Girls dressed as characters from “Thor,” pose during an event near the Capitol reflecting pool hosted by Awesome Con in 2014. The U.S. election system is starting to take on aspects of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, a constant churn of smaller narratives setting up bigger chapters. (Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call file photo)
The American election system has become its own version of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Presidential elections every four years used to be the tentpole movie that everyone went to see. Midterms, off-year special elections, primaries — those were for the real political geeks out there. Not anymore.
Rep. Gerald E. Connolly, D-Va., holds up his copy of “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince” in his Cannon Building office in July 2011. (Tom Williams/Roll Call file photo)
Looking for a summer read? HOH has been asking lawmakers for months about the last book they read, and their choices have ranged from historical dives to books about their issues or districts.
Here are some of the interesting titles recommended by members of Congress.
From left, Reps. Luis V. Gutiérrez of Illinois, Pramila Jayapal of Washington, Joseph Crowley of New York, John Lewis of Georgia, Judy Chu of California, Al Green of Texas, Adriano Espaillat of New York, and others march to the U.S. Customs and Border Protection offices on June 13. Jayapal was among about 575 women arrested two weeks later during an immigration protest. (Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call file photo)
The House Ethics Committee has voted against impanelling an investigative subcommittee to look into Rep. Pramila Jayapal’s arrest in June during an immigration protest in the Hart Senate Office Building.
The Washington Democrat was arrested June 28 along with nearly 575 women during a sit-in to protest the Trump administration’s immigration policies. She was arrested for “crowding, obstructing, or incommoding,” according to the Ethics panel report.
From left, Reps. Luis V. Gutiérrez, D-Ill., Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., John Lewis, D-Ga., Judy Chu, D-Calif., Al Green, D-Texas, Adriano Espaillat, D-N.Y., and others march in Washington on June 13 to protest the Trump administration’s family separation policy at the southern border. Rep. Joseph Crowley, D-N.Y., appears in the back at center. (Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call file photo)
House Republican leaders are planning a vote this month on a progressive bill to terminate the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, but their plan to put Democrats on record on an issue that divides the minority party looks like it will backfire.
Democrats say they’ll make the debate about families that have been separated at the border — an issue that needs a permanent legislative fix that Republicans do not yet have a solution for that can pass the House.
Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., played the piano, the tuba and sang. (Sarah Silbiger/CQ Roll Call)
Sen. John Thune, 57, a South Dakota Republican, talks about the perks of growing up in a small town and solving problems in the Senate gym.
Q: What unique perspective do you have as a former staffer?
From left, Reps. Joseph Crowley, D-N.Y., Jan Schakowsky, D-Ill., Luis V. Gutierrez, R-Ill., John Lewis, D-Ga., Al Green, D-Texas, Judy Chu, D-Calif., and Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., sit outside Customs and Border Protection on June 13 to protest of the Trump administration’s policy of separating parents and children at the border. (Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call file photo)
In Donald Trump’s America, the immigration debate has grown ugly.
Images of undocumented children, separated from their parents at the border and held in cages inside a former Walmart, dominate the news cycle, leading Trump’s critics to invoke the horrors of Nazi Germany. And Trump’s rhetoric has only intensified, as he warns of subhuman immigrants transforming American neighborhoods from Long Island to California into “blood-stained killing fields.”
Del. Stacey Plaskett, D-V.I., says her 9-year-old daughter has made herself a Capitol ID badge. (Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call file photo)
Del. Stacey Plaskett, 52, a Virgin Islands Democrat, talks about working in the George W. Bush Justice Department, being a “token” and why she doesn’t want to run against her daughter.
Q: Tell me something about the Virgin Islands that people in D.C. might not know.
From left, Democratic Reps. Joe Crowley, Jan Schakowsky, actor John Cusack, Luis Gutierrez, John Lewis, Al Green, Judy Chu, and Pramila Jayapal sit at the entrance to the U.S. Customs and Border Protection in Washington in protest of the Trump administration's separating parents and children at the border. (Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call)
President Donald Trump on Monday doubled down on his call for undocumented immigrants who enter the United States illegally to be sent back to their native countries without any due process before an American judge.
Trump first made the claim in a Sunday tweet following his Saturday contention during remarks before the Nevada Republican Party that Democrats want to open the southern border so the violent MS-13 gang can spread “all over our country.”
Rep. Al Green, D-Texas, measures holidays in his district in pounds. (Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call file photo)
Texas Democratic Rep. Al Green, 70, is the loudest voice in Congress calling for President Donald Trump’s impeachment. He talks to HOH about bad dating advice from a friend and who in the House he would leave a million dollars with.
Q: Compared to when you first came to Congress almost 15 years ago, what has changed?
A Capitol Visitor Center employee stops to smell the long strands of lei draped on Hawaii’s King Kamehameha statue in the Capitol Visitor Center on Kamehameha Day on Monday. (Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call)
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