A bipartisan group of senators met via Zoom on Monday to try to figure out a path forward on Russia sanctions legislation amid growing tensions with Moscow.

The call, which included Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Bob Menendez, D-N.J., and ranking member James Risch, R-Idaho, comes as fears are growing of a potential incursion into Ukraine by Russia, which has amassed troops along the countries’ border.

Menendez, backed by 41 members of the Senate Democratic Conference and the Biden administration, introduced legislation earlier this month to impose sanctions on Russia if it invades Ukraine. House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Gregory Meeks, D-N.Y., introduced the legislation in the lower chamber last week. Read Full Story

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The House Select Committee established to probe the Capitol riot is not interested in probing the Capitol riot. 

According to a Federalist analysis of the 84 subpoenas publicly issued by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s Select Committee on Jan. 6, only eight have targeted individuals or groups with any connection to the Capitol riot. The rest have taken aim at former government officials and private citizens in a smear campaign for exercising their constitutional right to protest. Read Full Story

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Congressional Republicans are stepping up pressure on the Biden administration to explain why the federal government cannot supply desperately needed COVID-19 tests despite hefty funding provided by Congress. 

Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic nearly two years ago, lawmakers have approved more than $80 billion for virus testing. Democrats unilaterally passed $47 billion of that funding in March to cover the development, manufacture, purchase, and distribution of new rapid COVID-19 tests.

But nine months later, COVID-19 tests have become nearly impossible to find during the latest surge caused by the omicron variant, and Republicans are demanding Biden provide answers about why the administration was not prepared. 

“For the last month, Americans have faced long lines at testing centers. They’ve gone to places where they thought they could purchase a rapid test to find empty shelves,” Sen. Roy Blunt, a Missouri Republican who helped craft some of the legislation providing testing funds, said. “The question I really have is the same that many Americans have, which is, what went wrong? Why are we facing such a shortage of tests now?” Read Full Story

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