McCaul Rips Biden Spox Kirby Comments About Afghan Withdrawal

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The GOP chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee on Thursday blasted the White House for dismissing the idea that the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan was chaotic and shifting blame on the Trump administration for creating unfavorable conditions for the pullout.

Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Texas), whose committee is leading a probe of the Biden administration’s withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021, ripped John Kirby, a White House spokesperson on national security issues, for his comments earlier in the day.

(Full story HERE.)
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Texas Republicans Demand Biden Reimburse State For Border Efforts

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The Texas Republican delegation in the US House of Representatives has written to Pres. Biden calling on him to reimburse the Lone Star State for its efforts to secure its southern border – and requesting a meeting to discuss the crisis now in its third year.

(Full story HERE.)
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McCaul Refuses To Condemn Greene After She's Reinstated To Committees

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Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Texas) deflected questions about Rep. Marjorie Greene’s (R-Ga.) committee posts on Sunday, saying that it’s not up to him to decide panel assignments.

Greene was selected to sit on the House Homeland Security Committee and House Oversight and Accountability Committee on Tuesday after being stripped of her committee assignments by Democrats in 2021. When asked on Sunday if he would prefer to see someone else on these committees, McCaul declined to take the bait, and did not condemn her.

(Full story HERE.)
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Texas Rep. Introduces Bill To Fight "White Supremacy"

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Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, D-Texas, has introduced a new bill that hopes to fight "white supremacy" by criminalizing some forms of "hate speech."

The "Leading Against White Supremacy Act of 2023" seeks to "prevent and prosecute white supremacy inspired hate crime and conspiracy to commit white supremacy inspired hate crime" by amending Title 18 of the United States Code to "expand the scope of hate crimes.." Her bill is unlikely to pass the Republican dominated House, however.

(Full story HERE.)
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Texas Republicans Score Key Congressional Committee Chairs

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Republican representatives from Texas, including one from the Austin area, will serve as chairs of four consequential committees in the new GOP-led US House of Representatives.

(Full story HERE.)
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Congress Session Will Be "Rough and Rowdy" Says Texas Congressman

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The chaotic Speaker’s election was “only the beginning” of a “rough and rowdy” session in the House of Representatives, according to Rep. Tony Gonzales (R-Texas), who on Sunday blasted Republicans who delayed the selection of the Speaker as the “insurgency caucus.”

(Full story HERE.)
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Rep.-Elect Hunt Returns to Texas After Son Born Prematurely

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Republican Rep.-elect Wesley Hunt will return to Texas after his son was born prematurely and needed to spend time in the neonatal intensive care unit.

Hunt and his wife Emily announced the birth of their son Monday, saying that he was born four weeks earlier than expected. Hunt, who has voted for Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) on each of the 11 ballots in the ongoing Speaker election, said he is returning to Texas on Friday to support his wife and son. McCarty finally won the speakership in a vote last night.

(Full story HERE.)
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Texan Prospective Committee Chairs Urge Colleagues To Get on With House Session

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Texans are slated to chair some of the most influential committees in this congressional session. But without a speaker of the House, they can’t take their gavels. And it’s getting on their nerves.

“Everything flows from the speaker being elected. We can’t even get sworn in. I can’t start my committee. We’re held hostage until we get this thing resolved,” said Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Austin, who is slated to lead the House Foreign Affairs Committee and lead the party’s investigations into the Biden administration’s botched withdrawal from Afghanistan.

(Full story HERE.)
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Crenshaw Calls Anti-McCarthy Holdouts "Childish"

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Rep. Dan Crenshaw (R-Texas) on Tuesday dismissed the idea that a group of hard-line conservatives had a viable alternative to Speaker-hopeful Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) waiting in the wings, instead saying the lawmakers are only opposing McCarthy to gain notoriety.

“This is such a childish attempt at gaining more and more attention,” Crenshaw said on Fox News ahead of the Speaker vote on Tuesday.

Some of McCarthy’s opponents have teased this week that they have a hidden alternative candidate to McCarthy that they say will become apparent after the first vote for Speaker on Tuesday. Rep. Bob Good (R-Va.) suggested on Fox News on Monday that the group had refrained from publicly naming the alternative candidate to shield them from “attacks and retaliation.”

But Crenshaw said the far-right lawmakers were floating the idea of a McCarthy alternative just to continue to garner media attention.

“They keep acting like they’ve got somebody in the wings — they’re just waiting,” Crenshaw said. “They’re like children … you know why they say it like that? Because they want you to interview them again.”

(Full story HERE.)
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Texas Republicans In Congress Unveil Border Security Plan

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The Texas Republican delegation in the US House unveiled a new border security proposal to push back on White House assertions that the GOP has no 'plan' to fix the southern border. 

The framework, which is made up of both legislation their delegation has already introduced and new proposals as Republicans prepare to take the House, is split up into four categories: completing the border wall, fixing border enforcement policies, enforcing laws in the interior, and targeting cartels. 

(Full story HERE.)
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Border Congressman Warns: "No End In Sight" To Immigration Crisis

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Rep. Tony Gonzales, a Republican who represents a district in Texas that spans more than 800 miles along the border, warned that the surge of illegal immigrants crossing into the US won't stop until Congress takes action. 

(Full story HERE.)
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Cruz Calls On Congress To Defend Biden's New IRS Agents

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"Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) has called on his Republican colleagues in Congress to block funding for what he described as 'Biden’s army of IRS agents' that the GOP has warned would be used to target Americans earning less than $400,000 a year."

(Full story HERE.)
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Border Congressman Retires Early To Take Lobbying Job

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As expected, Texas Democrat U.S. Rep. Filemon Vela Jr., retired Thursday night from Congress early, which will prompt a special election for his heated seat representing the South Texas border.

U.S. Rep. Vicente Gonzalez, a Democrat from Texas who currently represents the neighboring congressional district, is running for Vela’s seat in November.

Republican nominee Mayra Flores was upset about the early retirement during a time of economic and security crisis on the South Texas border.

“Filemon Vela is abandoning us while we have a crisis on our border and families can’t afford groceries and gas because prices are so high," she said.

(Full story HERE.)
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GOP Texas Senate Candidate Promises to Be A "Mini" MTG

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Texas GOP candidate Bianca Gracia said she might be a "mini Marjorie Taylor Greene" if elected to office.

While greene he's painted as a divisive figure in the media, she remains very popular with the Conservative Republican base.

Gracia, who's running for district 11 in the Texas State Senate, said she would remain true to her word if she's elected.

"We have some very blind, hypocritical people in office who tell you they're going to do all these things for you and they do nothing. They go into office and they shake hands behind closed doors and they pretend to fight against each other," Gracia said, in a recent podcast. "The only one right now that's really fighting back is Marjorie Taylor Greene," she said.

(Full story HERE.)
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Sen. Ted Cruz Calls Jan. 6 Capitol Event A "Violent Terrorist Attack"

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Texas Senator Ted Cruz is taking a beating from both Republicans after condemning the Jan. 6, 2021 insurrection by supporters of former Pres. Donald Trump at the U.S. Capitol.

In comments made Wednesday, Cruz said this year marked “the solemn anniversary of a violent terrorist attack on the Capitol…”

Fox News commentator Tucker Carlson ripped Cruz for his comments.

"It wasn’t a violent terrorist attack. So why are you telling us that it was, Ted Cruz?” Fox News commentator Carlson said Wednesday night, adding that cruise and other Republicans were "repeating the talking points of US Attorney General Merrick Garland."

"What the hell is going on here? You're making us think that maybe the Republican Party is as worthless as we suspected it was."

Cruz appeared on Carlson's show Thursday night to apologize for what he called "sloppy" wording.

"“The way I phrased things yesterday, it was sloppy and it was frankly dumb,” Cruz told Carlson

(Full story HERE.)
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Redistricting Maps Signed Into Law, But Democrats Ready Lawsuits

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Gov. Greg Abbott on Monday approved Texas’ new political maps for the state’s congressional, legislative and State Board of Education districts, according to Texas Legislature Online.

The maps were drawn to be favorable to Republican candidates across the state. Democrats are already lining up to challenge the maps in court. If they manage to delay the implementation of the maps pass November 15th, the March 2022 primary election could be delayed until May or later.

(Full story here.)
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Rep. Michelle Beckley, who Fled To DC, Announces Congressional Run

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State Rep. Michelle Beckley, one of the House Democrats who is camped out in Washington, D.C., announced Tuesday that she is challenging U.S. Rep. Beth Van Duyne, R-Irving, a national Democratic target.

Beckley unveiled her plans in a video filmed inside a hotel room in the nation’s capital, where House Democrats fled earlier this month to break quorum in protest of Republicans’ priority elections bill.

In the video, Beckley contrasted her commitment to the voting rights battle with Van Duyne’s vote earlier this year to object to the 2020 election results in Pennsylvania.

(Full story here.)
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Rep. Chip Roy Introduces Border Wall Fund Amendment

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Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX) introduced an amendment that would strip the nearly $5.7 billion in earmarks from the House Democrats’ surface transportation bill and use the money to establish a fund in the Treasury dedicated to constructing a border wall.

Roy's amendment is seen as symbolic, and unlikely to pass, since Democrats control the US House of Representatives, with 220 Democrats, 211 Republicans, and 4 vacancies.

(Full story here.)
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Morgan Luttrell Announces Congressional Bid

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Morgan Luttrell, a retired Navy SEAL with close ties to former Texas governor and Energy Secretary Rick Perry, filed to run for the state’s open 8th Congressional District Tuesday as a Republican. 

Rep. Kevin Brady, R-The Woodlands, who was first elected to the seat in 1996, announced in April he wouldn’t seek reelection next year for the eighth Congressional district, which sits just north of Houston.

Luttrell served 14 years in the military and was deployed multiple times to Iraq and Afghanistan. 

His brother, Marcus Luttrell, also served as a Navy SEAL and wrote the bestselling book Lone Survivor based on his own experiences in Afghanistan.

Six other Republican candidates have filed to run in the primary so far, and at least one independent will run for the seat in the general election in 2022,

(Full story here.)
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What A Democrat Shut-Out In Dist. 6 Special Election Might Mean

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The special election in Texas’ Sixth Congressional District had two Republicans gathering enough votes to advance to a runoff — in what was seen as a major blow to Democrats’ bid to flip seats in one of the country’s key states in the election.

Reports also noted that the result of the special election in the district, which covers some southeastern parts of Fort Worth, as well as some rural areas —  presented a snapshot of how the district has reacted to the new Democratic administration’s first 100 days in the White House. 

John Fund of National Review opined on Twitter:

"If Biden Is So Popular, Why This? 

Republicans grabbed the two runoff slots in the Texas 6 special election yesterday. Dems were shut out, their candidates won a total 36% in a Dallas area seat that Trump carried by only 3 points last November."

(Full story here.)
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