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      George Santos: aide who alleged sexual harassment details payments to staffer

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      A man who was briefly an aide to the New York congressman and fabulist George Santos said he got his job after sending payments to a top deputy of the scandal-embroiled Republican.Derek Myers, 31, told House ethics committee staff on Wednesday that in January, while he was trying to get a job in Santos’s Washington office, he sent at least seven $150 payments to Vish Burra, its director of operations.Myers shared details including receipts and text messages with the Associated Press. His account raises questions about potential ethical improprieties.Myers said he began sending the money unsolicited because he believed Burra, a rightwing operative, was not getting paid and could not afford food. Myers said he also hoped the payments might help secure a job.“Burra was a powerful person,” Myers said. “I wanted him to advocate on my behalf.”Burra, who helped escort Santos away from journalists after his arraignment in federal court in New York last month, declined to comment.House staffers questioned Myers as part of an investigation of workplace sexual harassment allegations Myers made after being dismissed by Santos in February.A former journalist, Myers became a legislative assistant but lasted less than a week. Santos told Myers he was concerned by a background check that showed Myers had been charged with wiretapping in Ohio after publishing a recording of a trial.In a February letter to the House ethics committee, Myers said he was ousted after he spurned Santos’s sexual advances, alleging the congressman ran his hand along his inner leg and touched his groin. Santos denied the allegation, calling it “comical”.The ethics committee is investigating several allegations of improper behavior by Santos, who has admitted to fabricating much of his biography and faces federal charges including fraud and money laundering.Last month, Republicans sidestepped a vote to expel Santos, referring the matter to the ethics committee. The committee has not divulged who it is interviewing or when a decision might be reached.On Wednesday, staffers spent two hours questioning Myers about his sexual harassment allegation, his relationship with Burra and whether he witnessed illegal behavior. He described finding Burra online, then pushing for a job.Myers provided documentation, including emails and texts and receipts showing Venmo payments to Burra. Myers said Burra did not ask for money but once requested he “send more pizza”, which he took to be a reference to a pizza emoji used in Venmo subject lines.Investigators asked Myers about a text exchange after he was offered the job.Myers asked: “Did you get payroll yet.”“No. You didn’t have to do that man,” Burra replied, adding: “I’m gonna pay you back for sure.”Myers acknowledged that he secretly recorded at least one conversation with Santos and shared it with a journalist. He also said he went to the FBI, with the intention of being an informant. He decided to speak out about alleged harassment, he said, after he was forced to leave the job. More

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      The debt ceiling fight was never about debt. It was about Republican power | Mark Weisbrot

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      The debt ceiling drama seems to be nearing its end, as the US House of Representatives passed legislation that would lift the debt ceiling in accordance with a deal reached last weekend between Joe Biden, the president, and Kevin McCarthy, the Republican speaker of the House. The Republicans have been fighting to force cuts in spending and/or eligibility for food stamps (Snap), Medicaid, childcare and pre-schools, education and grants for higher education.By linking these and other provisions to the lifting of the debt ceiling, the Republicans tried to use the threat of default on the public debt to force Democrats to accept them. The legislation, which now goes to the Senate where it is expected to pass, did not satisfy most of their desires.The worst abuse that Republicans managed to include will be suffered by the hundreds of thousands of poor people who will likely lose access to food assistance under the Snap program. Many are in poor health and will not be able to complete the work requirements that Republicans have insisted on imposing for people of age 50-54; others will lose benefits due to additional red tape.There was also damage done by the fictitious narrative that Republicans were able to successfully promote about the “ticking time bomb” of the public debt. There is no bomb and if there were, it would not be ticking.The relevant measure of our debt burden is how much we pay annually in net interest on the debt, as a share of our national income (or roughly, GDP). That number was 1.9% for 2022. That is not big, by any comparison. We averaged about 3% in the 1990s, while experiencing America’s then longest-running economic expansion.The constant repetition of the “threat” posed by our national debt was a big win for Republicans, who are always looking to cut spending on social needs and safety nets; and more strategically important, to cut spending that could aid recovery from an economic downturn when Democrats are in power.In the Great Recession (December 2007 to June 2009), Republicans fought against measures to stimulate an economic recovery, which were already too small as proposed by Democrats. By October 2010, unemployment was still at 9.4%. In the election a month later, Republicans gained 63 seats to take the House and six Senate seats.The debt ceiling was used to threaten the Biden administration with a default on the public debt if they did not agree to Republican demands, mostly for spending cuts. The ceiling itself doesn’t affect new spending; it’s just holding up a chunk of the spending that our government is already obligated by law to carry out. In a democracy, this type of extortion should not be permitted.But Republican power isn’t based on democracy; on the contrary, it’s become highly dependent on institutions and practices that most people, including experts, would consider undemocratic or anti-democratic. Republicans benefit enormously from the fact that 80% of senators are elected by about 50% of voters. And if that’s not slanted enough, there is the filibuster, which effectively requires a 60-vote majority to win almost any pro-democracy reforms. This includes changes that are needed even for the Senate as presently constituted: eg representation for Washington DC, which has more population than a couple of states. We are the only democracy in the world where people who live in our national capital city don’t have full voting rights.Then there is voter suppression and gerrymandering, for both state and federal elections. These two methods of influencing election outcomes have gone hand-in-hand. Of course swing states are prime targets: recall that Republican presidents who ruled for 12 of the past 22 years came to power while losing the popular vote.When Republicans win, they then use their power to stack the cards further in their favor. This includes packing the judiciary, where Republican judges advance their agenda.Their decades-long struggle to control the judiciary reached its pinnacle with a 6-3 majority of the US supreme court, with five justices appointed by presidents who lost the popular vote.The current Republican majority now “substitutes a rule by judges for the rule of law”, the dissenting justices wrote when that majority revoked the right to abortion last year.Dozens of senators have described the supreme court as “captured” by “dark money” from Republican donors, including “rightwing billionaires”, and it is currently facing lost credibility as well as accusations of corruption.If the Republicans had gotten all that they had included in their legislation to lift the debt limit, it would have reduced the public debt by less than one half of 1% next year.This makes it even clearer that the debt ceiling fight was never really about debt reduction. It’s part of a vicious cycle in which political power is abused in order to consolidate a system that is increasingly undemocratic; and then further abused. The debt ceiling is just one part of that cycle, and should not have been negotiated; it needs to be abolished.
      Mark Weisbrot is co-director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research in Washington DC and the author of Failed: What the “Experts” Got Wrong About the Global Economy More

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      Republican senator says ‘I don’t want reality’ in hearing on race and education

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      Questioning a witness about childcare and the teaching of race, the Oklahoma Republican senator Markwayne Mullin said: “I don’t want reality.”The remark prompted laughter in the hearing room.Mullin said he “misspoke” and returned to hectoring his witness about whether a book meant to teach children about racism was appropriate for early learning classes.Mullin is an election denier, former cage fighter and plumbing company owner who sat in the US House before being elected to the Senate last year.His confrontational style has caused comment before. In March, for example, he told a Teamsters leader to “shut your mouth” during a fiery exchange.Mullin’s remark about reality and its uses came on Wednesday in a hearing held by the Senate health, education, labour and pensions committee.The panel is chaired by Bernie Sanders of Vermont, a self-described democratic socialist, a belief system Mullin vociferously opposes.The hearing took place under the title “Solving the Child Care Crisis: Meeting the Needs of Working Families and Child Care Workers”.The five witnesses included the the New Mexico secretary for early childhood education and care and the president of the Independent Women’s Forum of Washington DC.Taking his turn for questions, Mullin held a book called Our Skin and said: “I’m going to read exactly what this book says. You guys might find it interesting.“‘A long time ago, way before you were born, a group of white people made up an idea called race. They sorted people by skin colour and said that white people were better, smarter, prettier, and they deserved more than everybody else.’“This would be taught if we socialise our pre-K system, this would be.”Asked by Sanders if he disagreed with the book, Mullin said: “One thousand percent. How about we teach Jesus Loves Me? … and teaching Jesus loves and loves the little children. The lyrics go, ‘Red and yellow, black and white. They’re all precious in our sight.’”The hymn Mullin was referring to, Jesus Loves the Little Children, was written by C Herbert Woolston.Our Skin: A First Conversation About Race, by Jessica Ralli and Megan Madison, has been seized upon by rightwingers in the ongoing battle over the teaching of race.Saying he was “Cherokee Native American” and adding: “I think we have experienced a little bit of racism before in my life”, Mullin continued: “I’ll ask everybody on the panel. Which is better to teach?”Two witnesses attempted to answer. The senator talked over them.Turning to Cheryl Morman, president of the Virginia Alliance for Family Child Care Associations, Mullin asked: “So which one is better?”Morman said: “I disagree. First, it is important that we teach Jesus and Jesus is what we teach.”Mullin interjected: “So which one is better?”Morman said: “But the reality is –”Mullin cut her off: “I don’t want reality, I’m asking the question, which one is better?”Amid laughter – and with Mullin the recipient of a sideways look from the Republican next to him, Tommy Tuberville of Alabama – an unidentified senator said: “Got it on tape.”“Misspoke,” said Mullin, before returning to the attack. More

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      Republicans love to make up fake crises. Here are five of the biggest | Robert Reich

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      Republican leaders have mastered the art of manufacturing crises to divert the public’s attention from the real crisis of our era – the siphoning of income, wealth and power from most Americans by a small group at the top.Consider the fake fears they’ve been whipping up:1. WokenessFlorida’s governor (and now Republican presidential candidate) Ron DeSantis has declared a “war on woke”.Immediately after the mangled launch of his presidential campaign, DeSantis claimed on Fox News that “the woke mind virus is basically a form of cultural Marxism”.What?What exactly is “woke”? The term gained popularity at the start of the Black Lives Matter movement in 2014, following the fatal police shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, when many Americans – including white Americans who were seeing the extent of the problem for the first time – awoke to the reality of police brutality against the Black community.DeSantis’s own general counsel has defined “woke” as “the belief there are systemic injustices in American society and the need to address them”.He’s right. We all need to be woke.2. Trans peopleFormer president Donald Trump says that one of his top priorities if he’s re-elected in 2024 will be a “sweeping federal rollback of transgender rights”.DeSantis and other Republican governors have signed a stream of laws in recent months aimed at transgender rights.At least 10 states have banned gender-affirming care for minors and another 21 have introduced bills to do so, even as multiple studies have found access to gender-affirming care reduces the risk of depression and suicide for trans children.Other bills target gender-affirming care for adults. Some ban drag shows.Why have Republican lawmakers targeted transgender people as dangers to the public? There’s not a shred of evidence that trans people are threats to anyone.But targeting trans people is a way to court evangelicals. It’s also a way to stir up the base against people who are different, making trans people the sort of scapegoats that historically have fueled fascist movements.3. Critical race theoryVirginia governor Glenn Youngkin’s “day one” executive order banned the teaching of critical race theory. DeSantis and Greg Abbott, the Texas governor, have also banned it from schools.Here again, though, there’s no evidence of a public threat. CRT simply teaches America’s history of racism, which students need to understand to be informed citizens.Banning it is a scare tactic to appeal to a largely white, culturally conservative voter base.4. Couch potatoesIn the fight over raising the debt ceiling, Kevin McCarthy’s House Republicans added work requirements to food stamps and welfare, arguing that too many “couch potatoes” collect government benefits.Like Ronald Reagan’s claim about so-called “welfare queens”, the “couch potato” myth is a cruel racial dog whistle. Work requirements will burden many people who often have difficulty finding work that pays enough to live on.The plain fact is that most poor recipients of public benefits already work extremely hard.In addition, evidence shows that work requirements don’t lead to long-term increases in employment or to more stable jobs. Most people subject to work requirements remain poor. Some become poorer.5. Out-of-control government spendingIn fact, discretionary spending has fallen more than 40% in the past 50 years as a percentage of the nation’s gross domestic product (from 11% to 6.3%).Lately, rising deficits have been driven by social security and Medicare (which is to be expected, as boomers retire). They’ve also been driven by defense spending.But a major culprit for the US’s soaring debt is George W Bush’s and Donald Trump’s huge tax cuts that mostly benefited the wealthy and big corporations – and that will have added $8tn and $1.7tn, respectively, to the debt by the end of the 2023 fiscal year.House Republicans are even proposing to cut funding for the IRS, which would make it harder for the tax agency to go after rich tax cheats and thereby reduce the debt.All five of these so-called crises have been manufactured by the Republican party. They’re entirely made up.Why? To deflect attention from the near record share of the nation’s income and wealth now going to the richest Americans.As the super-wealthy and big corporations pour money into politics – especially into the Republican party – they don’t want the rest of America to notice they’re rigging the economy for their own benefit, that their unrestrained greed is worsening the climate crisis and that they’re also undermining democracy.The game of the Republicans and their major donors is to deflect and distract – to use scapegoating, racism and outright lies to disguise what’s really going on.
      Robert Reich, a former US secretary of labor, is professor of public policy at the University of California, Berkeley, and the author of Saving Capitalism: For the Many, Not the Few and The Common Good. His new book, The System: Who Rigged It, How We Fix It, is out now. He is a Guardian US columnist. His newsletter is at robertreich.substack.com More

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      US debt ceiling bill passes House with broad bipartisan support – video

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      The House debated legislation to increase the US debt limit until January 2025, before passing the bill by a vote of 314 to 117. Republican representatives passed the bill overwhelmingly. Representative Hakeem Jeffries of New York, the Democratic leader, praised Democrats for pushing back against ‘extreme Maga Republicans’ before Kevin McCarthy took to the floor claiming the bill would deliver the ‘largest savings in American history’. The White House tactically avoided pushing back against the line to avoid inflaming the hard right. ‘Tonight, we’re gonna give America hope,’ McCarthy said More

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      Debt ceiling bill: key takeaways from the vote

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      The US House of Representatives passed the much-debated debt ceiling bill on Wednesday evening, moving the country closer to avoiding a potentially catastrophic default. Next up in line is the Senate, the Democrat majority chamber, which would push the bill to Joe Biden’s desk.But the vote on Wednesday revealed the divided lines, not only between Republicans and Democrats, but within the parties. Here are some key takeaways from this vote on the Fiscal Responsibility Act:Kevin McCarthy’s party faced significant internal resistanceMore Democrats (165) than Republicans (149) supported the measure – something the right wing may use as evidence that the bill was a bad deal for their side. Indeed, the Republican opposition to the bill is much louder than that of progressive Democrats, who are concerned about the cuts to benefits programs and the impact on climate.Key Democratic programs and priorities will feel the effectsAn estimated 750,000 could lose food stamp benefits due to the new work requirements, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, a progressive thinktank. And in another blow to progressives, the bill gives special treatment to the Mountain Valley pipeline.A quarter of the $80bn of newly allotted funding to refurbish the IRS will also be cut from Biden’s key legislation, the Inflation Reduction ActBut it preserves health plans, Social Security and other programsThe bill will not impact Medicaid benefits, the main government health program for low income Americans, or social security, even though McCarthy tried to keep the debate open on such programs just hours ahead of Wednesday’s vote. Republicans attempted to cut these plans to curb government spending. However the bill will avoid more increases to the bloated US defense budget.And the agreement will fully fund medical care for veterans at the levels included in Biden’s proposed 2024 budget blueprint.Both Biden and McCarthy are counting this as a winWhile critics say the president could have avoided making multiple concessions, the president touted his ability to bring the deal together under heated circumstances, and the bipartisanship he has famously campaigned on.“This budget agreement is a bipartisan compromise,” the president said in a statement reacting to the news. “Neither side got everything it wanted. That’s the responsibility of governing. I want to thank speaker McCarthy and his team for negotiating in good faith, as well as leader Jeffries for his leadership. This agreement is good news for the American people and the American economy.”McCarthy, meanwhile, claimed the bill would herald the “largest savings in American history” during the floor debate, though this is not quite accurate.“I have been thinking about this day before my vote for speaker because I knew the debt ceiling was coming. And I wanted to make history. I wanted to do something no other Congress has done,” McCarthy told reporters after the vote. “Tonight, we all made history.”The Senate is already making moves to move the bill forwardChuck Schumer, the Senate majority leader has already put the debt limit bill on the Senate calendar to start the process on Thursday. There is likely to be some resistance there as well, as progressives such as Bernie Sanders have already signaled their concerns, but the bill is expected to pass. More

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      US House passes bill to raise debt ceiling just days before default

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      The House passed a bill to raise the debt ceiling on Wednesday, clearing a major legislative hurdle with just days left before the US is expected to default.The final House vote was 314 to 117, with 149 Republicans and 165 Democrats supporting the measure. In a potentially worrisome sign for the House Republican speaker, Kevin McCarthy, 71 members of his conference opposed the deal that he brokered with President Joe Biden.Taking a victory lap after the bill’s passage, McCarthy downplayed concerns over divisions within the House Republican conference and celebrated the policy concessions he secured in his negotiations with Biden.“I have been thinking about this day before my vote for speaker because I knew the debt ceiling was coming. And I wanted to make history. I wanted to do something no other Congress has done,” McCarthy told reporters after the vote. “Tonight, we all made history.”Biden applauded the House passage of the legislation, calling on the Senate to quickly take up the legislation to avoid a default. The treasury secretary, Janet Yellen, has warned that the federal government will be unable to pay its bills starting 5 June unless the debt ceiling is raised.“This budget agreement is a bipartisan compromise. Neither side got everything it wanted,” Biden said in a statement. “I have been clear that the only path forward is a bipartisan compromise that can earn the support of both parties. This agreement meets that test.”The debt ceiling bill passed by the House would raise the government’s borrowing limit until January 2025, ensuring the issue will not resurface before the next presidential election. As part of his negotiations with Biden, McCarthy successfully pushed for government spending cuts and changes to the work requirements for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.However, the concessions that McCarthy won fell far short for members of the freedom caucus, who had pushed for steeper spending cuts and much stricter work requirements for benefits programs. They belittled the debt ceiling compromise as a paltry effort to tackle the nation’s debt, which stands at more than $31tn.Representative Scott Perry of Pennsylvania, chair of the freedom caucus, said on Twitter before the vote, “President Biden is happily sending Americans over yet another fiscal cliff, with far too many swampy Republicans behind the wheel of a ‘deal’ that fails miserably to address the real reason for our debt crisis: SPENDING.”House freedom caucus members staged one last attempt to block the debt ceiling bill from advancing on Wednesday afternoon, when they opposed a procedural motion prior to the final vote. With 29 Republicans voting against the motion, McCarthy had to rely on Democratic assistance to advance the debt ceiling proposal. In the end, 52 Democrats voted for the motion, setting up the final vote and virtually ensuring the bill’s passage.The House Democratic leader, representative Hakeem Jeffries of New York, mocked McCarthy’s failure to unify his party, arguing the procedural vote proved the speaker has “lost control of the floor”.“It’s an extraordinary act that indicates just the nature of the extremism that is out of control on the other side of the aisle,” Jeffries said during the floor debate before the final vote. “Extreme Maga Republicans attempted to take control of the House floor. Democrats took it back for the American people.”skip past newsletter promotionafter newsletter promotionDespite his sharp criticism of McCarthy and his Republican colleagues, Jeffries and the majority of the House Democratic caucus supported the debt ceiling bill. Although they lamented the spending cuts included in the bill, those Democrats argued the crucial importance of avoiding a default outweighed their personal concerns about the legislation.“Our constitution makes perfectly clear the validity of the public debt of the United States shall not be questioned,” said California representative Nancy Pelosi, the former Democratic House speaker. “While I find this legislation objectionable, it will avert an unprecedented default, which would bring devastation to America’s families.”But dozens of progressive lawmakers opposed the bill, attacking the spending cuts and new work requirements procured by McCarthy as an affront to the voters who elected them.“Republicans never cared about reducing the deficit, only about forcing through their anti-working family policy priorities under the threat of a catastrophic default,” said Pramila Jayapal, chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus. “The deal they passed tonight proves that point, and I could not be part of their extortion scheme.”Progressives in the Senate, including Senator Bernie Sanders, have echoed that criticism and indicated they plan to oppose the debt ceiling proposal, but the bill still appears likely to become law. The Senate Democratic majority leader, Senator Chuck Schumer of New York, has pledged to act swiftly to take up the bill once it has passed the House. The Senate Republican minority leader, Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, has already indicated he plans to support the proposal as well.“Any needless delay, any last-minute brinksmanship at this point would be an unacceptable risk,” Schumer said in a floor speech Wednesday morning. “Moving quickly, working together to avoid default is the responsible and necessary thing to do.” More

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      Chris Christie will reportedly announce 2024 presidential bid next week

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      The former New Jersey governor Chris Christie will reportedly announce a second run for president next week, seeking to take the political fight over the 2024 Republican nomination to Donald Trump.The news site Axios first said Christie, 60, would launch his campaign in Manchester, New Hampshire, on Tuesday.Trump dominates Republican primary polling, leading his closest challenger, the Florida governor, Ron DeSantis, by more than 30 points in most polling averages.DeSantis, who endured a glitch-filled campaign launch on Twitter last week, is pursuing the same hard-right supporters as Trump.Other candidates, including the former South Carolina governor Nikki Haley, the South Carolina senator Tim Scott and the former Arkansas governor Asa Hutchinson, have sought to distance themselves from the two men but have not made an impact.Citing members of Christie’s campaign team, Axios said he planned to offer Republicans “a happy warrior who speaks his mind, takes risks and is happy to punch Donald Trump in the nose”.The former governor aims to run “a national race … a non-traditional campaign … mixing it up in the news cycle and engaging Trump”, the site quoted a Christie adviser as saying.The adviser added: “Will not be geographic dependent, but nimble.”A political heavyweight with a New Jersey brawling style, Christie rose to national prominence after winning election in 2009 but suffered in Republican eyes after being photographed working with Barack Obama in the aftermath of Superstorm Sandy, during the 2012 presidential election.In 2015 he left office under a cloud, amid the Bridgegate scandal about alleged political payback.Christie ran for the Republican nomination in 2016 but aside from brutally taking down the Florida senator Marco Rubio on the debate stage, failed to make an impression. He quickly endorsed Trump and was by his side as he won the nomination and then the White House. But Christie lost his role planning the Trump transition, he said because Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, resented Christie’s role in putting Kushner’s father in jail.Christie proved unable to quit Trump, advising him through the 2020 election. He finally broke with him after the deadly January 6 assault on Congress.According to Axios, Christie now hopes to be “joyful” on the campaign trail, aiming to hit “a more hopeful note aimed at America’s ‘exhausted majority’”.Assessing Christie’s hopes, the Washington Post writer Aaron Blake said: “Say what you will about Chris Christie; he is a smart man … He must know that he has precious little chance in 2024 … and while he has insisted this isn’t just a kamikaze mission to take down Donald Trump, it’s difficult to see how it could amount to much else.”Christie is expected to soon be joined in the race by Doug Burgum, the North Dakota governor, and Mike Pence, the former Indiana governor and vice-president to Trump.Polling has shown the potential for a large primary field to split the vote and hand Trump the nomination without a majority, as happened in 2016.Bill Kristol, a conservative commentator and Trump critic, said: “Chris Christie behaved reprehensibly from 2016 through 2020. Also, I wish him well in his efforts to stop Donald Trump or Ron DeSantis from being the Republican nominee in 2024.”Adam Kinzinger, a former Republican congressman from Illinois turned anti-Trump conservative, said that though he appreciated “Christie’s newfound outrage, it’s important to remember he took down Rubio for Trump then dutifully endorsed him with googly eyes.” More