Indiana
Indiana congresswoman says she will spurn GOP caucus to help Elon Musk’s DOGE group
Rep. Victoria Spartz, R-Ind., announced Monday she won’t take any committee positions or caucus with Republicans in the upcoming congressional term but instead would prefer to spend her time working with the quasi-governmental panel Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy are planning to lead, the so-called Department of Government Efficiency.
“I will stay as a registered Republican but will not sit on committees or participate in the caucus until I see that Republican leadership in Congress is governing,” Spartz wrote on X, after Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., told Ramaswamy to “Count me in !”
“I do not need to be involved in circuses,” Spartz added. “I would rather spend more of my time helping @DOGE and @RepThomasMassie to save our Republic, as was mandated by the American people.”
Her post followed another in which she claimed Republicans must make the $2 trillion in deep spending cuts demanded by Musk, cuts that he has admitted are likely to impose “hardship” on Americans. She also released a statement that talked about “helping President Trump, his appointees and DOGE to deliver on their promises through reconciliation.”
One wonders how Spartz’s decision could affect the GOP’s already-slim House majority in the coming term and whether her refusal to cooperate might create any additional headaches for House Speaker Mike Johnson. (Politico, citing two anonymous sources “with direct knowledge of the matter,” reported that Spartz’s decision may have been a consequence of her not securing the committee position she was after.)
At any rate, this does seem mostly like a boon for the appearance of legitimacy for Musk and Ramaswamy’s group. There’s also no reason to assume the Department of Government Efficiency will be any less circuslike than the GOP-led Congress. Even if the Republican caucus is a circus, that’s the circus that Spartz’s voters elected her to serve in.
But her decision aligns with my theory that Trump and his allies in Washington are devising ways to minimize Congress’ authority and diminish its reputation so executives Trump puts in charge can make all the important decisions.
One can see signs of this in Musk and Ramaswamy’s insistence that Trump can use impoundment to withhold funds authorized by Congress for expenditure. And in the conservatives’ push for Trump to use recess appointments to circumvent the Senate’s duty to confirm his Cabinet picks. I think Spartz’s announcement is yet another way MAGA allies are working to shift power from Congress to Trump and his inner circle in the executive branch.
RIPLEY COUNTY, Ind. (WSBT) — A statewide Silver Alert has been issued for two young children in Indiana.
Police in Ripley County, southeast of Indianapolis, are looing for the children who may be siblings.
The first child is 3-year-old Aaliyah Buckingham.
She was last seen wearing a pink cat shirt and tie-dye shorts.
The younger child is 1-year-old Shane Buckingham, last seen in a red shirt and diaper.
Police think both are with 45-year-old Timothy Buckingham, who was last seen driving a brown GMC truck.
Timothy is described as a 6′ 3″ white man weighing 225 pounds with brown hair and blue eyes.
Photo of Timothy Buckingham provided by Indiana State Police
Police have not confirmed the relationship of the three, or why the children are believed to be in danger.
Anyone who sees the three are asked to contact the nearest police department.
INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — A firefighter for the Indianapolis Fire Department was sent to the hospital Wednesday after battling a fire at a vacant house.
According to a Facebook post made by IFD, the fire happened around 10:15 a.m. at a house on Bluff Rd. IFD says that there were several complications, including limited access to fire hydrants and “interior hoarder conditions” that IFD says was due to squatters.
The injured firefighter received “slight injury,” the Facebook post said.
It took over an hour and a half to get the fire under control, according to IFD, and another hour to put out all the remaining hot spots in the building.
According to IFD, the cause of the fire is currently unknown. Their Fire Investigations Unit is working on figuring out what caused the fire.
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