Congress members resort to personal attacks instead of legislating

Let’s be real: politics is personal. And we can’t separate the two on Capitol Hill.

Lawmakers may not have missed legislating during the government shutdown. But they certainly missed attacking each other.

Yes, both houses of Congress have voted to reopen the government. This is legislating. There were certainly some important bills in the House and Senate in September before the shutdown.

There was a little in the Senate, which remained in session during the shutdown. There was the adoption of measures aimed at forcing the publication of the Epstein files.

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But before that, we will have to go back to the approval by the Senate of the “big, beautiful bill” in June and by the House in early July – as well as the plan to eliminate funding for foreign programs and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting – to see that Congress is really committing to important legislation in 2025.

So what has the House of Representatives resorted to since its resumption? Members taking members. Even fellow legislators from their own party.

It became personal. And you don’t even have to be a voting member of the House to face the wrath of your colleagues.

Republicans attempted to censure the U.S. Virgin Islands’ non-voting member of Congress, Del. Stacey Plaskett, DV.I., for exchanging messages with Epstein in preparation for the first impeachment of President Donald Trump in 2019.

Trump loyalists in the House would find revenge on Paskett sweeter than Caribbean sugar cane. Plaskett served as one of the House impeachment “handlers,” prosecuting Trump’s second impeachment case before the Senate in early 2021.

It was revealed that Democratic Rep. Stacey Plaskett texted Jeffrey Epstein during a 2019 congressional hearing. (Rick Friedman/Rick Friedman Photography/Corbis via Getty Images; Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

The move to reprimand Plaskett failed. And as a result, Democrats refrained from launching a similar censure effort against Rep. Cory Mills, R-Fla.

That said, Democrats and some Republicans want to discipline Mills for two alleged transgressions. Democrats prepared a resolution in September to censure Mills for allegedly harassing and assaulting an ex-girlfriend in Washington, DC.

Mills claims he did nothing wrong.

Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., wants to censure Mills now. Mills called a key vote earlier in 2025 to block censure of Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., for her remarks following the assassination of Charlie Kirk.

Some lawmakers also want Mace to be disciplined in the House after officials say she recently cursed and berated TSA workers and other employees at the Charleston, South Carolina, airport.

Rep. Marie Glusenkamp Perez forced a vote on the reprimand of fellow House Democrat Jesus “Chuy” Garcia. (Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images; Jonathan Gibby/Getty Images)

Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez, D-Wash., is one of the most centrist members of the House. She prepared a rebuke against Rep. Chuy Garcia, D-Ill., in November.

Garcia is retiring at the end of his term in early 2027. He is running for re-election. But then he decided to withdraw at the last moment.

The Illinois Democrat cited family health reasons and his family’s recent adoption of an eight-year-old boy. However, the only person apparently aware of the congressman’s plans was Patty Garcia, his chief of staff.

Chuy Garcia is not related to Patty Garcia. However, she filed paperwork to run for the House seat moments before the deadline. It turns out Patty Garcia is the only one applying for the seat. That means Patty Garcia is all but on track to win the majority-Democratic seat.

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Patty Garcia and Chuy Garcia’s bold move gave critics food for thought. They believed the incumbent congressman had prepared for the vote in advance, throwing a political stiff arm at Walter Payton that kept anyone else from running except his chief of staff.

Chicago’s old-style machine politics haven’t been this brutal in the Windy City since it originally brewed Old Style beer.

Gluesenkamp Perez and others criticized the sitting lawmaker, voting 236 to 183 to sanction him. Including Gluesenkamp Perez, 23 Democrats voted with all Republicans to abandon Chuy Garcia.

So it’s likely that voters will elect Patty Garcia as Congresswoman-elect in the fall of 2026. But after the vote to sanction her former boss, the winds blowing off Lake Michigan would offer a warmer welcome to Patty Garcia on Capitol Hill when she takes office in January 2027.

There is now a move to sanction Rep. Shelia Cherfilus-McCormick D-Fla., after she was indicted for allegedly stealing $5 million in COVID-related health aid.

Rep. Greg Steube, R-Fla., prepared a resolution to expel Cherfilus-McCormick even though there was no trial. Cherfilus-McCormick says the indictment is a sham.

Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormic was indicted by a Miami grand jury on November 18, 2025, for allegedly stealing $5 million in FEMA funds, according to the Department of Justice. (Tom Williams/CQ-Appel via Getty Images)

And we haven’t even discussed efforts earlier in 2025 to expel Rep. LaMonica McIver, D-N.J., after she was charged with allegedly assaulting ICE agents at a detention center in Newark, New Jersey, in the spring. McIver continues to serve and has pleaded not guilty.

It can only get worse.

Sens. Elissa Slotkin, D-Mich., Mark Kelly, D-Ariz., as well as Reps. Chrissy Houlahan, D-Penn., Chris Deluzio, D-Penn., Jason Crow, D-Colo., and Maggie Goodlander, D-N.H., were criticized for a video in which they called on the military to defy illegal orders.

Secretary of War Pete Hegseth launched an investigation into Kelly and threatened to recall the former astronaut to active duty to face military discipline.

And it’s not just member on member. The president also criticized his nemesis on the Republican side of the aisle, Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., for getting married 16 months after the death of the congressman’s first wife, Rhonda.

President Donald Trump, right, also criticized his nemesis on the Republican side of the aisle, Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., left. (Left: Graeme Sloan/Bloomberg via Getty Images; Right: Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images)

“Has Thomas Massie, sometimes called Rand Paul Jr., because he always votes against the Republican Party, ever gotten married??? Damn, that was quick!” Trump posted to Truth Social in November. “Anyway, have a good life Thomas and (?). His wife will soon find out she’s stuck with a LOSER!”

It’s now officially the holiday season. And few on Capitol Hill truly announce good humor to their colleagues in Congress. Surely it can’t be worse, right?

Well, we’re not even halfway through the 119th Congress. And after a long vacation in July, all of August, part of September — and for the House, all of October and part of November — lawmakers are just making up for lost time. The recriminations will continue.

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Politicians have decided to make it a personal matter. It is easier to attack each other and score political points than to legislate.

This is not practical politics. Lawmakers simply prefer personal politics.