Former RNC chair: 'This shutdown rests at the feet of the GOP'

Former Republican National Committee (RNC) Chairman Michael Steele says that the GOP is to blame for the government shutdown after lawmakers missed the deadline to pass a funding bill late Friday.

"Despite the rhetorical effort to paste Democrats with 'Schumer's Shutdown' and to redefine what constitutes majority control of the Senate ('60'? Really?), the fact remains that this shutdown rests at the feet of the GOP and it appears a majority of Americans agree," Steele told Politico.

Steele, who chaired the RNC from 2009-2011, before former White House chief of staff Reince Priebus, called the shutdown "pitiful" and said it "certainly could have been avoided."

The former Republican Party chief blamed President Trump for sinking a potential deal, saying Trump "wound up negotiating against himself by taking a potential agreement off the table."

[SOURCE: THE HILL]

John Lewis won't attend Trump's first State of the Union

Rep. John Lewis said he will not attend President Trump's first State of the Union after he referred to poorer nations, made up of primarily black and brown people, as "shithole countries."

The congressman, a noted 1960s civil rights leader cited Trump's derogatory comments about immigration from Haiti and African counties as his reason for not attending the address later this month.

"I think he is a racist," Lewis said.

Lewis pointed to the example of Martin Luther King Jr., whose birthday is celebrated Monday.

"He would be speaking the idea that we are one people, one family … we must learn to live together as brothers and sisters, if not, we will perish as fools," Lewis said.

[SOURCE: Washington Examiner]

Cory Booker: Trump should resign over sexual harassment allegations

New Jersey Democratic Sen. Cory Booker called on President Donald Trump to resign Saturday night over the allegations of sexual harassment that have dogged him since the presidential campaign.

Booker made the comments at a campaign appearance in Alabama for Democratic candidate Doug Jones, who is locked in a tight race against a Republican candidate facing his own allegations of sexual abuse, former Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore.

Sen. Al Franken resigned this week under growing pressure from members of his own party after multiple women came forward with allegations of sexual misconduct against him. But Booker said Trump’s record was worse.

“I just watched Sen. Al Franken do the honorable thing and resign from his office. My question is, why isn’t Donald Trump doing the same thing — who has more serious allegations against him, with more women who have come forward. The fact pattern on him is far more damning than the fact pattern on Al Franken,” Booker said in an interview with VICE News.

Read more: Trump should resign over sexual harassment allegations, Booker says

Senator Cory Booker wants Confederate statues removed from Capitol Hill

Sen. Cory Booker plans to introduce a bill to remove statues from the US Capitol honoring Confederate soldiers despite President Donald Trump calling these memorials "beautiful."

"I will be introducing a bill to remove Confederate statues from the US Capitol building. This is just one step. We have much work to do," the New Jersey Democrat tweeted Wednesday.

There are at least 10 Confederate statues in the Capitol, distributed between the Hall of Columns, the Capitol Visitor Center and other locations, most notably Statuary Hall, where each state chooses two statues to be on display.

Booker said in a statement to CNN that having to see Confederate statues in a position of honor in a place as public as the Capitol can be "painful."

"The Capitol is a place for all Americans to come and feel welcomed, encouraged, and inspired," he said. "Confederate statues do the opposite."

"They are, unequivocally, not only statues of treasonous Americans, but are symbolic to some who seek to revise history and advance hate and division," the lawmaker added. "To millions of Americans, they are painful, injurious symbols of bigotry and hate, celebrating individuals who sought to break our nation asunder and preserve the vile institution of slavery and white supremacy."

Read more: There are Confederate statues on Capitol Hill. Cory Booker has a bill that removes them.