Brigid Bergin: It's The Brian Lehrer Show on WNYC. I'm Brigid Bergin, senior reporter in the WNYC and Gothamist newsroom, filling in for Brian today. On today's show, we'll try to explain something that a lot of voters may be confused about, judges on the ballot, how are they nominated and how to think about your vote for these names you may never have heard of. Plus, we'll talk about the growth in homeschooling, which has exploded in popularity since the pandemic, including here in the Tri-State area. Lastly, this fall's many, many, many rainy weekends weren't just a bummer for people who like to spend their Saturday and Sundays outdoors, they have been financially destructive to apple orchards upstate. An orchard owner from Warwick New York will join us and he'll tell us what's left on the trees, if anything, in case you're up for a late season outing this weekend. I should note the forecast looks pretty dry.

First, 10 days ago, House Republicans picked a new Speaker. Louisiana's Mike Johnson was elected by the majority to lead the chamber. He was the party's fourth nominee after weeks of struggling to find a candidate. It's been an interesting first week and a half on the job. Johnson has had to contend with dueling efforts to censure Democrat and Republican members. We're talking Congress members Rashida Tlaib of Michigan and Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia. Oh, and perhaps you've heard a little something about a group of freshmen Republicans from New York who were so fed up with their colleague George Santos and the newest fraud charges he faces, that they introduced a resolution to expel him from the House. That's a pretty big deal. Only five other members in the history of the House have been kicked out like that.

Spoiler alert. Santos is still in Congress and no one was censured, but that is just a small sliver of the news coming out of the House this week. Just yesterday, the House passed a bill tying 14.3 billion in military aid for Israel to spending cuts here at home. That bill also zeros out aid to Ukraine putting it on a crash course with the Senate. There is a lot to unpack here about what is going on and who this new leader driving it all is. Fortunately, my first guest is just the right person to help us understand it all. Kadia Goba covers Congress for Semafor. Kadia, welcome back to WNYC. So great to catch up with you here.

Kadia Goba: Thanks for having me, Brigid. It's good to talk to you.

Brigid Bergin: Listeners, do you have a question about the House under the leadership of new Speaker Mike Johnson, maybe a question about Congress member George Santos, what's it like in his office, any signs he plans to pack or any questions about Congress for my guest Kadia Goba, congressional reporter for Semafor? You can call us now. 212-433-WNYC. That's 212-433-9692. You can also text us at that number. Again, 212-433-9692. Kadia, let's start with the latest news on the aid package for Israel. It was sponsored by Speaker Johnson, it passed by a vote of 226 to 196, but it includes cuts to the Internal Revenue Service. There were people crying during the vote. What is going on there?

Kadia Goba: There is a lot of House drama. That's the least I can say about what's happening. Yesterday, as you said, they took a vote, $14.3 billion aid to Israel to aid in their military. However, they coupled the bill with some IRS cuts. Democrats are not happy about it, and they overwhelmingly voted against the measure. However, there are some Jewish Democrats who took it very personally and thought that Mike Johnson, the new Speaker was personally attacking them by coupling this aid together with these IRS cuts. You had members crying coming off the Floor. As I mentioned in a piece I did today, Debbie Wasserman Schultz, she was crying. I spoke to Greg Landsman of Ohio. He was also crying. He had some pretty strong words, suggesting that the Speaker should actually talk to him if he wants to talk about the Bible. This is not how this works. People were personally conflicted about this.

Brigid Bergin: Wow, that sounds like-- Is that type of emotion-- these are incredibly serious issues, but have you seen anything like that in your time covering Congress so far, that kind of emotional response to a vote?

Kadia Goba: I've been here since 2019. I would say the only time I ever saw members express any kind of emotion like that was behind things related to January 6th, and of course, on the day of January 6th, but ultimately 12 Democrats did vote in favor of it. Some of them argued though, however, Brigid, that this was just a ploy for Republicans to later spit out campaign cards that say they're anti-Jewish or anti-Israel. They claimed it wasn't an opportunity. They wasn't going to fall into that bait or fall into that trap. I had members texted me, "Yes, it's a trap. I'm not going to do it." Take that into consideration as well.

Brigid Bergin: Wow. I want to take a moment and let's hear what Speaker Johnson had to say about this legislation. He defended it at a press conference yesterday. Here's a little of what he said.

Speaker Johnson: Provides Israel the aid it needs to defend itself, free its hostages and eradicate Hamas, which is a mission that must be accomplished, all of this while we also work to ensure responsible spending and reduce the size of the federal government to pay for that commitment to our friend and ally.

Brigid Bergin: Kadia, what does this legislation tell you about Johnson in terms of his priorities, how he plans to lead in the House and potentially how he plans to strategize when he is pushing legislation?

Kadia Goba: I think this was a carefully crafted measure on the part of the new Speaker. There was unanimous support for Ukraine, I'm sorry, for aid to Israel, so that wasn't a question, but him putting up the measure, the IRS tax cut, at the same time suggests to me that he's going to be savvy, he is determined to get his agenda across and I think Democratic members have something to contend with there. To me this was a win for the new Speaker.

Brigid Bergin: Interesting. Listeners, if you're just joining us now, I am speaking with Kadia Goba, congressional reporter for Semafor. We are talking about all of the things coming out of the House after the first 10 days of the new Speaker Mike Johnson's leadership. We are starting with the latest vote on aid to Israel, and how that bill passed, and all the issues connected to it. If you have a question for my guest Kadia Goba, you can call us at 212-433-9692 or you can text us at that number. Again, 212-433-9692. Kadia, Johnson did signal that the aid to Ukraine might be tied to legislation that gets addressed with a deal on some changes to immigration policy at the southern border, an issue that Republicans have been very eager to tackle. Do you have any sense of what they might be looking for there and how soon a bill like that might be introduced?

Kadia Goba: My sources are telling me as well as it's been reported that Democrats or sorry, that Republicans are going to suggest or want to push border aid. There is the measure H.R. 2, which was a a bill that passed in the House, but has stalled in the Senate, that many of them are considering minus some of the less popular ideals that were pushed in there. I think in general, I think most members agree that there's going to be extra support for border control personnel to get the processes more expedient. I got to say, Brigid, this is-- Just anything related to border control and immigration just does not seem to pass in the House and Senate. I imagine that Republicans will push really hard and want really a lot of aggressive stuff, and Democrats will push back, and then ultimately, they won't come to an agreement. Not sure how volatile that makes Ukraine funding in the future, but it is something that I know members are considering right now.

Brigid Bergin: It's interesting with your earlier point, this idea that Johnson is taking a different strategic approach to his leadership in the House, tying a domestic priority to this aid for Ukraine again. Excuse me, aid for Israel and then now again tying domestic priority security at the southern border to aid for Ukraine and putting it as a test to the entire house potentially, so that they have a political issue to use obviously in the upcoming elections next year. To your point, it doesn't sound like it necessarily means they're going to be making a lot of actual policy progress in the next few weeks, months going forward. Kadia, I'm also wondering, you are there, you are talking to members on a regular basis.

We have seen Republicans increasingly turn away from providing more aid to Ukraine since this summer. Certainly, we saw in that CNN survey back in August that support for Ukraine aid was slipping among the electorate. A Pew Research Center study back in June found that more than four in 10 Republicans say that the US is providing too much aid to Ukraine. Are you hearing a general reluctance from House Republicans about providing aid to Ukraine? Why is that, why was it left out of this aid bill that passed yesterday on Israel?

Kadia Goba: To your point earlier, I think Republicans understand they have to play this game that, "If you want this Democrats, then you're going to have to give something for it:. We saw that in the bill that passed the aid that passed yesterday for Israel. Typically this is something that it's not going to be-- There has been a consistent trickling of support falling out from Republicans when it comes to Ukraine aid.

We saw this happening a few months ago. At the beginning stages, it was people very vocal like Marjorie Taylor Greene, and people who just don't, or who support more of an isolationist view of this country. I still think there is enough support to get more funding to Ukraine in the near future. I do not know what that means a year or two from now.

Brigid Bergin: Interesting. Certainly, this aid package that passed the House yesterday is something that Senate majority leader, Chuck Schumer, had previewed was a no-go for the Senate. Here are some of his comments from Tuesday that he's more or less been repeating since the vote.

Chuck Schumer: It makes it much, much harder to pass aid for Israel. It's insulting that the hard right is openly trying to exploit the crisis in Israel to try and reward the ultra-rich. The new Speaker knows perfectly well that if you want to help Israel, you can't propose legislation that is full of poison pills. This unnecessarily partisan legislation sends the wrong message to our allies and adversaries around the world.

It's almost as if the real goal of this House GOP package, is not to help Israel, but to get tax relief for the super-wealthy while leaving out Ukraine aid, leaving out humanitarian aid for Gaza, leaving out funding for the Indo-Pacific.

Brigid Bergin: Kadia, again, this legislation seems all but doomed in the Senate not getting any support from the majority leader. I think to some extent raising concerns with the minority leader, Mitch McConnell, because that Ukraine aid is also not included. How do you see this moving forward?

Kadia Goba: That's a good question. I reported this, of the 12 Democrats in the House who voted. I know some of them are banking on this just completely failing in the House, I'm sorry, in the Senate. That was part of their motivation. "I'll take the hard vote now, but I know that Senate Democrats or the Democratic-led Senate will ultimately take this portion of it out." I'm imagining that's happening. That's what the scuttlebutt on the hill is. They do need a significant amount of votes to get this passed. We will see, but that is the framing right now that Democrats will ultimately smash the IRS portion out of the bill.

Brigid Bergin: Potentially this could be a round and round between the House and the Senate that could go on for how long, what does this mean in terms of when Israel could potentially get aid or when Ukraine could potentially get aid?

Kadia Goba: That was the argument against Johnson's move is some said, "Why not do this, pass a clean bill to fund Israel, immediately pass it in the Senate? Why do we have to go back and forth?" What's going to happen, just for your listeners, it'll go to the Senate. If they take out the IRS measure to it, they'll come back to the house and then you'll have Republicans who just feel like they can't vote for the bill. It's not clear if Republicans will pass it. They'll feel that they can't vote for the bill because they're not getting anything out of it. I don't think it'll be a constant going back and forth. This process did delay-- It could have been automatically-- Senate could have passed that bill today, and then it would've been on Biden's desk by end of day or tomorrow. Ultimately, I think Israel is paying for this while they jockey the political measures between the two parties right now.

Brigid Bergin: We're going to take a quick break. We'll be back in a minute with Semafor's political reporter, Kadia Goba, and your calls. Stick around.

[MUSIC - Marden Hill: Hijack]

If you're listening to The Brian Lehrer Show. I'm Brigid Bergen, senior reporter in the WNYC and Gothamist newsroom filling in for Brian today. My guest is Kadia Goba, who covers Congress for Semaphore. We're talking about Speaker Johnson's first 10 days on the job and what it tells us about his leadership style and priorities going forward.

I want to bring some listeners into this conversation. Let's talk to Bobby in Union City, New Jersey. Bobby, thanks for calling WNYC.

Bobby: Good morning. Thank you for taking my call. Yes, I'd like to ask your guest, several days ago Brian Lehrer had a guest on his show, I believe the person, a woman from Colorado, I believe, an official who's attempting to bring suit against the former President Trump, barring him from participating in an election based on a provision in the 14th amendment of the Constitution. It involves insurrection, and I'm wondering if this suit has any merit or teeth. Also in the provision, the person does not have to be convicted of insurrection, just accused. I'm wondering if it's possible to use that provision against Mike Johnson since he was part of that attempt to overthrow the 2020 election.

Brigid Bergin: Bobby, thanks so much for your question and for your call. This show did have the Colorado Secretary of State on, and they did talk about that lawsuit, that Colorado Secretary of State as Jena Griswold. Kadia, I know you don't cover Colorado, so I wouldn't expect you to necessarily be able to answer that, jump in however you want, but I do know that you have been writing about some of the attacks that the Democrats have made on Johnson and his positions, including his position on whether or not he supported the election in-the results of the 2020 election.

Can you talk a little bit about some of those issues that Democrats have been raising, and to the extent that people are skeptical of some of his leadership?

Kadia Goba: I think the difference obviously is Trump, he's being accused of inciting the insurrection, whereas Johnson is one of many Republicans who voted to deny Joe Biden the electoral count, or suggested that-voted against giving Joe Biden the election there. That is one of the attacks that Democrats have been, since day one, pushing out. Many of them focus on his record. He has come out saying he personally believes that the sanctity of marriage belongs between a man and a woman. Also, that he is 100% pro-life. Democrats, of course, have used-these are some of the key issues that we saw in 2022. Of course, they're going to take this as the new leader of the Republican Party. You'll probably see some of those vulnerable Republicans like Anthony D'Esposito or George Santos.

With a picture side by side with Speaker Mike Johnson, saying, "Well, this is an extreme MAGA Republican.", they're already calling him MAGA Mike, so it makes him a very good tool for Democrats in terms of campaigns. I think Jim Jordan would have been a bigger tool for that campaigning, but he still has very conservative views that Democrats will be able to run on in the 2024 election.

Bridget Bergin: Let's go to Alison in Brooklyn. Alison, thanks for calling.

Alison: Hi, Bridget. Hi, Kadia. Thanks for taking my call. My friends and I have been calling our congresspeople nonstop in support of Representative Cori Bush's motion for a ceasefire in Israel. I'm wondering where that stands in the House, given that they just passed aid to Israel. I'm wondering-- Obviously with this new Speaker, I'm sure it's complicated, but I'm wondering what you think and where that legislation stands.

Bridget Bergin: Alison, thanks for that question. Kadia, go ahead.

Kadia Goba: It's not even complicated for the Speaker. He has already come out saying there will be no ceasefire until this war is over. Basically, their ally, Israel, wins essentially, so he's already come out saying that there's not going to be a ceasefire. I think as the leader of the party, he will be obviously able to convince his Republican colleagues who hold the majority in the house right now. I don't see that taking any traction at this moment.

Bridget Bergin: Let's shift a little bit to some of the other happenings in the house. Johnson had to contend with some proposals to discipline members in connection to some of what they have said and done in relationship to the war between Israel and Hamas. There was a motion to censure Democrat Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib of Michigan, the only Palestinian American in Congress. Censure is of course the most severe punishment, short of expulsion who introduced the censure motion and what were the grounds for it?

Kadia Goba: The first 10 days of his tenure, Speaker Johnson is dealing with two censures and an expulsion. Marjorie Taylor Greene essentially made all of these claims in her resolution saying that Rashida Tlaib, congresswoman Rashida Tlaib incited a riot. I don't know if your listeners know, but a couple of weeks ago-- I say a few hundred pro-Palestine protestors were in the Capitol and about 300 of them were arrested. Marjorie Taylor Greene is framing that or framed that as some sort of insurrection, obviously not true. Therefore-I mean the most interesting thing is she didn't get the support of her Republican colleagues because what they did was they motioned to table it, which means someone puts up a motion for the censure and then another person says, "We're going to deal with this later."

Well, Democrats and Republicans, a lot of them voted to table it, so it essentially failed, which caused a lot of rift on social media between Marjorie Taylor Greene and some of her colleagues like Chip Roy. Some of them took issue with her calling, specifically calling that an insurrection. They just said that, "That's not right and I can't vote for something where the text is actually not true."

Bridget Bergin: Sure. Then the result of the censure resolution of Tlaib being tabled was then a counter-censure resolution against Republican Marjorie Taylor Greene was also-- Was it tabled or was it set aside? What happened there?

Kadia Goba: Representative Becca Balint from Vermont is the person, obviously it seemed like in retaliation. Last week introduced the measure to censure Marjorie Taylor Greene for what she claims are her racist and anti-Semitic remarks throughout her entire tenure and before Congress. That was withdrawn. The reason why these were so interesting is, members introduced it as privileged resolutions, which means it doesn't have to go through normal order process. They were able to just put it on the Floorand the Speaker has 42 legislative days to put it on the Floor. Again, it doesn't look great for the Speaker or the Rewley House that he has to deal with this within his first 7 to 10 days. It's going to be a wild ride. I think that was clear once members ousted the past Speaker. I think we're going to see more and more of this.

Bridget Bergin: Well, I want to talk about some of the other efforts to sanction members of the house. I think it was the same day that there was that vote to table the measure against Tlaib. There was a vote to oust Queensland Long Island Congress member George Santos. He is, of course, facing 23 criminal counts of wire fraud, credit card fraud, identity theft, filing false documents, and more. He has pleaded not guilty and is scheduled to go to trial next September. His expulsion measure was pushed by Republican members of his own delegation. Here's a little bit from Long Island, Congressman Anthony D'Esposito, who was pushing the expulsion measure on the house Floor.

Congressman Anthony D'Esposito: All you have to do is look at the lies and deceptions in the resolution and details of the indictments, multiple indictments to see that Mr. Santos is a stain on this institution and not fit to serve his constituents in the House of Representatives.

Bridget Bergin: Here's a little bit of Santos arguing against that resolution also from the House Floor.

Santos: I hope that the House will understand the scope of this vote and have the courage to do what is right, not what is politically expedient. I stand firmly in my innocence and my passion to represent the people of New York's stirred district as the voters would have if the voters would continue to have me.

Bridget: Kadia, that measure, of course, also failed, 213 to 179. Part of the reason it failed was 31 Democrats sided with Republicans to block the measure. What were you hearing about why those Democrats voted against expelling Santos?

Kadia Goba: It's interesting because some of them said that we are the party of law and we understand that you-- There's a presumption of innocence or, "He has not been convicted, so therefore we cannot put him out. It is not up to us. Another argument it was not up to us to dispel him. He was duly elected by 750,000 constituents.", so they just didn't feel that it was right. Also, I talked to some members who said, "Well, to be clear, we don't think George Santos is innocent at all. However, it does not set a great precedence that we are convicting people before they are actually convicted."

Bridget Bergin: The House Ethics subcommittee investigating Santos gave a little preview and update this week, that they would be wrapping their work soon and gave November 17th as a date when they plan to announce next steps. What are you hearing about what those next steps might be? Any signals about the report they might be putting out? What do you think the appetite is for some of those folks who might have opposed the expulsion resolution ahead of seeing the work of the Ethics committee?

Kadia Goba: A lot of people are saying that the ethics committee coming out a day before the vote was going to come on the Floor, gave a lot of Republicans some cover to say, "Well, my colleagues in the ethics committee, they've done all this work." I think they have 130,000 pages of content on the topic or on George Santos specifically and all the allegations, so why not let this play out? That was a sentiment on the Republican side. Like you said, November 17th, I don't know if they expect him to resign because I don't think that is going to be the case. He has given no signal that he will resign. Secondly, I think it would be embarrassing for Republicans to put another vote on the Floor. I'll have you-- Bridget, this is the third time, this will be the third time this has come to the Floor. They've done it two times already. I don't know how-- I just don't think it'll be a good look if they reintroduce an expulsion resolution.

Bridget Bergin: Oh, interesting. You think that they really may not introduce an expulsion resolution unless they have the votes to make sure it passes?

Kadia Goba: Yes, I think it would be quite embarrassing and not a good look. I'm also curious how this signals for members in New York Three and New York Four. Is it translating that they tried, like D'Esposito and Lillota and Mark Molinaro, is it translating that they tried to do this ever, but they didn't get the support? I'm not sure if that is translating politically. I'm just not sure why they would reintroduce it a third time. I just don't know.

Brigid Bergin: Sure. Listeners, we have a little bit more time for any of your calls. Especially, are you listening from one of those swing districts that my friend Kadia just mentioned? Are you a resident or constituent of Congressman Anthony D'Esposito on Long Island, or Nick [unintelligible 00:30:52] on Long Island, or Mike Lawler up in the Hudson Valley, or Mark Malinaro? We'd love to hear from you. What are your impressions? Does it matter to you that your member supported an expulsion resolution that was not successful to get rid of George Santos.

Does George Santos factor into your view of your representative? We'd love to hear from voters from Nassau County, voters from Eastern Queens. Let us know if you have any views. The number is 212-433-9692. I want to make sure that I didn't just give our pledge number. We're speaking with Kadia Goba from Semafor. Kadia, you are in DC now, but you're a New Yorker. With that hat on, you started to consider what some of the ramifications might be for these New York Republicans.

What is your sense of the threat that these freshmen feel and how it's different from potentially someone like a Nick Langworthy, who's also a freshman, or Elise Stefanik from Upstate New York, who's part of the Republican leadership?

Kadia Goba: Yes, that's right. These are districts that were flipped in the 2022 midterms. We're talking D'Esposito, Santos, Lawler, and further in the Hudson Valley and Malinaro. A lot of people were surprised that the elections went that way. There's a lot of sentiment that just because of the drama in the House and that the presidential ticket will influence some of the elections. A lot of people anticipate that Democrats will gain those seats back.

Yes, it's in their best interest to do anything politically expedient that would bolster their profile. I'm just not sure that is resonating. Like I said, I'd love to hear from callers because I have no idea that-- I'm not on the ground, unfortunately. I'm super curious if people understand that they are trying to oust their colleague and being unsuccessful, does that help them politically?

Brigid Bergin: Kadia, you ask, we deliver. I want to give you Christine from Pearl River. Christine, thanks for calling WNYC. What are your thoughts? You're a constituent of Congressman Mike Lawler, correct?

Christine: Correct. I think it actually shows a lot about Michael Lawler's integrity, the fact that he feels that this person should be ousted. We all know that he conducted himself fraudulently. The conviction will be forthcoming. He had, he represented himself, he actually misrepresented himself. Therefore, he has no right to represent anybody.

Brigid Bergin: You're talking about Santos. From your perspective, the fact that Congressman Lawler was pushing this expulsion measure, even though it was not successful, is something that you see as a positive. Am I hearing you correctly?

Christine: Absolutely.

Brigid Bergin: Christine, thank you so much for calling. Kadia, do you see how it works here at WNYC? We ask the listeners, deliver just like that. We have a texter who just sent in a message saying, "I live in New York 4, that's Congressman D'Esposito's district, and his election was a fluke." this listener says. "I can't believe that he voted for Johnson after not supporting Jim Jordan." A more critical texter from another listener. "I'm wondering, that is a comparison that some others have made that politically, Speaker Johnson does share similar views as congressman Jim Jordan, who is more of a lightning rod. I'm wondering to what extent you're seeing that bear out. Do you think that we'll start to hear that critique more as we head into, obviously, an election year next year?"

Kadia Goba: Absolutely. As I mentioned, I think they're going to be poster boards with D'Esposito's face and Mike Johnson's face side by side and reminding voters, "Hey, this guy has-- Remember that Jim Jordan guy who didn't vote for? This guy has the same record." I think that is, I mean, not I think, Democrats made that clear that that is going to be their strategy going forward. Again, they're calling him MAGA Mike already. It's up to them to convince constituents in those swing districts whether or not, or convince them that he is as conservative or as a Jim Jordan who was more nationally known to be a Trump ally and honestly an advocate for the former President. Yes, I think they'll do a lot of, spend a lot of money making those ties.

Brigid Bergin: We're going to take one more caller, Darla in Brooklyn. Darla, thanks for calling the Brian Lehrer show this morning. What's your thoughts on Congressman Santos?

Darla: Congressman Santos has issues even in South America, fraud issues that he is awaiting there to be dealt with in the courts. My question is this then, if the Speaker of the House claims he's using the Bible to make decisions, I'm very scared because you have Menendez. Why are they going after Menendez then? What's the difference between Menendez and Santos? That Menendez is an older man, and he's run out of his time so he can go, but let's keep Santos as a younger man?

If this man is using the Bible, then he's justifying slavery also because the Bible was used to justify slavery. You can't have the Bible and decide this Santos is okay, but let's move Menendez. Let's move this other one and the other one. We had better be careful with this man running in there with a Bible.

Brigid Bergin: Darla, thank you for your call. Kadia, that comparison to the two members who are calling for the ouster of Congressman Santos, but perhaps not calling it for New Jersey Senator Bob Menendez, it is not an unfair contrast. It's something that Congressman Santos alluded to himself during that Floor debate when he was defending himself. Are you hearing much of that from members as they talk about these issues?

Kadia Goba: Yes, I want to make one point of clarification. Speaker Johnson was very clear about not losing another person in their slim majority, and he talked about giving the presumption of innocence to Santos. This was an effort pushed by New York Republicans, his own colleagues, specifically, D'Esposito and the people we named earlier, to oust Santos. That was the argument that some of them made, exactly what the listener pointed out, that they didn't want to set a precedent because there are members on the Democratic side who are also under investigation or have been indicted and have their own trials to bear. That is something several members have brought up to me that they would look hypocritical if they voted to oust George Santos when their senatorial colleague is in the very same position [unintelligible 00:38:57]

Brigid Bergin: Before I let you go, Kadia, I'm going to read you a couple more of them text messages we got in on this question because, so fascinating. We got a listener who wrote also in Lawler's District in [unintelligible 00:39:09]. "I'm super engaged politically, didn't hear about this measure until this segment today. It feels like he's just trying to score points in advance of the election next year, not acting out of a sense of integrity. It doesn't change my resolve to vote him out next year. I care much more about the bad votes. He's made an issues that impact me and my neighbors." A little contrast to the listener who we heard. Christine in Pearl River, and I'll give you one more, "Santos is my representative.", the person wrote, actually, "Santos is my misrepresentative, I respect the other New York reps for bringing the resolution. I'm disappointed, Santos will continue misrepresenting me for seemingly another year."

We have a lot more, but that's all I think we have time for right now. I should note that, Congressman Santos does have a trial scheduled. He will be back in court for a status conference in December, a trial date next September. Certainly, at that point, it will be on, he will still be in office, but may potentially be not the Republican nominee because he faces Republican challengers, and that primary is in June. A ton to watch, but we'll leave it there for now. My guest has been Kadia Goba, who covers Congress for Semafor. Kadia, thank you so much for joining me this morning.

Kadia Goba: Thanks for having me. So fascinating. Makes me want to cover New York politics again.

Brigid Bergin: Maybe we can get you back from D.C. back to New York and join all the New York politics teams here. The more the merrier [laughter].

Kadia Goba: Thanks for having me.

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