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The Pentagon is considering a controversial move—sending military aid to Ukraine without waiting for Congress to give the nod. Reports suggest they have $4 billion set aside for Ukraine, and they might use it directly from their reserves. Here’s the catch: If they spend this money, Congress might not pay them back. This has raised eyebrows because usually, Congress needs to approve such decisions. The Pentagon seems hesitant to spend this money without a guarantee of getting it back from Congress. It’s led to speculation that they might just decide to send the aid on their own, bypassing the regular...

No matter how cynical I become, I consistently find my sense of reality trailing the march of reality. It is increasingly difficult to avoid falling behind the Cynicism Curve. On this week’s Energy Realities Podcast, which I posted here earlier on Monday, Tammy Nemeth and Irina Slav, in their usual very perceptive way, raised the question of why we so often see the public revolting against these Green New Deal-style policies, yet the policies never seem to be scaled back or rescinded in any real way. This discussion starts about 3 minutes into the podcast. When Irina threw the question...

Afederal judge on Tuesday ruled that the Nancy Pelosi-led House of Representatives acted unconstitutionally in December 2022 when it passed a $1.7 trillion federal budget. U.S. District Court Judge James Wesley Hendrix ruled that Pelosi, then speaker of the House, violated the Constitution by allowing members to vote without actually being at the Capitol for the Dec. 23 session at which the budget was adopted, according to Reuters. At the time of the budget’s passing, CNBC referred to the action as “the final major achievement” of Pelosi’s term as speaker of the House. The budget passed 225-201. At the time...

Congressional leaders in the House and Senate have reached a deal on a spate of appropriations bills, clearing the way for a short-term spending patch that would extend funding deadlines further into March. Appropriators finalized the agreement on Wednesday, two sources told the Washington Examiner, just three days before the government is set to enter a partial shutdown. The proposal would maintain the two-pronged deadlines Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) has advocated but would extend the dates slightly to give lawmakers time to finalize the legislative text and bring them to the floor for votes. “We are in agreement that Congress...

Congressional leaders struck a deal on Wednesday that would hope to avert a partial government shutdown. Top lawmakers closed negotiations on the Agriculture, Energy, Military Construction and Veterans Affairs; Transportation-Housing and Urban Development, and Interior; and Commerce-Justice-Science appropriations bills, setting a deadline for March 8 to pass the spending bills. Leadership hopes to release the text of the bills by this weekend and pass the bills next week. The spending bills would fund related government agencies through September, right before the 2024 elections. The remaining appropriations bills that would fund the Department of Defense, Department of Homeland Security (DHS); Departments...

On Tuesday’s broadcast of “CNN This Morning,” Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) stated that President Joe Biden should take executive action on the border, but didn’t do so earlier because he needs Congress and said that “They did try something this last summer that was working, but then got thrown out in court.” Host Kasie Hunt asked, “So we’re learning that President Biden is going to go to the border this week, really underscoring the political challenges around that issue for him. Are you glad to see that he’s making that trip, and do you think that he should put an...

A Lubbock, Texas federal judge ruled Tuesday that lawmakers unconstitutionally passed the $1.7 trillion government funding bill in 2022 when they did so under a pandemic-era rule allowing members of the U.S. House of Representatives to vote on the matter by proxy instead of in person. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, a Republican, requested the courts to block a provision of the funding bill that gave pregnant workers stronger legal protections. U.S. District Judge Wesley Hendrix reviewed the request and gave a "limited" ruling on one of two provisions Paxton sought to have blocked. Hendrix, who was appointed by former...

House Judiciary Committee Chair Jim Jordan (R-OH) and House Oversight Committee Chair James Comer (R-KY) just upped the ante on Joe Biden.They have now subpoenaed the records of the interview that Biden did with Special Counsel Robert Hur's team. 🚨 BREAKING: Chairmen Comer and Jordan are subpoenaing the DOJ for Special Counsel Hur’s Joe Biden interview records, including transcripts, notes, video, and audio files. pic.twitter.com/Zwy9uwhAEa— Oversight Committee (@GOPoversight) February 27, 2024That was after the DOJ failed to comply with the Committee's (voluntary) request for the documents. 🚨 BREAKING: Chairmen Comer and Jordan are subpoenaing the DOJ for Special Counsel Hur’s...

President Biden is scheduled to host the four congressional leaders at the White House on Tuesday, where the group will discuss funding for Ukraine and efforts to avert a government shutdown. The White House said Biden will highlight “the urgency of passing the bipartisan national security supplemental and keeping the government open.” Attendees will include Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.), Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.). Biden has for weeks been pleading with Congress to pass additional funding to support Ukraine in its war against Russia, warning that...

Former TV anchor John Avlon is out at CNN but hopes to find himself in Congress in January, he announced on social media on Wednesday morning. The partisan former network mainstay is running for the nomination in New York’s first congressional district -- a seat currently held by Republican Rep. Nick LaLota. **SNIP** In a video he posted on his X page, Avlon pleaded with the people of eastern Long Island to put him into office. “It's official: I'm running for Congress in #NY01 because there's too much at stake for the country & community I love,” Avlon wrote. He...

WASHINGTON (AP) — First lady Jill Biden lamented the partisanship that permeates Capitol Hill and politics writ large, telling governors at the White House that she wished more lawmakers would follow their lead. She spoke on Friday in the White House’s East Room to state chief executives who were in Washington for the winter gathering of the National Governors Association. During her brief remarks, Biden recalled something that Vermont Gov. Phil Scott, a Republican, had told her when she visited his state last year. “What you said really stayed with me,” Biden said. “You said pure partisan politics has never...

Joe Biden, who has spent a ridiculous amount of time on vacation over the last few years, recently blasted House Republicans for scheduling a two week recess. Biden doesn’t worry when he does incredibly hypocritical things like this because he knows no one is going to call him out on it. Who would challenge him? Someone in the media? Laughable. Also, he has no shame. FOX News reports:

“The commander in chief expressed ‘disapprobation of such disorderly proceedings’ (ad hoc mass meeting of officers) as the illegally called meeting. He summoned a meeting of his own for the following Saturday, March 15, 1783. This was probably the most important single gathering ever held in the United States. Supposing, as seemed only too possible, Washington should fail to prevent military intervention in civil government?

A conservative California preacher invited to deliver the invocation as a guest chaplain in the U.S. House last month has drawn the ire of self-identified atheist Rep. Jared Huffman and 25 other House Democrats. Pastor Jack Hibbs of Calvary Chapel in Chino Hills, who spoke of “a coming day of judgment,” in his Jan. 30 invocation, is described in the Democrats’ letter of protest as a “radical Christian Nationalist who helped fuel the January 6th insurrection and [who] has a long record of hateful vitriol toward non-Christians, immigrants, and members of the LGBTQ community.” In their letter to House Speaker...

The Republican House had unceremoniously sent forward a bill that would reauthorize Section 702, a highly-controversial provision of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), but yesterday, over a little too much negative press, they temporarily shelved the vote. Without congressional intervention, Section 702 is set to expire in a little over two months.FISA was originally meant to target noncitizens abroad, especially suspected terrorists, but somewhere along the way, the trawl net snared suspicious, non-woke, non-PhD, MAGA-like, presidential candidates who talked about draining the swamp of Washington D.C. and rooting out the corruption plauging the people.Some federal agencies, and even entrenched...

House Homeland Security Chair Mark Green (R-Tenn.) announced he will not be seeking a fourth term in Congress. This decision follows his prominent role in leading the impeachment efforts against Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas. Green released a powerful retirement statement criticizing the Washington elites and explaining his decision to retire from Congress. “At the start of the 118th Congress, I promised my constituents to pass legislation to secure our borders and to hold Secretary Mayorkas accountable. Today, with the House having passed H.R. 2 and Secretary Mayorkas impeached, it is time for me to return home....

Delta Air Lines CEO Ed Bastian in a letter to members of Congress on Wednesday discussed steps the company has taken to help its employees, two days after more than 100 House members in a separate letter called on him to stay neutral in union talks at the company. Bastian highlighted a $1.4 billion profit-sharing arrangement for front-line workers and an emergency savings program, in which participating employees “can earn $1,000 from Delta to fund a rainy day account.” “At Delta, our No. 1 job is taking care of our people — our success flows from this simple concept. Sharing...

Former Democratic Rep. Tom Suozzi has won a closely watched special election for a vacant House seat once held by former Republican Rep. George Santos, who was expelled from the chamber in December. The Associated Press projected that Suozzi would defeat Republican county lawmaker Mazi Pilip, to win back his old job. With the GOP hanging on to a razor-thin majority in the House, national Republicans and Democrats poured big bucks into a race in suburban New York City where immigration and border security, crime, and abortion were the top issues, and where the election was seen as a bellwether...

House Republicans have moved quickly and strongly to the right, embracing the most extreme positions on cultural issues (including abortion, gay and trans rights, and guns) and isolationism on foreign policy and national security. snip The House now has a long list of extreme ideologues, ranging from Eli Crane and Andy Biggs of Arizona to Clay Higgins of Louisiana, Troy Nehls of Texas, Bob Good of Virginia, Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia and Scott Perry of Pennsylvania, who don’t care if government works at all. In fact, they are content with gridlock, as they pander to the needs of former...

Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, who narrowly escaped impeachment last week, said Sunday that the Biden administration doesn't "bear responsibility for a broken system," demanding Congress enact legislation to mitigate what has become an illegal migration crisis during this election year. "No doubt there is gridlock in Congress. But do you bear responsibility for what is happening at the border with the president himself? It's called a crisis," NBC host Kristen Welker asked during an interview with Mayorkas on "Meet the Press." "It certainly is a crisis. And we don't bear responsibility for a broken system. And we're doing a...