WASHINGTON \u2014 A dozen times, Rep. Ayanna Pressley asked the witness for a yes or no answer on housing policy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Not once did Ben Carson, President Donald Trump\u2019s housing secretary, give her one. Instead, he mocked her: \u201cYes or no, can you ask me some questions yourself and stop reading?\u201d Other times, he repeated: \u201cYou already know the answer.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI know the answer,\u201d snapped Pressley. \u201cDo YOU know the answer?\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
It was a smaller pop in the epic struggle over who\u2019s in charge in Washington these days, reflecting the dynamics crackling high and low across the battlefield of divided American government. Meeting by meeting, questions of competence, generational change, #MeToo politics, special counsel Robert Mueller\u2019s report and the 2020 elections are animating the fight for power. Even as Trump and his top Cabinet officials refuse to cooperate with congressional investigations, there is evidence that newly empowered Democrats are slowly \u2014 sometimes messily \u2014 resetting the balance after Trump\u2019s first two years in office under Republican congressional control. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
This week alone, a selection of skirmishes big and small played out in public, including a Trump-size explosion by noon on Wednesday. In the span of three hours: House Speaker Nancy Pelosi jabbed at him, telling reporters that \u201cthe president is engaged in a cover-up,\u201d repeating for emphasis, \u201ca cover-up\u201d \u2014 and breezily added that she was due at the White House for a meeting on infrastructure. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
On his turf, Trump blew up that gathering in under three minutes, refusing to shake anyone\u2019s hand or take a seat. He announced he could not do such a deal \u201cunder the circumstances\u201d of \u201cphony investigations\u201d \u2014 and stalked out. Pelosi then I-told-ya-so\u2019d to the people still in the Cabinet Room: \u201cI knew the president was not serious about infrastructure and would find a way out,\u201d according to a Democratic aide. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cFor some reason, maybe it was lack of confidence on his part … he took a pass and it just makes me wonder why he did that. In any event I pray for the president of the United States,\u201d Pelosi, going on with her day, said later. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
It was the latest sass she\u2019d aimed at Trump after questioning his manhood, clapping and smirking at him at the State of the Union speech and, before that, forcing him to reopen the government without the money he demanded for his border wall. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cNancy, thank you so much for your prayers, I know you truly mean it!\u201d Trump tweeted from the White House. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
It\u2019s more than a public shoving match between septuagenarians at the pinnacle of American government. The spectacle Wednesday took attention away from dissention among Pelosi\u2019s Democratic ranks over what some say looks like a march toward impeachment proceedings against Trump. But more broadly, it\u2019s part of an ongoing tug-of-war for public perception about who has political power now and who should wield it after the 2020 presidential and congressional elections. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
In hearing by hearing, across the warren of Capitol Hill, a new generation of House Democrats, including a record number of women, are transforming what Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin last month called \u201cthis relationship\u201d between the administration and, in his case, the House Financial Services Committee. There, Mnuchin tried to goad Rep. Maxine Waters, the panel\u2019s first African-American chairman, into banging her \u201cgravel\u201d and dismissing him. In a widely shared video, she told him not to tell her how to run the panel. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Mnuchin was back in the witness chair before her panel on Wednesday saying he has no idea who wrote a confidential IRS memo that says, according to The Washington Post, Trump\u2019s tax returns must be given to Congress unless the president asserts executive privilege. Mnuchin said he believes he was following the law when he refused to turn over six years of Trump\u2019s tax returns. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
A day earlier, Waters\u2019 committee also was a class in oversight for Carson, and a chance for Democrats to question the former neurosurgeon\u2019s qualifications to serve as secretary of Housing and Urban Development. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Freshman Rep. Katie Porter, a California Democrat, lawyer and expert in foreclosure law, asked Carson whether he knew the housing term \u201cREO.\u201d Carson seemed to think she was referring to a popular chocolate sandwich cookie. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cAn Oreo?\u201d Carson asked. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cNo, not an Oreo,\u201d Porter said. She spelled it back for him and asked again. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Carson replied, \u201cReal estate,\u201d and hesitated. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWhat\u2019s the ‘O’ stand for?\u201d Porter pressed. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Carson said, \u201cOrganization.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cOwned,\u201d Porter corrected him. \u201cReal estate owned.\u201d She explained that the term, obscure to most anyone but housing experts, refers to what happens when a property goes to foreclosure. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Later, Carson later sent Porter and a family-size box of double-stuffed Oreos. She countered, \u201cWhat I\u2019m really looking for is answers.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
His exchange with another woman on the committee \u2014 Pressley \u2014 grew especially sharp. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt pains me that your gifted hands and mine are doing the bidding and carrying the water of what I believe is one of the most morally bankrupt presidents in our nation\u2019s history,\u201d Pressley, Massachusetts\u2019 first black congresswoman, began. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Quickly though, she demanded yes or no answers, \u201creclaiming\u201d her time when he refused. When she pressed, he parried, \u201cReclaiming my time.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cYou don\u2019t get to do that,\u201d Pressley said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Waters dropped the gavel. \u201cThe time belongs to the lady.\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Meeting by meeting, questions of competence, generational change, #MeToo politics, special counsel Robert Mueller’s report and the 2020 elections are animating the fight for power.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":53625,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":38,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":[]},"categories":[104,38,106,31,33,9],"tags":[],"coauthors":[3772],"class_list":["post-17494","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-acquisition-update","category-congress","category-daily-brief","category-home","category-newsletters","category-federal-oversight"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"DZTSZV27L5GXPAV2XUUT7WWR6M","arc_canonical_url":"\/federal-oversight\/congress\/2019\/05\/23\/yes-or-no-whos-in-charge-power-struggles-roil-washington\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented By:"},"yoast_head":"\n