Charles Grassley

A daily roundup of the best stories and cartoons by Daily Kos staff and contributors to keep you in the know.Trump is turning the White House into Mar-a-Lago—at taxpayers' expenseHiring a ‘gold guy’ to make the Oval Office gaudy won’t lower the price of eggs.Most voters want heads to roll for war plan leakToo bad accountability isn’t a thing in the Trump administration.Watch Sen. Chuck Grassley host the town hall from hellAt least he showed his face to constituents, unlike his fellow Republicans.Rubio may shutter dozens of embassies as US retreats from the worldIs isolationism our new foreign policy?Cartoon: Traitor!The truth won’t set you free in Trump’s America.Trump is suing this state for saying no to his bigoted demandsIt seems “states’ rights” go out the window when an autocrat takes over the GOP.Oh baby, Musk's trying to build a breeding cult 'before the apocalypse'The more we learn about the world’s richest man, the grosser he gets.Cops taser protesters at Marjorie Taylor Greene's ‘peaceful’ town hallThe meeting was a hot mess—just like the chaos-loving congresswoman.Click here to see more cartoons.Campaign Action

By the end of Greene's Tuesday town hall in Acworth, Ga., three people were arrested and two were hit with stun guns. Greene is one of many lawmakers confronted by angry constituents in recent weeks.

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, Republican of Georgia, has always been a catalyst for calamity, and her approach to her town hall on Tuesday was no different. The event in Cobb County, Georgia, quickly devolved into a Greene-inspired shitshow, even more volatile than we have seen at other recent GOP-led town halls, with almost a dozen officers forcibly removing attendees who dissented and tasering at least two people.As Greene spoke, protesters took turns standing up, holding signs, and making jeers at Greene. Law enforcement was quick—and violent—in shutting down constituents’ free speech.xProtester forcibly removed from Marjorie Taylor Greene's town hall.— Olga Nesterova (@onestpress.bsky.social) 2025-04-15T23:13:45.110ZA Black man, later identified as Johnny Keith Williams of Dallas, Georgia, was forcibly grabbed and tasered by several officers. “This is a peaceful town hall,” Greene said as Williams lay frozen on the floor.xxYouTube VideoAccording to CNN, another man was tasered by law enforcement at the event. One attendee held a sign that read “Jail 4 Insider Traders,” referring to Greene’s possible participation in insider trading connected to President Donald Trump’s erratic trade war.xxYouTube VideoAnother attendee stood up and denounced ICE as “a terrorist group, going after Black and Brown people,” before being removed by law enforcement. As she exited, she shouted at Greene, calling her a “butch body bitch,” in reference to Democratic Rep. Jasmine Crockett of Texas, who made the viral slam against Greene during a committee hearing last year.xxYouTube Video Attendees were reportedly prescreened by Greene’s staff, and the event’s location was not shared publicly beforehand. Despite this, at least one attendee was able to ask an authentic question.“Why is MTG supporting Musk and DOGE and the slashing of Medicaid, Social Security offices, libraries, and more?” Greene was asked by a woman identified as “Sarah.” “Well, Sarah, unfortunately, you’re being brainwashed by the news that you’re watching,” Greene said, dodging the question entirely.Greene has never pretended she was a reasonable person with any genuine interest in her constituents' questions or misgivings. But you don’t need to look much further than GOP Sen. Chuck Grassley’s recent Iowa town hall to understand why Republicans are having such a difficult time facing the music.Too bad for Greene, furious voters aren’t going away anytime soon.Campaign Action

EXCLUSIVE: Sens. Ron Johnson and Chuck Grassley are demanding information from the Justice Department’s inspector general on whether any unassigned, or "untasked," confidential human sources from DOJ agencies beyond the FBI were in or around the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.

Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa faced angry constituents during a rare GOP-led town hall on Tuesday. Confronted by demands for Kilmar Abrego Garcia to be returned to the United States after being wrongfully deported to El Salvador, Grassley parroted President Donald Trump’s indefensible position. “The president of that country is not subject to our Supreme Court,” Grassley told the Fort Madison crowd, eliciting jeers and groans from the audience.xxYouTube Video“We would like to know what you, as the people of the Congress, who are supposed to rein in this dictator, what are you going to do about these people who have been sentenced to life imprisonment in a foreign country with no due process? Why won't you do your jobs, Senator?” one attendee asked.Grassley, whose deflections were repeatedly shut down by the angry crowd, found himself on the receiving end of a civics lesson—and a sharp reminder of his oath of office. ”You took an oath—‘I do solemnly swear or affirm’—do you remember that, sir?” one attendee asked. He then proceeded to recite the entire oath of office Grassley took as a senator.“Sir, will you act upon your oath?” he asked.Grassley continued to act powerless, pointing to the fact that the “only tool” for Congress to discipline the president is impeachment.“And you missed that opportunity in his first administration. You had two opportunities for that. That was probably one of the only reasons we're having this situation now,” the attendee responded.Grassley tried to earn some praise from the raucous crowd, boasting about the Trade Review Act of 2025, a bipartisan bill that he co-sponsored with Democratic Sen. Maria Cantwell of Washington. The bill would require congressional approval before Trump’s tariffs could take effect. And always true to form, Grassley then tried to take the heat off of himself, calling out “mistakes that Democratic Congress has made in 1963.”Yes, 1963.“I’m so sick of that,” one audience member responded.Grassley is now an outlier in his own party. While Democrats are out in the field engaging with constituents, virtually all Republicans continue to hide from voters. If the GOP is hoping that voters’ outrage will blow over, they are sorely mistaken—they are only getting angrier.You can help ensure that Daily Kos remains the paywall-free home for our shared fight for democracy and justice. Daily Kos is supported by readers like you. Can you chip in today?

Saturday marked 100 days of the new Republican majority in the U.S. Senate, and we’ve been keeping our foot on the gas.

Iowa Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds on Friday announced she will not seek re-election in 2026.

Glimmers of optimism surrounding President Trump’s tariffs quickly faded on Tuesday as the White House dug in on the threat of new levies, the markets erased their small morning gains and Republican lawmakers grew increasingly frustrated with what they see as mixed messages coming from administration officials. The mood early on Tuesday was more upbeat [...]

Glimmers of optimism surrounding President Trump’s tariffs quickly faded on Tuesday as the White House dug in on the threat of new levies, the markets erased their small morning gains and Republican lawmakers grew increasingly frustrated with what they see as mixed messages coming from administration officials. The mood early on Tuesday was more upbeat [...]

House Dem More Supportive Of Trump Tariffs Than Many Republicans

Trump's trade representative Jamieson Greer told Senators that President Trump's tariffs prompted more than 50 countries to reach out to negotiate trade deals. But Greer declined to give a timeline.

U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer testified in the Senate hours before a round of reciprocal tariffs on scores of countries will take effect.

Lawmakers’ struggle to act showed the divide among Republicans on trade policy.

Financial markets continued to slide and pushback against Trump's tariffs continues to grow, both in the U.S. and abroad.

Republicans in Congress are watching with unease as stock markets tumble in the aftermath of President Donald Trump’s sweeping tariffs.

The Jim Leach memorial March 19 at Hancher Auditorium in Iowa City was a great experience. Seeing so many Republicans I worked with who, like me, are no longer Republicans was reaffirming.

'Congress has a constitutional role through the Commerce Clause on trade matters, and we should re-assume that role,' Sen. Chuck Grassley told reporters.

A federal judge expressed doubt over reinstating eight watchdogs fired by Trump, even as the court weighed claims that their terminations violated the law.

Rep. Elise Stefanik's nomination to be UN ambassador was put in jeopardy despite bipartisan support.

Sens. Mike Lee and Tommy Tuberville introduced a bill to abolish the current TSA and move toward privatization of security, specifically slamming violations of privacy and law.

Republicans are acting so mad about judges issuing injunctions that halt Trump's plans. Guess how they acted when judges did this to Biden and Obama?

In their zeal to prosecute President Donald Trump and his agenda. Democrats and liberal groups have elevated 'judge shopping' and judicial activism into an art form.

Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency is moving to downsize the Social Security Administration with office closures, cutbacks on phone services and new rules requiring in-person visits for some prospective beneficiaries to register.

Senate Judiciary Chairman Grassley is holding a hearing next week, back to back with the House, to look at the judges throttling President Trump’s agenda.

Fox News Digital spoke to GOP Rep. Harriet Hageman about the raucous protests at her townhall and the nationwide protests against DOGE at Tesla dealerships.

Congressional Cowards is a weekly series highlighting the worst Donald Trump defenders on Capitol Hill, who refuse to criticize him—no matter how disgraceful or lawless his actions.Republicans in the House and Senate were quick to follow Donald Trump's March 18 orders to impeach federal judges who ruled against his illegal actions.But when pressed about which high crimes and misdemeanors the judges committed to warrant such an extreme measure, Republicans had no good answer.Instead, the only "crime" they came up with was that the judges didn't let the lawless president trample over the Constitution to do whatever he wants, whether that be deporting immigrants without due process; letting co-President Elon Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency bros access sensitive government systems, shut down federal agencies, and chaotically fire federal employees; or remove health data from government websites because it was tangentially related to “gender identity.”For example, CNN host Kasie Hunt asked Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio what “high crimes or misdemeanors” these judges committed. Jordan replied with what can only be described as verbal diarrhea. “All I’m saying is, if you’re acting in a political fashion and not just following the law, the ruling on the law, and I would argue that frankly just his ruling in and of itself, remember the Constitution is pretty clear, Article II Section I, very first sentence, says the power in the executive branch shall be vested in a president of the United States. The president has the authority,” Jordan said.xxYouTube VideoOf course Jordan left out that Article III of the Constitution says that judicial power extends to “all Cases, in Law and Equity, arising under this Constitution, the Laws of the United States”—which is what the judges were doing when plaintiffs argued that the Trump administration was violating U.S. laws while carrying out its destructive agenda.Rep. Brendan Gill of Texas, who filed articles of impeachment against the judge who tried to stop Trump’s illegal deportations of Venezuelan immigrants (an order the Trump administration ignored), was also asked which impeachable offenses the judge committed—and had a terrible response.“This is for usurping the executive's authority, for demeaning the impartiality of the court by making a politicized ruling, and forcing a constitutional crisis,” Gill said on Newsmax. “That is a high crime and misdemeanor.”xxYouTube VideoOther Republicans also backed Trump and Musk’s call to impeach judges who rule against the administration.“America is a Republic, not a dictatorship of the judiciary. It's time to get rid of the political activists masquerading as judges and re-establish proper separation of powers,” Rep. Anna Paulina Luna of Florida wrote in a post on X. “That's why I'm proud to announce that I will be joining my colleagues in impeaching ALL the activist judges who are unconstitutionally blocking President Trump's agenda.”And Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri said he was going to introduce a law that would ban judges from being able to order nationwide injunctions.“District Court judges have issued RECORD numbers of national injunctions against the Trump administration - a dramatic abuse of judicial authority. I will introduce legislation to stop this abuse for good,” Hawley said, without acknowledging that maybe it’s because no other administration has ever initiated so many lawless actions that violate the Constitution.Senate Judiciary Committee Chair Chuck Grassley didn’t explicitly say he supported impeaching the judges, but he made it clear he believes what the judges did was wrong—and will use his powerful committee to go after those judges.“Another day, another judge unilaterally deciding policy for the whole country. This time to benefit foreign gang members,” Grassley wrote in a post on X. “If the Supreme Court or Congress doesn’t fix, we’re headed towards a constitutional crisis. Senate Judiciary Cmte taking action.”And it seems that Musk read Grassley’s comment as being supportive of impeachment, because after Trump’s demand to impeach the judges, Musk donated to Grassley and six other Republicans who have supported the effort to boot them, The New York Times reported.From the Times’ report:Mr. Musk contributed on Wednesday to Representatives Eli Crane of Arizona, Lauren Boebert of Colorado, Andy Ogles of Tennessee, Andrew Clyde of Georgia, Derrick Van Orden of Wisconsin and Brandon Gill of Texas. He also donated to Senator Charles E. Grassley, Republican of Iowa, according to two of the people briefed on the matter.“This is a judicial coup,” Musk wrote on X of a court ruling that blocked Trump from banning transgender people from the military. “We need 60 senators to impeach the judges and restore rule of the people.”Of course, it takes 67 senators to impeach—a fact you’d think Musk, who Trump and Republicans have framed as a genius, would know.Ultimately, this impeachment effort is futile.Even if House Republicans somehow succeed in impeaching these judges, there is no way that Democratic senators would vote to convict and remove them in an impeachment trial.The end result of this ridiculous posturing: making judges fear for their own safety as they receive death threats for their legally sound rulings, thanks to Republicans’ vile rhetoric.Thank you to the Daily Kos community who continues to fight so hard with Daily Kos. Your reader support means everything. We will continue to have you covered and keep you informed, so please donate just $3 to help support the work we do.

The investigation ended with former President Joe Biden pardoning his son.

President Trump on Friday visited the Justice Department for a remarkable victory lap seven weeks into his triumphant return to the White House. Trump has long blamed the department under his predecessor for unfairly targeting him in cases that involved dozens of serious criminal charges. But his visit visually solidified Trump’s grip on the Justice [...]

The Department of Defense has dissolved its Office of Net Acquisition, an office that was meant to provide strategic analysis but allegedly got caught up in the Trump-Russia investigation.

The US Department of Justice antitrust division will be led by Gail Slater following a successful Congressional confirmation vote today. Slater will take over multiple antitrust cases against large tech firms, filed under both Donald Trump and Joe Biden — including a high-profile Google search monopoly suit. The Senate voted to confirm Slater with bipartisan support [...]

EXCLUSIVE: FBI Director Kash Patel is working aggressively to comply with congressional document requests in order follow through on his commitment to transparency, Fox News Digital has learned.

Muslim journalist Asra Nomani warned the Senate Judiciary Committee that a "frightening network" funding antisemitism in the U.S. must be investigated.

Canadians, best known for their niceness rather than fierce nationalism, have been stirred and galvanized by Donald Trump’s childish insults and belligerent actions toward their country. In the process, our usually laid-back neighbors to the north have revived their country’s Liberal Party while striking deep fear in the heart of red America. It wasn’t long ago that Canada’s Conservative Party was headed for an electoral landslide, with Liberal Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s popularity hitting rock bottom. Just like every other governing party in the industrialized world, the country’s Liberal Party was the target of voter fury due to high inflation, leading Trudeau to announce in January that he would resign as party leader and prime minister. But between threatening and then enacting and then backing down on tariffs, mockingly referring to Trudeau as “governor,” and demeaning Canada as “the 51st state” while threatening to annex the sovereign nation, Trump has single-handedly revived Canadian Liberals, who are now running just slightly behind the Tories this election year. Canadians are set to head to the polls on Oct. 20.Prime Minister Justin Trudeau holds a news conference on imposed U.S. tariffs as Foreign Affairs Minister Melanie Joly, Finance Minister Dominic LeBlanc, and Public Safety Minister David McGuinty look on in Ottawa on March 4, 2025.It is an act of breathtaking idiocy for Trump to turn our closest ally into a firebreathing foe that’s foaming at the mouth to take us on. But he’s certainly being cheered on by his minions in online forums, where the conventional wisdom is “Canada is small so they have no chance, they are too dependent on America!” Weirdly, few are trying to justify a trade war with no rationale behind it. Trump’s claim that fentanyl is coming into the U.S. from Canada is not only wildly overblown, but an excuse and a legal necessity to give Trump the power to enact tariffs without congressional approval. But that hasn’t stopped his cult members from cheering on the world’s dumbest trade war. You know who isn’t cheering him on? The Wall Street Journal’s editorial board.“We’ve courted Mr. Trump’s ire by calling the Mexico and Canada levies the ‘dumbest’ in history, and we may have understated the point,” they wrote. “His taxes will hit every cross-border transaction, and the North American vehicle market is so interconnected that some cars cross a border as many as eight times as they’re assembled.” This is the same editorial board that said a vote for Kamala Harris was an endorsement for “the bloody-mindedness of the modern left, with its regulatory coercion, cultural imperialism, economic statism, and desire to strip judicial independence.” Meanwhile, the editorial board argued, Trump “would stop the crush of new regulation, restore a freer market for health insurance, unleash U.S. energy production, and reform the tax code. His default priority would be growth, which the U.S. desperately needs after a decade of progressive focus on income redistribution and the worst economic recovery in 70 years.”You know who wouldn’t have enacted “the dumbest” tariffs in history? Kamala Harris, that’s who. You know who else isn’t cheering Trump’s tariffs? Rural Americans. “Get ready to start making a lot of agricultural product to be sold INSIDE of the United States,” Trump wrote in a social media post. “Tariffs will go on external product on April 2nd. Have fun!”The reality for those farmers? The Des Moines Register reported the following, while noting that (red-voting) Iowa “leads the nation in corn, pork, egg and ethanol production, ranks second in growing soybeans and 10th in raising beef: “Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Ottawa would respond with immediate 25% tariffs on $20.7 billion worth of U.S. imports and on another $86.2 billion if Trump's tariffs were still in place in 21 days. China's commerce ministry on Tuesday said its new levies, which take effect March 10, will include a 15% markup on chicken, wheat, corn and cotton and 10% on soybeans, pork, beef, fruits and dairy. Mexico did not immediately announce its response.”But are farmers having fun, as Trump said they would?“Lower prices aren’t fun for farmers,” the president of the Iowa Farmers Union board told The Des Moines Register. “Losing reliable trade markets is not fun for farmers. It’s unrealistic to expect that domestic demand is going to magically take up the slack.” In deep-Red Kansas, the president of the Kansas Farm Bureau said, “We truly believe that tariffs are going to hurt us in the short term, but we certainly hope that it brings a better deal in the long term.” Part of their problem isn’t just that the American market is smaller than the global one (it’s simple math that escapes Trump), but American farmers get 80% of their fertilizer from Canada—and it’s suddenly 25% more expensive. The American Farm Bureau is doing math: “Mexico's $30 billion a year in our ag exports. Canada's $29 (billion). China's been about $24 (billion). Add them up. Those three countries are half of all U.S. agricultural exports.” Yeah, Kansans aren’t having fun either. During Tuesday’s speech in front of a joint session of Congress, Trump asked farmers to “bear with me again” as he once again destroys their foreign markets. Last time he did this in 2018, he bailed out farmers to the tune of at least $23 billion in response to another one of his trade wars. (The Topeka Capital-Journal, deep in farm country, says the number was $28 billion.) This time around, Trump is too busy hollowing out federal agencies (including the Department of Agriculture) while his billionaire co-president Elon Musk and his cost-cutting bros at the so-called Department of Government Efficiency cancel out every bit of aid they can get their hands on. And why would Democrats in Congress go along with a bailout this time? This is exactly what rural America voted for, and there are few farm-state Democrats left to carry their water. Funny enough, one prominent messenger for the “elections have consequences” platform is none other than Republican Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley. While the consequences from tariffs aren’t “very good news for farmers,” he said, "[Trump is] doing what the voters voted him to do. Elections are supposed to have consequences.”As for those consequences? “We’re just going to have to see how it works out. If he's doing it for negotiating purposes, to get people to the table, to get tariffs down [and] we have lower tariffs around the world, then I'll have to say he's been successful. And I would say amen to his work,” Grassley said. “And if he fails to do that, and it's catastrophic for Iowa and the nation's economy, then I'd have to say, 'I told you so.’”Given the fallout from Trump’s first trade war and the tens of billions that were needed to bail out farmers then, there is nothing to suggest that this round won’t be even more catastrophic for the so-called heartland of America. And with Musk and his billionaire buddies feeding at the government trough, there won’t be any money left to bail anyone out this time. Anyone who still thinks Canada is powerless isn’t paying attention—and Trump’s most recent retreat indicates that even he gets it. Actually enacting tariffs would extend the pain far beyond farm country to home builders (as if the price of housing isn’t already high enough), the spirits industry in red Kentucky, the auto industry (its carve-out is only for one month), and more. All of that would lead to higher prices for Americans, breaking Trump’s campaign-winning promise to tame inflation on “day one.” And for what? Canada is certainly not powerless in this trade war and Trump’s bullying has only rallied our northern neighbors the way Russian aggression rallied Ukraine. In a battle of wills, I’m betting on Canada to better withstand any coming economic pain. Campaign Action

Biden-nominated federal Judge blocks the National Institutes of Health from applying a standard indirect cost rate of 15% across the board for grants.

Patel's nomination heads for a full Senate confirmation vote in the early afternoon.

The Senate voted to confirm Patel, a veteran of Trump's first administration who drafted the 'Nunes memo' on the Crossfire Hurricane probe.

Out Of Control Spending, Marxism And 'DEI Privilege Walks': How USAID Became Progressive Slush Fund Under Biden

A bipartisan group of senators is calling on the new USDA secretary to take aggressive action on the bird flu that is wreaking havoc on farms across the country.

Elon Musk's so-called Department of Government Efficiency created yet another major disaster, after the mass firing of federal workers led to the ouster of critical federal employees who were working on the government's response to the bird flu outbreak that threatens the nation's health and economy.According to NBC News, President Donald Trump’s Department of Agriculture is now trying to rehire those workers, saying those employees were fired by accident."Although several positions supporting [bird flu efforts] were notified of their terminations over the weekend, we are working to swiftly rectify the situation and rescind those letters," a USDA spokesperson told NBC News in a statement. "USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service frontline positions are considered public safety positions, and we are continuing to hire the workforce necessary to ensure the safety and adequate supply of food to fulfill our statutory mission."A worker carries a chicken inside a New York poultry store on Feb. 7, 2025.The bird flu outbreak, which is impacting both chicken and dairy cow populations, has forced farmers to cull their populations of egg-laying chickens, leading to egg shortages and skyrocketing egg prices. In fact, egg prices hit a record high last month, with the cost of eggs rising an eye-popping 15.2% in January, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.The firings of USDA staffers is the latest significant error Musk and his unqualified DOGE bros have made.CNN reported that over 300 staffers working to secure the country's nuclear weapons arsenal were also accidentally fired. The Trump administration was trying to hire those workers back. Thankfully, as of Tuesday, most have been reinstated, according to CNN.On Tuesday, Boston’s John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum was also abruptly closed after staffers tasked with keeping the museum open were abruptly fired, CBS News reported. "Due to an Executive Order concerning a 'reduction in force (RIF),' the JFK Library and Museum will be closed to the public until further notice," read a sign on the door of the library.Democratic Rep. Jim McGovern of Massachusetts slammed Trump and Musk for forcing the library’s closure.“The JFK Library is a really special place. Every day, people from around the country & world visit to find inspiration from our 35th President. Trump let DOGE shut it down,” McGovern wrote in a post on X. “Meanwhile egg prices are through the roof and he's wasting money on publicity stunts at the Daytona 500.”The recent firings could even impact Americans' ability to visit national parks as the layoffs have decimated the National Park Service.“Yosemite National Park is delaying the sale of camping nights for five campgrounds (Upper Pines, Lower Pines, North Pines, Wawona, and Hodgdon Meadow),” Yosemite National Park wrote on its official Instagram page. “This delay affects reservations from June 15 - July 14. We understand the impact this has on visitors who are planning camping trips to the park. We are grateful for your patience. Our goal is to release these campground nights as soon as possible and we will provide at least a seven-day advance notice before reservations go on sale. The notice will be posted to the park's website and social media feeds.”Visitors pose in front of Half Dome at Yosemite National Park, in California, on Oct. 17, 2013.DOGE's disastrous layoff policy has been so destructive that it’s starting to piss off Republican lawmakers.Sen. Susan Collins of Maine said DOGE needs to slow down because they are making mistakes.“This latest example of individuals who were studying bird flu being fired from the Department of Agriculture is a perfect example," Collins told HuffPost's Igor Bobic. "Another is that they mistakenly put in charge of the FBI, a person that they didn't intend to be in charge temporarily of the FBI, that's what happens when you move too fast and you don't take the time to do a careful evaluation.”Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, who has acquiesced to all of Trump’s demands despite reservations, also criticized DOGE’s cuts.“I am all for efficiency and ultimately downsizing the federal government, but firing large numbers of new FBI agents is not the way to achieve this. Louisiana specifically benefits from newly hired FBI agents. We need to add to our law enforcement, not take away,” Cassidy wrote in a post on X.But these same Republican lawmakers are doing nothing to stop DOGE’s destruction.In fact, Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa said there is nothing Congress can do, even though Congress makes the laws that the executive has to abide by.“Congress can’t do anything except complain about it," Grassley said, according to a report from RadioIowa, “but I think we have to have sympathy and understanding for people that are laid off.”Cowards.Correction: A previous version of this story misstated the number of fired nuclear-stockpile staff who returned after being fired. To date, most have returned, according to CNN; approximately, 25 have not.Thank you to the Daily Kos community who continues to fight so hard with Daily Kos. Your reader support means everything. We will continue to have you covered and keep you informed, so please donate just $3 to help support the work we do.

Sen. Bill Cassidy said Tuesday that he would vote to confirm Kash Patel as FBI director, as the Senate is expected to hold a final vote this week.

President Donald Trump’s nominees keep on winning, including ones Democrats hoped to torpedo. On Tuesday evening, the Senate voted along party lines to advance the nomination of Kash Patel, the [...]The post Trump's FBI Nominee Clears Huge Hurdle, Secures Major GOP Endorsement appeared first on The Western Journal.

As the Trump administration continues its crusade to pare down the federal job rolls and slash federal spending, some Republicans on Capitol Hill are growing unnerved by what they see as an imprecise exercise.Why it matters: The job and funding cuts are now hitting GOP lawmakers' districts and states. There's also a larger conflict brewing over whether the administration can simply bypass Congress on these decisions.DOGE's efforts to shutter the U.S. Agency for International Development, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and other agencies could bring matters to a head, one House Republican told Axios."I think you're going to see a clash when they ... start abolishing [agencies]," the lawmaker said. "Say like USAID, right? We authorized that. That's a creature of Congress.""If they try to do something like that, then you're going to get into a constitutional argument or crisis."Driving the news: DOGE's spree of job cuts is starting to target federal roles that even some of Trump's Republican allies in Congress may deem too essential to sacrifice.That includes the Federal Aviation Administration firing several hundred of its 45,000 employees amid a string of fear-inducing plane crashes.The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which runs the National Weather Service and helps combat natural disasters, is also on the chopping block, Axios' Andrew Freedman and Ben Geman reported.The administration even fired over 300 workers at the National Nuclear Security Administration — which manages the U.S. nuclear arsenal — but has since scrambled to reinstate most of them, according to CNN.What they're saying: Senate Appropriations Committee chair Susan Collins (R-Maine) told Axios the administration is moving "too fast." She warned Elon Musk's team should wait until agency heads are confirmed and can take "a more surgical approach."She said some recent actions "violate restrictions that are in current law" and the team is "making mistakes," referencing the accidental firing of officials working on bird flu."Before making cuts rashly, the Administration should be studying and staffing to see what the consequences are. Measure twice before cutting. They have had to backtrack multiple times," said Rep. Don Bacon (R-Neb.).Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) also has concerns and told Axios of her state's many federal workers: "We all want efficiencies, there is a way to do it, and the way these people have been treated has been awful in many cases. Awful."Zoom in: Several other lawmakers, including Sens. Jerry Moran (R-Kan.) and Bill Cassidy (R-La.), have criticized the various agency layoffs as well, according to Politico.Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) told RadioIowa it is "a tragedy for people that are getting laid off," but that "This is an executive branch decision.""Congress can't do anything except complain about it," he said.Zoom out: Republicans have largely applauded the swiftness of DOGE's hacking and slashing, but some are quietly fuming that their Constitutional role in controlling federal funds could be steamrolled in the process.The House Republican who spoke anonymously warned that many conservatives are "very constitutionalist" and may be inclined to protect Congress' power if forced to do so."Even though it's our guy in the White House, if there's a lot of executive overreach, we want to protect the institution of Congress," they said.Between the lines: Despite taking a back seat in Trump's "government efficiency" drive, GOP lawmakers are not without leverage. Trump will need his whole party on board in Congress when it comes to passing his massive budget reconciliation bill later this year.In the House, Republicans have a razor-thin majority and cannot afford more than a couple of defections on a party-line bill — meaning Trump will have to keep nearly every GOP lawmaker sated.

President Donald Trump's administration has disbanded an FBI task force focused on investigating foreign influence campaigns and placed on leave several election security employees at the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Agency

The Trump administration's DOGE efforts have found several controversial and highly publicized examples of spending it says are a waste of taxpayer funds.