Free Republic

When Republicans and Democrats on Capitol Hill recently went to war over the budget, press coverage suggested that pork-barrel earmark spending is still a bipartisan problem, that after months of self-righteous rhetoric about fiscal discipline, both parties remain equal-opportunity earmarkers. It's not true. A new analysis by a group of federal-spending watchdogs shows a striking imbalance between the parties when it comes to earmark requests. Democrats remain raging spenders, while Republicans have made enormous strides in cleaning up their act. In the Senate, the GOP made only one-third as many earmark requests as Democrats for the still-unpassed 2011 budget, and...

A rare private bill recently approved by the United States Congress will allow an illegal immigrant living in southern California to remain in the country and become a permanent resident. The secret law on behalf of one individual appears to be a growing trend among some pro-amnesty Democrats who are quietly blocking the deportations of illegal aliens and sponsoring clandestine legislation to keep the violators in the country indefinitely. Just a few weeks ago three federal lawmakers from California and Ohio blocked the removal of a Guatemalan arrested for driving without a license and a Peruvian who benefits from taxpayer-financed...

Senator John Cornyn appeared on FOX News with anchor Bill Hemmer and hoped to discuss his strong opposition to the massive spending bill proposed by Democrats. Hemmer, however, would not let him escape without addressing Cornyn’s own contribution to the bill: $16 million worth of earmarks. Cornyn said he was in favor of an earmark moratorium yet considered his earmarks “individually defensible.” Hemmer rightly said “I’m confused.” First Cornyn described passing the spending bill at this time as “completely tone deaf . . . after coming off this election when the American people said very clearly that this runaway Washington...

President Obama on Wednesday urged lawmakers to reach a compromise on tax extenders but a glitch in the bill caused some senators to scramble for a correction without endangering its outcome. Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La., came to the Senate floor Wednesday to announce a "mistake" in the legislation. She said a program to extend low income housing tax credits for people who lost homes during Hurricanes Katrina and Rita was left out of the bill even though it was a deal that all sides approved. Landrieu said the money is needed for 2 more years to complete the projects and...

Republicans poring over a 1,924-page spending bill proposed by Democrats to cover the rest of the fiscal year are threatening to ground the legislation to a halt, citing hidden earmarks and massive spending that would be enacted into law without a review process.

For several years, I have assumed that my taxes, and those of many millions of Americans, would skyrocket in 2011. So when I first learned the terms of the compromise between the President and the Republican leadership--most of the Bush-era tax rates made permanent, tax rates for upper-income taxpayers extended for two years, a one-year two percent payroll tax holiday, long a favorite conservative policy--I thought, and wrote, that it was an excellent deal for conservatives. Since then, however, the deal has steadily worsened, to the point where even the Associated Press says that "Add-ons turn tax cut bill into...

The Senate released its bill Thursday to extend the Bush-era tax cuts for two years, but the bill also renews a host of more minor tax provisions aimed at winning over recalcitrant Democrats in the House and Senate. The bill, which faces its first key test vote Monday in the Senate, mirrors the deal that President Barack Obama struck earlier this week with Republicans. It extends the tax cuts for all Americans regardless of income, renews jobless benefits for one year and reinstates the estate tax at a level pushed by Republicans. But in the face of loud resistance from...

Do the congressional Republicans get the message of the 2010 election? The House Appropriations Committee will be a key test. Rep. Jeff Flake (R., Ariz.) has been a thorn in the side of congressional appropriators — both Democratic and Republican — for years. That this “anti-earmark crusader” has been recommended for a seat on the House Appropriations Committee seems to be a clear indication that Republicans are listening to the American public’s concerns over wasteful spending by Washington. “I don’t see how you can view it any other way,” Flake tells National Review Online. “People expect us to go in...

SCRANTON - A federal grand jury has indicted longtime State Sen. Raphael J. Musto, the latest legislator to be caught up in an overlapping series of corruption investigations. The indictment announced Tuesday alleges that Musto (D., Luzerne), 81, accepted bribes, gifts, and construction work from an unnamed contractor in return for his help in obtaining state grants and loans. Known as "Ray," Musto, who is to retire next week after 38 years in the General Assembly, has been a political fixture in the state's northeastern region since 1972, when he succeeded his father to a seat in the state House.

TSA’s other body-scanner contractor is Rapiscan Systems Inc. In 2009, the company was awarded an agreement that could be worth up to $173 million. And like L-3, Rapiscan has a notable K Street presence. Holland & Knight, Rapiscan’s outside lobbying firm, has earned $480,000 in fees from the company since May 2008, according to lobbying disclosure records. David Whitestone, a former aide to Rep. Frank Wolf (R-Va.), and John Buscher, once the chief lobbyist for United Airlines, are lobbying for the company. Overall, Rapiscan has spent close to $3.6 million on lobbying since 2007, according to records.

WhilWASHINGTON - Despite their claims, the Republicans' ban on earmarks won't stop lawmakers from steering taxpayers' dollars to pet projects. And it will have little if any effect on Washington's far graver problem — the gigantic budget deficit.

Despite a long and deep recession, the collective personal wealth of congressional members increased by more than 16 percent between 2008 and 2009, according to a study released Wednesday by the Center for Responsive Politics.The steady also indicates that a significant number of members owned shares of major players in the health-care and financial-services sectors, which were the subject of major reform legislation during the period. The findings—based on federal financial disclosure data released earlier this year—paint a wealthy bunch in Congress, with more than half of all members—261—were millionaires. About one in five of those had average calculated wealth...

Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.) spent a lengthy period of time on the Senate floor this afternoon defending earmarks. Inhofe argues it is the constitutional duty (citing Article 1, Section 9) of the Congress to appropriate earmarks.

Washington (CNN) -- A suburban Washington county official at the center of an FBI investigation into years of kickbacks says he is innocent and that the facts will prove it. Jack Johnson, who served as the executive of Prince George's County, Maryland, since 2002, spoke to reporters late Friday after the FBI released details of how he and his wife allegedly tried to hide checks and evidence of illegal payments, even going so far as to flush a $100,000 check down the toilet.

Prince George's County Executive Jack B. Johnson and his wife were arrested at their home Friday and charged in federal court with trying to hide or destroy the proceeds from a bribe from a local developer, according to court papers and federal law enforcement authorities. Johnson and his wife, Leslie E. Johnson, were charged with evidence tampering and destruction, alteration and falsification of records. After brief hearings late Friday, U.S. Magistrate Judge William Connolly ordered Jack Johnson to be released and placed under electronic monitoring. The judge released Leslie Johnson on her own recognizance. Both Johnsons were ordered to surrender...

When the Nov. 2 general election is over and the lame duck session of Congress begins, Inhofe said he plans to take up the cause of earmarks again. Inhofe said he is listed as the most conservative member of the U.S. Senate by a number of conservative journals and will try to reinstitute the practice of earmarks. He said earmarks should be germane to the legislation they are attached to. “It would be nothing short of criminal to go to all the trouble of electing great new anti-establishment senators, only to have them cede to the executive branch their constitutional...

Ah, how sweet. Now they’re buying votes with pork rinds , booze , crack cocaine , free food ice cream. High school officials in Cincinnati are accused of taking van loads of students to vote last week for democrats and then out for ice cream. Cincinnati.com reported: Three van loads of Hughes High students were taken last week – during school hours – to vote and given sample ballots only for Democratic candidates and then taken for ice cream, a Monday lawsuit alleges. The complaint was made by Thomas Brinkman Jr., a Republican candidate for Hamilton County auditor, and the...

A law enforcement scandal is unfolding on Long Island. A Suffolk County District Attorney investigator and a police officer are now charged with tipping off members of organized crime about police investigations.

Wife of Rep. Conyers begins federal prison sentence By Michael O'Brien - 09/10/10 04:28 PM ET The wife of Rep. John Conyers (D-Mich.) reported to a federal prison in West Virginia on Friday to begin a 37-month sentence on corruption charges. Monica Conyers, a former Detroit city councilwoman, reported to the Alderson Federal Prison Camp this afternoon 20 minutes before deadline, the Detroit Free Press reported. Conyers pleaded guilty last year for taking bribes to influence a vote on a sludge disposal contract in Detroit. She has since attempted to withdraw her plea. Her husband, the chairman of the House...

General Motors Co. has begun to once again contribute to political campaigns, lifting a self-imposed ban on political spending put in place during the auto maker's U.S.-financed bankruptcy restructuring last year. The Detroit company gave $90,500 to candidates running in the current election cycle, Federal Election Commission records show. GM Resumes Campaign Contributions The beneficiaries include Midwestern lawmakers, mostly Democrats, who have traditionally supported the industry's legislative agenda on Capitol Hill, including Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D., Mich.), Sen. Sherrod Brown (D., Ohio) and Rep. John Dingell (D., Mich.). The list also includes Virginia Rep. Eric Cantor, the House Republican Whip,...