Fully vaccinated House lawmaker tests positive for COVID-19



Republican Rep. Vern Buchanan of Florida has tested positive for COVID-19 despite already having been fully vaccinated against the illness.

His positive COVID-19 test came after he had "very mild flu-like symptoms," according to a news release which noted that the lawmaker is quarantining at his home.

"I look forward to returning to work as soon as possible," Buchanan said in a statement. "In the meantime, this should serve as a reminder that although the vaccines provide a very high-degree of protection, we must remain vigilant in the fight against COVID-19."

Buchanan, 70, has served as a U.S. House member from the Sunshine State since 2007.

A statement from Congressman Buchanan: https://t.co/LvWVD3ZtVd

— Rep. Vern Buchanan (@VernBuchanan) 1626703807.0

Five Texas state lawmakers who flew to Washington, D.C., last week in an effort to block legislation they oppose have recently tested positive for the illness, and all are said to have been fully vaccinated.

"All of the HDC Members who tested positive are feeling good, with no symptoms or only mild symptoms," the Texas House Democratic Caucus said in a statement on Sunday.

NEW: Two more Texas House Democrats test positive for coronavirus, both vaccinated.“All of the HDC Members who te… https://t.co/BnfdzQEzqL

— Andrew Solender (@AndrewSolender) 1626653667.0

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention 48.6% of the total U.S. population has been fully vaccinated, while 56.1% of the population has received at least one dose.

While the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines involve two shots, the Johnson & Johnson Janssen vaccine involves just one shot.

According to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University there have been more than 34 million COVID-19 cases and more than 609,000 deaths in the U.S. so far.

The CDC says that a small proportion of those fully vaccinated against the illness will become ill, get hospitalized or even pass away from COVID-19.

"Vaccine breakthrough cases are expected. COVID-19 vaccines are effective and are a critical tool to bring the pandemic under control. However, no vaccines are 100% effective at preventing illness in vaccinated people. There will be a small percentage of fully vaccinated people who still get sick, are hospitalized, or die from COVID-19," according to the CDC.

Mike Pence booed and called 'traitor' at Faith & Freedom Coalition conference



Former Vice President Mike Pence was greeted Friday with boos and shouts of "traitor!" as he began an address to a group of social conservative activists in Kissimmee, Florida.

Pence talked over the boos, which came from a minority of the audience at a conference hosted by the Faith and Freedom Coalition. There were also loud cheers and applause when he began his speech and when he delivered his signature line: "I'm a Christian, a conservative, and a Republican, in that order."

Pence gets drowned out by hecklers at the Faith & Freedom Coalition summit, some of whom appear to be chanting "tra… https://t.co/Exan1ojWxQ

— Andrew Solender (@AndrewSolender) 1624034568.0

Pence was the final speaker to address the evangelical activist voters Friday morning, following other Republican officials including Sens. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), Rick Scott (R-Fla.), Ted Cruz (R-Texas), and Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.). Socially conservative Christians represent a significant voting bloc in the Republican Party.

According to the Tampa Bay Times, none of the other speakers were heckled by the crowd, which consisted of hundreds of the Republican Party's activist evangelical voters. But dozens of attendees left the room as Pence approached the podium to speak. The hecklers were quickly removed from the audience by security.

The accusation of "traitor" hurled at Pence is a reference to the former vice president's refusal to obey former President Donald Trump's demands to unconstitutionally block the certification of the 2020 presidential election results for President Joe Biden as he presided over a joint session of Congress.

Trump had pressured Pence to discount certain Electoral College votes from states where he contested the election results, claiming widespread fraud had rigged the election for Biden. Pence had refused to do so. In a statement to Congress, the former vice president explained that he did not have the constitutional authority to "determine which electoral votes should be counted and which should not."

On Jan. 6, after it became clear that Pence would not stop the certification of the election results for Biden, a mob of President Donald Trump's supporters marched on the U.S. Capitol building and then trespassed inside in an attempt to interrupt the joint session of Congress. Violence broke out, and several Capitol Police officers were assaulted and severely injured by rioters who ransacked government offices and stole government property. One of the Trump supporters, Ashli Babbitt, was shot to death by a USCP officer who remains unidentified.

Some of the rioters made calls to "hang Mike Pence" for betraying Trump.

After the hecklers were removed from the Faith & Freedom Coalition event, Pence finished his speech, praising the Trump administration's accomplishments over the previous four years including funding the development of several COVID-19 vaccines and protecting religious liberty. He strongly criticized the Biden administration on several points, claiming Biden is insufficiently supporting Israel and weak on the immigration issue.

"When I was vice president, I visited the southern border," said Pence, taking a veiled shot at Vice President Kamala Harris, who has not yet visited the southern border since being appointed by Biden to handle the ongoing immigration crisis.

Pence is widely assumed to have presidential ambitions in 2024, should Trump decide against running again. Though a significant portion of Trump's supporters regard Pence with hostility after the events on Jan. 6, a poll conducted in March that asked Republican voters who they would support in 2024 if Trump does not run had Pence leading the prospective GOP field with 19% support, followed by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis at 17%.

Six GOP senators vote for Jan. 6 commission, but 54-35 vote fails to overcome filibuster



Six Republican senators broke with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) on Friday and voted for legislation that would create a 9/11-style commission to investigate the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol.

The final vote for the commission was 54 senators in favor and 35 against, short of the 60 votes needed to break a filibuster from the Republican minority. Sens. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), Rob Portman (R-Ohio), Ben Sasse (R-Neb.), Bill Cassidy (R-La.), Mitt Romney (R-Utah), and Susan Collins (R-Maine) voted for the commission with all present Democrats.

Two Democratic senators were absent. Sen. Pat Toomey (R-Pa.), who is retiring after his current term, missed the vote for a family commitment but would have voted "yes," a spokesman told NBC News.

The bill, which was negotiated by House Homeland Security Chairman Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.) and ranking member Rep. John Katko (R-N.Y.), passed in the House last week by a vote of 252-175, with 35 Republicans joining Democrats in favor.

The bipartisan agreement would have created a commission with 10 members, five appointed by each party, that had the power to issue subpoenas with the agreement of both the Democratic chair and Republican vice-chair or a majority vote of the committee's members.

Republican leadership came out in opposition to the commission, with House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) claiming it would be "duplicative" and "potentially counterproductive" given ongoing bipartisan investigations into the events of Jan. 6 and criminal investigations conducted by U.S. law enforcement. Sen. McConnell echoed McCarthy's concerns, called it a "purely political exercise," and lobbied his Republican colleagues to oppose the bill.

Democrats and the media excoriated Republicans for opposing the bill, accusing them of covering-up what happened on Jan. 6 out of fealty to Trump.

Several Republicans feared the commission could be used by Democrats to politically bludgeon the Republican Party as the 2022 midterm elections approach. Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) told supporters in a video that the purpose of the commission was to damage Republicans.

Last night I read the bill creating a January 6th commissionIt isn’t designed to produce a serious inquiryIt’s… https://t.co/LmnPudt4OK

— Marco Rubio (@marcorubio) 1621621973.0

"The Democrats control committees in the House; they control committees in the Senate. They can do investigations. Some of them already are. We're going to learn from that. Capitol Police has already done its own commission about what went wrong that day. We've already learned from that," Rubio said. "So there's plenty of attention already being paid to this — not to mention that the media, who doesn't stop talking about it, they're also looking at it. So everyone's looking at it. There's no cover-up."

"They have this thing that says in order to issue a subpoena, you need both the Republican and the Democratic side, evenly divided, to agree with it. But that's not the point for politics; you don't actually need the subpoena. All you need is a story out there saying, 'Congressman so-and-so -- they want to subpoena him or her, but they can't because the Republicans are blocking it,'" he explained.

"And then the stories are going to be, number one, it creates this impression that maybe Congressman so-and-so did something wrong -- why would they want to subpoena him? And number two, the story will be 'Republicans are covering up the investigation into Congressman so-and-so.'"

But the Republicans who voted for the commission said an independent probe was needed for the truth about what happened on Jan. 6 to come out.

Sen. Romney said Wednesday "Republicans would be seen as not wanting to let the truth come out" if they voted against the bill. "I don't believe that's what's the motivation but I think that's the perception," he added.

Sen. Murkowski lambasted her GOP colleagues who opposed the bill.

"We just can't pretend that nothing bad happened, or that people just got too excitable. Something bad happened. And it's important to lay that out," she told reporters Thursday evening.

"To be making a decision for the short-term political gain at the expense of understanding and acknowledging what was in front of us, on January 6th, I think we need to look at that critically," she said.

After the vote, Sen. Cassidy released a statement explaining why he voted "yes," saying an independent commission would have guaranteed Republicans have "equal power" over the investigation's proceedings.

"Without this commission, there will still be an investigation. But it will be a House select-committee set up by Speaker Pelosi — the nature of which will be entirely dictated by Democrats and would stretch on for years," Cassidy said.

"I am concerned about Speaker Pelosi's role regarding the lack of adequate security at the Capitol on the day of the vote certification. It's hard to believe that an investigation entirely run by Democrats would fully evaluate this concern. We can be more confident that the independent commission would thoroughly investigate this issue," he continued.

"The investigations will happen with or without Republicans," Cassidy said. "To ensure the investigations are fair, impartial, and focused on the facts, Republicans need to be involved."

Cassidy not telling reporters why he voted yes. Handing us this statement instead: “The investigations will happe… https://t.co/FLL99Or868

— Andrew Solender (@AndrewSolender) 1622216642.0