By Donald H. Harrison
SAN DIEGO – Nearly 100 Democratic members of the House of Representatives have urged the House Ethics Committee, which meets on Wednesday, to publicly release its report on former Rep. Matt Gaetz, whom President-elect Trump has nominated for the job of U.S. Attorney General. Prior to Gaetz’s resignation from Congress last week, the committee had been investigating Gaetz for sex and drug offenses, among other allegations.
“Given the seriousness of the charges against Representative Gaetz, withholding the findings of your investigation may jeopardize the Senate’s ability to provide fully informed, constitutionally required advice and consent regarding this nomination,” the congressional Democrats wrote in a letter. “Representative Gaetz’s abrupt resignation from Congress should not circumvent the Senate’s ability to fulfill its constitutional responsibilities.”
Among the signers were these Jewish members of the House: From California – Brad Sherman; Illinois-Jan Schakowsky and Bradley Schneider; Maryland-Jamie Raskin; Massachusetts-Jake Auchincloss; Minnesota—Dean Phillips; New York – Dan Goldman; North Carolina-Kathy Manning; Ohio-Greg Landsman; Oregon-Suzanne Bonamici; Rhode Island – Seth Magaziner; Tennessee – Steve Cohen; and Vermont-Becca Balint.
Congresswoman Susan Wild (D-Pennsylvania) is the ranking member of the Ethics Committee, which is divided evenly with 5 Democrats and 5 Republicans. Wild has stated that she believes the committee should release the results of its probe of Gaetz. The Republican chairman of the committee, Michael Guest of Mississippi, has expressed opposition.
San Diego County members of Congress who signed onto the letter included Democrats Mike Levin and Juan Vargas.
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Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-New York) was able to win confirmation for some of President Biden’s judicial appointees on Tuesday, thanks to Republican absences in the Senate. Embry Kidd, for example, was confirmed on a 49-45 partisan vote. Among the missing GOP senators were Vice President-elect JD Vance of Ohio and Secretary of State Marco Rubio of Florida; as well as Senators Ted Cruz of Texas and Bill Hagerty of Tennessee, who accompanied President-elect Trump to Brownsville, Texas for the launching of Elon Musk’s SpaceX Starship.
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Senator Bernie Sanders (Ind-Vermont) intends to bring up a resolution on the Senate floor on Wednesday calling for a halt of weapons sales to Israel. J Street CEO Jeremy Ben-Ami is “urging senators to vote yes to send a message, understanding that the sales are going to go through.” It is anticipated that Sanders will have the support of Democratic Senators Jeff Merkley of Ohio, Chris Van Hollen of Maryland, Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, and Peter Welch of Vermont.
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Howard Lutnick, CEO of the Wall Street financial services firm of Cantor Fitzgerald and co-chair of President-elect Trump’s transition team, has won Trump’s nod to be the next Secretary of Commerce. Lutnick has supported Trump’s plan to impose steep tariffs on anticompetitive trade partners, and is especially hawkish on China. The Commerce Department appointment took Lutnick out of the competition to be Treasury Secretary. Marc Rowan, CEO of Apollo Global Management, Kevin Warsh, a former governor of the Federal Reserve, and hedge fund executive Scott Bessent are still in contention for that job.
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Democratic Congressman Dan Goldman of New York will succeed retiring Congresswoman Kathy Manning of North Carolina as a co-chair of the House Bipartisan Task Force for Combating Antisemitism. “We must never waver in our resolve to stamp out hate in all its forms and build a better nation for all of us.”
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Esther Panitch and Alma Hernandez, respectively state legislators in Georgia and Arizona, have criticized Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York for blaming AIPAC for the Democrats defeat. Panitch replied in a post to AOC: “You have learned nothing from this last election loss. The American people rejected the far left’s bs claims against Israel.” Hernandez said, “Being a pro-Israel dem is and will always be good policy.” And Jonathan Greenblatt, CEO of the Anti-Defamation League, said: “Scapegoating the Jews for one’s failure is unreflective and a truly pathetic and ugly tactic.”
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Congresswoman Sara Jacobs (D-San Diego), in a letter to constituents, says that beginning in January, “total out-of-pocket costs for prescription drugs [for seniors] will be capped at $2,000 per year under Medicare, no matter how expensive your medications are. That means that seniors will never pay over $2,000 per year for prescription drugs covered by Medicare – even for expensive drugs that treat cancer, chronic illnesses, or anything else.”
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INTERNATIONAL
U.S. Envoy Amos Hochstein has arrived in Lebanon to negotiate a ceasefire agreement between that country and Israel. The Lebanese government has given its general assent but assuring Hezbollah’s cooperation remains a problem. “We have a real opportunity to bring this conflict to an end,” he told a Beirut news conference on Tuesday. “This is a moment for decision-making.”
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Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has offered to pay a $5 million reward to any Gaza resident who brings a hostage to safety and to provide safe passage from Gaza for the rescuer. He stated: “To those who want to leave this entanglement I say: Whoever brings us a hostage will find a safe way out for himself and his family. We will also give $5 million for every hostage. Choose. The choice is yours, but the result will be the same. We will bring them all back.”
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Mexico’s President Claudia Sheinbaum, who met with U.S. President Joe Biden on the sidelines of the G20 conference in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, has prohibited U.S. Ambassador to Mexico Ken Salazar from having direct communications with her, instead insisting he should speak to Foreign Minister Juan Ramón de la Fuente. Taking exception to Salazar’s criticism of her continuation of the “hugs not bullets” program to discourage youngster from going into the illicit drug trade, Sheinbaum responded on her X account: “Mexico is a free, independent and sovereign country. There’s coordination with the United States, not subordination; it is a relationship between equals. We share families, culture, economy and trade.”
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Donald H. Harrison is publisher and editor of San Diego Jewish World.