SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
Senate War Room Launches Hall of Shame Awarding Republican Senators Top Spots for Historic Obstruction of Biden Nominees
Those named to the "Senate Obstructionist Hall of Shame" not only voted against most—if not all—of President Biden’s slate of qualified Cabinet nominees, but also worked to actively obstruct the confirmation process Amid a global pandemic, unprecedented unemployment and poverty, and rising national and cyber security threats, these senators slowed down the confirmation of top health and national security roles The only Senator to have voted against every single Cabinet secretary, Josh Hawley (R-MO), takes the top spot in the "Senate Obstructionist Hall of Shame," with Senators Ted Cruz, Rick Scott, Tom Cotton, Rand Paul, John Barrasso, and Steve Daines following Accountable Senate War Room: "Senate Republicans failed to sink a single Cabinet nominee, and are left with little to show for months of obstruction. More importantly, the American people saw right through these bad-faith efforts to the truth: Republican senators care more about their special interest donors’ bottom line than the American people."
WASHINGTON
Today, Accountable Senate War Room unveiled the "Senate Obstructionist Hall of Shame" to call out the top Republican senators who, for months, delayed and obstructed President Biden's Cabinet nominees from being confirmed. Although their efforts ultimately failed with Biden's Cabinet on the verge of being fully-formed, these senators should be held accountable for their bad-faith tactics and called out for prioritizing special interest donors over American workers and families.
"From early on, Republican senators made it clear that they were going to do everything in their power to prevent the new administration from getting to work, even if that meant breaking with the long-standing tradition of ensuring the new administration's Cabinet is swiftly confirmed," said Mairead Lynn, spokesperson for Accountable Senate War Room. "Senate Republicans failed to sink a single Cabinet nominee, and are left with little to show for months of obstruction. More importantly, the American people saw right through these bad-faith efforts to the truth: Republican senators care more about their special interest donors' bottom line than the American people."
Members of the "Senate Obstructionist Hall of Shame" include:
- Senator Josh Hawley: Hawley made a household name for himself after attempting to overthrow a democratically-held election when his preferred candidate didn't win, helping incite a violent insurrection at the U.S. Capitol that left five dead. The obstruction didn't stop there: Hawley would go on to vote against 19 of Biden's Cabinet level nominees, and was at the center of efforts to prevent a quick confirmation of Alejandro Mayorkas for Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) -- the department responsible for stopping future insurrectionist attacks against our country.
- Senator Ted Cruz: Cruz joined his colleague in spreading false information regarding the 2020 election that helped incite the violent insurrection, and still voted to overturn a democratically-held election to appease his right-wing base. He continued obstructing President Biden's Cabinet by voting against 18 of Biden's qualified nominees, most notably Alejandro Mayorkas and Xavier Becerra. Cruz stood behind Trump's unqualified and conflicted nominees, but drew the line at Biden's slate of change-making nominees who would hold his special interest allies accountable.
- Senator Rick Scott: Another key Senator who helped incite the insurrection, Scott's obstruction didn't stop there. He was one of the senators who, from the beginning, hinted at what was to come, refusing to answer whether Biden's Cabinet picks deserved floor votes in the Senate. He voted against 18 of Biden's crisis-tested nominees, and took special aim at Neera Tanden, whom he called a "terrible choice" and a "big-government, big-spending radical liberal." Accountable Senate War Room discovered a disturbing trend: Republican senators tended to use harsher language when referring to President Biden's nominees of color, often painting them as extreme and "radical."
- Senator Tom Cotton: Cotton came out swinging against Biden's Cabinet before Inauguration Day, giving a glimpse into what was to come from him and his colleagues. He voted against 17 of Biden's nominees, taking particular aim at Xavier Becerra for secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS). Cotton called on his fellow senators to join him in opposing the nominee in a letter -- an offer they did not take him up on -- and even used his own campaign funds to launch false and misleading attack ads against Becerra. These efforts failed as Becerra was confirmed with bipartisan support.
- Senator Rand Paul: Paul voted against 14 of Biden's qualified and crisis-tested nominees. Early on, Paul took aim at Xavier Becerra in a slew of false and misleading attacks against the nominee's personal political beliefs, using Fox News to propagate these lies and COVID-19 conspiracy theories. He was also particularly disrespectful to Rachel Levine, the nominee for under secretary of HHS and the first transgender person nominated to serve in a presidential Cabinet, in a slew of false and "harmful misinterpretations" against the transgender community.
- Senator John Barrasso: Voting against 12 of Biden's nominees, Barrasso couldn't even stay true to his own words from just four years ago when he said "the President coming in for his first term ought to be able to have the Cabinet. He won the election. He ought to have who he wants surrounding him." Barrasso's change of heart was immediate, as one of the first senators to promise a tough confirmation battle. Most notably, Barrasso took aim at Deb Haaland, Biden's nominee for Interior secretary, whose confirmation he worked to sink both leading up to and during her hearings. Referring to her as "radical" on more than one occasion, Barrasso's disdain for Haaland was not well hidden, even getting aggressive with her during her confirmation hearing in a line of questioning that garnered national attention.
- Senator Steve Daines: Daines voted against 11 of Biden's nominees and took a similar interest in sinking Deb Haaland's confirmation for Interior secretary. Before a hearing was even scheduled, Daines' opposition to Haaland was fierce. He opposed the nominee in a statement where he referred to her as "radical" - deemed a racist, sexist "dog-whistle" by the Billings Gazette Editorial Board - and threatened to block her confirmation. During her hearing, he was equally hostile and condescending, using his time to air personal grievances from past comments Haaland had made about him and his colleagues.
Learn more about these senators' obstruction and what the Senate War Room did to hold them accountable here.
Nonpartisan watchdog group Accountable.US recently launched the Accountable Senate War Room to fight back against those lawmakers who seek to overturn the will of the people by standing in the way of the smooth transition of power and the swift approval of nominees to ensure that the government can function and advance the interests of all American people, not just the rich and powerful.
LATEST NEWS
'Prelude to Privatizing Social Security': Cuts Came Straight From White House
As the Social Security Administration prepared to cut phone services for beneficiaries, the acting administrator admitted: "The reason that we're on this timeline is because we received a request from the White House."
Mar 25, 2025
The Trump administration's massive cuts to the agency that oversees Social Security benefits that are the primary source of income for 40% of American senior citizens came directly from the White House, the agency's acting administrator confirmed Monday as staffers across the country struggled to serve beneficiaries.
The cuts were the subject of a letter sent Monday by U.S. Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) to President Donald Trump's nominee to lead the Social Security Administration (SSA), Republican donor and financial technology executive Frank Bisignano—with the two lawmakers voicing concerns shared by many economic justice advocates that the Trump administration is "setting up the SSA for failure."
Warren and Wyden both serve on the Senate Finance Committee, which held a confirmation hearing for Bisignano on Tuesday. In a statement at the hearing, Wyden warned against confirming Bisignano, considering his history of "taking over troubled businesses and... firing hundreds or thousands of workers."
"This approach is a prelude to privatizing Social Security and handing it over to private equity," said Wyden. "Improving Social Security doesn't start with shuttering the offices that handle modernization, anti-fraud activities, and civil rights violations. It doesn't start with indiscriminately firing or buying out thousands of workers, and it doesn't start with restricting customer service over the phone and drawing up plans to close field and regional offices."
But as acting SSA Administrator Leland Dudek told advocacy groups Monday, the "rapid rollout" of changes to the phone services relied on by many beneficiaries was ordered by the White House.
"He said, 'The reason that we're on this timeline is because we received a request from the White House,'" one person who was in the meeting toldHuffPost Monday, with two other sources confirming the account.
Advocates were alarmed last week when Dudek announced Social Security beneficiaries will no longer be able to verify their identities over the phone starting March 31, and will instead have to use an online system or go to one of the field and regional offices across the country.
But the so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), which Trump named billionaire donor and tech CEO Elon Musk to lead, compiled a list in recent weeks of 47 Social Security offices that it plans to close this year—closures that are expected to strain the agency employees who are left after DOGE pushed to cut 12% of the workforce.
The Washington Postreported Tuesday that the cuts have contributed to the SSA website crashing four times over 10 days in the past month, barring beneficiaries—who include people with disabilities and children of deceased parents as well as retirees—from accessing their accounts.
Phone calls to the agency have surged in recent weeks as many of Social Security's 73 million beneficiaries wonder whether their monthly payments will be slashed, with callers facing hold times of four to five hours in some cases, and a callback function that was available only 3 out of 12 times that the Post called the SSA.
"With Americans already waiting hours to get connected with Social Security on the phone, it is outrageous that under this new policy, older Americans, especially those in rural areas, will have to call, wait on hold for possibly hours, make an appointment, or even take a day off work to claim the benefits they have worked for and earned," Nancy LeaMond of the American Association of Retired Persons told Dudek in a letter regarding the cuts to phone services scheduled to begin next week.
Dudek told stakeholders in the Monday meeting that "in normal times, something like this would take two years to roll out."
HuffPostreported that no training has begun to help SSA staffers cope with thousands more field office visits than they are accustomed to, and the agency said training is planned for the week, giving employees just days to prepare for the loss of phone verification.
One former SSA official who retired this month amid the spiraling chaos at the agency told the Post that Trump administration leaders are "creating a fire to require them to come and put it out."
The White House has denied beneficiaries will see a loss in their benefits, with Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt saying, "Any American receiving Social Security benefits will continue to receive them."
Meanwhile, Sen. John Curtis (R-Utah) cheerfully told NBC's "Meet the Press" on Sunday that while senior citizens can expect to continue receiving Social Security, "we can't be afraid of this conversation" about "a change to Social Security" that would cut off access to the program for his own children's generation. Curtis said he plans to soon introduce legislation pushing for a "change" to the program.
The change, said Social Security Works (SSW), will mean "massive cuts to your benefits so that billionaires don't have to pay their fair share."
Even before Trump and Musk began spreading false claims about rampant Social Security fraud—insisting without evidence that millions of deceased Americans receive benefits, which Bosignano admitted in Tuesday's hearing is far from true—Republicans have consistently claimed that the program will soon be insolvent, despite the fact that it is able to pay 100% of benefits for the next 12 years and more than three-quarters of benefits after that, according to SSW.
On Tuesday, the advocacy group said, Republicans on the Senate Finance Committee were "misrepresenting the facts about fraud in Social Security."
"OVER 99% of all Social Security payments are made accurately and on time," said the group. "Congress needs to focus on protecting and expanding benefits, not billionaire profits."
Keep ReadingShow Less
Gen Z Progressive With Massive TikTok Following Launches Congressional Bid in Illinois
Kat Abughazaleh said that her campaign had raised $200,000 in its first 24 hours because "people believe in our 'far-left' ideas like Existence Shouldn't Be So Difficult."
Mar 25, 2025
Progressive influencer Kat Abughazaleh on Monday launched a bid to run for Illinois' safely blue 9th Congressional District, a seat that is currently held by Democratic Rep. Jan Schakowsky.
U.S. President Donald Trump and his billionaire adviser Elon Musk "are dismantling our country piece by piece, and so many Democrats seem content to just sit back and let them, so I say it's time to drop the excuses and grow a fucking spine," Abughazaleh said in her campaign launch video.
Schakowsky, who is 80 and has held the seat since 1998, "has had a pretty great track record on her voting," Abughazaleh toldRolling Stone. "She's been a good congresswoman, but I want to be better."
A reporter with the local paper Evanston Now posted a statement from Schakowsky responding to Abughazaleh's campaign. "I have always encouraged more participation in the democratic process, and I'm glad to see new faces getting involved as we stand up against the Trump administration," Schakowsky wrote. Schakowsky has not said officially whether she plans on running for reelection, according to the reporter.
On Tuesday, Abughazaleh announced that her campaign had raised $200,000 in its first 24 hours because "people believe in our 'far-left' ideas like Existence Shouldn't Be So Difficult."
In her campaign launch video, Abughazaleh also foregrounded economic concerns, saying there's "no reason" Americans shouldn't be able to afford housing, groceries, and healthcare.
Abughazaleh, a 26-year-old, who was raised a Republican, previously worked for the left-leaning media monitoring organization Media Matters for America. In 2024, she and 11 other employees were laid off after Musk sued the organization.
Abughazaleh has risen to prominence on TikTok, amassing over 220,000 followers, by posting videos about the right-wing—for example, a multipart series on the white Christian nationalism and commentary on Fox News' coverage. She also covered the 2024 Democratic National Convention as a social media influencer.
Rolling Stone also noted that Abughazaleh is "a wildly successful, incisive communicator who is stepping up at a time when it is clear that the party is in desperate need of new messengers."
Her announcement comes as Democrats in Congress have gotten an earful at town halls, with many constituents showing up to demand Democrats do more to counter U.S. President Donald Trump and Elon Musk.
Illinois' 9th Congressional District includes parts of Chicago, Evanston, and Glenview. Abughazaleh moved to the Chicago area in July, according to Politico.
Keep ReadingShow Less
'The Privatizers Are Coming': DeJoy Is Gone, But US Postal Service Not Safe From Trump and Musk
President of the American Postal Workers Union says any effort by the Trump administration to seize control of the USPS Board of Governors "is unlawful and only makes clear their goal of breaking up and selling off the Postal Service to private corporations."
Mar 25, 2025
Postmaster General Louis DeJoy officially left office on Monday, but defenders of the U.S. Postal Service said the long-awaited departure of its reviled chief administrator does not mean the nation's public mail service is safe from the threat of privatization which they warn remains the goal of President Donald Trump and right-wing allies like Elon Musk.
"Make no mistake," said American Postal Workers Union president Mark Dimondstein in a statement, "Louis DeJoy was forced out by a presidential administration that is intent on breaking up and selling off the public Postal Service. Reports from last month made clear that the White House has plans for a hostile takeover of the Postal Service."
As Common Dreamsreported in February, President Donald Trump was accused of orchestrating an "outrageous, unlawful attack" on the USPS by plotting to terminate all the members of the Board of Governors and putting the agency under his direct control.
"Elon Musk is not about efficiency—he's about picking your pocket." —Mark Dimondstein, APWU President
Any such attack, Dimondstein said Monday, "is part of the ongoing oligarchs' coup against the vital public services our members and other public servants provide the country. We know that privatized postal services will lead to higher postage prices, and lower service quality to the public. No matter who leads the USPS, it is—and must remain—the People's Postal Service."
With DeJoy's resignation, and until the Board appoints a replacement, Deputy Postmaster General Doug Tulino will now serve as the interim Postmaster General.
In comments Tuesday morning at the National Press Club, part of a roundtable discussion with postal worker union leaders, Dimondstein acknowledged the controversial legacy of DeJoy, but added, "say what you want, it turned out he was not a privatizer," as he reiterated his belief that DeJoy was forced out by Trump, at least in part, to make way for someone more aggressive in that direction.
"The privatizers are coming," Dimonstein warned. "They are coming for you and your constitutional right to postal services."
"This is really a struggle between Wall Street and Main Street," he continued. "That's the only way that we can understand why anyone would want to privatize. A few people would gain more wealth—a few quick dollars—but the real shareholders of the Postal Service, the people of the country, would lose out with higher prices, less service, and of course the workers with less wages, benefits, and rights, which, rather than build strong communities, weakens our communities."
Postal Union Leaders roundtable
In his statement Monday, Dimondstein said:
The law is clear: the Postal Service was created by Congress as an independent agency, designed to be free from shifting political winds and dedicated solely to serving the country. The law is also clear that the Board of Governors, and it alone, is empowered to hire and fire the Postmaster General. Any attempt by this Administration to seize power from the Board of Governors is unlawful and only makes clear their goal of breaking up and selling off the Postal Service to private corporations.
The APWU calls on the Board of Governors to stand its ground and take its responsibilities seriously. The Board should move as quickly as possible to hire as the next permanent Postmaster General, someone committed to the public service mission of the USPS, who respects the rights of hardworking postal workers, and who will not break up and sell off our public Postal Service.
As part of the organized efforts this week to defend the Postal Service, coordinated actions led by the APWU and the National Association of Letter Carriers (NALC), which represents 295,00 active and retired postal workers, took place nationwide over recent days as unionized carriers and their allies demonstrated outside local post offices against plans to diminish services or moves toward privatization.
The union warns that the plan put in motion by DeJoy—who said worked hand-in-hand with Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, to implement changes—would, in addition to massive job losses at the Postal Service:
- Abolish the Postal Regulatory Commission, leaving no independent regulatory authority on pricing and service;
- Raise shipping costs, driving inflation higher for businesses and consumers; and
- Sharply reduce service to rural America, including over 50 million addresses where private carriers often do not deliver.
As Dimondstein, citing moves by a "salivating" Wells Fargo bank about the profit potential if parcel service was taken away from the public Postal Service, warned in his remarks on Tuesday, "Elon Musk is not about efficiency—he's about picking your pocket. Turn it over to private profit, laugh all the way to the bank, and the people of this country are left holding the bag."
NALC president Brian Renfroe said DeJoy's departure marks an opportunity for the Board to appoint a new leader—one who "must continue modernizing and investing in USPS' infrastructure while maintaining quality universal service funded by postage, not taxpayer dollars."
In addition, said Renfroe, the new Postmaster General "must fundamentally believe in the agency as a public service and be committed to guaranteeing the universal service Americans rely on," a clear knock against any privatization efforts.
"We're trying to alert the public, the people of the country, that our postal services are truly in danger," Dimondstein said at a rally in Washington, D.C. on Sunday. "This is not a one-off day, this is the beginning of an ongoing fight."
Keep ReadingShow Less
Most Popular