Free Republic

Sen. Kelly Ayotte returned home to New Hampshire Friday, planning to see “The Nutcracker” with her daughter this weekend. But there was an unexpected conflict: Texas Sen. Ted Cruz. Cruz, along with Utah Sen. Mike Lee, took to the floor Friday night to demand Republicans stop President Barack Obama’s executive action on immigration and scuttled a bipartisan agreement to push back votes until Monday, effectively forcing the Senate to return for a rare weekend session and cast a marathon series of procedural votes. Senior Republicans say there’s a problem with Cruz’s strategy: The GOP lacks the votes to stop Obama...

Vote on legality of executive action scheduled for 9:00 p.m. EST.

Other members of the Senate fumed Saturday over objections by Sens. Ted Cruz (R-TX) and Mike Lee (R-UT) that held up a $1.1 trillion omnibus bill meant to keep the government open. The objection was fueled by the two conservatives' desire to fight President Barack Obama's executive action on immigration. The objections by Cruz and Lee mean that the Senate must slog through procedural votes Saturday on nominees and also vote to end a filibuster on the omnibus bill at 1 a.m. on Sunday. It was too much for Democrats and even Republicans to bite their tongues over....

On Republicans working with Obama to pass a $1.1 trillion Omnibus spending bill written by and for the Chamber of Amnesty… I don’t know how you go into 2016…and you say: ‘Okay, I want you to support the GOP because…we didn’t stop immigration-amnesty, we’re gonna bring in a lot more guest workers, and we think it’s good to do these big omnibus bills…oh, and by the way, we’re probably gonna fight a couple more wars. Vote for us.’ … What position would you rather be in? Warren’s position or, like, Paul Ryan– Mister Budget Hawk? Oh boy, that Paul Ryan...

Taking a few minutes this morning to watch Congressman Trey Gowdy and the House Select Committee on ‪#‎Benghazi‬.

Bloomberg is title and link only: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-12-13/senate-push-on-final-spending-bill-thwarted-by-disputes.html

Congress gave itself until Wednesday to pass a government funding bill after the two Republican senators whose efforts led to a government shutdown in 2013 disrupted legislation that would avert a shutdown. Unable to pass a massive spending bill that would keep the government funded for a year, the Senate on Saturday approved a stopgap measure to prevent a shutdown at midnight. The maneuver came during a rare Saturday session after GOP Sens. Ted Cruz and Mike Lee demanded a vote Friday to defund President Barack Obama's executive actions on immigration, thwarting Senate leadership's hopes to pass a $1.1 trillion...

The key vote on the bill that funds the Obama amnesty and Obamacare as well as the rest of government was the vote on the rule that put it on the floor, and it barely slid through by two votes. Any Congressman who voted for it voted to continue Obamacare and to allow Obama to proceed with his amnesty decree, because this bill funds both with no restrictions. The only North Carolinian to stand up and vote to stop this bill from proceeding was our own Walter Jones. The rest of the NC ''Republican'' congressmen voted for a piece of...

enate Majority Leader Harry Reid is keeping senators in Washington for a rare Saturday session—and risking a government shutdown—after he went to extraordinary lengths to block Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) and Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) from forcing a vote to block President Barack Obama’s executive amnesty.

Survey results made public Wednesday by Pew Research Center show public support for protecting gun rights on the rise across all demographics except for two notable categories, “liberal Democrats” and “Hispanics.” [A]ttitudes expressed by Hispanics show overwhelming rejection of pro-gun political sentiment. With only 25 percent favoring laws protecting the right to own guns, 71 percent want government to “control ownership.” That tracks with warnings issued by Gun Owners of America, curiously alone among national gun rights advocacy groups. GOA has warned that amnesty for illegal aliens, and a "pathway to citizenship," will provide for millions of new anti-gun voters...

Sen. Ted Cruz, the firebrand conservative freshman from Texas, has blown up the Senate leadership’s plans to have a peaceful weekend by forcing round-the-clock votes on President Obama’s nominees and the $1.1 trillion omnibus.Cruz took to the floor late Friday to castigate congressional leaders for trying to pass the 1,600-page spending bill after only a few hours of debate and questioned the resolve of Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.) and Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) to fight Obama’s executive order protecting five million illegal immigrants from deportation.“Even though millions of voters rose up just one month ago to protest how...

Sarah Palin – RINO Season Opens Soon, Amnesty Juan Boehner Flipped America the Bird Rick Wells Sarah Palin, as is the case with most conservatives and others who value the Constitution and the rule of law in the United States, is not happy that the Speaker of the House and his comrades have lied and sold out the American people. John Boehner has effectively allowed Hussein Obama act as a dictator and to take actions which are illegal and which circumvent Congress through the implementation of his criminal amnesty. She had a few choice words in response to questions after...

As President Obama pursues executive action to reshape America’s immigration system, Hudson Institute will host a symposium of competing views on immigration reform and its compatibility with America’s founding principles, a free market economy, and the evolving needs of modern America.

Has Scott Walker or Mike Pence come out to oppose the Ryan-Stutzman amnesty budget? Jindal told Ingraham they should defund amnesty and Jindal has a reputation as being the most liberal of the 3. Most the other Governors are liberals. Be funny if Chris Christie has some objection to some minor part of the bill.

In small-town community centers, schools, churches and a vast city convention center, immigrant advocates are spreading the word about President Barack Obama's plan to give millions of immigrants living in the U.S. illegally a temporary reprieve. In Los Angeles, advocates are hosting an information session for as many as 10,000 people at the city's convention center Sunday. "After this big forum, we're going to have daily orientations. That is what we have to do in order to deal with the demand," said Angelica Salas.

The congressman speaks with Jim Rutenberg about the “I-word” and showing Gov. Chris Christie the ropes in Iowa. Your outspoken nature has drawn national attention, especially on Twitter. You and your wife have had some fun reading the nastier tweets in public. Any favorites? One said I smelled like “mothballs and dusty Bibles,” or something like that. (SNIP) We picked up 15 seats in the House and maybe nine in the Senate. That’s the kind of punishment I can handle. (SNIP) Whatever kind of crisis emerges, the agenda that they have long advocated for magically becomes the silver bullet for...

President Obama taunted opponents of his executive action on illegal immigrants, boasting that "it's permanent. No one will be able to unravel it. I'm not just granting them immunity from prosecution for illegally residing in the United States. I'm giving them ID documents, work permits, and Social Security numbers. They'll have the paperwork making them indistinguishable from American citizens. They'll be working and living in our neighborhoods. Their kids will be going to your kids' schools. They'll be voting in our elections. Any efforts to reverse the rights I've bestowed will be punished at the polls." "Rather than embark on...

The Wall Street Journal's Beth Reinhard chatted with Americans for Tax Reform's Grover Norquist about Jeb Bush's refusal to sign Norquiest's pledge never to raise taxes and his comments a few years ago that he could support a deficit reduction deal that entailed $1 in tax increases to every $10 in spending cuts: ....Mr. Norquist said the 2012 hearing came at a time when “Republicans were all holding out on not raising taxes, and he was a guy from Florida, a former, washed-up politician from Florida not involved in that fight…and he jumps in says, ‘I’d raise taxes.’ You’re either...

Shortly after House Speaker John Boehner promised on Thursday to challenge President Barack Obama's immigration executive action, White House officials detailed how they plan to move forward on it. Immigrants should be able to start applying for deportation relief and work permits in the middle of May and February, Leon Rodriguez, Citizenship and Immigration Services director told Spanish-speaking reporters in a conference call. First up will be those applying for expanded Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA. Then, parents of U.S. citizens and legal resident children should be able to begin applying in May. Despite discussions about blocking the...

As the debate rages on Capitol Hill about how to defund President Obama's executive action that gives legal status to 5 million illegal immigrants, it's important to take a look at where the funding for his new amnesty program is coming from. The funding for Obama's executive action is coming through the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services, a fee, not tax based agency under the jurisdiction of Homeland Security. Because the USCIS is a fee based agency, many have argued Congress cannot defund it. According to the Congressional Research Service, Congress does in fact have the ability to defund the...