Gordon Sondland, U.S. ambassador to the European Union, arrives to testify before the House Intelligence Committee during a hearing on the impeachment inquiry of President Trump in Longworth Building on Wednesday, November 20, 2019. (Caroline Brehman/CQ Roll Call)
Rep. Andy Biggs, R-Ariz., at podium, speaks during a news conference in the Capitol Visitor Center outside the Laura Cooper, deputy assistant secretary of defense, deposition related to the House's impeachment inquiry on Wednesday, October 23, 2019. The Republican members were calling for access to the deposition. (Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call)
House Republicans pulled a high school prank, Delaware Democratic Sen. Thomas R. Carper gave a geography lesson and no one could remember how basic floor procedure worked.
All that plus Sen. John Cornyn learned the basics of marijuana plants, lawmakers forgot each others’ home states, and Democratic D.C. Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton challenged Democratic Texas Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee to a World Series wager.
The creature from the Black Lagoon paid Capitol Hill a visit this week, as D.C. institutions like C-SPAN and Speaker Nancy Pelosi celebrated their birthdays. Plus, Sen. Mike Lee roasted the Green New Deal resolution with a poster of Ronald Reagan riding a velociraptor, and Reps. Markwayne Mullin and Ann McLane Kuster clashed over a certain word that starts with the letter “S.”
Also, while it was technically last week during recess, Roll Call is thrilled to wish the Cable-Satellite Public Affairs Network (C-SPAN) a happy 40th birthday! Thanks for letting us borrow your footage to make dumb congressional blooper reels.
New England members of Congress celebrated the Patriots’ Super Bowl win on Twitter Sunday night, while Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer dropped in on Stephen Colbert’s super bowl party in a pre-taped segment for The Late Show.
Before the game itself, Rep. John Lewis joined civil rights icons Dr. Bernice A. King, daughter of Martin Luther King, Jr., and former Rep. Andrew Young for the game’s coin toss.
The back-and-forth between Speaker Nancy Pelosi and President Donald Trump continued this week, but the main thing on freshman Rep. Tim Burchett’s mind was when he’d be getting a door for his office bathroom. Meanwhile, Rep. Matt Gaetz is one step away from playing Grateful Dead in the House Judiciary Committee, Rep. John Lewis danced to Pharrell Williams and Sen. Tim Scott got an office upgrade to the tune of a classic 70s sitcom.
“I hope it doesn’t seem out of place with the shutdown,” Louisiana Sen. Bill Cassidy said on the Senate floor before launching into a complaint about the no infamous no-call that occurred Sunday during the Saints-Rams game.
“It’s gonna take me awhile to get over that,” Rep. Steve Scalise, also of Louisiana, said in reference to the same no-call.
As the 115th Congress limps across the finish line with several unfinished spending bills and a partially shutdown federal government, Hits and Misses takes a look back at our favorite funny, awkward and downright bizarre moments from the House and Senate in 2018.
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