One of the project’s espoused goals was to permanently criminalize all pornography. Now, a Republican senator with kind words for Trump has introduced a bill that would do just that.

Senator Mike Lee (R-Utah) recently introduced the Interstate Obscenity Definition Act (IODA), which would effectively criminalize all pornography nationwide by legally redefining what it means to be obscene. For years, “obscenity” has been all but a defunct legal category that narrowly defines speech that remains unprotected by the First Amendment. Lee would explode this legal category, expanding it to encompass virtually all visual representations of sex.

According to the bill text, “a picture, image, graphic image file, film, videotape, or other visual depiction” of any media that “appeals to the prurient interest in nudity, sex, or excretion” would be considered criminal. In other words, if you have an old VHS tape of some Cinemax-style smut stashed away in your garage, you could, under this law, be considered to be harboring deeply illicit materials. Some critics have suggested that Lee’s definition of obscenity is so ridiculously broad that it could effectively criminalize Game of Thrones. That said, the punishments for merely possessing porn under the proposed law seem unclear at this point, as the legislation seems more focused on punishing the creators and distributors of racy material.

The law would “pave the way for the prosecution of obscene content disseminated across state lines or from foreign countries and open the door to federal restrictions or bans regarding online porn,” The Daily Caller writes.

“Obscenity isn’t protected by the First Amendment, but hazy and unenforceable legal definitions have allowed extreme pornography to saturate American society and reach countless children,” said Lee, in a press release about the bill. “Our bill updates the legal definition of obscenity for the internet age so this content can be taken down and its peddlers prosecuted.”

Lee’s view of pornography hews closely to that of the Heritage Foundation, which has similarly sought to crush the smut industry. In its Mandate for Leadership, Project 2025 defines pornography as the “omnipresent propagation of transgender ideology and sexualization of children” and argues that the “people who produce and distribute it should be imprisoned” and that “telecommunications and technology firms that facilitate its spread should be shuttered.”

It should be noted that porn has always been a hot-button issue and that critics have long tried to criminalize it. The history of the anti-pornography movement in the U.S. is a long and complicated one, littered with differing ideological justifications and strange bedfellows. In recent years, however, the anti-porn crusade has largely been led by the MAGA right.

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Senators Cotton & Graham Work To Sabotage Chances Of Iran Deal

Senators Tom Cotton (R-AR) and Lindsey Graham (R-SC), two of the most hawkish members of Congress, are working together to sabotage the Trump administration’s chances of reaching a deal with Iran.

On Thursday, the senators held a press conference outlining a resolution they’re introducing that demands that any deal with Iran must include the total dismantlement of Tehran’s nuclear enrichment program, an idea that Iranian officials have made clear is a non-starter.

“To the Iranian regime: you claim all you want is a peaceful nuclear power program. You can have it, but you cannot enrich and you must dismantle,” Graham said. “And you must dismantle now.”

Graham and Cotton said that any deal must require ratification from the Senate and must also impose limits on Iran’s ballistic missile program and support for its allies in the region, conditions that are also a non-starter for Tehran.

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New GOP Bill Seeks To Take Sledgehammer To Online Porn Industry

Congressional Republicans will introduce legislation Thursday that would severely crack down on internet pornography and potentially deal a major blow to the online porn industry.

Republican Utah Sen. Mike Lee and Republican Illinois Rep. Mary Miller’s Interstate Obscenity Definition Act would create a national definition of obscenity under the Communications Act of 1934 and amend the Supreme Court’s 1973 “Miller Test” for determining what qualifies as obscene, according to background on the bill exclusively obtained by the Daily Caller News Foundation. The bill would pave the way for the prosecution of obscene content disseminated across state lines or from foreign countries and open the door to federal restrictions or bans regarding online porn.

“Obscenity isn’t protected by the First Amendment, but hazy and unenforceable legal definitions have allowed extreme pornography to saturate American society and reach countless children,” Lee told the DCNF. “Our bill updates the legal definition of obscenity for the internet age so this content can be taken down and its peddlers prosecuted.”

Lee and Miller have been leading advocates in Congress to take on internet pornography at the federal level and protect children from exposure to online porn.

The lawmakers’ bill would make obscenity easier to prosecute by altering the three-pronged approach known as the Miller Test from the 1973 Supreme Court ruling in Miller v. California, according to the background on the bill. The Miller Test determined content to be obscene if it appeals to “prurient interests,” describes sexual conduct “in a patently obscene way” and lacks “serious literary, artistic, political or scientific value.”

Lee and Miller are seeking to update that definition in part by changing the second prong about portraying sexual conduct “in a patently offensive way … specifically defined by the applicable state law.” Instead, their bill would determine content to be obscene if it depicts or describes “actual or simulated sexual acts with the objective intent to arouse, titillate or gratify the sexual desires of a person.”

Lee has justified the legislation in part by arguing that the Supreme Court’s “Miller Test” is no longer applicable in an era where porn is primarily viewed online and easy for children to access.

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GOP-Led Wisconsin Committee Cuts Governor’s Marijuana Legalization Proposal From Budget

Republicans in Wisconsin’s legislature on Thursday cut key provisions from a state budget proposal by Gov. Tony Evers (D), including plans to legalize and regulate marijuana.

The changes came in a Joint Finance Committee hearing, where members removed a long list of items included in the governor’s budget. In addition to cannabis legalization, other deleted items include tax cuts for the middle class, tax increases for millionaires and state support for children, farmers and veterans.

Evers said on social media ahead of the vote that “today, Republican lawmakers are gutting my budget that does what’s best for our kids and the folks, families, and communities that raise them.”

The committee’s 21 pages of cuts remove multiple marijuana provisions from Evers’s budget, such as regulation, taxation, licensing and civil and criminal legal adjustments.

The actions are a repeat of two years ago, when GOP members of the same committee removed proposals to legalize marijuana for recreational and medical use from the governor’s biennial executive budget at that time.

A press release from the governor’s office about Thursday’s committee changes says the legalization proposal would have regulated marijuana “much like the state already does with alcohol, which would help Wisconsin compete with other states for talented workers and have more resources to invest in critical state priorities.”

The reform is “a proposal that over 60 percent of Wisconsinites support,” the release notes, pointing to a poll from February.

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Nebraska Attorney General Pressures Lawmakers Not To Pass Medical Marijuana Bill

Nebraska Attorney General Mike Hilgers (R) escalated his opposition to legislative efforts to help implement medical cannabis Wednesday, parading out more than a dozen law enforcement officers who support his stance.

At a news conference, Hilgers blasted Legislative Bill 677, from State Sen. Ben Hansen (R) of Blair, asserting that the effort to build a regulatory framework around voter-approved medical cannabis is nothing more than a path to recreational marijuana that he argued would “supercharge the black market.”

As he has already said this year, he urged lawmakers to wait until at least January, as he continues challenging in court the laws that voters approved last fall.

“This is not about the will of the people,” Hilgers, joined by various sheriffs, said of LB 677. “This is going to make Nebraska less safe, more dangerous. It’s going to handcuff the good men and women here that are in front of you and all their colleagues around the state.”

Hansen, other lawmakers and supporters of the 2024 ballot measures have already indicated that they have no intention to wait. They argue that without LB 677, the voter-approved laws could become the “wild west” or prevent Nebraskans who need cannabis the most from accessing it.

The voter-approved laws allow up to 5 ounces of medical cannabis with a physician’s recommendation. In effect since December, the laws passed in November with 71 percent voter approval.

A new Nebraska Medical Cannabis Commission is set to write new regulations around the laws, part of a companion ballot measure that passed with about 68 percent approval.

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GOP leaders mull 4-year sunset provisions for Trump tax benefits in reconciliation bill

House Republican leaders are considering making some of the key tax benefits that President Donald Trump promised on the 2024 campaign trail only temporary policies in the reconciliation bill that’s currently being crafted. A “sunset” period of four years is under consideration for policies such as eliminating taxes on tips, Social Security benefits and overtime pay, Just the News has learned.

The move has drawn criticism from a budget watchdog group, the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, which has described the possibility of scoring certain tax benefits as temporary rather than permanent to estimate the full cost of the package as “manipulation” that wouldn’t show the true cost.

Hiding the true cost of Trump’s tax benefits

“This ad-hoc, inconsistent, manipulative, and disingenuous approach to budgeting is enough to make your head explode, and it is going to make the debt explode,” said Maya MacGuineas, president of the CRFB.  

“Congress isn’t even pretending to do honest budgeting at this point. The whole argument behind the current policy baseline was that temporary policies should be counted as permanent – and yet here they are trying to count some of them as temporary,” she added.

Marc Goldwein, senior vice president at CRFB, told Just the News that scoring those policies as temporary would hide the true costs of such tax benefits.

“It’s completely hypocritical,” he said. “You should still score it on a permanent basis if you believe in current policy, but they don’t. They just believe in doing whatever is going to help them get their number. They don’t care about current policy or current law.”

Both parties have used budget reconciliation in past years, and they have included sunset provisions in legislation. What makes this situation unique, Goldwein explained, is that the GOP is considering making some policies permanent and others temporary within the same reconciliation bill and not scoring the cost of each over a 10-year period.

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