Late Tuesday night, Alaska Congressman Don Young voted against holding former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows in contempt of Congress for refusing to testify before a House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol.
Young spokesman Zack Brown called the measure “purely punitive.”
“This political messaging act satisfies the Democrats’ base and does nothing to uncover new information about the riot,” Brown said in an email.
Young had plenty of company. All but two Republicans voted against the contempt resolution for former President Trump’s final chief of staff. The measure passed 222-208.
The select committee is investigating what led to the riot, what Trump did that day and why the government response failed.
Text messages Meadows released to the committee have already shed some light. They show high-profile Trump supporters were pressing Meadows to get Trump to call off the siege.
Just after midnight Wednesday morning, Young also voted against raising the national debt limit. Young cited concern for inflation.
“The government must pay its debts, but I have not yet seen a realistic, good-faith plan to stabilize our nation’s finances” from Democrats, Young said in a statement emailed by his office. “That is why I voted no.”
Both of Alaska’s U.S. senators also voted against raising the debt limit, too. It passed with just Democrats voting for it, ending the possibility of a default before the congressional election next year.
Democrats said raising the debt limit is necessary to pay for past spending decisions and revenue shortfalls, which both parties helped to create.
[Sign up for Alaska Public Media’s daily newsletter to get our top stories delivered to your inbox.]
Liz Ruskin is the Washington, D.C., correspondent at Alaska Public Media. Reach her at lruskin@alaskapublic.org. Read more about Liz here.
