Congress melts down: Members unleash personal attacks after weeks of shutdown drama

Let’s face it: Politics is personal. And you cannot separate the two on Capitol Hill.

Lawmakers may not have missed legislating during the government shutdown. But they sure missed attacking one another.

Yes, both chambers of Congress voted to reopen the government. That’s legislating. There were certainly a few bills of consequence on the House and Senate floors in September before the shutdown. 

There was a little bit in the Senate, which remained in session during the shutdown. There was the adoption of the measure to compel the release of the Epstein files.

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But prior to that, one must hustle all the way back to the Senate’s approval of the “big beautiful bill” in June and the House in early July — plus the plan to defund foreign programs and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting — to find Congress really engaging in legislation of consequence in 2025. 

So what has the House of Representatives resorted to since it’s been back in session? Members taking on members. Even fellow lawmakers of their own party.

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

There was an effort by Republicans to censure the non-voting member from the U.S. Virgin Islands to Congress, Del. Stacey Plaskett, D-V.I., for exchanging messages with Epstein in preparation for President Donald Trump’s first impeachment in 2019.

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

The measure to rebuke Plaskett failed. And as a result, Democrats refrained from a similar censure effort for Rep. Cory Mills, R-Fla.

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

Mills contends he did nothing wrong.

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

Some lawmakers also want House discipline for Mace after authorities claim she cursed and berated TSA workers and other employees at the Charleston, South Carolina, airport recently.  

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

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

The Illinois Democrat cited family-related health reasons and his family’s recent adoption of an eight-year-old boy. However, the only person who apparently knew about 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 with just moments to spare before the deadline. It turns out that Patty Garcia is the only one to file for the seat. That means Patty Garcia is practically a shoo-in for victory in the heavily Democratic seat. 

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The audacious move by Patty Garcia and Chuy Garcia gave critics fodder to chew on. They believed that the outgoing congressman pre-baked the ballot, delivering a political Walter Payton stiff-arm which blocked anyone else from running except his chief of staff.

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

Gluesenkamp Perez and others excoriated the sitting congressman, voting 236 to 183 to sanction him. Including Gluesenkamp Perez, 23 Democrats voted with all Republicans to dock 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 old boss, winds blowing off of Lake Michigan would provide a warmer welcome Patty Garcia to Capitol Hill when she prospectively takes office in January 2027.

Now there’s 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., prepped a resolution to expel Cherfilus-McCormick even though there’s been no trial. Cherfilus-McCormick says the indictment is a sham.

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 facility in Newark, New Jersey, in the spring. McIver continues to serve and pleaded not guilty. 

This may only get worse.

Sens. Elissa Slotkin, D-Mich., Mark Kelly, D-Ariz., along with Reps. Chrissy Houlahan, D-Penn., Chris Deluzio, D-Penn., Jason Crow, D-Colo., and Maggie Goodlander, D-N.H., faced criticism over a video where they instructed service members to defy illegal orders. 

Secretary of War Pete Hegseth has now 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 excoriated his arch-nemesis on the Republican side of the aisle, Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., for getting married 16 months after the congressman’s first wife, Rhonda, died.

“Did Thomas Massie, sometimes referred to as Rand Paul Jr., because of the fact that he always votes against the Republican Party, get married already??? Boy, that was quick!” Trump posted to Truth Social in November. “Anyway, have a great life Thomas and (?). His wife will soon find out that she’s stuck with a LOSER!”

It’s now officially the holiday season. And few on Capitol Hill are truly extending tidings of good cheer to their Congressional colleagues. It surely can’t get any worse, can it?

Well, we’re not even halfway through the 119th Congress. And after lengthy recesses in July, all of August, a portion of September — and for the House, all of October and some of November — lawmakers are just making up for lost time. The recriminations will keep coming.

Politicians have decided to make it personal. It’s easier to attack one another and score political points than legislate.

It’s not practical politics. Lawmakers just prefer personal politics.