Free Republic

When Sen. Jeff Sessions stepped aside to make way for Wyoming's Mike Enzi to lead the Budget Committee, many wondered if there were bigger plans ahead for Alabama's junior senator. It appears there is Sen. Sessions is set to take over the Senate panel that oversees immigration, reports indicate. The move was first reported in Politico and while the senator's office can't confirm the move ahead of the official announcement, the change is a perfect fit for Sessions who has emerged as the leading opponent of the White House's immigration plans. Sessions is set to take over chairmanship of the...

DENVER - After a year of bitter contention over stricter gun laws, Colorado Republicans proposed bills on Wednesday that seek to repeal controversial legislation that was passed by Democrats in 2013. The laws, which bans the possession of large-capacity (more than 15 rounds) magazines and require background checks for all private gun sales, triggered at least one lawsuit against the state and played a part in recall elections that put two southern Colorado lawmakers out of office. HB 15-1009 would repeal the law banning possession and sale of large-capacity magazines. HB 15-1050, brought forward by Colorado Springs Republican Rep. Janak...

All politics are local, except for oil politics. The Russians think these low oil prices are an American-Saudi conspiracy. American commentators believe that the Saudis have driven down prices to punish North Dakota’s shale oil revolution and drive its high-cost producers out of the game. In Canada, the paranoia in Calgary is that the Saudis and other Gulf oil producers want to drive the oil sands out of business. But what are the Saudis up to and are they powerful enough to control prices? This week the Saudi minister blamed low prices on oversupply from North America. But that is...

WASHINGTON — The 113th Congress — one of the least productive on record — found itself scrambling Thursday to pass a $1 trillion spending bill amid last-minute brinkmanship and bickering that has come to mark one of the capital’s most polarized eras. A vote on the House legislation could take place as early as Thursday afternoon. But while Republican leaders predicted passage, frustrations emerged over policy additions to the 1,600-page bill, with House Democrats objecting to a provision that rolls back an aspect of the 2010 Dodd-Frank Act, which regulates Wall Street, and another party fund-raising provision that would give...

Congressional liberals rebelled Wednesday against a must-pass spending bill that would keep the government open past midnight Thursday, complaining that it would roll back critical limits on Wall Street and sharply increase the influence of wealthy campaign donors. Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), a popular figure on the left, led the insurrection with a speech on the Senate floor, calling the $1.01 trillion spending bill “the worst of government for the rich and powerful.” Congressional liberals rebelled Wednesday against a must-pass spending bill that would keep the government open past midnight Thursday, complaining that it would roll back critical limits on...

GOP members have released their draft amendment to defund President Barack Obama’s national amnesty. “None of the funds appropriated or otherwise made available, including any funds or fees collected or otherwise made available for expenditure, by this division or any other Act, or otherwise available to the Secretary of Homeland Security, for any fiscal year may be used to implement, administer, carry out, or enforce the [amnesty] policies,” says the short amendment. The new anti-amnesty language is being pushed by Arizona Rep. Matt Salmon, South Carolina’s Rep. Mick Mulvaney and Virginia Rep. Dave Brat, who unseated the GOP’s pro-amnesty majority...

<p>Liberal Democrats and conservative Republicans alike threw a wrench Wednesday into congressional leaders’ hopes of quickly passing a newly struck budget deal, with House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi demanding that certain provisions be stripped.</p> <p>The California Democrat had been coy for days over whether she would support the plan being hammered out in closed-door negotiations to fund the government past a Thursday-at-midnight deadline.</p>

Secretary of state alleges violations The Colorado Secretary of State's Office alleges that Boulder County Clerk Hillary Hall "violated state law in several ways" during the processing of ballots and the tallying of votes cast in the 2014 general election. Hall declined Friday to give a point-by-point response to those allegations, which included: •"She systematically discriminated against Republican election judges, by excluding people nominated by the Republican Party, and even appointing people not registered to vote." •"She prevented watchers from having a meaningful opportunity to observe and verify the signature review process, created an artificially cramped area for them to...

WASHINGTON (CNN) —Opponents of President Barack Obama's plan, which makes sweeping changes to the nation's immigration system by use of executive order, focused their criticism on the legal case, saying Obama has overstepped the boundaries of his authority and is ignoring the will of the people. -snip- Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul said he "will not sit idly by and let the President bypass Congress and our Constitution." "President Obama is not above the law and has no right to issue executive amnesty. His actions blatantly ignore the Separations of Powers and the principles our country was founded on. The President...

WASHINGTON — Barack Obama could be bad news for the Democratic Party. Obama’s biggest problem over the next two years may not be coming from recalcitrant Republicans, writes the National Journal. Instead, it could be from members of his own party blanching at his activist agenda over the last two years of his presidency. Obama is planning to press forward with several polarizing decisions that could advance his legacy but come at the expense of the Democratic Party’s long-term health. Issues like threatening a veto of the Keystone XL pipeline, reaching a nuclear deal with Iran and legalizing unauthorized immigrants...

A spokesman for House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) labeled President Barack Obama as “Emperor Obama” on Wednesday, after the White House leaked to reporters that the president would act unilaterally on Friday to amend U.S. immigration laws. “If ‘Emperor Obama’ ignores the American people and announces an amnesty plan that he himself has said over and over again exceeds his constitutional authority, he will cement his legacy of lawlessness and ruin the chances for congressional action on this issue – and many others,” Boehner spokesman Michael Steel said.

Alabama Senator Jeff Sessions has long been the conservative movement's voice in the lawless wilderness that is our nation's immigration system. "What Jeff Sessions is doing is what the Republican Party at large should be doing," conservative talk show host Rush Limbaugh said last summer, days after saying "God bless him" for the senator's work to secure our nation's borders. In 2006, Sessions spoke against the Republican-backed bill that would have granted amnesty to millions of illegal aliens before securing the border they so easily crossed. He then spent the next few years trying to get our federal government to...

Control of the Colorado Senate and House of Representatives rests in a few key races that are still too close to call. But things are looking good for Republicans who needed to net one seat in the Senate and five seats in the House. It all hinges on elections in Jefferson and Adams counties, races that are in limbo with ballots uncounted and those coming in from overseas and military voters. Republicans lost the two seats in the Senate that they had picked up from Democrats during the September 2013 recall elections. Michael Merrifield, a Democrat, unseated Republican Bernie Herpin...

A Colorado reader digests the latest early voting numbers: Dems had better get a huge turnout advantage on election day. If the election were based on the votes through yesterday afternoon, they would need to carry Independents by 65-35 to make up the difference (now, I realize that some GOP voters will go Dem, and Dem voters will go GOP, so this might not be completely accurate, but it’s close). To put this in perspective, according to the SoS numbers as of the end of October, here is what voter registration looks like: Total: 2,986,362 GOP 966,082 (32.3%) Dem: 913,246...

TIME FOR EVERY DEMOCRAT TO PANIC! The New York Times’ Nate Cohn says, In Iowa, the overall early vote is nearly tied in a state where Democrats usually fare well in the early vote. . . . The challenge for Democrats will be making sure that their voters from 2010 ultimately turn out: 42 percent of the Iowa voters who requested but have not returned their absentee ballots are registered Democrats; just 28 percent are registered Republicans. The last two polls in Colorado had Cory Gardner ahead, and the GOP advantage in the early vote is three times what the...

If Quninnipiac polling matches turnout, Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper is toast. And a catastrophically bad performance among men is at cause. Beauprez Pulls Ahead In Colorado Gov Race, Quinnipiac University Poll Finds; Republican Up 21 Points Among Men Men are going Republican in a big way in the Colorado governor’s race, giving former U. S. Rep. Bob Beauprez, the Republican challenger a 45 – 40 percent likely voter lead over Gov. John Hickenlooper, the Democratic incumbent, according to a Quinnipiac University poll released today. Libertarian candidate Matthew Hess has 4 percent, with 2 percent for Green Party candidate Harry Hempy....

DENVER (CBS4) – A new poll out Wednesday morning from Quinnipiac University shows Republican Bob Beauprez with a lead over Democratic Gov. John Hickenlooper in Colorado’s governor’s race. The poll shows Beauprez with 45 percent and Hickenlooper with 40 percent. That’s a reversal from last week when Hickenlooper led the race by 1 percent.

The political environment continues to deteriorate for House Democrats ahead of a midterm election that’s certain to diminish their ranks. With President Barack Obama’s unpopularity hindering their candidates and Republican cash flooding into races across the country, Democrats are increasingly worried that the election will push them deep into the minority and diminish their hopes of winning back the majority in 2016 or beyond. Looking to contain the damage, Democrats are pumping money into liberal congressional districts that were long thought to be safely in their column. Over the last several days, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee has directed resources...

Just a week out from election day and a new poll released by Rasmussen today has former Rep. Bob Beauprez up by 2 points on Gov. John Hickenlooper, 49%-47%. This is a marked contrast from earlier this month when Hick was up by 4 points on Beauprez (50%-46%). And, when we look beyond the toplines, it doesn’t get any better for Hick. Beauprez is up by 7 points with those who have already cast their ballots (51%-44%), just like having money in the bank already. Even though Hick leads among those who haven’t cast a ballot (50%-46%), he has to...

HIGHLANDS RANCH, Colo. — The quiet murmur of several dozen Republican activists crammed in a small office in this Denver suburb was broken Saturday morning by a jocular cry: “Hey, everybody, what’s going on?” Rep. Cory Gardner, the party’s Senate candidate — and its best shot at breaking a decade-long losing streak in top Colorado races — burst into the room wearing a blue-checkered work shirt and jeans, and immediately began shaking hands and posing for pictures. Rick Murray, 69, a financial broker, shook his head in admiration. “You see enthusiasm like that out of anybody else?” he said. It’s...