115th Congressional Dumpster Fire

The purpose of this page will be to compile Fark threads dealing with the dumpster fire that is the 115th U.S. Congress.

=Background= This section will provide background information about the members of the 115th U.S. Congress, or their party affiliation, etc. any information to give a basic overview of the 115th U.S. Congress that does not necessarily need a Fark-related thread.


 * date first called into session: January 3, 2017
 * date Americans can first expect relief: January 3, 2019
 * to read about all the legislative crap they're up to click here, for outstanding individual achievements in assholery, click here, for "investigations" click here and for confirmation hearings click here

Congresscritters and how to contact them

 * all members on Gov Track
 * House members
 * Senators

Current Pending Bills

 * all bills on Gov Track

=Fark Threads on Legislation= To stare into the abyss that is the previous months of this circus, please click here (Don't say you weren't warned)
 * February, 2017

General

 * 1) Congress is not advancing Trump's agenda
 * 2) The Senate is tearing itself apart. Didn't this happen in Attack of the Clones? Isn't that how Palpatine rose to power?
 * 3) GOP frets over the fact that people expect them to do stuff and fix things

Governing D.C.

 * 1) Having solved all problems of national and global significance, Congress decides to resume governing the District of Columbia

H.R. 621 Land is Disposable Act of 2017
better known as Disposal of Excess Federal Lands Act of 2017
 * 1) Rep Chaffetz (R-epulsive Cancerous Growth) is sponsoring HR 621 because f*ck America, that's why
 * 2) Rep Jasn Chaffetz withdraws his bill to require the Dept of the Interior to sell off millions of acres of publicly held land after discovering there is such a thing as going too damn far even in the eyes of Utah voters

Stop Protecting Streams and Start Protecting Coal

 * 1) House to repeal Obama's Coal Ruling which prohibits polluting streams. #DAMMITDONALD
 * 2) Americans used this election to let politicians in DC know what they want, and what they want is coal mining debris to be dumped into our waterways again

Office of Congressional Ethics

 * 1) Single-day trifecta for Trump Administration officials getting investigated now in play

Repeal of ACA

 * 1) Prelude and/or background
 * 2) Backlash
 * 3) Repeal
 * 4) Replacement
 * 5) "So, we're going to need a bit more time to craft an acceptable alternative to Obamacare. Like, say until after the 2018 midterms. Wouldn't want to mess up any of our re-election chances, now would we?"
 * 6) It's Old Man yells at cloud vs Frank Burns in a debate over the future of Obamacare. 9pm eastern on CNN
 * 7) With "Die Quickly" not working out well to replace the ACA this bootstrappy lawmaker would like to try life coaches for all
 * 8) "Repair"
 * 9) Republicans quietly giving up on "Repeal and Replace", shift to "Repair" on Obamacare
 * 10) What is it we're talking about again?
 * 11) One third of Americans don't know Obamacare and the ACA are the same thing. This is the same one third who thought Trump might make a good President and that Duck Dynasty is good entertainment

Net Neutrality

 * 1) Net neutrality assault can be stopped by citizens, snark

Overturning Obama-era Regulations

 * 1) Okay I get that things are crazy in America right now, but what if we let schizophrenics buy guns again?
 * 2) While we've all been busy watching the train wreck that is the Trump administration, Congress has been quietly repealing a lot of regulations that kept us safe, and held corporations accountable
 * 3) Republicans fast track bill to bring back ridiculously high and convoluted overdraft fees. Are we tired of winning yet?
 * 4) House brings us one step closer to being able to defend ourselves against the goblins that live in the attic and spy on us for the Council of Warlocks

Apology Tour

 * 1) Day 13: President Trump has Congress shiatting bricks and doing damage control
 * 2) Congratulations, Mr. Speaker, this is your whole job now: "Speaker Paul Ryan found himself in a familiar spot Tuesday: responding to controversial statements from President Trump

Federal corporate taxes

 * 1) House Republicans face opposition to their plan to overhaul the way corporations pay federal taxes from a powerful group of lawmakers - other Republicans. The call is coming FROM INSIDE THE HOUSE

Election Assistance Commission Termination Act

 * 1) After 2016 raised serious concerns about outside governments trying to influence or even hack our elections, House Republicans have swung into action: to advance a bill to eliminate the Election Assistance Commission which oversees ballot security

Split 9th Circuit

 * 1) Last month, when no one was looking, McCain co-filed a Senate bill to split up the court that just blocked the Muslim ban

Defund and Repeal Consumer Financial Protection Bureau

 * 1) GOP declares total war against Consumer Financial Protection Bureau because Ferengi Rule of Acquisition #82 demands such
 * 2) The House bill to "reform" Dodd-Frank would end the CFPB's Consumer Education division, take away the Bureau's ability to act against "unfair,abusive or deceptive" practices of banks, and remove their consumer complaint tracking..you know for freedom

Repeal Dodd-Frank

 * 1) The House bill to "reform" Dodd-Frank would end the CFPB's Consumer Education division, take away the Bureau's ability to act against "unfair,abusive or deceptive" practices of banks, and remove their consumer complaint tracking..you know for freedom

Monitor Russian Sanctions

 * 1) Trump: Why does the House act like the 'third wheel' on a bad date?

"Congressionally-directed spending"
Congress has always bern at war with earmarks
 * 1) GOP: We'll never bring back so-called 'earmarks'. Now, let me tell you about this new feature we like to call "congressionally-directed spending"

=Fark Threads on Congressional Investigations= To view the full mess starting from January, 2017, please click here (Don't say you weren't warned)

Interference with sanctions against Russia

 * 1) The hearings will begin any minute now
 * 2) Rep. Adam Schiff,the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee,told democrats in a private conference today that more information on Russia/Trump/Flynn ties will surface soon and "are only the beginning"
 * 3) House Intelligence Committee Chairman (R-eprehensible) says his panel will not investigate Flynn's ties to Russia, but will investigate the leaks that led to his resignation
 * 4) Single-day trifecta for Trump Administration officials getting investigated now in play
 * 5) Rand Paul just comes out and admits that Republicans shouldn't be investigating Republicans

Release of President's Tax Returns

 * 1) House panel rejects demands for Trump to release his tax returns

=Fark Threads on Trump cabinet confirmation hearings= There was a whole lot more than appears here, please check the archive for the full horror show

General

 * 1) Trump so good at 9 dimensional Kerplunk he's got libs protesting outside Chuck Schumer's house
 * 2) GOP warns they'll break out the blow (sans hookers) in order to stay in session 24-7 to confirm Trump nominees

Senate Rule 19

 * 1) Sen. Warren reads the Congressional record, Coretta Scott King's words when Sessions was nominated as a judge in 1986. You best believe that's a rule 19 violation according to majority leader McConnell
 * 2) The silencing of Elizabeth Warren has backfired on the GOP
 * 3) Apparently, reading Coretta Scott King's letter out loud on the Senate floor is only a violation of rule 19 if you're a woman
 * 4) Senator Elizabeth Warren was silenced by an old obscure Senate rule that was prompted by a fistfight

Sessions for Attorney General

 * 1) The Enforcement of the Civil Rights and Voting Rights act is now close to being in the hands of Jefferson Davis Beauregard Davis III
 * 2) Sen. Warren reads the Congressional record, Coretta Scott King's words when Sessions was nominated as a judge in 1986. You best believe that's a rule 19 violation according to majority leader McConnell
 * 3) The silencing of Elizabeth Warren has backfired on the GOP
 * 4) Sean Spicer: 'I can only hope that if Coretta Scott King was still with us,' I'd hope she'd support Jeff Sessions
 * 5) Apparently, reading Coretta Scott King's letter out loud on the Senate floor is only a violation of rule 19 if you're a woman
 * 6) Senator Elizabeth Warren was silenced by an old obscure Senate rule that was prompted by a fistfight
 * 7) Coretta Scott King's biggest supporter confirmed as Attorney General

Tillerson for Secretary of State

 * 1) Tillerson confirmed as Exxon ambassador to Russia
 * 2) Great Milestones in American Foreign Policy: The Monroe Doctrine (1823) The Roosevelt Corollary (1902) the Truman doctrine (1948). The Reagan Doctrine (1983). The Putin Doctrine (2016)

DeVos for Education Secretary

 * 1) Two down, one to go
 * 2) Sen. Roy Blunt will always stick by Betsy DeVos. After all, she bought his son a governorship
 * 3) Mike Pence picks Betsy DeVos as Secretary of Edumacation

Bannon for Führer of National Security Council

 * 1) Let's ramble through some of Steve Bannon's thoughts in 2015: "Here's Why There Ought To Be A Cap On Women Studying Science And Maths". Oh Lawd

Puzder for Labor Secretary

 * 1) The newest Trump appointee battle? Puzder, the conflict-of-interest heavy pick for Labor Secretary
 * 2) The genius behind "Suicide Squad" confirmed by the Senate and now fifth in line for the presidency. Brought to you by Carl's Jr
 * 3) Senate Republicans ask Trump to withdraw his Puzder, it's not that kind of party
 * 4) Precedent pulls Puzder

Veterans Affairs Secretary

 * 1) Trump's Veterans Affairs secretary confirmed 100-0

Carson for Secretary of Housing and Urban Development

 * 1) Ben Carson wakes up from eight year nap, says he's ready to work and do whatever it is Trump wants him to do

McMahon for Administrator of SBA

 * 1) Linda McMahon wins the undisputed Small Business Administration belt

=Fark threads on federal judiciary confirmation hearings=

General

 * 1) "We have an excellent chance of clearing the deck of all the vacancies that we inherited from the previous administration, and there are quite a number of them"

Gorsuch for Supreme Court Justice

 * 1) No
 * 2) Remember when Harry Reid triggered the "nuclear" option and he was warned it was a bad precedent to set?
 * 3) Millennial to Pelosi: Is there anything Democrats can do to differentiate themselves from Republicans in terms of economic policy? Pelosi to Millennial: We're capitalists. That's just the way it is
 * 4) Will Gorsuch be another Scalia when it comes to criminal law? A look at the many Scalia opinions favoring defendants, except those who got their doors busted in or were driving while black
 * 5) Remember a time when Judge Gorsuch was praised by the Democrats and Liberals as a well qualified, mainstream, and moderate Judge? You know from the time he made it on the Appellate Court until the day Trump nominated him for SCOTUS
 * 6) Sorry liberals, your case against Judge Neil Gorsuch has no basis in reality
 * 7) Gorsuch's confirmation hearing will rend the Senate asunder
 * 8) Come for the "Biden Rule", stay for the "Ginsburg Standard"

=Fark threads on Trump Ambassadorships= Please check the archive for previous threads on Ambassadorships since there probably won't be any more ambassadors in the future

Palin for Ambassador to Canada
soorry, eh
 * 1) Proving that even Canadians have their limits, news that Sarah Palin might be appointed Ambassador sparks impolite reactions

=Fark Threads on Congresscritters= The only reason why there is an archive for these assholes is so people might see examples of what not to do

General

 * 1) Members of Congress becoming increasingly frustrated with trying to communicate with President Trump resort to tweeting at him hoping he or the White House will notice

Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R UT 3rd)

 * 1) Rep Chaffetz (R-epulsive Cancerous Growth) is sponsoring HR 621 because f*ck America, that's why
 * 2) Rep Jasn Chaffetz withdraws his bill to require the Dept of the Interior to sell off millions of acres of publicly held land after discovering there is such a thing as going too damn far even in the eyes of Utah voters
 * 3) But her emails?
 * 4) Jason Chaffetz (R):"The protesters at my town hall meeting were paid to show up in an attempt to bully and intimidate me"
 * 5) Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-unaway) claims paid agitators protested at his town hall. Should have been worried about masked, armed people who rushed guards to try getting in. "They exercised their open-carry right. But it's obviously a challenge for us"
 * 6) Jason Chaffetz contemplates standing upright with his new found spine

Rep Nancy Pelosi (D CA 12th)
House minority leader
 * 1) Pelosi: "We don't get much support from Wall Street" Fact Check: Your campaign donation disclosures have determined that is a lie

Senator Mitch McConnell (R KY)
Senate Majority Leader
 * 1) "We have an excellent chance of clearing the deck of all the vacancies that we inherited from the previous administration, and there are quite a number of them"
 * 2) Sen. Warren reads the Congressional record, Coretta Scott King's words when Sessions was nominated as a judge in 1986. You best believe that's a rule 19 violation according to majority leader McConnell
 * 3) The silencing of Elizabeth Warren has backfired on the GOP
 * 4) Sean Spicer: 'I can only hope that if Coretta Scott King was still with us,' I'd hope she'd support Jeff Sessions
 * 5) Apparently, reading Coretta Scott King's letter out loud on the Senate floor is only a violation of rule 19 if you're a woman
 * 6) Senator Elizabeth Warren was silenced by an old obscure Senate rule that was prompted by a fistfight
 * 7) Meet Donald Trump's details man. Wait, he has one?
 * 8) That eight-member Supreme Court will hurt Trump and the GOP. If only they hadn't stonewalled Obama
 * 9) Yertle flees Kentucky tarmac in an SUV to avoid protesting constituents, arrives at his home to discover the protesters were outside there too
 * 10) Come for the "Biden Rule", stay for the "Ginsburg Standard"

Rep. Tom McClintock (R CA 4th)

 * 1) Republican U.S. Congressman from California holds town hall about the Affordable Care Act, with predictable outcome

Rep. Paul Ryan (R WI 4th)
Speaker of the House
 * 1) Congratulations, Mr. Speaker, this is your whole job now: "Speaker Paul Ryan found himself in a familiar spot Tuesday: responding to controversial statements from President Trump

Senator Ted Cruz (R TX)

 * 1) Racist senator tells channel for racists that other party is for racist clan members. Racism
 * 2) Ted Cruz: Political Leader, Senator, Legal Scholar, greatest troll ever

Rep. Matt Gaetz (R FL 1st)

 * 1) Congressman Matt Gaetz (R-FL) decides to say fark it, let's just go full Wasteland and eliminate the EPA altogether

Senator Roy Blunt (R MO)

 * 1) Sen. Roy Blunt will always stick by Betsy DeVos. After all, she bought his son a governorship

Senator Tom Cotton (R AR)

 * 1) GOP: We're not against immigrants in our country, we love legal immigrants. It's those who are here illegally that are the problem. Okay, we lied, we don't like them either

Rep. Sean Duffy (R WI 7th)

 * 1) CNN host to GOP Rep: You list Islamic terror attacks but omit domestic ones, why? Rep: They are different. Host: Why? Rep: Quebec was a one-off, Host: and McVeigh? Rep: that was too long ago? Host: Charelston? Rep: but look at all the good it caused

Senator Thom Tillis (R NC)

 * 1) Republican Senator Thom Tillis compares constituents calling his office to DDoS attacks. That's not how this works. That's not how any of this works

Rep. John J. Duncan Jr (R TN 2nd)

 * 1) Ayn Rand loving, boot strappy, manly man Republican Congressman refuses to hold open town hall meeting because he might actually hear something he doesn't like and he just can't handle that sort of thing right now

Senator Luther Strange (R AL)

 * 1) Alabama AG and comic book supervillain Luther Strange to replace Jeff Sessions in U.S. Senate

Senator David Perdue (R GA)

 * 1) Republicans fast track bill to bring back ridiculously high and convoluted overdraft fees. Are we tired of winning yet?

Rep. Andy Biggs (R AZ 5th)

 * 1) Last month, when no one was looking, McCain co-filed a Senate bill to split up the court that just blocked the Muslim ban

Rep. Chris Collins (R NY 27th)

 * 1) GOP congressman: Not only should Donald Trump NOT release his tax returns, NO elected official should

Rep. Jeb Hensarling (R TX 5th)

 * 1) GOP declares total war against Consumer Financial Protection Bureau because Ferengi Rule of Acquisition #82 demands such

Rep. Brad Sherman (D CA 30th)

 * 1) Rep Brad Sherman (D - ough): "We lost, so either our programs need to be retooled or our communication needs to be retooled. Now which do you think is easier for us to focus on?"

Senator Rand Paul (R KY)

 * 1) Rand Paul just comes out and admits that Republicans shouldn't be investigating Republicans

Rep. Devin Nunes (R CA 22nd)

 * 1) House Intelligence Committee Chairman (R-eprehensible) says his panel will not investigate Flynn's ties to Russia, but will investigate the leaks that led to his resignation

Rep. Pete Sessions (R TX 32nd)

 * 1) GOP: We'll never bring back so-called 'earmarks'. Now, let me tell you about this new feature we like to call "congressionally-directed spending"

Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R CA 48th)

 * 1) Congressman calls constituents who want a town hall meeting "enemies of democracy"

J.V. Team
Secretary of the Marquette County (MI) Republican Party
 * 1) State Senator Rob Bradley (R, FL, 5th)
 * 2) Holster your Skittles: NRA-backed bill would make it much easier to claim self-defense in murder cases
 * 3) Dan Adamini
 * 1) Michigan Republican offers solution of "Another Kent State" to resolve all those pesky students expressing their opinions
 * 2) One resigned in Mich-I-Gan
 * 3) State Senator Judy Burges (R, AZ, 22nd)
 * 4) Arizona Republicans decide charities who help refugees should be penalized $1,000 per day for their kindness
 * 5) State Senator Charles Perry (R, TX, 28th)
 * 6) Don't mess with Texas...unless you are President Trump and threaten to cut our federal funding. Then we are eager to roll over and be your ever obedient biatch
 * 7) State Rep. John Landon (R, IA, 37th)
 * 8) Republican lawmakers in Iowa believe local government is bad
 * 9) State Rep. Dave Deyoe (R, IA, 49th)
 * 10) Republican lawmakers in Iowa believe local government is great
 * 11) Gov. Butch Otter (R ID)
 * 12) With "Die Quickly" not working out well to replace the ACA this bootstrappy lawmaker would like to try life coaches for all
 * 13) State Rep. Terry Lynn Weaver (R, TN, 40th)
 * 14) Having solved all of Tennessee's problems, legislature wants to declare children conceived from IVF illegitimate
 * 15) State Senator Joey Hensley (R, TN, 28th)
 * 16) Having solved all of Tennessee's problems, legislature wants to declare children conceived from IVF illegitimate
 * 17) State Rep. Justin Humphrey (R, OK, 19th)
 * 18) So babies are parasites?
 * 19) State Rep. Kevin Austin (R, MO, 136th)
 * 20) Missouri lawmaker holding hearings on rolling back discrimination protections decides he only wants to hear from white people
 * 21) Alabama state House
 * 22) Alabama House passes bill to deny funding to "sanctuary" colleges offering safe havens to immigrants, minorities from hate crimes, because nobody wants that in the state

Senator Elizabeth Warren (D MA)

 * 1) Sen. Warren reads the Congressional record, Coretta Scott King's words when Sessions was nominated as a judge in 1986. You best believe that's a rule 19 violation according to majority leader McConnell
 * 2) The silencing of Elizabeth Warren has backfired on the GOP
 * 3) Sean Spicer: 'I can only hope that if Coretta Scott King was still with us,' I'd hope she'd support Jeff Sessions
 * 4) Apparently, reading Coretta Scott King's letter out loud on the Senate floor is only a violation of rule 19 if you're a woman
 * 5) Senator Elizabeth Warren was silenced by an old obscure Senate rule that was prompted by a fistfight
 * 6) Coretta Scott King's biggest supporter confirmed as Attorney General

Senator Chuck Schumer (D NY)
Senate minority leader
 * 1) Capitol Hill grinds to a halt, consumed by news of Trump's Russian connections. So, thanks Trump?

Senator John McCain (R AZ)

 * 1) McCain to Trump: How about you do some Presidentin' and help Ukraine fight off current Russian aggression? Is this thing on?
 * 2) Like an abused spouse calling a party host to apologize for their partner's drunken and boorish behavior at the event, today John McCain called the Australian Ambassador " to express my unwavering support for the U.S.-Australia alliance,"
 * 3) John McCain has become the sole voice of reason in the GOP

Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D CA 12th)
House Minority Leader
 * 1) Nancy Pelosi (D) decides that the call for less political correctness goes both ways, calls Steve Bannon a white supremacist during press conference. Twice
 * 2) Capitol Hill grinds to a halt, consumed by news of Trump's Russian connections. So, thanks Trump?

Rep. Richard Neal (D, MA 1st)

 * 1) Remember the 1980s, when Democrats and Republicans talked to each other about tax policy? Representative Richard Neal (Old-MA) does

Senator Chris Murphy (D CT)

 * 1) "Do you agree that Trump is a fascist, Senator?"

Senator Lisa Murkowski (R AK)

 * 1) "I cannot live in fear of a tweet," Murkowski (R-eally fired) said, laughing, as she defended her opposition to confirming Betsy DeVos

Rep. Bill Pascrell Jr. (D NJ 9th)

 * 1) Do it
 * 2) House panel rejects demands for Trump to release his tax returns

Senator Jeff Merkley (D OR)

 * 1) Apparently, reading Coretta Scott King's letter out loud on the Senate floor is only a violation of rule 19 if you're a woman
 * 2) Senator Elizabeth Warren was silenced by an old obscure Senate rule that was prompted by a fistfight
 * 3) Coretta Scott King's biggest supporter confirmed as Attorney General

Rep. Ted Lieu (D CA 33rd)

 * 1) Bill to require White House to have psychiatrist evaluate the mental health of the President. Here. I'll save you some money. The President is crazier than a barnyard rat on meth. There you go, see how easy that was?

Rep. Adam Schiff (D CA 28th)

 * 1) Rep. Adam Schiff,the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee,told democrats in a private conference today that more information on Russia/Trump/Flynn ties will surface soon and "are only the beginning"

Senator Lindsay Graham (R, SC)

 * 1) Sen. Lindsey Graham: My, my, I do declare, contact between Trump campaign and Russian intel officials would be a game changer, you hear

J.V. Squad
Hawaii state House minority leader
 * 1) State Rep. Beth Fukumoto (R?/D?, HI, 36th)
 * 1) Fukumoto may leave GOP. Trump last seen trying to figure out which Japanese island that was and where it was located
 * 2) State Senator Daylin Leach (D, PA, 17th)
 * 3) Come after me you fascist loofa-faced shiatgibbon
 * 4) Various Indiana Republican Politicians
 * 5) The People of the State of Indiana would like to thank the American public for removing the horror that was Mike Pence from their government
 * 6) Various lawmakers
 * 7) Lawmakers from around the country introducing legislation for the sole purpose of annoying Trump

=See Also=
 * Drumpfster Fire
 * ALECworks
 * the archive for this page
 * Defying GOP's Wet Dream of One Party Rule of U.S. Government