Welcome to Friday, July 19, cleaners and clutterers...

After President Donald Trump attacked Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) at his rally Wednesday evening, the crowd began chanting, “Send her back! Send her back! Send her back!”

Omar, the first Somali-American member of Congress, came to the U.S. as a refugee over two decades ago.

Earlier this week, Trump sent a series of tweets telling Omar and three other progressive congresswomen of color to “go back and help fix the totally broken and crime infested places from which they came.” The House voted to condemn Trump’s tweets as racist.

Lawmakers roundly denounced the "Send her back!" chant as un-American and xenophobic.

Omar herself responded by sharing an excerpt from Maya Angelou’s poem “Still I Rise.”

2020 Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Kamala Harris of California said of the chant: "It’s vile. It’s cowardly. It’s xenophobic. It’s racist. It defiles the office of the President. And I won't share it here. It’s time to get Trump out of office and unite the country."

Rep. Mark Walker (R-NC) said in a tweet that “[t]hough it was brief, I struggled with the ‘send her back’ chant tonight referencing Rep. Omar. Her history, words [and] actions reveal her great disdain for both America [and] Israel. That should be our focus and not phrasing that’s painful to our friends in the minority communities.”

Amidst ongoing criticism, Trump said on Thursday that he "disagreed" with the chant, and was "not happy with it." He added that he "started speaking very quickly" to halt it.

How do you feel about the chant?

On the Radar

Parliamentary Rebuke Marks Historic House Day

July 16th will go down as a notable day of House history for two reasons: Lawmakers cast a vote to condemn comments made by the president as “racist” and the Speaker of the House was reprimanded for engaging in personal attacks. The latter marks only the second time this has happened in just as many centuries.

Before the condemnation vote, Rep. Doug Collins of Georgia, the top Republican on the Judiciary Committee, made a formal objection to remarks by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA). Pelosi had said that “every single member of this institution, Democratic and Republican, should join us in condemning the president’s racist tweets. To do anything less would be a shocking rejection of our values and a shameful abdication of our oath of office to protect the American people.”

Collins charged that Pelosi's remarks violated the rules of decorum in the House, which calls for lawmakers to avoid attacking the personalities or character of members of Congress or the president on the House floor.

Collins requested a vote on his motion to take down Pelosi’s words from the record, which failed on a party-line vote of 190-232. Because members who are found to have broken the decorum rules of the House are barred from speaking on the floor for the rest of the day, the House then voted (again along party-lines) to restore Pelosi’s speaking privileges. The House finally went on to pass the underlying resolution on a mostly party-line vote of 240-187.

How do you feel about Tuesday's proceedings in the House?

Senate to Vote on 9/11 Victim Compensation Bill 

After an attempt by to pass a permanent extension of the 9/11 Victim Compensation Fund unanimously was stymied on Wednesday, Senate leaders announced that the chamber will vote to send the bill to President Trump’s desk on Tuesday.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) announced Thursday that the Senate will also consider two amendments:

• An amendment expected to be offered by Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) to offset funding for the Victim Compensation Fund (VCF) with spending restrictions.
• An amendment expected to be offered by Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) to shorten the authorization timeframe for the VCF to require future oversight & authorization by Congress.

The Never Forget the Heroes Act would reauthorize and extend the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund through FY2090. It would also allow the filing of claims through October 2089 and require the VCF’s policies and procedures to be reassessed at least once every five years.

Should the Senate pass the Never Forget the Heroes Act?

Under the Radar

Boots on the Border

The Pentagon has approved a Department of Homeland Security request to send 1,100 active-duty troops and 1,000 members of the Texas National Guard to assist in securing the U.S.-Mexico border and providing support in migrant holding facilities.

DHS will provide "mission specific training" for the National Guard personnel, according to a statement by Pentagon spokesman Maj. Chris Mitchell.

Some National Guard members will "provide supplemental holding support to CBP at CBP's temporary adult migrant holding facilities in Donna, Texas and Tornillo, Texas," Mitchell said. Others will "assist DHS law enforcement personnel with operational, logistical, and administrative support."

"Migrants will be supervised by DHS law enforcement personnel," Mitchell added.

Trump's use of the military continues to draw ire from critics, including lawmakers who have expressed concerns that the administration is misusing the military to push a political agenda.

Do you support sending additional troops to the border?

What You're Saying

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