Friday, August 7th

The Republican-led Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee voted Thursday, 8-5 along party lines, to hold Dr. Anthony Fauci in contempt of Congress after he refused to answer questions about the COVID-19 response. Fauci invoked the Fifth Amendment during a hearing last week, with several reports saying he did so 111 times. Chairman Rand Paul said he would refer the contempt finding directly to the Justice Department for possible criminal prosecution. The effort faces procedural questions over whether a full Senate vote is required.

Sen. Mitch McConnell said Thursday he was discharged from a rehabilitation center and will continue recovering at home after nearly eight weeks away from the Senate. The Kentucky Republican, 84, was first hospitalized on June 14 after a fall and later said he was receiving physical therapy. McConnell said doctors advised an intensive home physical-therapy regimen during the Senate’s August state work period, and that he would continue work for Kentuckians and the Republican Conference. He did not give a date for returning to the Capitol.

President Trump signed two executive orders Thursday seeking to narrow birthright citizenship after the Supreme Court rejected his earlier attempt in June. The first order targets birth tourism by directing crackdowns on businesses that help pregnant foreign nationals enter the U.S. so their children obtain citizenship at birth. The second tells agencies to deny automatic citizenship to children born to certain foreign diplomatic staff, alien enemies, members of foreign terrorist organizations and other noncitizens the administration says are ineligible.