Required reading from around the web of the best, most interesting, or most though provoking things we’ve read:
Stein: Yoder Defies Trump Administration, Attempts to Rewrite Immigration Law in Appropriations Bill
“’What happened in yesterday’s markup can be described as nothing more than an affront to the rule of law and the very integrity of our immigration system. The American people should be outraged that Republican appropriators – led by Kansas Congressman Kevin Yoder – joined with anti-borders Democrats in an attempt to drastically change our immigration laws through must-pass spending legislation. ‘In a betrayal of the administration’s agenda, Yoder ushered through a Democrat amendment to undermine Attorney General Jeff Sessions and dramatically expand the legal definition of asylum, an issue that was first expanded by the Obama administration and has led to massive abuse of the asylum system. This is contrary to the original intent of our asylum laws and one of the reasons people are trying to game the system to bypass our immigration limits. ‘Asylum was not originally intended to provide protection to individuals with private or domestic troubles. However, since 2014, ‘membership in a particular social group’ has expanded to include victims of domestic or gang violence as members of the protected class. Many petitioners understand this and know how to exploit our system. Since this expansion, asylum claims have skyrocketed, feeding an immigration backlog that exceeds 700,000 cases.”
Pappas & Pergram: Rep. Jim Jordan announces run for House speaker
“’Should the American people entrust us with the majority again in the 116th Congress, I plan to run for Speaker of the House to bring real change to the House of Representatives,’ Jordan said in a statement. Jordan added, ‘President Trump has taken bold action on behalf of the American people. Congress has not held up its end of the deal, but we can change that. It’s time to do what we said.’”
Bannister: Speaker Ryan Opposes Impeaching Rosenstein, Prefers ‘Having the Kinds of Dialogues We’ve Been Having’
“In his weekly press conference, Ryan laid out his case against fellow Republicans’ resolution calling for impeachment of Rosenstein, who has repeatedly failed to hand over documents related to his oversight of Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s Russian collusion investigation attempting to implicate President Donald Trump. Ryan said he believes impeachment is too drastic and that Department of Justice (DOJ) has begun to partially comply with the document requests.”