Accountability | Louisiana
Abraham Skips Votes to Campaign As Thousands of Louisianans Go Unpaid
With the House in session Wednesday looking for a way out of the longest-running government shutdown in U.S. history, Rep. Ralph Abraham, R-La., was in his home state holding a fundraiser for his gubernatorial run with a campaign donor.
Accountability | Maine
Collins Aide Under Fire for Repeated Ethics Missteps
A Senate aide for Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, already facing an ethics complaint over doing political work was quoted on Twitter on Tuesday discussing the senator’s political campaign.
Accountability
Steve King Was Saying Racist Things When Republicans Were Still Endorsing and Feting Him
Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa, has involved in racist controversies for years, and Republicans in Washington and Des Moines have been with him the whole way — shrugging off his racist and xenophobic remarks or issuing muted criticism when they came at politically inconvenient times. Now, following a narrow re-election win in November, King is under significant fire from his own party for the first time in his 16-year Washington career after defending white supremacy.
Immigration
Trump’s Companies Hired 192 Foreign Workers Last Year As He Railed Against Immigrants
President Donald Trump’s companies in 2018 hired more foreign workers than they have in years -- perhaps decades -- marking a stark contrast between Trump’s dual roles: the nativist politician demanding a 30-foot border wall and calling for U.S. companies to “hire American” and the businessman seeking cheap, seasonal labor. Even as the Trump administration sought to crack down on work visas, his companies hired 192 foreign workers in the fiscal year that ended Sept. 30.
Accountability | Colorado
Gardner Holds Fundraiser with Lobbyists As Shutdown Hits Day 26
Sen. Cory Gardner, R-Colo., held a fundraiser for his re-election campaign at a lobbying firm's Washington office Wednesday as a partial government shutdown that has left some 800,000 federal workers without paychecks entered its 26th day.
Accountability
Coast Guard to Miss Paycheck Tuesday as Pain of Shutdown Spreads
Hundreds of thousands of federal workers stationed across the country weren’t paid Friday, a milestone in what became the longest government shutdown in U.S. history the following day. On Tuesday, employees of the Coast Guard — whose agency advised them to hold garage sales to make ends meet — will miss their first paychecks.
Corruption & Secrecy
Secret Service Paid for Mar-a-Lago Party Rentals Days Before Agents Forced to Work Without Pay
Days before Secret Service agents were forced to work without pay during the partial government shutdown, the agency paid more than $95,000 to rent generators, light towers and tents for a $1,000-per-ticket party at President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club in Florida.