Amna Nawaz:
GOP leaders in the Senate today squashed a Venezuela war powers resolution after five Republicans voted to advance the measure last week. That combined with articles of impeachment introduced against DHS Secretary Kristi Noem and threats to hold the Clintons in criminal contempt of Congress made it a busy day on the Hill.
Congressional correspondent Lisa Desjardins has been covering all of this and more from the Capitol, where she joins me from now.
Lisa, it’s good to see you.
So let’s start with Venezuela, that big Senate vote today about blocking President Trump from using the military in or around the country without congressional approval. What do we need to know?
Lisa Desjardins:
Right. That effort is now over.
President Trump is unrebuked now because of Senate action today. What happened was, Republican leaders found a work-around, essentially a procedural way that they could sidestep this vote altogether, a point of order.
And they took a point of order by convincing, other senators, that this vote was not in order as a — in the means they were taking it, because, in their words, there is not a conflict that the U.S. has. The U.S. is not actively engaged in Venezuela right now.
Effectively, what that did, Amna, was it gave those Republicans on the fence, some of them, a way out. So what happened was, we had two Republicans flip their vote from last week to this. Let’s take a look at who those are. Those are Republicans Josh Hawley of Missouri and Todd Young of Indiana.
They supported this resolution overall, but today they voted to set it aside. There were still three Republicans who voted yes, though. Those were Susan Collins of Maine, Rand Paul of Kentucky, and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska.
So, Amna, what this means, as I say, is that the war powers remain completely intact for President Trump. He can use whatever military might he wants or not, but he knows that Congress is watching him. The other issue here is, there really was no thorough debate, which is what those senators said they were fighting for.
Amna Nawaz:
All right, Lisa, take us to the House now, a major issue there, the expired Affordable Care Act subsidies. I know millions of people are watching this and tracking it. You spoke to senators involved in those talks. What did they tell you?
Lisa Desjardins:
This was actually brief. Those talks right now are at a standstill.
Those bipartisan senators, talking to them, they have agreed on some broad outlines of an extension, two years with some more limitations, but mostly moderate limitations. But they have hit some hard walls, including debates over abortion policies. We will be watching that closely.
But, right now, Amna, the truth is the path for extending these subsidies is getting narrower and narrower, and it may disappear in coming weeks.
Amna Nawaz:
We mentioned in the intro to this conversation talk of impeachment, but not for President Trump. Tell us about that.
Lisa Desjardins:
Right.
We’re talking about Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem. Today, Democrats led by Illinois Representative Robin Kelly filed articles of impeachment against her on several grounds, including that she has violated the public trust in the way she has put ICE officers around the country, in their words, violently acting against U.S. citizens.
There are other articles of impeachment here as well. But the Homeland Security Department responded quickly, saying this is not legitimate, in their words. This is what a spokesman said precisely, said: “How silly during a serious time. As ICE officers are facing a 1300 percent increase in assaults against them, Representative Kelly is more focused on showmanship and fund-raising clicks.”
Representative Kelly, for her part, responded to that.
Rep. Robin Kelly (D-IL):
Secretary Noem, you have violated your oath of office, and there will be consequences. I am watching you. Members of Congress are watching you. The American people, most importantly, are watching you. And, most of all, we are not liking what we’re seeing.
If you believe impeachment is silly, then you are not taking your job or our Constitution seriously.
Lisa Desjardins:
This is privileged, so Representative Kelly can bring up that on the House floor any time going forward.
Amna Nawaz:
And lastly, Lisa, we know House Republicans are preparing to take action against former President Bill Clinton and his wife, former Secretary Hillary Clinton. What should we know about that?
Lisa Desjardins:
Quickly, this is from the House Oversight chairman, James Comer. He said he will hold a vote next week on holding them in contempt because they have refused to testify behind closed doors despite the committee issuing a subpoena.
This is related to the Epstein investigation, but former President Clinton said, no, he questions that. He says they are being held out among all those subpoenaed for special treatment that he questions. And he also criticized the committee for not pushing hard enough to get out more of the actual Epstein documents from the Department of Justice.
So we will keep watching this.
Amna Nawaz:
Busy day, as we said, on Capitol Hill, Lisa Desjardins covering it all, as always.
Lisa, thank you.
Lisa Desjardins:
You’re welcome.
