Lawmakers on Hill now work in ‘powder keg’
Fury in wake of rioting broad and bipartisan
WASHINGTON — This time, the fury enveloping the Capitol comes not from an insurgent mob but from within.
The anger on display is searing: Democrat against Republican; Republican against Republican; legislators of both parties against the catastrophic security failure that left top leaders of the government vulnerable to last week’s violence as well as to the coronavirus in their ranks.
The rage is being stoked even hotter by the passions aroused by Democrats’ fresh drive to impeach President Donald Trump.
This is a “powder keg” moment, one Democrat said. It’s certainly a historic one.
The House is moving toward making Trump the first president to be impeached twice as part of an extraordinary effort to remove him from office before Democrat Joe Biden’s inauguration a week from Wednesday. The charge to be brought against him: “incitement of insurrection.”
And tempers are flaring in congressional hallways and offices still cleaning up from the trashing by the attackers.
Democrats assailed a collection of always-trumpers, Republicans who pressed the president’s false accusations of a fraudulent election even after the mob, motivated by the same lies, had finally been cleared away.
Democratic Sen. Bob Casey of Pennsylvania, among others, called for the expulsion or censure of Republican members who argued Trump’s case for overturning the will of the voters if those lawmakers refuse to resign. Democrats were primarily after Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri, Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas and a selection of House lawmakers who had also tried to throw up obstacles to Biden’s election certification.
There was Republican-to-republican finger-pointing, too. Much of it was aimed at House Minority Leader Kevin Mccarthy of California for not showing enough leadership, according to congressional GOP aides who spoke on condition of anonymity and former lawmakers.
Some House Republicans are upset that Mccarthy, one of Trump’s staunchest defenders in Washington, defended him too forcefully and for too long, making it harder to dissociate themselves from Trump after the Capitol siege.
In contrast, Senate Majority Leader Mitch Mcconnell of Kentucky explicitly criticized Trump’s drive to overturn Biden’s election, saying it would “damage our republic forever.”
On Tuesday, the House sergeant at arms office issued a statement saying all members and others going into the chamber must be screened for prohibited items, including firearms, and anyone failing to wear a mask on the House floor will be removed. The House was also voting to impose fines on lawmakers without face coverings.
The screening requirement comes as at least one lawmaker, freshman Rep. Lauren Boebert, R-colo., has talked openly about carrying her firearm around town and onto the Capitol grounds, which has infuriated gun-control Democrats.