GOP emerges from ‘hell week’ with deep divisions between Senate and House

During the final vote to close out the House’s “hell week,” a handful of Republicans had a message for the Senate: You’re responsible for the “suffering” agenda. Standing on the steps outside the Capitol on Thursday, House Freedom Caucus members loudly aired their grievances with the Senate. Republicans there have shown them “no respect,” they said, and Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., needs to “get control” of his chamber. “The agenda of the American people is suffering and lagging behind, and the Senate, unfortunately, is just responsible for that,” said Rep. Scott Perry, R-Pa. The feud between Republicans in the House and Senate reached a fever pitch this week as leadership faced high-stakes deadlines for expiring spy power authorities and Department of Homeland Security paychecks. They managed to figure things out — but not without stepping on each other’s toes. “Where the hell is the Senate? I mean, again, the greatest deliberative body in the world? When are they deliberating?” Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, asked. The Senate had gaveled out less than an hour prior, effectively jamming the House with a short-term extension of Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. “That’s what I want to know, because the