Congress

“I welcome the announcement that the District of Columbia’s statue of Frederick Douglass will be unveiled in the U.S. Capitol Visitor Center next month.

House Democratic Whip Steny H. Hoyer (MD) today announced that Shuwanza Goff has been promoted to Floor Director to succeed Austin Burnes, who is leaving the Hill at the end of May.

We just had to share the New York Times’ pretty brutal assessment of the amount of time House Republicans have wasted in vain attempts to repeal the Affordable Care Act and take away patient protections from millions of Americans. Some low lights:

I have been privileged to serve alongside my friend, Mel Watt, for the past twenty years, and I congratulate him on his nomination to be our next Director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA).

Well, it was pretty evident this week that Republicans are at a crossroads, with national Republicans attempting to overhaul their national message –while House Republicans don’t seem to be getting the message. National Journal put a spotlight on the GOP’s disconnect on economic policy:

So, the Republican party is divided. What’s new? As reported by the Hill, the GOP leadership isn’t too happy with the continued internal strife:

"Well I agree with the Leader and with Chairman Becerra – the President was optimistic, the President was positive, the President was obviously pleased with the meetings that he’s had both with the House Republicans and the Senate Republicans, as well as Senate Democrats and now House Democrats.

Democrats continue to call for a big and balanced solution to stop the irrational and irresponsible across-the-board spending cuts known as the sequester. While House Democrats have proposed a solution to stop these reckless cuts, Republicans have refused on four separate occasions to bring this legislation to the House Floor for a vote.