TV News LIES

Rep. Tim Kennedy (D-N.Y.) was sworn in on the House floor Monday, replacing the now-retired Rep. Brian Higgins (D-N.Y.) and leaving Republicans with just a one-vote margin for any partisan vote.

Kennedy, previously a state senator, defeated GOP candidate Gary Dickson in a special election for New York’s 26th Congressional District last week.

“I stand before you humbled by the opportunity God has given us to be together in this moment,” he said on the floor after being sworn in. “This awesome and magnificent responsibility that’s been granted to me by the people of Western New York.”

The total number of lawmakers in the House now stands at 430 — 217 Republicans and 213 Democrats — narrowing the GOP conference’s razor-thin majority. The margin has thinned in recent months as multiple Republican members have elected to resign from office early.

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Congress has less than a decade to fix Social Security before the popular program runs short of cash, threatening a sharp cut in benefits for nearly 60 million retirees and family members, according to a government report released Monday.

The report from Social Security trustees predicts the retirement program's trust fund will be exhausted in November of 2033. At that point, benefits would automatically be cut by 21%, unless lawmakers adopt changes before then.

There's some good news in the new forecast. Thanks to higher-than-expected worker productivity and a decline in expected disabilities, Social Security isn't burning through cash as fast as trustees predicted a year ago.

Congress has less than a decade to fix Social Security before the popular program runs short of cash, threatening a sharp cut in benefits for nearly 60 million retirees and family members, according to a government report released Monday.

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Rep. Bill Posey (R-Fla.) announced Friday that he is retiring at the end of this year, adding to a wave of congressional retirements.

“It has been the greatest honor of Katie’s and my life to represent you in Congress,” Posey said in a statement. “And, polls suggest that because of YOUR support, I could remain in the job forever, and we were looking forward to another spirited campaign for a final term in office.”

Mike Gallagher has suggested that he is resigning from his seat in Congress because of death threats and swatting targeted at his family.

The Republican US representative for Wisconsin shared more insight into his decision to vacate his seat while talking with reporters on Tuesday, the NBC affiliate WLUK reported.

Gallagher, 40, said: “This is more just me wanting to prioritize being with my family ... I signed up for the death threats and the late-night swatting, but they did not. And for a young family, I would say this job is really hard.”

The Republican majority in the US House of Representatives is set to dwindle further with the early exit of Mike Gallagher of Wisconsin, once a rising star of the party.

A former US marine who twice deployed to Iraq, Gallagher, 40, is a relatively moderate voice in party at the mercy of the far right.

He had already announced his decision to retire but in a statement on Friday he said: “After conversations with my family, I have made the decision to resign my position … effective 19 April. I’ve worked closely with House Republican leadership on this timeline.”

The announcement came shortly after Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, an extremist even in a party held hostage by its far right, responded to the passage of a Democrat-backed funding bill by filing a motion to remove Mike Johnson, the speaker from Louisiana.

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The Wisconsin Supreme Court on Friday rejected a request to reconsider the state's congressional maps ahead of the next election, ensuring the current district boundaries will remain in place for 2024.

The court's decision ends a last-minute push from Democrats to change the state's congressional maps after they successfully signed into law new legislative boundaries last month that weakened Republicans' grip on the state Legislature.

"This motion comes as no surprise after the court's new majority telegraphed its willingness to rebalance political power in the state of Wisconsin by overturning Johnson v. Wisconsin Elections Commission," conservative Justice Rebecca Bradley wrote in the order, referencing the court's previous decision on the maps.

"While the court rightfully denies this motion," she added, "it likely won't be long until the new majority flexes its political power again to advance a partisan agenda despite the damage inflicted on the independence and integrity of the court."

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