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Former Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) said in an interview Thursday that there is a difference between the way lawmakers climb the ranks in Congress now and 10 years ago, adding that lawmakers in both parties today are “entertainers.” “In the old days, like 10 years ago, if you wanted to do really well in Congress, if you wanted to succeed, you climbed a meritocracy. The measurement of success was policy and persuasion,” Ryan said on CNBC’s “Squawk Box.” “That’s not necessarily what motivates people anymore. There’s a lot of entertainers in Congress from both parties,” he said.

More lawmakers may be called to testify by the Jan. 6 committee as early as next week, according to a new report. House select committee chiefs of staff and aides got word Friday on their weekly call with committee staff that more legislators will be asked to testify, Axios reported Saturday. The briefers did not say which lawmakers will be contacted, or whether they intended to issue more subpoenas, the sources told Axios.

Lawmakers are slated to send over $5 billion to combat global food insecurity as part of the nearly $40 billion emergency Ukrainian aid bill passed by the House on Tuesday. Russian aggression in Ukraine has drastically curtailed food exports from the country, which is the world’s largest producer of wheat and an essential supplier of corn and other grains, sending prices skyrocketing and threatening food insecurity and famine for many already vulnerable parts of the developing world.

Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Texas) on Sunday defended House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) after it was reported the Republican leader said he would advise then-President Trump to resign if he was impeached following the January 6 rioting. McCaul said on “Fox News Sunday” that it was important to put McCarthy’s comments “into the context of when it was given.”

Rep. Charlie Crist (R-FL), who is vying to challenge Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) in this year’s gubernatorial race, believes it is “boneheaded” to eliminate woke Disney’s self-governing district. “Attacking Disney, threatening to harm our state’s economic powerhouse that creates so many jobs and brings in so many tourism dollars is a boneheaded move however you look at it,” Crist said, stating that DeSantis a “threat to our state’s economy”:

Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed a $46.5 billion budget Tuesday morning that includes $1.8 billion in election-year tax relief and a $1 billion deposit into the state's rainy day fund. “The budget I’m signing into law today brings real improvements to the lives of working families and sets us up for a stronger fiscal future,” Pritzker said in a statement. “Investments in stronger schools, modernized airports and newly paved highways, hundreds of thousands of well-paying infrastructure jobs, and a better funded pension system… these are the kind of priorities we can invest in when our state is governed responsibly.”

Montana Sen. Steve Daines (R) and Ukrainian-American Rep. Victoria Spartz (R-Ind.) this week became the first American lawmakers to travel to Ukraine in the aftermath of the Russian invasion, with Daines concluding after their visit that there is “indisputable evidence of war crimes” in the country. The pair spoke with Ukrainian officials on the ground and traveled to various sites of destruction from the war.

Five more House lawmakers have tested positive for COVID-19 in recent days, adding to the growing number of Washington, D.C. figures coming down with the virus. Reps. Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-Ill.), Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.), Frank Pallone (D-N.J.), Lisa Blunt Rochester (D-Del.) and Elaine Luria (D-Va.) have all announced positive COVID-19 test results since Friday. A number of high-profile political figures have disclosed coronavirus cases in the past week, including top-ranking lawmakers and administration officials, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Attorney General Merrick Garland among them.

Democrats on a subcommittee of House Energy and Commerce Committee grilled oil executives Wednesday over the disparities between oil and gas prices, while the committee’s Republican members framed high prices as a consequence of Biden administration energy policies. Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee Chair Diana DeGette (D-Colo.) confronted the witnesses, who included executives from BP, Chevron, ExxonMobil, Devon Energy and Shell and Pioneer Natural Resources, directly asking them “Why is there a disconnect between the falling price of crude oil and the fact that the cost of gas is staying the same?”

Americans already faced searing inflation when gas prices surged to an all-time high earlier this month. Now, some lawmakers want the federal government to offer stimulus payments or rebate checks to help reduce the pain at the pump. Families with two children could get as much $300 per month as long as the nation's average gas price exceeds $4 a gallon, according to one new bill proposed by Reps. Mike Thompson of California, John Larson of Connecticut and Lauren Underwood of Illinois. All three lawmakers are Democrats

WASHINGTON (AP) — Congressional leaders reached a bipartisan deal early Wednesday providing $13.6 billion to help Ukraine and European allies plus billions more to battle the pandemic as part of an overdue $1.5 trillion measure financing federal agencies for the rest of this year. Though a tiny fraction of the massive bill, the money countering a Russian blitzkrieg that’s devastated parts of Ukraine and prompted Europe’s worst refugee crisis since World War II ensured the measure would pass with robust bipartisan support. President Joe Biden requested $10 billion for military, humanitarian and economic aid last week, and Democratic and Republican...

In a letter, signed by 37 of his Republican colleagues in Congress, Texas Rep. Dr. Ronny Jackson warns that President Biden’s “mental decline and forgetfulness have become more apparent over the past two years,” and urges the 79-year-old to take a cognitive aptitude test (just as former President Trump did). “My colleagues and I are again asking President Biden to immediately undergo a formal cognitive screening exam, such as the Montreal Cognitive Assessment,” Jackson said. “As a former physician to three Presidents of the United States, I know what it takes mentally and physically to execute the duties of Commander-in-Chief...

Thirty-eight Republican lawmakers on Wednesday demanded President Joe Biden take a cognitive test upon fears that he may have Alzheimer’s disease. Noting Biden’s “changes in mood and personality” and “forgetfulness,” the 38 Republican lawmakers sent a demand letter for the president to undergo a transparent cognitive test. Biden took a physical examination in November, but he “either did not have a cognitive test or those results were withheld from the public,” the letter stated:

New York City Mayor Eric Adams (D) called on lawmakers in Washington, D.C., to pass gun reform after the city announced that one officer had been fatally shot and another remained in critical condition during a shooting in Harlem on Friday evening. “We don't make guns here. How are we removing thousands of guns off the street, and they still find their way into New York City? In the hands of people who are killers, constantly carbon highways of death, destroying our communities,” Adams said on Friday night. “We need Washington to join us and act now to stop the...

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) may ban lawmakers from holding or trading stocks if he wins the speaker’s gavel in November, a report suggests. McCarthy’s plan of banning members like House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and Rep. Dan Crenshaw (R-TX) from trading stocks is still under development and undefined as to how far-reaching the limitations would be, Punchbowl News reported.

Two people who helped plan the pro-Trump rallies that took place in Washington, D.C., ahead of the Capitol riot on Jan. 6 say members of Congress and the White House helped plan the protest that turned violent. The two people spoke to Rolling Stone for a report published Sunday evening. Neither of the sources were identified, though Rolling Stone described one as a "rally organizer" and another as a "planner." Rolling Stone reported the two are also talking to the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack.

Axios and other news outlets are cashing in on corporate-sponsored events featuring their own journalists alongside company spokesmen The news site Axios in July hosted an event with Rep. Kurt Schrader (D., Ore.), a member of a House subcommittee on health and the sponsor of legislation that would provide federal funding that allows companies to sell knockoff drugs virtually identical to those that originated with their competitors. The event was sponsored by the pharmaceutical company Viatris, which spent $3.6 million lobbying in favor of the drugs, known as biosimilars, and has contributed to Schrader's campaigns. The Axios event—"A Conversation on...

Representative Maxine Waters (D-CA) said Wednesday on MSNBC’s “The ReidOut” that she believed Republican members of Congress were giving tours the day before to the people who were involved in the January 6 Capitol Hill riot. Waters said, “For Republicans to resist a commission speaks to whether or not they are interested in really having the facts come out about the insurrection and what took place. Who was involved in it, who supported the transportation for so many of those people to come by airplane, by bus, what have you? I know that there have been some reports that talked...

Texas Democratic state legislators opened their press conference Sunday night with an invocation. Representative Carl Sherman (D-Dallas County) ended the prayer with this entreaty: “Remove us from this hypocrisy and give us democracy.” He and his colleagues had just left their chamber to prevent a vote on major legislation that would otherwise have passed and that voters overwhelmingly support. In this context, Sherman’s words sound contrite. They were not. The reason he and other House Democrats consider it “democratic” to extralegally block a popular bill from enactment by Texans’ duly elected lawmakers is that the proposed election law, Senate Bill...

The top Democrat and Republican on the House Homeland Security Committee reached an agreement Friday on legislation to establish a bipartisan 9/11-style commission to investigate the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol ahead of an expected vote next week. The bill is focused squarely on the Jan. 6 riot, not other episodes of political violence as GOP leaders have demanded. It’s unclear how much support the legislation has among Republicans who have defended former President Trump’s actions surrounding the deadly rampage. Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) on Friday said he has not signed off on the bill.