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The Columbia Bugle's Sunday Newsletter

The Columbia Bugle's Sunday Newsletter

January 9th-15th

Jan 16, 2023
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The Columbia Bugle
The Columbia Bugle
The Columbia Bugle's Sunday Newsletter
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A solid start for the Republicans in the 118th Congress.

  • New Rules Package Voted On And Passed

  • New House Judiciary Select Subcommittee On The Weaponization Of The Federal Government Voted On And Passed

  • Speaker McCarthy Promises To Release The 14k Hours Of Surveillance Footage From January 6th

None of this would have been possible if not for the courage of the 20 Republicans last week who held the line and extracted these concessions out of Kevin McCarthy before he could become Speaker.

There’s reason to be optimistic, but also a need to remain vigilant. We must not be content with symbolic victories.

Republicans must deliver.

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  1. A Solid Start: Week 1 Of The 118th Congress

  2. Other Stories We’re Tracking

  3. Interesting Reads Of The Week

  4. Trump’s Truth Of The Week


A Solid Start: Week 1 Of The 118th Congress

Republicans may have limped into a majority in the House with a very mediocre showing in the Midterms, but they have started off strong after the swearing in of the 118th Congress.

The New Rules Package

Thanks to negotiations made by the 20 House Republicans who blocked McCarthy from the Speakership for over a dozen ballots last week, we have a far more impressive rules package.

The House Rules Package was voted on and passed on Monday January 9th with a vote count of 220-213. The vote was party line with one exception, Texas Representative Tony Gonzales (R-Texas). Gonzales went on Face the Nation to explain why.

Twitter avatar for @FaceTheNation
Face The Nation @FaceTheNation
Texas GOP Rep. Tony Gonzales said one of the reasons he will vote against the proposed House rules package is due to the defense spending cut, which he said is "a horrible idea." But, Gonzales goes on to add, "I'm not whipping other members to vote against it."
2:53 PM ∙ Jan 9, 2023
27Likes4Retweets

[T]his has a proposed billions of dollar cut to defense, which I think is a horrible idea. When you have aggressive Russia and Ukraine, you've got a growing threat of China in the Pacific, you know, I'm going to visit Taiwan here in a couple of weeks, how am I going to look at our allies in the eye and say, I need you to increase your defense budget, but yet America is going to decrease ours.

His reasons are beltway gibberish, but amounted to nothing as the package still passed. He didn’t even whip votes against it.

But there's a difference between voting against it and whipping other members to vote against it. I would say in this case, I'm not whipping other members to vote against it.

But I’m sure he still got a pat on the head from all his donors though.

Here are a few of the things included in the House Rules package:

It includes a single member motion to vacate the chair as well as a requirement that tax increases receive 60% support before becoming law. The rules also require that legislation have only one subject, and give members 72 hours to read bills. Republicans are also creating a new Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government under the House Judiciary Committee.

A few more:

The package also includes adoption of the so-called Holman rule, which allows lawmakers to use spending bills to defund specific programs and fire federal officials or reduce their pay.

The rules approved on Monday end proxy voting and remote committee hearings for lawmakers, after Democrats put the practices in place at the start of the coronavirus pandemic in 2020.

If Lawerence “STOP THE HAMMERING” O’Donnell is freaking out about the new Rules Package, there’s reason to be optimistic.

Twitter avatar for @MSNBC
MSNBC @MSNBC
Lawrence O'Donnell: The new GOP House rules package "guarantees that this...will be the worst Republican House of Representatives in history." on.msnbc.com/3GWZEpH
8:45 PM ∙ Jan 11, 2023
561Likes146Retweets

Church Committee 2.0

Another important victory was the creation of a new “Church-Style” Committee to investigate the “Weaponization of the Federal Government.”

The resolution to create this new subcommittee was passed in a party line vote of 221-211 this week. This new subcommittee will be a part of the House Judiciary Committee and is expected to be headed up by Representative Jim Jordan (R-Ohio).

Representative Jordan did an interview with the New York Post to discuss what he has planned.

Jordan is planning to open his marquee select committee probe with an avalanche of FBI whistleblowers. The original roster of 14 he boasted of in November has now ballooned into “dozens” of agents who have come forward to tell their stories.

Representative Chip Roy (R-Texas) has stated that the subcommittee will be well funded.

He said Mr. McCarthy had committed to giving the subcommittee at least as much funding and staffing as the House special committee in the last Congress that investigated the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol.

“So we got more resources, more specificity, more power to go after this recalcitrant Biden administration,” Mr. Roy said. “That’s really important.”

Twitter avatar for @RepChipRoy
Rep. Chip Roy Press Office @RepChipRoy
"Every American should shudder at the power of the government" to target and tyrannize American Citizens. "That's why this a committee to investigate the Weaponization of the Federal Govt is so crucial to defend the American people" MORE:
7:35 PM ∙ Jan 10, 2023
6,135Likes1,626Retweets

Representative Thomas Massie (R-KY) joined Tucker Carlson last week to discuss what he wants to see out of the committee.

Twitter avatar for @RepThomasMassie
Thomas Massie @RepThomasMassie
.@TuckerCarlson suggested forming a new “Church Committee.” @GOPLeader is making this happen in the House rules package. I’ll serve on it, and we will go wherever the evidence leads us.
2:42 AM ∙ Jan 7, 2023
16,035Likes3,900Retweets

Unleash hell, Representative Bishop!

Twitter avatar for @RepDanBishop
Rep. Dan Bishop @RepDanBishop
🚨 The Deep State is on notice. To any bureaucrat who violates Americans' Constitutional rights - we're coming for you, on behalf of the American people.
7:13 PM ∙ Jan 10, 2023
14,734Likes4,339Retweets
Twitter avatar for @RepDanBishop
Rep. Dan Bishop @RepDanBishop
Well said, @RepThomasMassie ! Looking forward to working with you, @RepChipRoy @Jim_Jordan & our colleagues on holding the Deep State accountable.
2:29 AM ∙ Jan 7, 2023
6,889Likes1,718Retweets

How about it, Elon Musk?

Twitter avatar for @RepMattGaetz
Rep. Matt Gaetz @RepMattGaetz
When the Weaponization of Government Select Committee meets for the first time, who should their first witness be? How about @elonmusk?
3:51 AM ∙ Jan 14, 2023
2,748Likes525Retweets

Speaker McCarthy Promises To Release January 6th Security Footage

This would be huge if McCarthy follows through with it.

Twitter avatar for @AKA_RealDirty
The Dirty Truth (Josh) @AKA_RealDirty
.@SpeakerMcCarthy says he’s going to release all of the security footage from January 6.
4:34 PM ∙ Jan 12, 2023
3,607Likes845Retweets
Twitter avatar for @AKA_RealDirty
The Dirty Truth (Josh) @AKA_RealDirty
.@SpeakerMcCarthy: I don’t know what’s in the January 6 tapes, but I think they need to be released so the people can see for themselves what transpired. https://t.co/R6Jb73tkfS
4:47 PM ∙ Jan 15, 2023
215Likes85Retweets

Releasing the January 6th footage and a new Church Committee were two of the recommendations made by Tucker Carlson to Kevin McCarthy during the Speaker’s race last week.

Twitter avatar for @TuckerCarlson
Tucker Carlson @TuckerCarlson
If Kevin McCarthy wants to be Speaker, he's going to have to give his colleagues something real — actual concessions. He can start with these two things.
1:53 AM ∙ Jan 4, 2023
12,879Likes3,217Retweets

Representative Matt Gaetz (R-FL) confirmed this week that Speaker McCarthy has promised to release the tapes.

Twitter avatar for @ColumbiaBugle
The Columbia Bugle 🇺🇸 @ColumbiaBugle
Excellent, Let’s Make It Happen! @RepMattGaetz: “@SpeakerMcCarthy told us he’s going to get the evidence out in front of the American people and that means releasing the 14k hours of tapes that have been hidden.” #ReleaseTheTapes
1:57 AM ∙ Jan 11, 2023
740Likes183Retweets
Twitter avatar for @RepMattGaetz
Rep. Matt Gaetz @RepMattGaetz
The American people deserve to know the truth about what happened on January 6th. We have demanded to see all the footage. Transparency is coming.
2:08 AM ∙ Jan 14, 2023
15,373Likes3,309Retweets

The great journalist Julie Kelly, who has been doing incredible work covering January 6th, wrote an excellent piece this week laying out why releasing the January 6th security footage is so important.

Julie Kelly: What The January 6 Videos Will Show

If McCarthy follows through on his promise, the world will see the biggest inside job—an actual coup—in U.S. history unfold before their eyes. Not only is it necessary to expose the truth of January 6 but to exonerate innocent Americans whose lives have been destroyed in the aftermath.

Roll the tapes.

Representative Gaetz combatting some of the ridiculous excuses for not releasing the footage.

Twitter avatar for @ColumbiaBugle
The Columbia Bugle 🇺🇸 @ColumbiaBugle
.@RepMattGaetz Responds To Claim That Releasing The 14k Hours Of 1/6 Footage Would Jeopardize Security "I think that it's an argument made by the DOJ because they don't want to expose the extent to which there might have been federal assets or agents enhancing criminal acuity."
3:51 PM ∙ Jan 15, 2023
2,440Likes701Retweets

McCarthy has made his promises, now it’s up to all of us to hold him to them.

This week was a very good start for the 118th Congress, let’s keep it going.

There’s much work to be done.

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