Republican pushback

Congressman Massie, a long-time critic of the Trump administration, read the articles of impeachment aloud from the House floor just after the chamber convened at noon. Massie alleges that Hegseth has waged the Iran war illegally, among other "high crimes and misdemeanors."

Massie alleges that Hegseth initiated the conflict unlawfully, defied Congress' order to withdraw from the conflict and incurred unnecessary civilian casualties.

Three of the big ones have come from one relatively small state: Iowa. Reps. Zach Nunn and Mariannette Miller-Meeks joined in a vote to limit Trump’s war powers last week. And on Monday, their colleague Rep. Ashley Hinson, who is the GOP nominee for Senate, posted on X that “the war needs to be brought to a successful and immediate end.”

Hinson’s defection came the same day that her fellow Midwestern Senate nominee, former Michigan Rep. Mike Rogers, released an ad similarly saying, “The war with Iran needs to end — and end quickly.” By Tuesday, GOP Wisconsin gubernatorial nominee Rep. Tom Tiffany and Ohio Sen. Jon Husted both signaled much the same.

Over the past 36 hours, three GOP candidates in competitive races have called for the Iran war to come to an end, tying it to the economic pressure voters are under.

Rep. Ashley Hinson, who is running for Senate in Iowa, called yesterday morning for an “immediate end” to the conflict, even though she has voted against several resolutions in the House that would have restricted Trump’s ability to wage the war. Last week, two of her fellow Iowa Republicans, Reps. Zach Nunn and Mariannette Miller-Meeks, voted for the first time in favor of an Iran war powers resolution ahead of their re-election contests in battleground districts.

Several hours later yesterday, former Rep. Mike Rogers, the Republican nominee in Michigan’s Senate race, released a video on social media saying that “the war with Iran needs to end and end quickly.”

And today, another Michigan Republican, gubernatorial candidate John James, said during a news conference that “we need to end this war quickly,” according to The Detroit News. Like Hinson, James, a congressman, has repeatedly voted against the resolutions in the House directing Trump to halt the war.

In a letter sent Tuesday, Curtis called on the committee to subpoena Trump Jr. over his business dealings, relationships with foreign individuals and entities, gifts or other benefits he has received and any instances in which his relationship to President Donald Trump, a Republican, “was invoked or understood to provide value.” Curtis called for the same scrutiny of Hunter Biden, the son of former President Joe Biden, a Democrat.

“The country should not have to accept one standard for the family of a Republican president and another for the family of a Democratic president,” Curtis wrote in the letter addressed to GOP Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa, chairman of the committee, and Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois, the top Democrat on the panel.

The Republican-led South Carolina Senate voted Tuesday against advancing a new congressional map, ending the redistricting effort in the state for now.

The failed vote on a motion to end debate on the proposal was a surprise rejection of President Donald Trump, who had urged lawmakers to pass the redrawn map that eliminated the state’s single majority-Black district, represented by longtime Democratic Rep. James Clyburn.

“Neither my conscience nor my common sense will allow me to stop an election that is already underway,” said Republican state Sen. Richard Cash, who changed his vote due to timing.

Seven Republican senators joined Democrats early on Friday to block the extension of a powerful government surveillance program, a rebuke to Donald Trump for choosing an inexperienced ally as the country’s top intelligence official.

The US Senate will not pass the $70bn legislation ahead of a 1 June deadline set by the US president, Republican senators told reporters on Thursday, as lawmakers leave Washington for the Memorial Day recess.

It comes amid backlash from members of Trump’s own party against an attempt to latch funding for his ballroom project on to the immigration bill.

The plan prompted intense anxiety among congressional Republicans, who feared diverting taxpayer dollars toward Trump’s “East Wing modernization project” amid mounting cost of living concerns across the US would risk alienating voters ahead of November’s midterm elections.

Some Senate Republicans have also expressed concerns about a plan, announced on Monday, to create a secretive $1.776bn fund – which critics have argued is essentially a slush fund – to compensate Trump allies as part of an agreement in which the president and his sons dropped a $10bn long-shot lawsuit against the US Internal Revenue Service.

The move could lead to a swift confirmation vote by the Senate for Warsh, a former top Fed official whom President Donald Trump, a Republican, nominated in January to replace Powell. Powell’s term as chair ends May 15. Sen. Thom Tillis, a North Carolina Republican, had said he would oppose Warsh until the investigation was resolved, effectively blocking his confirmation.

The South Carolina Senate failed on Tuesday to reach the necessary two-thirds vote to agree with House changes made to the sine die resolution that would have allowed lawmakers to take up congressional redistricting after session ends Thursday.

That means the effort pushed by White House allies and President Donald Trump is nearly dead for the year amid the rushed redistricting debate with one more day left on the calendar.

The dramatic 29-17 vote — five Republican senators joined the 12 Democrats — came after hours of passionate floor speeches, including from one of the top Republicans in the upper chamber.

The vote was a rare rebuke from a southern state as others have acquiesced to pressure from Trump to help shore up Republican seats in Congress.

"My conscience is clear on this one," Massey told his colleagues Tuesday, noting the choice to oppose the mid-decade redistricting effort wasn't "hard" for him.