Former Republican Speaker Of The House

Ethics Charges And Reprimand

Eighty-four ethics charges were filed by Democrats against Gingrich during his term as Speaker. All were eventually dropped except for one: claiming tax-exempt status for a college course run for political purposes. On January 21, 1997, the House officially Gingrich and “ordered to reimburse the House for some of the costs of the investigation in the amount of $300,000”. It was the first time a Speaker was disciplined for an ethics violation.

Additionally, the House Ethics Committee concluded that inaccurate information supplied to investigators represented “intentional or … reckless” disregard of House rules. The Ethics Committee’s Special Counsel concluded that Gingrich had violated federal tax law and had lied to the ethics panel in an effort to force the committee to dismiss the complaint against him. The full committee panel did not agree whether tax law had been violated and left that issue up to the . In 1999, the IRS cleared the organizations connected with the “Renewing American Civilization” courses under investigation for possible tax violations.

On The ‘deep State’ And Lobbyists

The former speaker blasts Trumps accusations that bureaucrats within agencies such as the Justice Department and CIA were part of a massive conspiracy against America.

There is something very destructive not to mention delusional about the notion that there is some plot deep within the nations capital in the FBI, in the federal courts, in the intelligence community to undermine democratically elected officials, he writes.

Boehner defends lobbyists as educators who have expertise on many issues, even if the nature of their work seems to make them political villains.

If you listen to the lobbyists, youre going to know exactly what that language you are voting on actually does, and how it affects real people, writes Boehner, who works with lobbyists but has never registered as one.

Pelosi Wins Tight Race For House Speaker

Pelosi, 80, is the only woman to ever serve as speaker.

Nancy Pelosi re-elected for House Speaker

The House of Representatives has narrowly reelected Nancy Pelosi as speaker with 216 votes, giving the California Democrat a fourth and likely final term leading the House.

Pelosi, 80, is the third speaker in the last 25 years to win with less than 218 votes, after former Republican Speakers Newt Gingrich and Paul Ryan. Five Democrats did not support Pelosi on the floor, and instead voted for alternative candidates or present.

After seizing the gavel, Pelosi said the most urgent priority of the 117th Congress will be defeating the COVID-19 pandemic.

Two weeks ago, we passed an emergency relief package to crush the virus and put money in the pockets of workers and families, which is now the law. But we must do more to recognize our heroes, she said Sunday. Indeed, the pandemic has pulled back the curtain on even worsened disparities in our economy and our society. We must pursue justice: economic justice, justice in health, racial justice, environmental and climate justice.

Rep. Kevin McCarthy, the Republican leader, won unanimous support from the Republican conference garnering 209 votes on the floor.

Still, many new members were spotted with friends and family members around the Capitol.

Roy was shut down 371-2.

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Former House Speaker Dennis Hastert Settles With Man Who Accused Him Of Child Sexual Abuse

Former U.S. Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert has agreed to a financial settlement with a man who accused him of child sexually abuse.

Chief Judge Robert Pilmer of Illinois’ 23rd Judicial Circuit said that attorneys for the former Illinois lawmaker, a Republican, and an anonymous man referred to a “James Doe” had “tentatively reached an agreement” to settle the suit.

The settlement will cancel a trial, which was set to begin on Monday, that would have revealed the name of the alleged victim. Assuming that a written agreement is drafted and signed by both parties, a motion to dismiss the case will likely be granted in a hearing next week.

“I would have loved to try this case,” Kristi Browne, attorney for the plaintiff, told reporters after the settlement was reached. “I think it was a good case. I’ve been very confident about our case from the beginning. But this what we’ve managed to resolve and this is a resolution my client is comfortable with.”

Hastert, who was the longest-serving Republican Speaker of the House between 1999 and 2007, had been sued for breach of contract after allegedly refusing to pay $1.8 million out of $3.5 million in “hush money.”

Hastert began making secret payments to the man in 2010. He paid around $1.7 million before catching the eye of federal investors due to making a series of large bank withdrawals. The payments then ended.

Why Democrats Struggled More Than Expected In Some House Races

Its too early to say exactly what went wrong for House Democrats, who broadly hoped to comfortably expand their majority.District-level internal party polling had shown Republicans with the potential to lose even more seats in 2020.

Many Republican strategists had resigned themselves to the possibility that their House ranks could decrease. Instead, Republicans were the ones making gains albeit modest enough ones to stay the minority party in the House.

Cook Political Reports House editor Dave Wasserman had some early thoughts on Wednesday: Just like Biden, Democratic congressional candidates suffered losses among Hispanic voters in key races. Democrats had bad nights particularly in Florida and Texas they lost a couple of incumbents in Florida and didnt defeat a single Republican incumbent in Texas, despite making a massive investment in the state to target 10 districts.

Republicans also learned from their losses in 2018 and recruited top-tier women candidates, who were on a winning streak.

After last night, Republicans are on track to more than double their current count of 13 women, Wasserman wrote.

These outcomes all elude a clean narrative. Its difficult to say early on how much is based on strategic error, and how much is owed to the bizarre nature of this election year amid a pandemic that significantly hampered Democrats ability to do basic campaigning tasks like door-knocking.

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Mcconnell Not Troubled At All By Trumps Suggestion Of Supreme Court Challenge

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell defended Mr. Trump for falsely claiming that he won reelection, although he acknowledged that the presidential race had not yet been decided.

Its not unusual for people to claim they have won the election. I can think of that happening on numerous occasions, McConnell told reporters in Kentucky. But, claiming to win the election is different from finishing the counting.

Claiming to win the election is different from finishing the counting, Mitch McConnell says, adding that Americans should not be shocked that Democrats and Republicans are both lawyering up for the close races

CBS News

He also said he was not troubled at all by the president suggesting that the outcome of the election might be determined by the Supreme Court. The president cannot unilaterally bring a case to the Supreme Court, what its unclear what case the Trump campaign would have if it challenged the counting of legally cast absentee ballots.

McConnell, who won his own closely watched reelection race on Tuesday evening, expressed measured confidence about Republicans maintaining their majority in the Senate. He said he believed there is a chance we will know by the end of the day if Republicans won races in states like Georgia and North Carolina.

House Republicans Vow To Vote Against Raising Debtceiling

U.S. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi outside the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C.

More than 100 House Republicans have vowed to vote against raising the debt ceiling. In a letter released on Monday, a group of 103 lawmakers said in order for Democrats multi-trillion spending plans to come to fruition, the debt limit would have to be significantly increased.

They contended a vote to raise the debt ceiling would imply consent to new spending. The lawmakers also made it clear Democrats alone were responsible for the effort to spend trillions.

We do not accept Pelosis agenda. We will not be on the hook for Bidens failures, and we sure as hell do not consent to this kind of reckless, wasteful, useless spending in our nations capital.

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How Maine And Nebraskas Split Electoral Votes Could Affect The Election

As the race drags into Wednesday, it appears two congressional districts in Maine and Nebraska could prove pivotal in deciding the outcome of the election.

Maine and Nebraska are the only states in the nation that split their electoral votes. Maine awards two of its four electoral votes to the statewide winner, but also allocates an electoral vote to the popular vote winner in each of its two congressional districts. Nebraska gives two of its five electoral votes to the statewide winner, with the remaining three going to the popular vote winner in each of its three congressional districts.

Ohio House Expels Rep Larry Householder Over Massive Bribery Scheme

The Ohio House voted 75-21 Wednesday to expel Rep. Larry Householder following his federal indictment last year in a $60 million bribery scheme.Why it matters: The bipartisan vote marks the first time in 150 years that the House has removed a member.Get market news worthy of your time with Axios Markets. Subscribe for free.State of play: Householder, the former speaker of Ohio’s House, was arrested last year in a bribery case intended to “ap

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Number Of Years/terms Representative/delegate Has Served

The number of years the representative/delegate has served in Congress indicates the number of terms the representative has.

Note the representative/delegate can also serve non-consecutive terms if the representative loses election and wins re-election to the House.

• 2 years – 1 or 2 terms
• 4 years – 2 or 3 terms
• 6 years – 3 or 4 terms
• 8 years – 4 or 5 terms
• 10 years – 5 or 6 terms
• 12 years – 6 or 7 terms
• 14 years – 7 or 8 terms
• 16 years – 8 or 9 terms
• 18 years – 9 or 10 terms
• 20 years – 10 or 11 terms
• 22 years – 11 or 12 terms
• 24 years – 12 or 13 terms
• 26 years – 13 or 14 terms
• 28 years – 14 or 15 terms
• 30 years – 15 or 16 terms
• 32 years – 16 or 17 terms
• 34 years – 17 or 18 terms
• 36 years – 18 or 19 terms
• 38 years – 19 or 20 terms
• 40 years – 20 or 21 terms
• 42 years – 21 or 22 terms
• 44 years – 22 or 23 terms
• 46 years – 23 or 24 terms
• 48 years – 24 or 25 terms
• 50 years – 25 or 26 terms
• 52 years – 26 or 27 terms
• 54 years – 27 or 28 terms
• 56 years – 28 or 29 terms
• 58 years – 29 or 30 terms

Harry Reid Former Senate Leader Dead At 82

The hard-nosed Nevada Democrat employed his blunt manner in leading Senate Democrats.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid stands on the steps on Capitol Hill on Oct. 9, 2013, during a news conference amid a government shutdown crisis. | Evan Vucci/AP Photo

12/28/2021 08:22 PM EST

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Former Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, a direct and dogged figure who converted the lessons of a hardscrabble childhood into a leadership role in national Democratic politics, died Tuesday. He was 82.

Im sure there are more people capable than I, better looking than me, better educated than me, smarter than me. But Ive got the job. And I try to do the best I can with the job,” Reid told POLITICO in December 2016, weeks before retiring from the Senate.

A former boxer who developed a rough-and-tumble approach to politics, the Nevada Democrat served five terms in the U.S. Senate and would be a particularly pivotal figure on Capitol Hill in two administrations, as an opposition figure pushing and prodding President George W. Bush and then as the Senate Majority Leader working to help President Barack Obama realize his agenda. Under his watch, Obamas Affordable Care Act made it through a difficult legislative obstacle course and became law.

“He’s got that curmudgeonly charm that is hard to replace,” said Obama in March 2015.

President Joe Biden on Tuesday paid tribute to “a great American” and a “dear friend.”

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Ryan Will Be The First Speaker To Finish Out His Term In Decades

I know most speakers dont go out on their own terms, Speaker Paul D. Ryan said at the press conference announcing his retirement. He will be the first speaker to not resign before finishing out his term in over three decades.

Heres how past speakers left office:

John Boehner Boehner resigned from Congress in 2015 after facing criticism from conservatives over government shutdowns. Boehner recently joined the board of a cannabis corporation.

Nancy Pelosi Pelosi lost the speakership when Democrats lost 63 House seats to Republicans during the 2010 elections. She still currently serves as House minority leader.

John Dennis Hastert Hastert resigned from Congress in 2007, not finishing out his term as Representative. His decisions came after Democrats took control of the House in the 2006 elections. Hastert is currently in prison serving time for crimes related to a scandal involving his abuse of young men while coaching wrestling before becoming a politician.

Newt Gingrich When Republicans lost five seats in the House during the 1998 elections, many conservatives blamed Gingrich. He resigned as speaker and left his role as representative in January 1999.

Thomas Foley Foley was the first sitting speaker to lose re-election in over a century. Before becoming speaker, he served as the Democratic Majority whip.

Arraignment And Pretrial Proceedings

The case was assigned to U.S. District Judge Thomas M. Durkin. In between the unsealing of the indictment and the arraignment, Hastert made no public appearances and did not release any public statement. However, on May 29, 2015, CBS Chicago reported that Hastert had privately told close friends that “I am a victim, too” and that he was sorry they had to go through the ordeal.

Hastert hired attorney Thomas C. Green, a white-collar criminal defense lawyer and senior counsel at the Washington, D.C. office of the law firm Sidley Austin, to defend him. The prosecutors assigned to the case were originally Assistant United States Attorneys Steven Block and Carrie Hamilton. Hamilton left the U.S. Attorney’s Office in July 2015 after being appointed as a judge of the Circuit Court of Cook County Diane MacArthur replaced Hamilton on the Hastert prosecution team.

Hastert shut down his “Keep Our Mission” leadership PAC at the end of June 2015 and transferred $10,000 to a new legal defense fund, the J. Dennis Hastert Defense Trust. A Federal Elections Commission report lists the defense fund’s address as a Sunapee, New Hampshire property owned by Republican donor and ex-Gerald Ford White House staffer James Rooney.

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Cbs News Projects Hickenlooper Wins Colorado Senate Seat Democrats First Pickup

Democrats picked up their first Senate seat of the night, with CBS News projecting former Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper has defeated incumbent GOP Senator Cory Gardner. Hickenlooper decided to run for Senate after running briefly in the Democratic presidential primary.

Gardner was considered one of the most vulnerable Republican senators up for reelection this year, especially since hes the only major statewide elected GOP official. Gardner has also been trailing Hickenlooper in polls leading up to Election Day.

While this is a victory for Democrats, they will have to pick up several other seats to gain a majority in the Senate.

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Former Republican Texas House Speaker Calls Gop Effort To Throw Out Drive

Joe Straus, the former Republican speaker of the Texas House, on Sunday voiced his opposition to a GOP lawsuit seeking to throw out around 127,000 drive-thru votes in the state’s most populous county.

“The lawsuit to disenfranchise more than 100,000 voters in Harris County is patently wrong,” Straus said in a statement that he shared on Twitter, adding that “the Republican Party needs to return to a place where we win with ideas and persuasion rather than trying to intimidate and silence our fellow citizens.”

The lawsuit attempting to disenfranchise more than 100,000 voters in Harris County is patently wrong. #txlege

Joe Straus

Straus also teamed up with another prominent Texas Republican, lawyer Ben Ginsberg, to file an amicus brief opposing the suit, in which they cited the 2000 election recount as an example of the party’s past efforts to ensure the ballots of “every qualified voter” get counted.

Longtime GOP lawyer Ben Ginsberg and former Texas House Speaker filed an amicus opposing a GOP suit to toss 127K drive-thru ballots in Texas, arguing it violates federal law.

Concludes by noting this is same argument Ginsberg and Amy Coney Barrett used in 2000 recount

Jane C. Timm

The Texas Supreme Court did throw some cold water on the suit Sunday, denying the petition to toss the votes without comment, but the amicus could still factor into the decision by a federal judge, who will hear the case Monday morning.

More stories from theweek.com

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Gop Women Made Big Gains

While the majority of the Republican caucus will still be men come 2021, there will be far more Republican women in Congress than there were this year. So far, it looks like at least 26 GOP women will be in the House next year, surpassing the record of 25 from the 109th Congress. Thats thanks in part to the record number of non-incumbent Republican women 15 whove won House contests. And its also because of how well Republican women did in tight races. The table below shows the Republican women who ran in Democratic-held House districts that were at least potentially competitive,1 according to FiveThirtyEights forecast. As of this writing, seven of them have won.

GOP women have flipped several Democratic seats

Republican women running for potentially competitive Democratic-held House seats and the status of their race as of 4:30 p.m Eastern on Nov. 11

Results are unofficial. Races are counted as projected only if the projection comes from ABC News. Excludes races in which the Republican candidate has either a less than 1 in 100 chance or greater than 99 in 100 chance of winning.

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