Jan 4, 2019

Reality bites: House Democrats pass dead in the water funding bill

Photo: Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call

Divided government returned to America with a day of celebration for Democrats that swept Capitol Hill with new diversity and determination.

Driving the news: Seven and a half hours after Pelosi took the gavel, the newly empowered Democrats passed a plan to re-open the government without funding for President Trump's wall — a measure that's already dead because the Republican-controlled Senate won't take it up.

Pelosi told reporters at a news conference last night: "We're not doing a wall. Does anyone have any doubt that we're not doing a wall?"

"We've had so little joy in politics in these last months," historian Doris Kearns Goodwin said on MSNBC. "So, to see families together at this moment, to see the joy of new people thinking that maybe things will be different — that maybe there something will change and this fever will break."

Pelosi and a fellow Californian, Rep. Kevin McCarthy, the new leader of the House Republicans. Photo: Win McNamee/Getty Images
  • N.Y. Times Quotation of the Day ... McCarthy: "To the speaker of the House, Ms. Pelosi, I extend to you the gavel."
Pelosi celebrates with her grandchildren and other kids in the chamber. Photo: Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images
Photo: Pelosi greets a child with Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), the first Somali-American elected to Congress, during a ceremonial swearing-in. Alex Brandon/AP
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) takes a selfie with Rep. Ann McLane Kuster (D-N.H.) and Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Calif.). Photo: Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call

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Appeals court allows House Democrats to continue lawsuit for Don McGahn testimony

Don McGahn in an October 2018 Cabinet meeting. Photo: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

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Why it matters: The ruling has broader implications beyond this specific instance, agreeing that Congress has the standing to sue to enforce subpoenas against executive branch officials even if the White House refuses to comply.

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Dan Primack
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There's little consensus on TikTok's specific national security threat

Illustration: Aïda Amer/Axios

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Bethany Allen-Ebrahimian, Ursula Perano
2 hours ago - World

U.S. sanctions Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam

Photo: Anthony Kwan/Getty Images)

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