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Rep. George Santos’ constituents from New York’s third congressional district traveled to Washington, D.C., to call for his removal from Congress.

Drew Angerer/Getty Images

• Constituents from George Santos’ congressional district gathered in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday.
• They demanded Santos’ removal from Congress and questioned why he would not meet with them.
• Santos has refused to resign until the people who voted for him in New York demand it.

A group of constituents from Rep. George Santos’ district in New York turned up at his office in Washington, D.C., demanding his removal from Congress.

The group was seen flooding the hallway outside Santos’ room in the Longworth House Office Building on Tuesday. Santos aide Vish Burra opened the door and spoke briefly with a female constituent, who handed Burra a petition demanding Santos be removed from Congress.

“We are not comfortable with the lies, and the deceit,” said the woman, who was wearing a shirt from the nonprofit organization Courage for America. “We wanna vote to expel. We want him to respond to us. We sent over 50 different meeting requests and did not get a response back.”

After Burra went back into Santos’ office and shut the door behind him, the people gathered outside started to clamor for a response.

“Where is George?” one person shouted.

“We came down from New York, and we’re not being seen,” another woman said. “We all sent emails, nobody got a response, and he’s not here to meet with us. That’s unacceptable.” 

—Ford Fischer (@FordFischer) February 7, 2023

A spokesperson for Courage for America told Insider that 45 constituents from New York traveled to DC together to try to meet Santos. The trip was organized by Courage for America in collaboration with “Concerned Citizens of NY-03,” a grassroots organization that wants Santos out of office, the spokesperson said.

Courage for America also posted several videos on its Twitter page that show the group outside the Capitol building.

“@RepSantosNY03 ‘s constituents have travelled all the way to DC because they want an honest and credible person representing them in Congress, not a fraud,” the organization tweeted.

—Courage for America (@Courage4America) February 7, 2023

In another video, the constituents were seen holding up signs and chanting “Santos has got to go.” One sign read: “SCAMTOS.” This may be a reference to accusations from multiple people that Santos pocketed thousands of dollars raised for animal welfare and pet rescue initiatives.

On Tuesday, Courage for America tweeted that a letter with close to 1,500 signatures from Santos’ constituents was delivered to House Speaker Kevin McCarthy. The organization called for McCarthy to “do what’s right” and hold a vote to expel Santos from Congress. McCarthy did not immediately respond to the petition, and did not meet with the group.

However, a McCarthy aide separately told Reuters that the House Ethics committee has “received complaints” about Santos.

Santos has admitted to lying about going to university, being Jewish, and working at Goldman Sachs and Citigroup.

Santos has refused to resign from his congressional seat, saying he will only do so if the people who voted for him in New York demand it. Santos, however, did say in January that he would step down from his committee assignments on the science and small business panels.

Representatives for Santos and McCarthy did not immediately respond to Insider’s requests for comment.

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene gives a thumb down as President Joe Biden delivers the State of the Union address on February 7, 2023.

Jim Watson/Getty Images

• Republicans repeatedly heckled Biden during his SOTU address.
• It was an unorthodox display of behavior during what is generally a tame event. 
• McCarthy previously said that Republicans would behave during the address.

Republicans repeatedly interrupted and heckled President Joe Biden during his State of the Union address on Tuesday night, offering a theatrical reminder of the historically contentious state of US politics as millions of Americans watched on live TV. 

Biden’s comments on a range of issues — everything from the national debt to fentanyl overdoses — prompted boos and loud yelling from Republicans. The president appeared to be largely unfazed by the GOP’s unorthodox behavior, at times directly responding to their jeers. 

GOP Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, for example, shouted “liar” after Biden suggested that some in her party wanted to see Social Security and Medicare end. Biden ultimately got Republicans to stand up and applaud in support of both programs, and declared there was “unanimity” on the matter. 

—POLITICO (@politico) February 8, 2023

 

Greene, a particularly vocal attendee of Biden’s address, at another point shouted “China spied on us” as the president discussed tensions between Washington and Beijing — including the recent downing of a suspected Chinese spy balloon. 

The raucous behavior of a number of congressional Republicans came after House Speaker Kevin McCarthy insisted that members of his caucus behave during the address.

“We’re members of Congress. We have a code of ethics of how we should portray ourselves,” McCarthy said to CNN’s Manu Raju on Tuesday. “And that’s exactly what we’ll do.”

McCarthy, who said there would be no “childish games” during Biden’s speech, was ultimately seen shushing Republicans who were yelling as the president addressed the nation.

—Manu Raju (@mkraju) February 7, 2023

—JM Rieger (@RiegerReport) February 8, 2023

 

The behavior of Republicans on Tuesday night was indicative of McCarthy’s struggles to control his caucus after barely clawing his way to the speakership last month — a dramatic fight that saw him to make a number of concessions to hyper-conservative members. 

It was also emblematic of the rising animosity between Democrats and Republicans under a newly divided government, at a time when far right elements of the GOP are becoming more and more influential — and increasingly steering the tone of the party.

President Biden urged unity during his State of the Union address on Tuesday, but there was little of that on display in a raucous chamber where the president was heckled by a number of newly empowered House Republicans. 

Biden’s speech was a blend of a victory lap over his first two years in office and a pitch to voters about what he would do with six more years if he were re-elected in 2024. The president rattled off a list of bipartisan legislation that he argued had revitalized the economy and shown the government can work for the public, while urging a newly divided Congress to “finish the job.”

“To my Republican friends, if we could work together in the last Congress, there is no reason we can’t work together and find consensus on important things in this Congress as well,” Biden said. “I think the people sent us a clear message. Fighting for the sake of fighting, power for the sake of power, conflict for the sake of conflict, gets us nowhere. And that’s always been my vision of our country, and I know it’s many of yours.”

He touted his work to improve the U.S. economy early in the address, noting that the January jobs report released last week showed unemployment dropped to 3.4 percent and that gas prices are down $1.50 a gallon from their peak.

And, he touted the passage of the bipartisan CHIPS and Science Act and the bipartisan infrastructure law, taking a stab at Republicans who voted against the legislation but have celebrated projects it funds.

But even as he urged unity, Biden also put GOP lawmakers on the spot when he suggested that they wanted cuts to Social Security and Medicare, which became an unusual moment of live back-and-forth on the issue that culminated in an apparent agreement.

“Instead of making the wealthy pay their fair share, some Republicans — some Republicans want Social Security and Medicare to sunset. I’m not saying it’s the majority,” Biden said.

One Republican – Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, yelled “liar” toward Biden after those remarks, which drew boos and from Republicans in attendance. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) shook his head as he sat next to Vice President Harris behind Biden, for the first time as Speaker of the House.

Updated 11:01 p.m.

(NewsNation) — President Joe Biden delivered his State of the Union address Tuesday, asking Republicans to help him “finish the job” he started two years ago of rebuilding the economy and unifying a country beset by deep political divides during a pandemic that has claimed more than a million lives.

The speech was Biden’s first in front of a GOP-controlled House that has placed much of the blame for record-high inflation on Democratic policies. He urged his colleagues across the aisle to set aside political differences and deliver results for the American people.

During last year’s State of the Union, Biden made separate promises centered on holding Russia accountable, addressing gun violence, police reform and funding, and immigration.

Here’s what the president said Tuesday night about those promises:

Inflation and economy

Biden touted an economic plan he said is about “investing in places and people that have been forgotten.”

During his tenure the president has been contending with inflation that reached a four-decade high earlier this summer. It’s since come down but still remains elevated — prices were up 6.5% in December compared to the same month a year prior.

The Federal Reserve has been raising interest rates to stem consumer demand and bring down prices, targeting a 2% inflation rate. A better-than-expected January jobs report shows the economy is still strong, and unemployment is at its lowest level since 1969.

“Jobs are coming back, pride is coming back because of the choices we made in the last two years,” Biden said. “This is a blue-collar blueprint to rebuild America and make a real difference in your lives.”

Biden emphasized the 12 million jobs that have been added in the past two years, but most of that was added back from the 21 million lost during the pandemic. Roughly 12 million were gained back before Biden took office, and employment reached pre-pandemic levels in February 2022. As of today, there’s about 5 million more jobs that been added above the pre-COVID level.

Republicans argue that things aren’t as rosy. The economy was a central focus of the midterm campaigns, and congressional candidates tried to make the case that Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act did just the opposite.

Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders delivered the Republican response to Biden’s speech.

“In the radical left’s America, Washington taxes you and lights your hard-earned money on fire, but you get crushed with high gas prices, empty grocery shelves, and our children are taught to hate one another on account of their race, but not to love one another or our great country,” Huckabee Sanders said.

Police reform

The president’s speech came nearly a month after the death of Tyre Nichols, who was beaten by police during an arrest Jan. 7 in Memphis. He died days later in a hospital, and multiple officers have been charged with second-degree murder.

Biden said what happened to Nichols happens too often, an adverse effect of police officers being asked to do too much.

“We know police officers put their lives on the line every day, and we ask them to do too much — to be counselors, social workers, psychologists; responding to drug overdoses, mental health crises, and more,” Biden said. “When police officers or departments violate the public’s trust, we must hold them accountable.”

Biden’s fiscal year 2023 budget requests a fully paid investment of about $35 billion to support law enforcement and crime prevention.

“All of us in this chamber, we need to rise to this moment,” he said. “Let’s come together and finish the job on police reform.”

Biden has sought to thread the needle between supporting law enforcement and promoting accountability, rejecting calls to “defund the police” coming from the progressive wing of the Democratic Party.

“After years of Democrat attacks on law enforcement and calls to ‘defund the police,’ violent criminals roam free, while law-abiding families live in fear,” Huckabee Sanders said. 

Russia and Ukraine

Biden vowed continued support for Ukraine, which has been fighting a Russian invasion that began Feb. 24, 2022. What was initially thought would be a quick and decisive victory for Russia has turned into a drawn-out slog for control of territory in the eastern part of the country.

The United States has provided more than $24 billion in aid for Ukraine, and Biden remained steadfast in his commitment for future help.

“We will stand with you as long as it takes,” Biden told Ukraine’s ambassador to the U.S., who was in attendance.

But he may find resistance in Congress. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy has previously said he won’t supply a “blank check” for Ukraine, and hardline Republicans have voted against previous aid packages and called for audits of the money and equipment being shipped to Ukraine.

Gun violence

Referencing the May 2022 shooting that killed 21 people at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, Biden renewed his call for a ban on all assault weapons.

After decades of deadlock on gun reform, Congress came together after the shooting to pass the most significant federal gun restrictions bill in nearly 30 years.

The Bipartisan Safer Communities Act requires people younger than 21 to undergo enhanced background checks, funds crisis intervention and distinctly classifies gun trafficking and straw purchases as federal crimes.

The legislation, which came on the heels of the deadly shootings in Buffalo, New York and Uvalde, Texas, didn’t go as far as Biden had hoped. The president initially asked Congress for a ban on all assault weapons.

He renewed that call Tuesday night.

“We did it before. I led the fight to ban them in 1994,” Biden said. “In the 10 years the ban was law, mass shootings went down. After Republicans let it expire, mass shootings tripled.”

Immigration

Immigration policy has been one of the biggest challenges for the Biden administration. Migrant encounters at the southern border topped a record-high 2.3 million in fiscal year 2022, and numbers remain high so far in 2023.

Most recently, Biden announced the U.S. would deny entry to Cubans, Haitians and Nicaraguans who cross the border from Mexico without authorization, which expanded on an earlier effort to restrict Venezuelans.

Biden noted that policy as resulted in a 97% drop in unlawful migration from those countries, and he called on Congress to make immigration “a bipartisan issue like it was before.”

“If you won’t pass my comprehensive immigration reform, at least pass my plan to provide the equipment and officers to secure the border,” Biden said, “and a pathway to citizenship for Dreamers, those on temporary status, farm workers, and essential workers.”

Huckabee Sanders in her response criticized the administration

Despite Democrats’ trillions in reckless spending and mountains of debt, we now have the worst border crisis in American history,” Huckabee Sanders said. “100,000 Americans a year are now killed from drug overdoses, largely from fentanyl pouring in across our southern border. Yet the Biden administration refuses to secure the border and save American lives.”

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden exhorted Republicans over and over Tuesday night to work with him to “finish the job” of rebuilding the economy and uniting the nation as he delivered a State of the Union address meant to reassure to a country beset by pessimism and fraught political divisions.

The backdrop for the annual address was markedly different from the previous two years, with a Republican speaker sitting expressionless behind Biden and GOP lawmakers in the audience preparing to scrutinize both his administration and his policies.

But Biden sought to portray a nation dramatically different in positive ways from the one he took charge of two years ago: from a reeling economy to one prosperous with new jobs; from a crippled, pandemic-weary nation to one that has now opened up and a democracy that has survived its biggest test since the Civil War.

“The story of America is a story of progress and resilience. Of always moving forward. Of never giving up. A story that is unique among all nations,” Biden said. “We are the only country that has emerged from every crisis stronger than when we entered it. That is what we are doing again.”

He added: “We’re not finished yet by any stretch of the imagination.”

Biden sought to reassure the nation that his stewardship of the country has delivered results both at home and abroad, as he also set out to prove his fitness for a likely re-election bid.

But the challenges for Biden are many: economic uncertainty, a wearying war in Ukraine, growing tensions with China and more. And signs of the past trauma at the Capitol, most notably the Jan. 6, 2021 insurrection at the Capitol, was unavoidable, with a large fence encircling the complex as lawmakers and those in attendance faced tighter-than-usual security measures.

From the start, the partisan divisions were clear. Democrats — including Vice President Kamala Harris — jumped to applause as Biden began his speech. New Republican House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, though he had greeted the president warmly when he entered the chamber, stayed in his seat.

Rather than rolling out flashy policy proposals, the president set out to offer a reassuring assessment of the nation’s condition, declaring that two years after the Capitol attack, America’s democracy was “unbowed and unbroken.”

“The story of America is a story of progress and resilience,” he said, highlighting record job creation during his tenure as the country has emerged from the COVID-19 pandemic.

Biden also pointed to areas of bipartisan progress in his first two years in office, including on states’ vital infrastructure and high tech manufacturing. And he says, “There is no reason we can’t work together in this new Congress.”

“The people sent us a clear message. Fighting for the sake of fighting, power for the sake of power, conflict for the sake of conflict, gets us nowhere,” Biden said. “And that’s always been my vision for the country: to restore the soul of the nation, to rebuild the backbone of America — the middle class — to unite the country.”

“We’ve been sent here to finish the job!”

The president took to the House rostrum at a time when just a quarter of U.S. adults say things in the country are headed in the right direction, according to a new poll by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. About three-quarters say things are on the wrong track. And a majority of Democrats don’t want Biden to seek another term.

He sought to confront those sentiments head-on.

“You wonder whether a path even exists anymore for you and your children to get ahead without moving away, I get it,” Biden said. “That’s why we’re building an economy where no one is left behind. Jobs are coming back, pride is coming back because of the choices we made in the last two years.”

Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders, who gained a national profile as Trump’s press secretary, was to deliver the Republican response to Biden’s speech.

She was to focus much of her remarks on social issues, including race in business and education and alleged big-tech censorship of conservatives.

“While you reap the consequences of their failures, the Biden administration seems more interested in woke fantasies than the hard reality Americans face every day,” she was to say, according to excerpts released by her office. “Most Americans simply want to live their lives in freedom and peace, but we are under attack in a left-wing culture war we didn’t start and never wanted to fight.”

With COVID-19 restrictions now lifted, the White House and legislators from both parties invited guests designed to drive home political messages with their presence in the House chamber. The parents of Tyre Nichols, who was severely beaten by police officers in Memphis and later died, are among those seated with first lady Jill Biden. Other Biden guests included the rock star/humanitarian Bono and the 26-year-old who disarmed a gunman in last month’s Monterey Park, California, shooting.

Members of the Congressional Black Caucus invited family members of those involved in police incidents, as they sought to press for action on police reform in the wake of Nichols’ death. The White House, ahead of the speech, paired police reform with bringing down violence, suggesting that giving police better training tools could lead to less crime nationwide.

Biden was shifting his sights after spending his first two years pushing through major bills such as the bipartisan infrastructure package, legislation to promote high-tech manufacturing and climate measures. With Republicans now in control of the House, he is turning his focus to implementing those massive laws and making sure voters credit him for the improvements.

Biden, not known for his oratory, appeared relaxed and confident as he delivered his address. He casually adlibbed remarks, fed off the responses from Democratic lawmakers who frequently stood up with thunderous ovations and playfully engaged with his Republican critics.

Addressing Republicans who voted against the big bipartisan infrastructure law, Biden said he’d still ensure their pet projects received federal support. “I promised to be the president for all Americans,” he said. “We’ll fund these projects. And I’ll see you at the ground-breaking.”

The switch is largely by necessity. The newly empowered GOP is itching to undo many of his achievements and vowing to pursue a multitude of investigations — including looking into the recent discoveries of classified documents from his time as vice president at his home and former office.

Though he pledged bipartisanship where possible, Biden also underscored the sharp tensions that exist between him and House Republicans: He discussed GOP efforts to repeal Democrats’ 2022 climate change and healthcare law and their reluctance to increase the federal debt limit, the nation’s legal borrowing authority that must be raised later this year or risk default.

Stressing that the “full faith and credit of the United States of America will never, ever be questioned,” Biden accused congressional Republicans of threatening to hold the U.S. economy hostage to their policy demands.

“Instead of making the wealthy pay their fair share, some Republicans want Medicare and Social Security to sunset every five years. That means if Congress doesn’t vote to keep them, those programs will go away,” Biden said. “Other Republicans say if we don’t cut Social Security and Medicare, they’ll let America default on its debt for the first time in our history.

“I won’t let that happen.”

On the eve of the president’s address, McCarthy challenged Biden to come to the negotiating table with House Republicans to slash spending as part of a deal to raise the debt ceiling.

“We must move towards a balanced budget and insist on genuine accountability for every dollar we spend,” McCarthy said.

While hopes for large-scale bipartisanship are slim, Biden reissued his 2022 appeal for Congress to get behind his “unity agenda” of actions to address the opioid epidemic, mental health, veterans’ health and cancer. He announced new executive action and call for lawmakers to act to support new measures to support cancer research, address housing needs and suicide among veterans, boost access to mental health care, and move to further crack down on deadly trafficking in fentanyl.

The president also called for extending the new $35 per month price cap on insulin for people on Medicare to everyone in the country. And he pushed Congress to quadruple the 1% tax on corporate share buybacks that was enacted in the Democrats’ climate and health care bill passed last year known as the Inflation Reduction Act.

The speech comes days after Biden ordered the military to shoot down a suspected Chinese spy balloon that flew brazenly across the country, captivating the nation and serving as a reminder of tense relations between the two global powers.

“Make no mistake: as we made clear last week, if China’s threatens our sovereignty, we will act to protect our country,” Biden said. “And we did.”

Last year’s address occurred just days after Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine and as many in the West doubted Kyiv’s ability to withstand the onslaught. Over the past year, the U.S. and other allies have sent tens of billions of dollars in military and economic assistance to bolster Ukraine’s defenses. Now, Biden must make the case — both at home and abroad — for sustaining that coalition as the war drags on.

___

AP writer Fatima Hussein to this report.

___

Follow AP’s coverage of the State of the Union address at: https://apnews.com/hub/state-of-the-union-address

President Joe Biden gestures as he delivers the State of the Union address to a joint session of Congress at the U.S. Capitol, Tuesday, Feb. 7, 2023, in Washington, as Vice President Kamala Harris and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy of California, watch.

Jacquelyn Martin, Pool/AP

• Biden addressed the nation Tuesday, laying out his vision and touting his accomplishments.
• Republicans heckled him several times throughout his remarks. 
• From bipartisan appeals to surprising combativeness, here are the big takeaways from the speech.

President Joe Biden delivered his 2023 State of the Union Address on Tuesday, amid pessimistic feelings about the US and polling from voters saying they’re reluctant to see him run for reelection. 

Yet the president struck an optimistic tone as he prepared to preside over a divided government for the first time during his presidency. He urged Congress to get behind him to achieve bipartisan victories, and painted a picture of a country still on the comeback. 

Here are Insider’s four biggest takeaways from the president’s annual address to Congress: 

First Lady Jill Biden arrives to the House Chamber for President Joe Biden’s State of the Union address in the U.S. Capitol on February 07, 2023 in Washington, DC. The speech marks Biden’s first address to the new Republican-controlled House.

Drew Angerer/Getty Images

He tried to appeal to bipartisanship 

Biden is beginning this year with a divided government — but he struck a unifying tone as he opened Tuesday evening’s speech. He noted that during the first half of his term, he signed more than 300 bipartisan measures into law, including sending defense funding to Ukraine, spending on infrastructure, and codifying same-sex marriage. 

“If we could work together in the last Congress, there is no reason we can’t work together in this Congress as well,” he said, adding that his “vision” was to “unite the country.” 

Before diving into the list of bipartisan accomplishments, though, Biden began by congratulating House Speaker Kevin McCarthy and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. 

“I don’t want to ruin your reputation, but I look forward to working with you,” Biden said to McCarthy. The comments, slightly adlibbed from his prepared remarks, were met with laughs from the audience. A call for increased funding for cancer research appeared to receive bipartisan support in the chamber. 

A fashion statement appeared to top it all off. In a symbolic appeal to bipartisanship, First Lady Jill Biden wore purple— the color that results from combining blue and red. 

Biden did nimble crowd work when Republicans heckled him 

While Republicans appeared to exchange some pleasantries with the president when he entered the chamber, some members had vocal outbursts throughout Biden’s speech. This included Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia who called him a “liar.” 

These unscripted moments happened much more frequently than in past State of the Union Addresses, including under past presidents. 

But Biden engaged Republicans instead of ignoring them.

When Biden accused Republicans of wanting to cut popular Medicare and Social Security programs, he was met with shouts from Republicans sitting in the audience. There was a chaotic back and forth, until Biden said, “Let’s all agree let’s stand up for seniors.” McCarthy stood to clap behind him.

“So folks, as we all apparently agree, Social Security and Medicare off the books now, right?” Biden quipped, in a departure from his prepared remarks.

Republicans geared up for battle ahead of his speech, going on a media circuit to criticize his record. “They’re reacting obviously to open borders, rampant crime, inflation through the roof and the balloon,” McConnell told the Guy Benson Show on Tuesday. 

Meanwhile, former President Donald Trump shared his thoughts about Biden’s speech on his social media platform, Truth Social. Biden stayed away from Trump for most of his speech other than referring to January 6, in which he referred to Trump as “an assailant” who “unleashed violence.” 

“As Americans listen to President Biden, I am confident they will see the glaring contrast between Democratic unity on the one hand, and Republican chaos on the other,” Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said Tuesday during a speech on the Senate floor. 

President Joe Biden gestures toward first lady Jill Biden as he delivers the State of the Union address to a joint session of Congress on February 7, 2023 in the House Chamber of the U.S. Capitol in Washington, DC. The speech marks Biden’s first address to the new Republican-controlled House.

Jacquelyn Martin-Pool/Getty Images

He laid out his attack lines for 2024  

Biden’s remarks weren’t all about working together. He warned Republicans he would veto attempts to repeal his signature Inflation Reduction Act, with includes provisions to lower the prices of some prescription drugs. The provisions won’t happen for years — but announcements about lower prices for expensive medicines will come just ahead of the 2024 election. 

In addition to attacking Republicans on Social Security and Medicare cuts, Biden opened up several other lines of attack.

The president used the same attack line during the 2022 midterms and is set to home in on the message this week during a trip to Tampa, Florida. He hasn’t yet formally declared he is running for reelection but has said he intends to run.

He didn’t mention certain promises he made before he was elected 

When Biden ran for president in 2020, he promised to lower Medicare’s eligibility from 65 to 60 and to create a “public option” that would allow people to choose between a private health insurance plan and one that is run by the government. On Tuesday, he did not press for the passage of these measures. 

That isn’t to say that he didn’t raise any of the promises he made in 2020. Biden pressed Congress to “finish the job.” These included funding for people with disabilities to receive home care, funding for universal preschool, and mandating universal paid family leave. 

Rep. Lauren Boebert said “little Twitter trolls” often ask her if Jesus needed an AR-15 to challenge her pro-rights gun stance.

Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images

• Rep. Lauren Boebert told a crowd God may use them to stand in front of “demons,” or a “speaker of the House.”
• Boebert, though she was coy about what House speaker she referred to, tried to block McCarthy’s bid.
• Boebert has previously invoked religion and politics, saying “the church is supposed to control the government.”

GOP Rep. Lauren Boebert discussed “standing up to demons” including a “speaker of the House.”

Boebert, who was re-elected in November in an unexpectedly tight race, was speaking at a women’s conference held at a church in Dallas, Texas, over the weekend when she made the comments.

“Ladies, I know you are on fire for God,” the congresswoman from Colorado said, according to a clip of the speech shared by the liberal PAC PatriotTakes.

“God is using you in mighty ways. Maybe he’ll have you ball up your fists, and stand in front of some demons — maybe a speaker of the House,” she continued, prompting laughter and a standing ovation from the audience. When the crowd quieted down, she added: “I also stood up against Nancy Pelosi so nobody knows what I really meant there, for the record, when they try to put this in print.”

—PatriotTakes 🇺🇸 (@patriottakes) February 6, 2023

 

Whether she was referring to Pelosi, or not, Boebert was among the hard-right faction of Republican representatives who initially refused to support McCarthy as speaker in the new GOP majority.

After negotiations within the party and 15 rounds of voting, McCarthy was finally elected speaker last month, kicking off the new Congress. Boebert never voted for him, but switched her vote to “present” rather than for another member, ultimately benefitting McCarthy’s chances at winning.

In order to win the speakership, McCarthy made certain concessions to the hard-right faction, though the extent of those concessions was unclear.

In her speech at the church over the weekend, Boebert said she and some colleagues presented McCarthy with a “list of concessions” but that he “dismissed them.”

“We started hearing lies about the meeting, that we came in asking for a personal wish list, nothing for the good of the country,” she said.

Boebert ended up with a coveted committee assignment on the House Oversight Committee, the main oversight body in the chamber that would lead potential investigations into President Joe Biden.

A representative for Boebert’s office did not immediately respond to Insider’s request for comment.

Boebert has made controversial comments about Christianity and the government in the past. In June she said she was “tired of this separation of church and state junk,” which is in the US Bill of Rights, or the first 10 Amendments added to the US Constitution.

In another speech at a Christian conference in September, Boebert said it was “time for us to position ourselves and rise up and take our place in Christ and influence this nation as we were called to do” and that humanity was in its “last days.”

Andrew Whitehead, a sociologist at IUPUI and co-author of “Taking America Back for God: Christian Nationalism in the United States,” told Insider at the time her comments touched on Christian nationalist imagery that’s linked to violence.

“Citing the end times really does feel like a call to action and a rallying cry in some sense,” Whitehead said, adding: “A lot of that end times imagery is associated with violence and rapture and descending into chaos societally.”

Boebert has been accused of promoting Christian nationalism, or the belief that Christianity should have a privileged position in the US, but has denied being a Christian nationalist.

Have a news tip? Contact this reporter at kvlamis@insider.com.

Republican Rep. George Santos of New York at the State of the Union Address on February 7, 2023.

Win McNamee/Getty Images

• George Santos and Mitt Romney had what appeared to be a tense exchange at the State of the Union.
• C-SPAN cameras captured the interaction, but the two men gave competing accounts.
• Following the speech, Santos tweeted that Romney “will NEVER be PRESIDENT!”

Before President Joe Biden entered the chamber to deliver his State of the Union address on Tuesday evening, Rep. George Santos found himself in an apparently tense conversation with fellow Republican Sen. Mitt Romney of Utah.

C-SPAN cameras captured the tense interaction between Santos — the scandal-plagued Long Island congressman — and Romney, the party’s 2012 presidential nominee.

—Acyn (@Acyn) February 8, 2023

 

Following the speech, the Utah Republican told reporters that Santos is a “sick puppy” who “shouldn’t have been there.”

“He should be sitting in the back row and being quiet instead of parading in front of the president,” he told reporters, noting the ethics inquiries Santos faces.

—Frank Thorp V (@frankthorp) February 8, 2023

Santos — not exactly the most reliable interlocutor — claimed to Semafor’s Kadia Goba that Romney called him an “ass” and that Santos retorted that Romney is a “much bigger asshole.”

—Kadia Goba (@kadiagoba) February 8, 2023

And according to CNN, Romney simply told Santos: “You don’t belong here.”

 

Santos sat in a seat on the center aisle beside fellow Republican Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky, giving him the opportunity to shake dignitaries’ hands as they entered the chamber.

He could be seen shaking hands with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, Senate Minority Whip John Thune, Republican Sen. Tommy Tuberville, and even a couple of Democrats: Sens. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota and Dick Durbin of Illinois.

Following the speech, Santos tweeted that Romney “will NEVER be PRESIDENT!”

—George Santos (@Santos4Congress) February 8, 2023

 

Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia boos President Joe Biden during the State of the Union

Jim Watson/AFP/Getty Images

• Rep. Marjorie Taylor Green called Biden a “liar” after he accused the GOP of wanting to cut Medicare and Social Security.
• GOP lawmakers had previously been floating cuts to those programs during debt limit negotiations.
• But McCarthy said cuts to Medicare and Social Security are “off the table.”

Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene joined fellow Republicans in shouting down President Joe Biden during the State of the Union, a raucous moment that underlines the tension on key economic issues.

“You lie, you lie,” Greene shouted from the back of the House chamber. She was far from the only House Republican who was outraged at Biden’s suggestion that the GOP would end Medicare or Social Security, massively popular federal programs.

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy was even caught on camera mouthing what appeared to be, “No” as he shook his head. 

Biden was talking about Republican Sen. Rick Scott’s pre-midterm plan that called for all federal laws to be sunset within five years unless Congress voted for them.  Scott, who at the time was in charge of the Senate GOP’s campaign arm, was denounced by senior members of his party, including Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell.

—CSPAN (@cspan) February 8, 2023

 

“Instead of making the wealthy pay their fair share, some Republicans, some Republicans, want Medicare and Social Security to sunset — I’m not saying it’s a majority,” Biden said before the boos grew louder.

Biden has argued that Scott’s plan is indicative of the broader GOP’s views. On Tuesday night, he tried to be clear that it was more a limited view within the Republican party but even that was not enough to tamp down the outcry.

The president was defiant in face of the outburst, responding, “Anybody who doubts it, contact my office. I’ll give you a copy.”

After the back and forth, Biden said that the two sides had found “unanimity,” pleased that the GOP agreed it would not touch the entitlement programs. McCarthy had promised as much during a speech of his own on Monday night.

Potential cuts to Medicare and Social Security have surrounded negotiations to raise the debt ceiling. With Republicans holding a slim majority over the House, many of them expressed the desire to use raising the debt limit as a bargaining chip to achieve spending cuts, with some of them throwing Medicare and Social Security into the mix.

Democratic lawmakers, including Biden’s administration, slammed the idea that the GOP was considering cuts to those programs, and even former President Donald Trump urged Republicans to leave Medicare and Social Security out of debt limit talks. 

As Insider previously reported, McCarthy said cuts to those programs were “off the table,” but some GOP lawmakers still wanted the solvency of the programs to be included in a potential debt limit deal. McCarthy has failed to specify what exactly he wants to include in spending cuts, and Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has warned him that “extraordinary measures” to keep the government on top of paying its bills will run out this summer — and the debt limit needs to be raised before then.