Scarborough: Blowback to Obama’s Cheesecake Factory quip is ‘stupid’






There appears to be little prospect of lasting peace between Iran and the United States while Donald Trump remains in the White House. This is a view that an increasing number of serious actors across the region now seem to share. Eight months into the Iran war, Washington has neither broken Tehran’s resolve nor found […]
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If Democrats win the House, and possibly the Senate, a result nonpartisan analysts call plausible, they would gain the power to bring new Ukraine aid to a vote and to push back on President Donald Trump’s deals easing pressure on Russia, Reuters reports in an analysis of how US foreign policy could shift.
The stakes are concrete. Trump has largely halted direct US aid to Ukraine, which lawmakers of both parties had backed, and its current supplies run from packages passed under his predecessor.
Weeks ago, he also waived the sanctions on Russian energy that Congress had written into law and struck a deal to bring Russian diesel back to the market, angering Republicans and Democrats alike.
With both chambers, Democrats could put new Ukraine aid on the floor, and given the bipartisan support such aid has drawn, it could pass with the two-thirds majorities needed to override a Trump veto.
Other steps could be taken, too. Representative Gregory Meeks of New York, in line to chair the House Foreign Affairs Committee if his party wins control, has already introduced bipartisan legislation to block Trump’s plan to return Russian diesel to the global market.
Democrats are also readier than Trump’s Republicans to rein in military spending. They blocked his request for an unprecedented 67% rise in the military budget, to $1.5 trillion, in the Senate, and many say they will try to restore the foreign aid he has withheld or canceled.
The leverage has limits. Even with both chambers, Democrats would still face a president who can veto, and overriding him would require two-thirds of each chamber. The pattern has already been visible in Iran: Trump launched that war on 28 February without congressional approval, and when a War Powers resolution passed with a handful of Republican votes, his administration ignored it.
The US midterms could restore Ukraine’s American aid and curb Trump’s Russia deals, if Democrats win Congress













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Similar to the US Senate, members of the House of Representatives do not need to be natural-born citizens in order to take office.
In fact, the only members of government who do are the president and vice president.
The House of Representatives, one of the two chambers of Congress alongside the Senate, has 435 voting members. They represent congressional districts allocated among the states based on population and serve two-year terms with no term limits.
To qualify as a US House representative, a person must be:
Many current House members were US citizens at birth despite being born in another country — for instance, because they were born to American parents working in government positions abroad.
Here are the 26 active House representatives born outside the US.

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State: Vermont
District: At Large
Place of birth: Germany
Balint has served in Congress since 2023. She was born in Germany while her father was serving in the US armed forces, making her a US citizen at birth.

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State: Virginia
District: 08
Place of birth: Free Territory of Trieste (now Italy)
Beyer has served in Congress since 2015. He was born to a US Army officer, making him a citizen at birth.

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State: California
District: 24
Place of birth: Mexico
Carbajal has served in Congress since 2017. He emigrated from Mexico at age 5 and became a naturalized citizen in 1990.

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State: Illinois
District: 06
Place of birth: Ireland
Casten has served in Congress since 2019. He was born to American parents, making him a US citizen at birth.

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State: Arizona
District: 06
Place of birth: Mexico
Ciscomani has served in Congress since 2023. He moved to Arizona when he was 11 and became a naturalized citizen in 2006.

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State: Georgia
District: 09
Place of birth: Canada
Clyde has served in Congress since 2021. He was born to American parents, making him a US citizen at birth.

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State: Texas
District: 02
Place of birth: Scotland
Crenshaw has served in Congress since 2019. He was born to American parents, making him a US citizen at birth.

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State: Kansas
District: 03
Place of birth: Germany
Davids has served in Congress since 2019. She was born in Germany to a mother who served 20 years in the US Army, making her a US citizen at birth.

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State: Colorado
District: 01
Place of birth: Japan
DeGette has served in Congress since 1997. She was born in Japan while her father served in the US armed forces, making her a US citizen at birth.

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State: New York
District: 13
Place of birth: Dominican Republic
Espaillat has served in Congress since 2017. He came to the US as a child and became a naturalized US citizen in the early 1980s. Espaillat is the first formerly undocumented member of Congress.

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State: Illinois
District: 04
Place of birth: Mexico
García has served in Congress since 2019. He emigrated to Illinois in 1965 and became a US citizen in 1977.

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State: California
District: 42
Place of birth: Peru
Garcia has served in Congress since 2023. He emigrated to the US when he was a young child and became a naturalized citizen in his early 20s.

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State: Florida
District: 28
Place of birth: Cuba
Gimenez has served in Congress since 2021. His family emigrated to Miami in 1960, and he became a US citizen in 1976.

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State: Connecticut
District: 04
Place of birth: Peru
Himes has served in Congress since 2009. He was born to American parents, making him a US citizen at birth.

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State: Washington
District: 07
Place of birth: India
Jayapal has served in Congress since 2017. She emigrated from India at age 16 in 1982 and became a naturalized citizen in 2000.

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State: California
District: 40
Place of birth: South Korea
Kim has served in Congress since 2021. She emigrated to the US at age 12 and later became a naturalized US citizen.

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State: Illinois
District: 08
Place of birth: India
Krishnamoorthi has served in Congress since 2017. The exact year of his naturalization is not in the public record, but he moved to the US with his family as a child.

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State: California
District: 36
Place of birth: Taiwan
Lieu has served in Congress since 2015. The exact year of his naturalization is not in the public record, but he moved to the US with his family as a child.

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State: Minnesota
District: 05
Place of birth: Somalia
Omar has served in Congress since 2019. She was naturalized in 2000, five years after arriving in the US from Kenya, where her family had lived in a refugee camp after fleeing Somalia.

Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call
State: North Carolina
District: 07
Place of birth: Germany
Rouzer has served in Congress since 2015. He was born at Landstuhl Army Medical Center in Germany, where his father was stationed, making him a US citizen at birth.

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State: California
District: 25
Place of birth: Mexico
Ruiz has served in Congress since 2013. He was born in Mexico and raised in Coachella, California, after his aunt and uncle adopted him as a baby. He is a naturalized US citizen.

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State: Indiana
District: 05
Place of birth: Ukraine
Spartz has served in Congress since 2021. She arrived in the US in 2000 and became a US citizen in 2006.

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State: Washington
District: 10
Place of birth: South Korea
Strickland has served in Congress since 2021. She was born to an American serviceman father and Korean mother, making her a US citizen at birth.

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State: Michigan
District: 13
Place of birth: India
Thanedar has served in Congress since 2023. He was naturalized in 1988 after emigrating from India a decade earlier.

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State: California
District: 35
Place of birth: Guatemala
Torres has served in Congress since 2015. She emigrated to the US as a young child in the early 1970s and became a naturalized citizen in 1992.

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State: Virginia
District: 07
Place of birth: Ukraine
Vindman has served in Congress since 2025. The exact year of his naturalization is not in the public record, but he moved to the US with his family as a child.

