Congressional Glance
Republicans are grappling with how to handle an expected $200 billion request for supplemental funding for the war in Iran, weighing their desire to support the president with demands from fiscal hawks, questions about the scope of the funding and the challenge of a super-slim majority in the House.
Democrats are not expected to support such a Pentagon funding boost for a war they oppose, leading Republicans to eye fulfilling the request through the special budget reconciliation process, which bypasses the need for Democratic support to clear the 60-vote threshold in the Senate.
But to do that, Republicans must get near-unanimous support in a slim House GOP majority — a tall task for even the most populist GOP priorities — while contending with demands from their own members to offset the cost of such a funding boost with cuts elsewhere.
“It needs to be paid for. We need to do the fiscally responsible thing,” said Rep. Andrew Clyde (R-Ga.), a member of the hard-line conservative House Freedom Caucus.
Democrats are now all but certain to elect another Black woman to the U.S. Senate after Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton won Tuesday’s bitter and expensive primary in Illinois.
The ex-Marine who was forcibly removed by police from a congressional hearing for protesting Wednesday said the incident made him “only more determined” to continue his candidacy for the U.S. Senate.
Senate Republicans on Wednesday voted down an attempt to require Donald Trump receive Congress’s permission before continuing the war with Iran, batting aside concerns from Democrats that the campaign is illegal and risks plunging the United States into a prolonged conflict.
The U.S. House Oversight Committee voted March 4 to subpoena Attorney General Pam Bondi to testify about the Department of Justice's handling of its release of the Jeffrey Epstein files.
