Maryland Rep. Jamie Raskin calls Trump ‘schoolyard bully' after president calls him a ‘dope' with an ‘ugly face'
'This DOPE has been consistently losing to me for YEARS, and I love watching his ugly face as he is forced to consistently concede DEFEAT TO TRUMP,' the Republican president wrote on Truth Social as the House debated Trump's signature mega bill of tax cuts and immigration control spending.
Raskin says Trump's bill would explode the national debt and end health care coverage for millions. Raskin's office on Thursday referred a reporter seeking comment to a post the congressman wrote on X.
'Mr. President, you love playing the schoolyard bully but, at age 79, it's time to cut it out,' the congressman's post said. 'It's one thing to steal one kid's lunch money, but your bill STEALS LUNCH MONEY FROM MILLIONS OF KIDS. Now, that's real ugly.'
Earlier, Raskin said on MSNBC: 'I suppose I don't like being called ugly by Donald Trump, but not everybody can live up to his exquisite levels of handsomeness and personal physical grace.'
Raskin, a former constitutional law professor, was the lead impeachment manager when Trump was impeached for the second time by the House at the end of the president's first term.
He was among the leaders of the House select committee that investigated the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol by supporters of Trump who sought to block the results of the 2020 presidential election.
Raskin, 62, represents much of the Washington D.C. suburbs located within Montgomery County.
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Yahoo
11 minutes ago
- Yahoo
New turnpike director outlines goals for Maine's 'economic backbone'
Jul. 7—When Andre Briere became executive director of the Maine Turnpike Authority in April, he knew he was hired to fix it. After three months on the job, he's got a long to-do list and a two-year action plan that kicks off in August. It will focus on improving the 109-mile toll highway as "the main thing," he says, and avoid distractions from the authority's core mission, like the controversial Gorham Connector proposal that put the agency "through the wringer" last year. The list includes reviving transparency and trust in the authority, increasing digital technology, security and automation at toll plazas and improving service plazas with updated bathrooms, children's play areas and new dining options, which could include Chick-fil-A, Shake Shack and local chefs that would highlight Maine's farm-to-table restaurant scene. Getting rid of the turnpike authority — something opponents have espoused lately and the goal of several failed bills in the last legislative session — isn't on Briere's list for all the reasons he says the agency benefits the state and its residents. That includes where most of the $170 million in tolls, or 89% of the agency's revenue for a $192 million budget, came from last year. "Almost two-thirds of our toll revenue comes from out-of-staters," Briere said. "There's no cheaper way for Mainers to run the economic backbone of the state. It would be financially ruinous for the state of Maine if you changed that." Briere, 57, started at the authority one month after the board of directors dumped the Gorham Connector proposal, leaving it to the Maine Department of Transportation to solve commuter congestion west of Portland. The four-lane toll road would have run from the recently rebuilt turnpike Exit 45 in South Portland, through Westbrook and Scarborough, to the Gorham Bypass at Route 114 in Gorham. A survey conducted by the authority showed the tide of public opinion had ebbed against the connector and the agency itself after spending more than 20 years and $18 million planning and developing the $331 million project. Briere describes the connector proposal as a well-intentioned effort that the authority took on because the Department of Transportation couldn't afford it. While the authority maintains just 577 lane miles of Interstate 95 from Kittery to Augusta, the department looks after 47,248 lane miles of roads across the state. "The DOT struggles to find funding to do projects," he said. "They turned to the turnpike authority to do the connector project and our existence was threatened in the Legislature as a result." It's a misfire Briere doesn't intend to repeat. He's committed to bolstering confidence and trust in the authority and emphasizing transparency and openness with the public, he said. He also wants to make sure the authority's 400 employees are empowered to do their best work after a report last year found that a climate of intimidation and favoritism had been fostered by former chief financial officer Doug Davidson, who left the agency in 2023. "You have to really listen to people, even opponents, and take in their input," he said. "I'm here to serve the people of Maine and make sure the turnpike is the most efficient, modern and innovative highway of its kind in the country." SEPARATE BUT WORKING TOGETHER Briere replaced Peter Mills, the longtime executive director who led the connector project before retiring in September. He took the reins as opponents of the 5-mile toll spur pitched legislation aimed taking control of the authority's spending and project planning powers and folding the agency into the Department of Transportation — something that's been tried unsuccessfully more than 25 times in the past. That's a bad idea, according to Briere, whose last job was deputy commissioner of the New Hampshire Department of Transportation, which operates a turnpike system stretching over 90 miles. Because New Hampshire's three turnpikes are funded by legislators through the state budget, Briere said the process of raising tolls and allocating revenue for highway projects is politicized, and elected officials do what they can to avoid upsetting taxpayers. Last spring, Republican Gov. Kelly Ayotte dismissed senators' calls to increase tolls for the first time in 15 years. As a result, "there's no money for capital spending in New Hampshire's turnpike budget for the coming year," Briere said. Without regular reinvestment in turnpike infrastructure — bridges, toll plazas, air conditioners — the viability of the system diminishes, Briere said, and if tolls don't cover turnpike needs, the system becomes increasingly dependent on taxes. That kind of uncertainty can lower a state's bond rating and increase the cost of borrowing, he said. The Maine Turnpike Authority is somewhat insulated from that process because it's a separate state agency created by the Legislature in 1941 to finance and build the turnpike through toll collection. When the initial bonds were paid off in 1982, the Legislature decided the authority should continue to operate and maintain the turnpike. While no federal or state tax dollars have ever been used on the turnpike, the authority has paid the Maine Department of Transportation $5.4 million to $9.5 million annually since 2011 for work on cooperative projects. They include the $42 million Saco interchange set to open this year, the Sarah Mildred Long and Piscataqua River bridge projects, and planned investments in public transit initiatives in Greater Portland. Briere said he's an advocate for public transit, but he believes it can only be successful if roads aren't mired in commuter gridlock. And he believes it's impossible to stop people from moving outside metropolitan areas, especially as developers continue to build housing and real estate values continue to rise. The authority's contribution the Department of Transportation represented at least 5% of turnpike toll revenue each year, Briere said, and he'll be looking for ways to increase collaboration on projects in the future. "We're better off being separate but working together," he said. BALANCING EFFECTIVENESS AND EFFICIENCY A Seattle native with New England roots, Briere is a 29-year Air Force veteran who retired as a colonel in 2019 with a breadth of international experience in transportation, logistics, emergency management and large-scale project leadership. He is married with two adult children. He admits his military experience likely will help fulfill his action plan for the authority, including digital upgrades in the wake of an E-ZPass shutdown for 12 hours in March that avoided a security breach. The plan calls for providing much smaller E-ZPass sticker tags instead of the current transponders within a year; offering a Maine Turnpike app so E-ZPass users can manage accounts more easily online within two years; and making it possible for drivers to pay tolls with credit cards. "We'll also operate with the general philosophy of keeping tolls low or flat for Maine E-ZPass users," Briere said, noting that those drivers received nearly $11 million in toll discounts in 2024. With the move toward greater automation, the authority may see a further reduction in toll plaza staffing, which has fallen from nearly 400 to about 175 in the last 20 years. However, given the problems that other turnpike systems have experienced when electronic toll systems go offline, Briere said he doesn't see a time when the Maine Turnpike is fully automated. "There's always a balance between effectiveness and efficiency," he said. Copy the Story Link
Politico
16 minutes ago
- Politico
Up next: DOGE cuts and a shutdown cliff
IN TODAY'S EDITION:— GOP turns to rescissions, funding fights— Johnson wants two more reconciliation bills— Defense policy bill to shake up Pentagon Republicans finally got their 'big, beautiful bill' across the finish line. Now they're turning to their next urgent tasks: codifying billions in spending cuts and avoiding a government shutdown. The Senate plans to vote no earlier than next week on President Donald Trump's request for lawmakers to scrap $9.4 billion in previously-approved funding for NPR, PBS and foreign aid, two people tell our Jordain Carney. That's running dangerously close to lawmakers' July 18 deadline to vote in favor of the rescissions package, or the administration will be forced to spend the money as Congress originally intended. GOP leaders have work to do to shore up votes for the package, which would formalize funding cuts previously sought by Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency initiative. Among the wary Republicans is top Senate Appropriator Susan Collins, who helped tank Trump's unsuccessful rescissions request back in 2018. The Maine Republican said during a late-June hearing with White House budget chief Russ Vought that reducing support for the AIDS-fighting program PEPFAR would be 'extraordinarily ill-advised and short-sighted;' Collins later told Calen that she's looking at 'drafting an alternative package of rescissions.' Sens. Lisa Murkowski, Dan Sullivan and Mike Rounds have also echoed Collins' warnings about slashing money for public broadcasting, with Sullivan saying he's seeking an amendment for 'very rural' stations that would be affected by the White House proposal. Looming over the rescissions talks: appropriations. Senators will Thursday begin marking up their first batch of spending bills necessary to fund the government beyond the end of the current fiscal year on September 30. Leaders are under immense pressure to allow votes on individual measures rather than seek to avert a shutdown with a massive omnibus, and more than anything else want to avoid having to pass another short-term stopgap. But the scheduled August recess will take away four weeks of time lawmakers would otherwise be in Washington to negotiate. The House has made some progress with its appropriations work, passing one bill so far and advancing four others out of committee. House Appropriations Chair Tom Cole says he wants to complete all 12 markups by July 30. Yet even the typically-bipartisan bill to fund the Department of Veterans' Affairs only garnered two Democratic votes on the chamber floor. It underscores how a process that once relied on buy-in between the two parties has become a largely partisan exercise — a risky situation for Republicans who can only lose three votes on their side of the aisle for party-line legislation. We'll also be watching how lawmakers respond to the deadly flooding in central Texas over the weekend, including whether they'll back up some Texas state officials who are sharply criticizing the National Weather Service for severely underestimating the rainfall in its forecasts. The White House on Sunday pushed back against attempts to link the administration's NWS staffing cuts to its inability to warn Texas residents about the storms. At least two members have been directly affected by the catastrophe, our Gregory Svirnovskiy reports: Texas Rep. August Pfluger and Georgia Rep. Buddy Carter. Pfluger's daughter and Carter's granddaughters were rescued from a camp affected by the flooding, with Carter also sharing that his granddaughters' cousin was killed. GOOD MONDAY MORNING. Please wish Lisa luck as she rejoins POLITICO's politics team today to cover the midterms! We'll miss her banana muffins and dedication to joining any and all Senate scrums. Lisa's not going far, though — you'll still see her on the Hill. Add lkashinsky@ to your campaign lists and send your candidate launches, polls and ads her way. Reach your Inside Congress crew at crazor@ and mmccarthy@ Follow our live coverage at WHAT WE'RE WATCHINGWith help from Jordan Williams The House will have a pro forma session at 10 a.m. The Senate will have a pro forma session at 10:15 a.m. — Senate Armed Services will have a subcommittee meeting to mark up provisions of the proposed National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal 2026 at 5:30 p.m. The rest of the week: The Senate will convene Tuesday to vote to end debate on Preston Griffith's nomination to be under secretary of Energy at 5:30 p.m. The Senate will move forward with confirming other Trump nominees and marking up government funding bills for fiscal 2026. Pro subscribers receive this newsletter with a full congressional schedule and can browse our comprehensive calendar of markups, hearings and other notable events around Washington. Sign up for a demo. THE LEADERSHIP SUITE Johnson outlines next reconciliation plans Speaker Mike Johnson, riding high on a legislative win, is already sketching out the timeline for passing as many as two other partisan packages through the filibuster-skirting, budget reconciliation process. 'We've been planning a second reconciliation bill for the fall attached to the next fiscal year, and then potentially one in the spring,' Johnson said on Fox News Sunday. 'That's my plan. Three reconciliation bills before this Congress is over. I think we can do that.' The speaker didn't elaborate on what specific policy areas would be addressed in these future packages. But look out for any priorities of key hardliners, with Reps. Keith Self and Chip Roy hinting last week they got assurances from Johnson and the White House that certain items on their wish list would be addressed at a later date in exchange for supporting the megabill. For instance, some House conservatives said the White House committed to further scaling back clean-energy tax credits created by the Democrats' 2022 climate law, our Kelsey Tamborrino and Josh Siegel write. Our Meredith Lee Hill reports that Roy specifically said he talked to Trump administration lawyers for about six hours last week on this very topic. Johnson, however, denied there were any 'side deals' with members to get them to vote for the megabill before the July 4 deadline. POLICY RUNDOWN NDAA TO SHAKE UP PENTAGON — House Armed Services is looking to make it more difficult to withdraw troops from Europe and change how the Pentagon buys its weapons, according to draft text of the annual defense policy bill obtained by our Connor O'Brien in advance of the panel's planned July 15 markup. House members are also not currently considering an increase in funding after military operations got a $150 billion boost in the GOP megabill. Senate Armed Services, meanwhile, will mark up its version of the defense bill this week. Subcommittees will meet today and early Tuesday to approve individual portions of the NDAA, with the full panel slated to debate and vote on the whole package starting Tuesday afternoon and likely stretching out over multiple days. The full committee markup will take place in a closed session and details are not expected to emerge until after senators vote on it. MEGABILL COULD SLAM THE JOB MARKET — The White House is touting the U.S.' monthly gains in jobs. But that's in danger of fading due to the aggressive immigration policies in the megabill, our Sam Sutton reports. As Trump's domestic policy agenda chips away at the supply of foreign-born workers, White House officials insist that won't dent the economy because the partisan package will encourage more Americans to enter the workforce. Many economists disagree, predicting the immigration crackdown will hurt the labor market — especially if immigrant workers are unable to offset an aging domestic population. Capitol Hill's nonpartisan scorekeeper, the Congressional Budget Office, predicts that population growth is expected to ease in the coming decades. And a separate analysis from CBO predicted that the post-pandemic jump in immigration would positively impact economic output — though with a lower average wage growth — while leaving inflation untouched. FOOD BANKS PLEA FOR PRIVATE, STATE FUNDING — Food banks across America warn they are unprepared to feed millions of people once the megabill's cuts to safety net programs take effect, our Marcia Brown reports. Republicans defended the cuts as necessary to wipe out waste, fraud and abuse, but the legislation will slash more than $1 trillion from the nation's largest food assistance program and Medicaid, with some of the reductions coming as early as this year. Some food bank leaders are looking to convince private foundations and state leaders to help make up for the shortfalls — though it likely won't be enough. The cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program alone will eliminate 6-to-9 billion meals annually. That's about the same number of meals the food bank network provided last year; they would likely need to double their operations to close the gap SNAP leaves behind. TAX BREAKS IN THE MEGABILL — The GOP's party-line package was primarily designed to prevent $4 trillion in looming tax increases set to hit at the end of this year. Senate Republicans, however, also added a crop of unrelated, bespoke tax breaks costing tens of billions of dollars, our Brian Faler reports. A slew of new tax breaks would benefit venture capitalists, Alaskan fisheries, spaceports, private schools, rum makers and more. House GOP lawmakers got in their share, too. Best of POLITICO Pro and E&E: CAMPAIGN STOP MEGABILL'S ELECTION IMPACTS — The GOP's megabill passage kicks off the political promises of 2026 and 2028 for party leaders, our Benjamin Guggenheim reports. Included in the sweeping legislative package are tax cuts and deep safety-net restrictions, all set to expire as Republicans look to hold the majorities in their chambers the next two cycles. The bill also gives a sneak peak into the campaign promises and the key legislative priorities ahead. The most politically explosive cuts to Medicaid and the SNAP are set to take place in 2028. Meanwhile, Democratic leaders are already taking the offensive on the safety-net issue and Republicans are fretting that it could result in some big electoral losses, our Lisa Kashinsky, Andrew Howard and Elena Schneider report. Johnson shrugged off concerns over the issue in his Fox interview Sunday, saying that people should not 'buy into those false talking points.' 'Everyone will have more take home pay, they'll have more jobs and opportunity, the economy will be doing better and we'll be able to point to that as the obvious result of what we did,' he said. ELON'S AMERICA PARTY? — After Musk and Trump's split over the GOP megabill, the billionaire declared the launch of his own political party, the 'America Party,' our Giselle Ruhiyyih Ewing reports. Musk is now threatening to drum up support for this new, third party, noting that he would target a handful of vulnerable swing seats in Congress to leverage political power. 'Given the razor-thin legislative margins, that would be enough to serve as the deciding vote on contentious laws, ensuring that they serve the true will of the people,' he wrote on his social media platform, X. Trump, who Musk helped in 2024, later posted on Truth Social that Musk had 'gone off the rails.' SOUZZI'S MESSAGE FOR DEMS — Rep. Tom Suozzi said Democrats can learn from Trump and Zohran Mamdani, the Democratic nominee for New York City mayor, our Jacob Wendler reports. In an interview on CBS' 'Face The Nation' Sunday morning, Suozzi, a centrist New York Democrat who represents a Trump-won district, said Mamdani tapped into the topic of affordability in the same way that Trump campaigned on the issue in 2024. 'Democrats have got to do a better job learning from Trump and Mamdani not with their solutions, which I think are wrong, but with the diagnosis of the problem that, 'we're frustrated, we're concerned,'' Suozzi said. He added that voters perceive Democrats as focused on reproductive rights and LGBTQ+ protections rather than 'the issues people think about every night when they are lying in bed,' like immigration, taxes, crime and health care. THE BEST OF THE REST Centrist Rep. Don Bacon is done with Congress — but open to a potential presidential bid, from Scott Wong and Frank Thorp V at NBC News 'Tears My Heart to Pieces': North Carolina Braces for Medicaid Cuts, from Eduardo Medina at The New York Times HAPPY BIRTHDAY Rep. Judy Chu … former House Majority Leader Dick Armey … former Rep. Matt Rosendale … Marti Adams Baker … Bloomberg's Nia-Malika Henderson … Eleanor Clift … Ed Kaleta of UnitedHealth Group … Matt Gobush of the Afghanistan War Commission … Luther Lowe … Truman Reed of Rep. Monica De La Cruz's office … Ana Kasparian … CNN's Sophie Tatum … Patricia Bryan (7-0) … Miranda Dabney … Michael Hudome … Amanda Crumley … Jason Raymond … Bry'Shawna Walker of Rep. Shomari Figures' office TRIVIA THURSDAY'S ANSWER: Steve Finley correctly answered that President Dwight Eisenhower changed the name of the presidential mountain retreat Shangri-La to Camp David, after his grandson. TODAY'S QUESTION, from Steve: Which former U.S. senator was born in Wisconsin; was elected to the Senate as both a Republican and a Democrat; and had a cameo appearance in a Lee Marvin movie?
CNN
20 minutes ago
- CNN
China sidesteps question on TikTok after Trump says close to deal
China's government on Monday sidestepped a question on US President Donald Trump's recent claim that he 'pretty much' has a deal with Beijing to bring TikTok into American ownership and that talks with China over the popular short-video app could begin early this week. TikTok's Chinese parent company ByteDance is under pressure to spin off the short-video app's US operations by September 17 or face a ban in the United States. Last year, then President Joe Biden signed a sale-or-ban law, requiring ByteDance to divest the app to an American owner over national security concerns. Despite an original January deadline, Trump has repeatedly delayed enforcement of the law. 'China has reiterated its principle and position on issues related to TikTok on multiple occasions,' China's Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said on Monday in response to a request for an update on the latest TikTok talks, without providing further details. When previously asked about the TikTok deal, the Foreign Ministry has urged the US to provide an 'open, fair, just and non-discriminatory business environment' for Chinese businesses, and said that acquisition of businesses should be 'independently decided by companies in accordance with market principles.' The Chinese government has given little indication that it would approve a forced sale. In early 2023, a Commerce Ministry spokeswoman said in the government's first direct response to the matter that China would oppose any forced sale of TikTok, citing how a sale or divestiture of the app would involve 'exporting technology' and had to be approved by the Chinese government. TikTok's 'algorithm' is widely seen as the app's secret sauce behind its explosive popularity. In the US, TikTok boasts over 170 million monthly active users, according to the company early last year. Over 60% of American teens and about a third of American adults use the social media platform, according to a Pew Research Center study, for news, entertainment, or even to earn a living. On Friday, Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One that the US 'pretty much' has a deal on the sale of the app, though he said he's 'not confident' China would approve the deal. 'I think we're going to start Monday or Tuesday…talking to China perhaps President Xi or one of his representatives, but we pretty much have a deal on TikTok,' he said, referring to Chinese leader Xi Jinping. He added the deal would 'probably' have to be approved by China. CNN has reached out to ByteDance and TikTok for comment. In late June, Trump said that there was a buyer for TikTok, teasing an announcement in two weeks. 'It's a group of very wealthy people,' he said on a Fox News program then, without providing more details. A deal that would transfer control of the app's US operations to American ownership had been on the horizon. But Trump's announcements of 'reciprocal' tariffs that brought levies on Chinese imports to the US to 54% on April 2 prompted China to pull out of the deal, CNN reported earlier. Based on the law, ByteDance can own no more than 20% of the platform in the final deal, and the app's US operations cannot coordinate with ByteDance on the app's algorithm or data-sharing practices. Alex Capri, a lecturer at the Business School of the National University of Singapore, told CNN that he doubts Beijing would approve the sale. 'Even if Beijing would choose to overlook the recent tariff hikes and ratcheting up of US export controls on Chip technologies, they still wouldn't grant export licenses for the algorithms,' he said. On Sunday, American tech media The Information reported that TikTok is building a new version of its app for US users to be launched ahead of the September deadline. Users will need to download the new app to continue using its platform while the existing app will shut down by March next year, it said. CNN's Fred He, Aleena Fayaz contributed reporting.
