Smurfs and sucker punches: Congress avoids shutdown in a day that tests decorum

It was a day befitting of a 13% approval rating.

Lawmakers on Capitol Hill engaged in heated verbal exchanges and startling physical aggressions as Americans faced serious challenges at home and abroad.

In a dizzying day that saw House Speaker Mike Johnson cobble together a bipartisan plan to pay the country's bills and avoid a government shutdown before the Friday deadline, his predecessor, Rep. Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., was accused of sucker punching a rival.

Tensions in the House on Tuesday also boiled over during an oversight hearing where a powerful committee chairman lashed out about how a member "looked like a Smurf."

Things weren't more collegial on the Senate side either, where Republican Markwayne Mullin, of Oklahoma, stood up and challenged a union leader to fight during a committee hearing.

Outside the halls of Congress there were also fireworks as thousands of pro-Israel demonstrators marched on the National Mall to denounce antisemitism, calls for and against a ceasefire and demand the immediate release of hostages held in Gaza.

Here is a rundown of a wild day in Washington.

'Why'd you elbow me in the back, Kevin?'

If you needed a reminder of the bad blood the remains between some House Republicans over McCarthy's removal, then this bizarre moment is a good one.

Rep. Tim Burchett, R-Tenn., alleged the California Republican elbowed him while passing by with his security detail during an interview with NPR on Tuesday following a closed-door GOP conference meeting.

"Why'd you elbow me in the back Kevin," Burchett can be heard saying in the audio interview. "Hey Kevin! You got any guts? Jerk."

Burchett said the shot to his kidney was a "sucker punch" and claimed it was purposeful and over his October vote.

McCarthy, however, denied everything when reporters caught up with him. "That's not who I am," he said.

The former speaker was then asked about two similar moments described in former Rep. Adam Kinzinger's 2023 book, "Renegade." In it, the Illinois Republican claims McCarthy "shoulder-checked" him twice after he began to speak out against former President Donald Trump.

McCarthy said he didn't remember either incident to which Kinzinger responded on X, formerly known as Twitter, saying: "Oh. He knows."

What in the Smurf? Comer blasts Democratic critic

Oversight and Accountability Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., is continuing to dig into President Joe Biden's family finances as part of the GOP's impeachment inquiry.

Just this month the GOP lawmaker raised the stakes by issuing several major subpoenas, including for Hunter Biden, the president’s son, and James Biden, the president’s brother.

But Democrats are swinging back at the committee's leader in defense of the president, specifically calling attention to a Daily Beast report that Comer and his own brother have engaged in multiple land swaps for years.

"It has come out in the public, that you also do business with your brother with potential loans," Rep. Jared Moskowitz, D-Fla., said during a Tuesday hearing.

In a profanity-laced rebuttal, Comer denied the report saying he hasn't given his brother "one penny," before directing his comments to Moskowitz's blue suit and tie.

"You look like a Smurf, here, just going around and all this stuff," Comer said.

The references to the 1980s cartoon and 2011 movie didn't end once the hearing was over. Moskowitz took to social media and compared Comer to the Smurf's archvillain in response to the chairman's rant.

"Gargamel was very angry today," Moskowitz said.

Senator challenges Teamster boss: 'Stand your butt up'

George Washington once said, according to the Senate's website, how the Senate was created to "cool" House legislation similar to how a saucer was used to temper hot tea.

But the upper chamber was just as rowdy on Tuesday as Sen. Markwayne Mullin, R-Oklahoma, invited International Brotherhood of Teamsters President Sean O'Brien to have a fistfight during a committee hearing.

Mullin, a former mixed martial arts fighter, and O'Brien had a nasty exchange earlier this year, and the GOP lawmaker called out how the union boss talked tough online after that argument.

“You want to do it now?” Mullin asked. “Stand your butt up then.”

O’Brien, a fourth-generation Teamster, replied, "You stand your butt up, big guy."

Sen. Bernie Sanders, Ind.-Vermont, banged his gavel and demanded both of them zip it, before bemoaning how voters, "have enough contempt for Congress.”

Government shutdown delayed—for now

Amid the nasty exchanges and startling confrontations, Congress did get one thing accomplished: it avoided a shutdown.

The bipartisan deal represents Johnson's first major achievement as speaker, using an unusual approach of a "laddered" continuing resolution, which pushes the fight to next year.

Under the two-tiered plan, some funding would run out on Jan.19 and the rest would expire Feb. 2, which the speaker hopes will force the House and Senate to negotiate on the dozen appropriation measures.

Some Democrats called the idea "gimmicky."

The bill contained no spending cuts, however, which infuriated hardline conservatives while winning over many Democrats who saved Johnson by pushing it through.

In all, 209 Democrats joined 127 Republicans to approve the stopgap funding bill (2 Dems and 93 GOP lawmakers opposed), which is the same sort of bipartisan deal that ended up being McCarthy's demise.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Smurfs and sucker punches: Congress avoids shutdown, tests decorum