Free Republic

resident Obama signed hard-fought trade legislation Monday, thanking Republican leaders who helped get it done and saying the package will “reinforce America’s leadership role in the world.” “I think it’s fair to say that getting these bills through Congress has not been easy,” Mr. Obama said as he signed the trade bills into law in the East Room. “They’ve been declared dead more than once.” The two major pieces of legislation grant Mr. Obama “fast track” trade-promotion authority

It was the most curious of spectacles. John Boehner, abandoning everything he claimed his stood for, has been reduced to an Obama hand puppet. That stench is the smell of Boehner hypocrisy. Boehner was instrumental in getting passed Obama’s Transpacific Authority and it has consistently been cloaked in secrecy. Secrecy. As in zero transparency.

To keep conservative rebels in check, Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) and his allies have been doling out punishments at an aggressive clip in the 114th Congress. From kicking unruly members off the Rules Committee and GOP whip team to stripping a lawmaker of his subcommittee gavel, leadership has been growing more comfortable with taking retaliatory measures to try to enforce party discipline. But several Tea Party targets haven’t gone quietly. They’ve been fighting back with help from Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan’s conservative House Freedom Caucus, which successfully pressured leaders this week to return a subcommittee gavel to one of their...

House Speaker Rep. John Boehner (R-OH) this past week again showed he will punish conservative House members for not supporting deals he strikes with President Obama and Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA). This does not bode well for the package of immigration bills to be debated on the House floor sometime after the July Fourth recess. House Republicans have been writing and “marking up” more than a dozen immigration bills over the past year, and Republican leaders have been promising a “package of little bills” as an alternative to the “comprehensive” bills favored by the amnesty lobby.

When President Obama neared the end of his eulogy Friday for the late South Carolina state Sen. Clementa Pinckney (D), a victim of the shootings at a Charleston church last week, he paused. A long pause. It was a moment of genuine drama. Had he lost his place? Were his emotions getting to him? Then, he started to sing -- the opening bars to "Amazing Grace." Soon, the entire congregation at the AME Emanuel Church joined him in song...

John Boehner and Barack Obama’s relationship reached new heights Friday. The Republican House Speaker took his first trip with the president on Air Force One as the two headed to Charleston, South Carolina, to mourn the nine African-American men and women killed at their church last week.

House Speaker John Boehner’s rampage against House members who defied him on the ObamaTrade vote has begun to backfire — and he may be starting to back-pedal, due to public pressure. As The New American reported here yesterday, Representative Ken Buck (R-Colo.) was the latest in a string of conservative House members who have been targeted by Boehner in reprisal for failing to support “the team” on TPA/Fast Track authority for ObamaTrade, the president’s pseudo-free trade package involving the TPP, TTIP, and TiSA. The rebellious House members, most of whom are members of the House Freedom Caucus, saw voting their...

See Boehner doles out new punishment ”Boehner allies have been retaliating against rank-and-file members who voted against a procedural motion earlier this month, nearly derailing a major trade package favored by Republican leaders that is set to clear the House on Thursday.” Our Constitution is crystal clear that any deals cooked up by our president must receive a two thirds approval vote by our national legislature to be binding law. See Article 2, Section 2, Clause 2: The President shall have power "... by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, to make Treaties, provided two thirds of...

Freshman Congressman Rep. Ken Buck (R-CO) refused to support Trade Promotion Authority (TPA) legislation last week, so now House leadership is rumored to be planning his removal as President of the Freshman Class of the House of Representatives. In an email obtained by Breitbart News, Representatives Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY) and Rep. Mimi Walters (R-CA) called a meeting for all freshman Congressmen this Thursday at 8:30 AM. Buck thinks the meeting is being called to hold a vote on his removal as President of the Freshman Class as punishment for voting against House Speaker Rep. John Boehner (R-OH) – who...

“Speaker Cruz” is looking for a comeback. With House GOP leaders meting out punishment against conservatives, and with the House and Senate moving ahead on a plan that would give President Barack Obama the authority to negotiate a major trade deal, Sen. Ted Cruz changed his mind on Trade Promotion Authority Tuesday and, in a blistering op-ed, decided to take some shots at GOP leaders along the way. Without offering any real proof, Cruz accused Speaker John A. Boehner and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of agreeing to vote on renewing the Export-Import Bank if pro-trade Democrats would vote for...

Voting against the speaker’s reelection may have cost one Iowa Republican his seat. John Boehner has found ways to punish the fractious conservatives who have formed into a thorn in his side since attempting a coup at the beginning of the year. Through means both petty and significant, Boehner has made his displeasure felt while trying to lead the broader conference in a series of high-profile legislative fights. A number of rebel backbenchers have had their overseas travel curtailed and their committee posts threatened or even taken away. But the treatment of one lawmaker in particular stands out: Colleagues worry...

The President's trade agenda scored a major victory Tuesday when the Senate voted to advance a bill to allow "fast-track" approval of large international trade bills. The outcome of this key procedural vote had been in doubt as a group of 14 pro-trade Democrats weighed whether to continue their support of the bill out of concern that a related workers' assistance package might not pass both chambers. But after repeated assurances by GOP congressional leaders that workers' assistance measure will be adopted, 13 out of 14 backed the bill. The vote was 60 to 37, passing by the slimmest margin...

Dozens of members of the House GOP's most conservative faction plan to meet Tuesday to discuss ways to counteract the decision of House Speaker John Boehner and other leaders to seek retribution against members who vote against must-pass measures. The House Freedom Caucus, a GOP group made up of about 40 of the most conservative members, plans to hold the discussion some time after Tuesday's evening votes, according to lawmakers familiar with the initiative. Freedom Caucus Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, said Monday in a radio interview that many conservatives were "fed up" with the string of punishment meted out to...

<p>A key bloc of conservatives is laying plans to throttle legislation on the House floor and will meet privately this week to discuss a shake-up of GOP leadership.</p> <p>The group is irate at what one called a “culture of punishment” that Speaker John Boehner’s leadership team has instituted against dissenting members — most recently the removal of Rep. Mark Meadows (R-N.C.) from a subcommittee chairmanship after he bucked Republican leaders on an important procedural vote. In one of his first interviews since that move, Meadows stopped short of calling for the removal of Boehner or his lieutenants; House conservatives likely lack support to oust Republicans leaders even if they wanted to. But the mere mention of such a move shows that tensions between Boehner’s team and House conservatives, after seeming to subside the past several months, are peaking once again.</p>

A key bloc of conservatives is laying plans to throttle legislation on the House floor and will meet privately this week to discuss a shakeup of GOP leadership. The group is irate at what one called a “culture of punishment” that Speaker John Boehner’s leadership team has instituted against dissenting members — most recently the removal of Rep. Mark Meadows (R-N.C.) from a subcommittee chairmanship after he bucked Republican leaders on an important procedural vote. In his first interview since that move, Meadows stopped short of calling for the removal of Boehner or his lieutenants; House conservatives likely lack support...

Voting against the speaker’s reelection may have cost one Iowa Republican his seat. John Boehner has found ways to punish the fractious conservatives who have formed into a thorn in his side since attempting a coup at the beginning of the year. Through means both petty and significant, Boehner has made his displeasure felt while trying to lead the broader conference in a series of high-profile legislative fights. A number of rebel backbenchers have had their overseas travel curtailed and their committee posts threatened or even taken away. But the treatment of one lawmaker in particular stands out: Colleagues worry...

Scott Perry, 53, is a sophomore congressman from Dillsburg, Penn. Exuding a humble intensity and a mindfulness of his oath to the U.S. Constitution, his daily orientation in public office means he takes no vote for granted.rWhat do you think? “It’s a fight every day,” Perry says in this 22-minute exclusive video interview with The Daily Caller. Yet, Republican leaders, increasingly governing by fear, risk continuing dissension and disarray. Evidence is building that Republicans, who are failing to persuade those members with differing opinions, and catering to monied interests in Washington, are alienating Americans who voted for them. This interview...

BEGIN TRANSCRIPT RUSH: Scott in Philadelphia. Great to have you on Open Line Friday, sir. Hello. CALLER: It's an honor, Rush. I got a problem with all the... McConnell, Boehner, and Karl Rove. They've hijacked the party. RUSH: Yeah. (sigh) CALLER: I want to know why nobody says nothing about it. I mean, we elect these conservatives, they get in there, and then they're browbeaten into submission. RUSH: Well, it's not that nobody says anything about it. I myself have been referencing this. Others I know have. I mean, I know people who are making this the focal point of...

It’s time for conservatives to take out House Speaker Rep. John Boehner (R-OH)35% and all of his comrades in primaries, nationally syndicated radio host, New York Times bestselling author, and conservative movement thought leader Mark Levin argues in an exclusive comment to Breitbart News. Levin’s comments come after Boehner’s retaliation against conservatives hit a new low this weekend, with a report from Politico about how House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform chairman Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-UT)80% —playing along with Boehner’s scheme to attack Republicans for voting their conscience—removed Rep. Mark Meadows (R-NC)96% as the chairman of a subcommittee on...

House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) and House Majority Whip Steve Scalise (R-La.) have taken swift retribution against House members who dared to break ranks with “the team” on a rule vote for Trade Promotion Authority (Fast Track). On Monday, June 15, Scalise booted GOP Reps. Cynthia Lummis (Wyo.), Steve Pearce (N.M.) and Trent Franks (Ariz.) — all members of the House Freedom Caucus (HFC) — from the whip team. Reps. Lummis and Franks both issued conciliatory statements saying they completely “respect” Chairman Scalise’s decision — perhaps to avoid further retribution. Rep. Pearce was less tilted toward appeasement. “Not much has...