House Foreign Affairs Committee ranking member Gregory Meeks denounced Rep. Mike Collins for likening Haiti to a “sh*thole” country on social media, echoing the rhetoric of former President Donald Trump.

“It’s insulting. It’s ignorant,” Meeks (D-N.Y.) told reporters Tuesday. “That statement, in my opinion, is asinine.”

At issue was a post from Collins’ account on X, formerly known as Twitter, in which he responded to a post featuring pictures of the ongoing chaos in the country: “Some might call it a sh*thole.”

Collins did not immediately respond with comment on Meeks’ criticism.

Flashback: Trump infamously referred to African countries, Haiti and El Salvador as “shithole” nations in 2018, prompting condemnation across the political spectrum and around the globe.

Meeks wasn’t the only Democrat to jump on Collins’ (R-Ga.) post.

“That kind of a comment displays the kind of contrast of how Democrats look at foreign affairs … versus those who just want to demean those who are suffering these things,” Rep. Madeleine Dean (D-Pa.) said during the Democratic caucus’ weekly presser.

On crisis in Haiti: Meeks welcomed the resignation of embattled Prime Minister Ariel Henry on Tuesday following weeks of chaos and unrest in the country.

“He really was not elected by anyone and seemed to be a distraction,” the New York Democrat said. “So I thought it was significant and important for him to step down.”

Daniella Diaz contributed to this report.

House GOP leaders are barreling ahead on a vote that would push TikTok to divest from its Chinese government-linked parent company, mostly ignoring pressure from Donald Trump to abandon the bill.

During a weekly closed-door meeting with House Republicans, Majority Leader Steve Scalise gave a “big, impassioned defense” for the legislation, according to Rep. Mike Gallagher (R-Wis.), the bill’s lead sponsor. If TikTok’s parent company does not divest, the legislation would block it from app stores.

The No. 2 House Republican essentially said, according to a person in the room: It’s a forced divestment, not a ban — despite what TikTok has tried to claim to its users. Scalise also argued that China currently has access to all of its users’ data through the app, and passing the legislation was necessary to protect Americans.

The House is expected to vote on the bill Wednesday, which will require a two-thirds threshold for passage. While GOP leadership isn’t formally whipping the bill, Speaker Mike Johnson, Scalise and other Republican leaders have joined the White House in publicly backing the bipartisan divestment push.

The legislation’s fate is less certain in the Senate, where Majority Leader Chuck Schumer hasn’t committed to taking it up. Still, this is the closest Congress has gotten in multiple attempts to hold ByteDance, the parent company of TikTok, accountable for its ties to the Chinese government.

Meanwhile, Trump has come out strongly against the bill, arguing the push would send users to other platforms he has publicly bashed like Facebook. And the presumptive GOP presidential nominee’s opposition has created some cold feet in the party, as Republicans still get anxious about crossing Trump.

Asked Monday about Trump’s comments on the bill, Johnson said: “I’m not going to comment, I haven’t talked to him.” Other pro-Trump lawmakers responded similarly, noting they haven’t personally heard from Trump on the matter.

Experts have voiced concerns that the app could be weaponized to spread propaganda and influence major events. A report released Monday from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) alleges that China may try to influence the upcoming presidential election: “TikTok accounts run by a PRC propaganda arm reportedly targeted candidates from both political parties during the U.S. midterm election cycle in 2022.” The report also said that “China is demonstrating a higher degree of sophistication in its influence activity, including experimenting with generative AI.”

The Justice Department, FBI and ODNI are expected to give an all-members classified briefing on TikTok to members later Tuesday, hoping to further sway lawmakers a day ahead of the vote.

TikTok, which has argued there is no evidence to support such allegations, has launched an aggressive pressure campaign against the effort. On Tuesday, House offices reported an ongoing slew of calls from TikTok users, a result of a pop-up on the app that told users to call lawmakers and say they are opposed to a TikTok “ban.” As one senior House Republican aide put it: “The TikTok deluge continues. All three of our phone lines are slammed all morning.”

But some Republicans note that lobbying push has backfired on ByteDance, frustrating some lawmakers who were previously on the fence. Some cited how TikTok forced users to call congressional offices in order to use the app, while pushing the misleading “ban” claim. Multiple lawmakers have viewed this effort as further confirmation the app could be weaponized.

Gallagher, chair of the Select Committee on China, said he also sought to speak to members who have “concerns” about the bill at the morning meeting.

“The bill remains narrowly focused on social media apps tied to foreign adversary countries. That’s it,” Gallagher told reporters after the private meeting. “Anyone telling you otherwise is misreading the bill, deliberately, or buying TikTok’s propaganda.”

Joe Biden won some progressive praise with his recent tough talk on Benjamin Netanyahu, but liberal lawmakers’ demands that the president take action against Israel are only growing louder.

“Prime Minister Netanyahu is being profoundly disrespectful not just to President Biden but to the United States,” Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) told POLITICO. “And I think that it is our responsibility to also protect the integrity of the United States.”

Biden said in a weekend interview that mass civilian casualties in Gaza was a “red line” for him, as Palestinians have seen tens of thousands of deaths during the Israel-Hamas war. POLITICO then reported that the U.S. would consider setting conditions on military aid to Israel, which has stalled in Congress, if the country proceeds with a large-scale invasion of Rafah. That’s been a demand from many Democrats for months.

Netanyahu was defiant in response to Biden’s comments, vowing to proceed with an offensive in Rafah. “You know what the red line is? That Oct. 7 doesn’t happen again,” the prime minster said.

Such comments have been panned by congressional progressives, who’ve been deeply skeptical of Netanyahu and his posturing with Biden for months. They’ve previously called for new leadership in Israel.

“We’re at the point now where words may not be enough. The president may have to take some action,” Rep. Jim McGovern (D-Mass.), a leading progressive, said in an interview. “As somebody who’s a longtime supporter of Israel, what is happening in Gaza is beyond the pale by any measure, and we can’t turn a blind eye to that.”

“We all need to push back harder against the prime minister and remind him that US aid is available only to countries that follow international law,” Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) echoed in a brief interview.

She added: “If the prime minister wants to go at it alone, he seems to be making that clear. … The prime minister is not serving the interests of the people of Israel. He is not making Israel safer.”

Beyond the foreign policy and moral consequences, some Democrats see a political imperative for Biden to respond to the concerns of young people and progressives frustrated with his handling of the Middle East conflict.

“I appreciate that the president is listening to many people in his base and is making it more clear that there are going to be consequences for Netanyahu to defy the United States,” said Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.). “He’s taking a tougher line on Netanyahu and responding to many of us.”

Biden was caught on a hot mic after his State of the Union address last week, vowing a “come to Jesus” meeting with the Israeli prime minister while speaking to Sen. Michael Bennet (D-Colo.).

A group of eight Democratic-aligned senators sent a letter to Biden on Tuesday demanding Netanyahu stop restricting humanitarian aid to Gaza or lose U.S. assistance.

Even more hawkish foreign policy Democrats are indicating fatigue with Netanyahu’s approach and treatment of Biden’s entreaties in the conflict.

“I could get back before Oct. 7 and I wasn’t a big fan of this government,” said Senate Foreign Relations Chair Ben Cardin (D-Md.) in an interview. “At this stage, it’s an issue of trying to get everybody on the same page.”

But progressives think Netanyahu is disrespecting Biden and want to keep the pressure up for a deescalation in the region.

“We’ve wanted a two-state solution for decades in this country, but Netanyahu does not if he thumbed his nose at the president,” Rep. Mark Pocan (D-Wis.) told POLITICO. “We should support the Israeli people, always. But, Benjamin Netanyahu, maybe it’s time for a divorce.”

The Congressional Black Caucus’ PAC endorsed Rep. Cori Bush on Tuesday, lending the outspoken progressive some institutional backing as she faces a strong primary challenge.

“As the first Black woman elected to Congress in Missouri, Congresswoman Cori Bush has stood as a champion for racial, social, economic, and environmental justice in Congress,” said Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-N.Y.), chair of the Black Caucus PAC.

Although the Black Caucus generally backs all incumbents and endorsed Bush last cycle, its support of Bush this year is notable amid the legal scrutiny of her campaign’s spending on security services. St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney Wesley Bell is challenging Bush this cycle. She narrowly outraised him last quarter, according to FEC records, though deep-pocketed outside groups like AIPAC have already endorsed Bell.

Bush, who got to Congress by primarying then-Rep. Lacy Clay (D-Mo.), hasn’t always had the closest relationship with senior Black Caucus members. But she has more recently patched up those frayed ties.

“I’m thrilled to have the support of the Congressional Black Caucus PAC in my reelection campaign. Together, we will continue to deliver meaningful investments and real results for the people of St. Louis,” Bush said in a statement.

The House Judiciary Committee gavels in at 10 a.m. to hear from special counsel Robert Hur. Washington is watching for how both parties handle the hearing — and for any new insight on President Joe Biden’s age and memory.

If you’ll recall: Hur’s report did not recommend criminal charges over Biden’s handling of classified information but described the president as “sympathetic, well-meaning elderly man with a poor memory.” In his prepared remarks, obtained by Playbook, Hur addresses the memory description head on: “I could not simply announce that I recommended no criminal charges and leave it at that. I needed to explain why.”

Read Monday night’s Inside Congress for an excellent preview of what to expect from the hearing.

Other Hill goings-on: As for voting, lawmakers will vote on a bill aimed at ensuring more efficient of public buildings and a resolution condemning the immigration policies of the Biden administration.

Over in the Senate, lawmakers will spend the day considering a host of Biden judicial nominees from Virginia, Rhode Island and Illinois. And from the Department of Where Are They Now: Senators will vote to confirm former Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney (D-N.Y.) as U.S. representative to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.

Look for Senate leaders to get asked for their views about the House legislation effectively banning TikTok during their weekly press conferences Tuesday afternoon. That legislation is expected to come up for a House floor vote Wednesday.

The House is on the cusp of what could prove an overwhelming bipartisan vote to effectively ban TikTok in the U.S. The Senate will prove more challenging.

House GOP leaders are expected to hold Wednesday vote on the “Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act” despite a vocal campaign by TikTok users to kill the proposal, on top of Donald Trump’s recent criticism of it. The bipartisan legislation would require ByteDance, TikTok’s parent company, to sell its stake in the app in order to ensure continued availability in the U.S.

The House Energy and Commerce Committee cleared the bill unanimously even as public backlash grew — giving supporters hope that it will pass on the House floor. Bipartisan opposition is brewing in the Senate, though.

Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) said Monday night that he would object to a request to pass the bill unanimously, requiring Democratic leaders to spend more serious amounts of floor time ahead of a roll-call vote on it. And Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer didn’t make any commitments about putting the TikTok bill on the floor.

“I’ve got to talk to my committee chairs,” he told POLITICO on Monday.

At least one of those chairs — Senate Commerce Committee chief Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) — is interested in other legislation. She wants the GUARD Act, an alternate bill that would allow the Department of Commerce to regulate TikTok and other foreign apps without banning them fully.

“I’m glad they brought up a subject but we got to get a real solution,” Cantwell said of the House bill. “That one, I don’t think will make it all the way through.”

Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) summed up the dynamics: “There’s a coalition of us who are very much in favor of this, but there’s also an entrenched coalition of people who don’t want this,” he said. “So just based on past history, I’m skeptical that it’ll get floor time. But we’ll see.”

Senators on both sides of the aisle also raised concerns about the specificity of the House bill, which explicitly targets TikTok.

GOP Sen. Todd Young (Ind.) said “rather than naming specific companies … we should instead articulate what functionality is of concern, what countries or entities are of greatest concern.”

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), a leading progressive, said the legislation “shouldn’t be about pulling out one particular social media outlet” and that there should be “curbs in place on social media across the board.”

President Joe Biden has said he’ll sign the bill if it makes it to his desk. Trump, meanwhile, originally supported the bill but turned against it on Monday. The former president argued in a CNBC interview that banning TikTok would only help Facebook, which he considers “to be an enemy of the people, along with a lot of the media.”

Still, some senators don’t seem entirely closed off to the legislation. Senate Minority Whip John Thune (R-S.D.) said he welcomes it. Other say they’re still reviewing the details.

“I favor restricting it when it comes to government communication networks,” said Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), who said he’s “still looking through the various issues relating to what this bill does.”

Sen. J.D. Vance (R-Ohio) also said he’s still reviewing details of the bill but that he’s “generally sympathetic to the idea [that] TikTok is sort of a [Chinese Communist Party] spy app.”

House members are expected to receive a briefing about the bill on Tuesday from officials in Biden administration, which supports the measure.

“It’s important that the members have an opportunity to get this classified briefing from Department of Justice and other intelligence agencies around what they see as the threat of of apps that are owned by foreign adversaries,” Energy and Commerce Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-Wash.) said.

Olivia Beavers and Rebecca Kern contributed.

Rep. Randy Weber said Monday that Freedom Caucus Chair Bob Good has essentially pushed him out of the conservative group over the Texas Republican’s lackluster meeting attendance.

The group of roughly three dozen has weekly meetings that members are expected to attend. In an interview Monday, Weber said it was his understanding that the House Freedom Caucus board had wanted Good (R-Va.) to speak to members who had not gone to meetings frequently enough.

But the leader of the conservative group took it a step further with Weber, the Texan said. Good told him that he would effectively have to reapply through the board if he wanted to continue being a member, according to Weber, who expressed surprise over the decision.

A spokesperson for the Freedom Caucus, which historically does not discuss membership, declined to “comment on membership or internal processes.”

Weber conceded that he has been missing meetings recently, saying he had become “disillusioned” with the group’s procedural tactics in recent months. Weber also expressed reservations with Good’s leadership specifically, saying he had a hard time digesting Good’s decision not to initially support Donald Trump in the presidential race.

“This just isn’t the Freedom Caucus I joined 10 years ago. By any measure, I am one of the most conservative members of Congress,” Weber told POLITICO in an exclusive statement. “Bob Good is anti-Trump and taking this group in a direction I just don’t agree with. We should be standing with President Trump working to strengthen the conservative movement, not tear it apart.”

Meanwhile, Good is talking to other members about their meeting attendance records, according to people familiar with those internal conservations, who were granted anonymity to speak candidly.

Ejections from the group are uncommon. The last member who publicly confirmed they had been kicked out was Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) last summer. The group voted to expel her largely because of her frequent and public criticisms of other Freedom Caucus members. Greene, for her part, said earlier this year it was the “best thing that ever happened to me, because I don’t have to sit in those damn meetings anymore and listen to all these men that want to over talk all the women in the room.”

Good only recently ascended to the top spot of the Freedom Caucus after he ran unopposed for the chairmanship in December. But ahead of that vote, internal concerns about his ability to lead the pro-Trump group leaked out publicly, in part because he first backed Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis for president. And Rep. Warren Davidson (R-Ohio) resigned from the House Freedom Caucus board late last year after announcing his opposition to Good’s campaign for chair, though he cited a need to “move policy in the right direction” and not Good’s position on Trump.

Good defended his endorsement of DeSantis by arguing he wasn’t against Trump, but that he wanted a conservative president who could have eight years in office. Since then, he has faced a primary challenge from state Sen. John McGuire, a former Navy SEAL who has loudly backed Trump.

After DeSantis dropped out, Good immediately threw his support behind Trump. But it seemed to be too little, too late for some allies of the presumptive GOP nominee.

In January, just days before Good announced he would back Trump, the former president’s campaign manager Chris LaCivita signaled to a local Virginia news outlet that his operation intended to go after Good.

“Bob Good won’t be electable when we get done with him,” Chris LaCivita told Cardinal News.

Shelley Moore Capito is running for the Senate Republican Policy Committee chair, a move that follows current chair Joni Ernst’s decision to run for higher office in the GOP.

The second-term Capito, currently the party’s conference vice chair, said Monday afternoon that she would pursue a promotion to the party’s No. 4 job after Mitch McConnell steps down from the top spot at the end of the year, creating open spaces in the conference’s hierarchy.

The Policy Committee is essentially an internal Senate GOP think tank and also runs some of the party’s key meetings.

“It is critical that our conference advance conservative principles that Senate Republicans, hopefully in the majority, can implement next year,” the West Virginian said in an X post.

Capito joined party leadership last year and has been in the mix on several bipartisan deals in recent years as she’s ascended in seniority. She’s the top Republican on the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee and the first West Virginia Republican to serve in the Senate since the 1950s.

Her run for policy chair this fall opens up the vice chair slot in this fall’s leadership elections. Ernst is running for conference chair against Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), current Conference Chair John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) is running for whip and Senate Minority Whip John Thune (R-S.D.) is battling Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) for the GOP leader job to succeed McConnell.

A House Administration subpanel has released its first analysis of what Speaker Mike Johnson deemed an “incomplete” record of the events of Jan. 6 as found by a special select panel last Congress.

The committee vowed to hold additional hearings throughout the year, beginning Tuesday with a hearing on the unsolved case of two pipe bombs left at the Democratic National Committee and Republican National Committee that day, and produce a final report before the end of 2024.

Republicans used their majority analysis Monday as an attempt to relitigate old battles waged by the Jan. 6 select committee, accusing the panel of violating House rules and suppressing key pieces of evidence to hurt former President Donald Trump — old allegations the committee sharply rejected.

The 80-page report focuses heavily on the select committee’s origin and structure — which withstood repeated legal challenges by witnesses who had been subpoenaed to testify — contending that the committee’s designation of then-Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) as both its vice chair and ranking minority member violated House rules.

Republicans also scolded the panel for turning over some of its most sensitive transcripts to the White House and Department of Homeland Security, which prevented them from being publicly released. The panel has argued that the Biden administration would only permit those witnesses — White House military aides and valets, as well as Secret Service officials — to testify under agreements that they would get to scrub the transcripts for sensitive operational details.

The report is also a compilation of familiar swipes at the select committee, labeling its purpose “partisan” and questioning the testimony of a major witness, Cassidy Hutchinson, who provided sensational accounts of Trump’s movements that day — some of it which she said had been relayed to her via other White House officials.

Rep. Barry Loudermilk (R-Ga.), head of the Administration subcommittee, said the select panel last Congress “promoted hearsay and cherry-picked information to promote its political goal” of prosecuting Trump.

House Republicans have released thousands of hours of security footage from the insurrection and have vowed to continue to do so as it becomes available.

A bipartisan Kentucky duo is renewing a push to ban no-knock warrants in the aftermath of the death of Breonna Taylor, as Congress has struggled to enact policing reforms.

Sen. Rand Paul (R) and Rep. Morgan McGarvey (D), flanked by Taylor’s mother at an event in Kentucky, vowed to keep fighting to ban the practice nearly four years after her death. Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.), who played a key role in prior police reform negotiations, will be the lead Democratic co-sponsor of the bill in the Senate.

“I’m very hopeful that this will move forward. I’m sorry, that took the death of Breonna to get everybody unified,” Paul said. “We might try to see if it can pass unanimously.”

Taylor died in March 2020 after police in Louisville forced entry into her apartment through a no-knock raid.

“We think this legislation is necessary because it will continue to halt the practice of no-knock warrants in Kentucky and nationwide — and it’s very effective,” McGarvey said.

The office of Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell declined to comment on whether he’d back the measure.

Context: There was a surge in police reform talks following the murder of George Floyd, a Black man who was killed by Minneapolis police in 2020. But the talks ultimately collapsed in September 2021, with negotiators saying their differences were simply too vast.

Booker pronounced himself as “sobered” in February 2023 by those talks collapsing, but indicated he thought something short of comprehensive police reform could still get done. There’s been little indication of movement in Congress since that time.

“It’s been four years. It’s been hard — it continues to be hard — but I still fight and I still make sure that what happened to Brianna doesn’t happen again,” said Taylor’s mother, Tamika Palmer.