Craig Lasher

Senior Fellow, PAI, formerly Director of U.S. Government Relations, Population Action International

[Orla Joelsen @OJoelsen]

Premier of Greenland 🇬🇱 statement this morning;

This morning, I am both saddened and grateful 🇬🇱

Saddened, because during a press conference last night, the President of the United States once again expressed a desire to take over Greenland. With such statements, our country is reduced to a question of security and power. That is not how we see ourselves, and it is not how Greenland can or should be spoken about.

We are a people with a long history, a strong culture, and a vibrant democracy. We are a country with responsibility for our own territory and for our own future. Our territorial integrity and our right to self-determination are firmly anchored in international law and cannot simply be ignored.

That is also why I am grateful.

Thank you to everyone here at home for the clear support and unity that has been shown. The calmness and dignity with which you have met this situation send a strong signal of a people who stand firm in their values and in their responsibility.

I would also like to thank heads of government and partners around the world who have clearly and unequivocally expressed their respect for Greenland, for our democratic institutions, and for the fundamental principles of international law. That support confirms that we here at home do not stand alone.

Once again: Greenland is our country. Decisions are made here. And I will at all times fight for our freedom and our right to decide for ourselves and to shape our own future.

For now, I hope that the peace of Christmas can settle over us all.
Merry Christmas 🇬🇱💙🇬🇱

[Craig Lasher @CLasherPAI]

Snowflake.

[Tim Hannan @TimHannan]

Hiding on a military base while you deploy the military against US citizens is so fucking cowardly I can’t even articulate it.

[Governor Tina Kotek @GovTinaKotek]

My office is reaching out to the White House and Homeland Security for more information. We have been provided no information on the reason or purpose of any military mission. There is no national security threat in Portland. Our communities are safe and calm.

[Grace Meng @RepGraceMeng]

In honor of #WorldContraceptionDay, the Administration should distribute, not destroy, $10 million in contraceptives already purchased with your taxpayer dollars.

Burning birth control abroad is only a preview of what���s to come at home. That’s why I led almost 90 of my colleagues in demanding an investigation into this waste, fraud, and abuse.

https://t.co/7666uo77Xp

[Senate Foreign Relations Committee @SFRCdems]

"Not only is it a waste of about $10 million that the taxpayers have paid for, but they're also going to spend $160,000 to destroy them.

"It's a travesty." -@SenatorShaheen @ForeignPolicy

[Caitlin Legacki @caitleg]

Just gonna start posting every night that Kay Graham published the second tranche of Pentagon Papers in the middle of an IPO, at the same time Nixon was threatening to pull her FCC licenses.

[Sen. Lisa Murkowski @lisamurkowski]

I strongly object to the Office of Management and Budget’s unlawful attempt to pursue a nearly $5 billion pocket rescission. Congress alone bears the constitutional responsibility for funding our government, and any effort to claw back resources outside of the appropriations process undermines that responsibility.

The fact is, advancing the final appropriations bills and avoiding a government shutdown will require a great deal of hard work and collaboration when Congress resumes session next week. These unilateral actions by OMB only threaten the good bipartisan work that has been done in committee and on the floor, and risk throwing the entire process into chaos.

[Grace Meng @RepGraceMeng]

I was proud to lead 80 Democrats, along with @RepDonBeyer, @RepLoisFrankel and @RepJudyChu, to demand an investigation into the State Department’s planned destruction of millions of dollars worth of food and contraceptives.

These supplies were purchased with taxpayer dollars. They could have saved lives. Instead, they are being lit on fire. This is unacceptable. We need answers.

[Akash Maniam @ManiamAkash]

Worth remembering

[Chris Murphy 🟧 @ChrisMurphyCT]

Update: I offered the amendment. Not to refuse acceptance of the Qatari jet; just to prohibit Trump from taking it with him when he leaves office - after the taxpayers spend $1 billion to retrofit it.

Failed 14-15. Every single Republican voted to allow Trump to take the jet.

[Charlie Savage @charlie_savage]

The declassified Durham report annex shows the special counsel set out to prove the ‘Clinton Plan’ emails were real but decided they were fakes made by Russian spies.

It's amazing to see people talking about those "emails" as if they were real. Can people read?

link follows

[Grace Meng @RepGraceMeng]

It’s disappointing, but not surprising, that the Administration is lying about lighting $9.7M in contraceptives on fire.

IUDs and birth control aren't abortion supplies.

Taxpayers should be outraged by this waste, fraud, and abuse.
https://t.co/WlbGhxBoa5

[Grace Meng @RepGraceMeng]

I proposed an amendment to the 2026 National Security funding bill to tackle waste, fraud, & abuse created by the Administration's destruction of life-saving foreign aid.

Millions of dollars in contraception, medical supplies, & food are stuck in supply chains & the State Department wants to burn them.

Every Republican voted to light taxpayer dollars on fire instead of saving lives.

[Grace Meng @RepGraceMeng]

This looks a lot like waste, fraud, & abuse to me...

The Administration must reverse this decision to save lives & taxpayer dollars.

https://t.co/wwQ3llPgOl

[@judgeluttig @judgeluttig]

Never before in the Nation’s almost 250 year history has America’s present and future depended more on the free press than it does today.

[Senator Jacky Rosen @SenJackyRosen]

Senate Republicans’ extreme bill will defund global health programs and strip away essential family planning services from women around the world, and tens of thousands of women will die as a result.

I introduced an amendment to ensure women can make their own decisions about their own bodies. Republicans just blocked it.

[Craig Lasher @CLasherPAI]

Thank you Senators for an excellent legislative initiative targeting real “waste, fraud, abuse” in U.S. foreign aid programs.

[Senate Foreign Relations Committee @SFRCdems]

Today, @SenatorShaheen and @SenBrianSchatz introduced the "Saving Lives and Taxpayer Dollars Act" to stop @StateDept's planned destruction of $9.7 million in family planning commodities and prevent other lifesaving U.S. aid from going to waste.

More⬇️
https://t.co/plH4Tqy3KB

[Michael McFaul @McFaul]

Here is the USAID logo. Don’t see any “rainbow” colors Mr. Secretary.

[Chris Murphy 🟧 @ChrisMurphyCT]

The Republican budget is apparently going to have a slush fund to bail out red state hospitals while allowing blue state hospitals to close because of the devastating Medicaid cuts.

Let's call this what it is - a fundamental corruption. A blow to the heart of our 50 state union.

[Gavin Newsom @GavinNewsom]

Mike Johnson would hate for you to know that nearly 40% of his district is on Medicaid.

Or that 1.6 million Louisianans — about 35% of the state — rely on it.

It would be terrible if this information went viral.