Free Republic

The FBI has arrested an Ohio man for allegedly plotting an ISIS-inspired attack on the U.S. Capitol, where he hoped to set off a series of bombs aimed at lawmakers, whom he allegedly considered enemies. Christopher Lee Cornell, of Cincinnati...

With a week to go before tax season opens, taxpayers were already bracing for a potentially “miserable” filing season. It turns out that it could live up to the hype. Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Commissioner Koskinen has advised employees that the budget cuts will result in reduced services to taxpayers. In an email to employees sent earlier today, Commissioner Koskinen advised that “realistically we have no choice but to do less with less.” What does that mean for taxpayers? * Identity theft could increase. Despite the need for increased taxpayer protections against identity theft, the implementation of additional measures will...

House Republicans voted Wednesday to overturn President Obama's immigration actions from last November -- and to unravel a directive from 2012 affecting immigrants who came to the U.S. illegally as children -- sending the bill to the Senate where it faces an uncertain fate. The House voted 236-191 to approve the legislation, which funds the Homeland Security Department through the rest of the budget year to the tune of $40 billion. But as part of that bill, Republicans added provisions to gut the president's immigration directives. Despite deep Democratic opposition, the House voted 237-190 on an amendment to undo executive...

Back when Congress passed the last omnibus spending package one of the major bones of contention was President Obama’s executive amnesty program. Handled by the Department of Homeland Security, it was a requirement for the GOP that funding for DHS would only run through February. This would allow them to craft a few spending bill for the department which cut the amnesty funding. Everyone knew this, including Nancy Pelosi, but now that it’s coming near time to get down to business she’s backpedaling. Can you guess what recent tragedy she’s going to exploit for this? On the steps of...

Talk about inviting the fox into the hen house! I thought Republicans ran the Congress? Why is this bitch naming anyone to anything Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi announced in a closed-door meeting she would name the first Muslim lawmaker, Andre Carson, to the House’s Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence. Carson would be the first Muslim to serve on the committee and was the second Muslim to be elected to Congress. He already serves on the House Armed Services Committee and worked for the Department of Homeland Security’s Fusion Center — the clearinghouse established by the federal government to streamline data...

By Lauren Dake, Columbian political writer Published: January 12, 2015, 4:55 PM Updated: January 12, 2015, 7:47 PM The Clark County Republican Party is expected to vote at its next meeting on whether to censure U.S. Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler, R-Camas. If passed, the move could mean Herrera Beutler would be banned from speaking at any campaign events sponsored by the Clark County GOP or from being featured in any of the local party’s literature. In part, the motion reads: “Please understand, we receive no satisfaction from disciplining one of our own. However, silence is acceptance, and we cannot accept...

With the 114th U.S. Congress having launched Jan. 3, it's time we the people step up and hold our representatives' political feet to the fire in order to see real, demonstrable change that will heal and improve our country, especially during these last two critical years of Barack Obama's presidency. Here are my top 10 resolutions for the new Congress: 10) Reel in executive power and presidential orders.I know that every president since the dawn of our republic has used executive orders. Theodore Roosevelt was the first to rack up over 1,000 during his nearly eight years in office. But...

Gas prices are the lowest they've been in five years — a welcome relief for many drivers. But now that fuel prices are falling, some lawmakers are talking in a serious way about raising the gas tax — Republican lawmakers. The debate is at an early stage, and it’s fair to say House conservatives will hate the idea. But a few powerful GOP senators are signaling they're open to the idea. Even House Speaker John Boehner, who personally opposes raising the gas tax, hasn't ruled it out. “Some Republicans in the Senate are speaking up,” says Todd Zwillich, The Takeaway's...

President Barack Obama wants Congress to pass legislation that would give him the authority to negotiate a in-flight trade agreement with nearly a dozen countries in the Pacific region...

New Republican members were still being sworn in and expressing their desire for bipartisan initiatives, when President Obama said he would veto the Keystone pipeline, ObamaCare fixes and other bills that run counter to his agenda. Washington’s new “common ground” will be a tricky, dangerous swamp.Meanwhile, U.S. crude oil prices are below $50 per barrel, for the first time since 2009, and natural gas has dropped below $3 per million Btu (or thousand cubic feet). That’s bad news for Iran, Russia, Venezuela and ISIS, but great news for energy users. Motorists will save billions of dollars in gasoline costs; families,...

“There's no arguing that who the Republicans decide to elevate into a leadership position says a lot about what the conference's priorities and values are.” (Obama White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest referring to the recent Steve Scalise/David Duke flap.)“...when House Republicans stand by him (Steve Scalise) years later, and GOP White House hopefuls defend or refuse to speak out, they legitimize his actions.” (Democratic National Committee Chair Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz on the same issue.) First off, the evidence that twelve years ago current House Republican Whip Steve Scalise addressed a “white supremacist group” titled “European-American Unity and Rights...

It looks like there will be a fight in February over President Barack Obama’s extension of legal status to millions of illegal immigrants.This week, two bills submitted by House Republicans were filed in which plans to use appropriations for the Department of Homeland Security in order to forestall or prevent entirely the implementation of the president’s executive order were laid out. On Friday, the House Republicans settled on a plan. According to reporting, the House plan will fund DHS through the rest of the fiscal year while also preventing further executive action by the president. The House GOP plan...

The fiscal impact of the ethanol mandate is huge — Michaels estimated it totals “billions, easily” in direct and indirect money — but it has come under attack by liberals as well as conservatives and appears to have lost some of its clout on Capitol Hill. For example, the Environmental Protection Agency — which administers the Renewable Fuel Standard — is considering a cut to the amount of ethanol blended into the nation’s gasoline supply. ... a growing number of environmentalists want the ethanol requirement eliminated, too. ... In 2007, Congress passed and President George W. Bush signed into law...

Capitol Hill conservatives are looking to lock down their first victory of the 114th Congress if the they can succeed with the reinvention of the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act by Rep. Jeb. Hensarling (R.-Texas), which Jan. 7 passed the House 416 to 5. Virtually the same bill Hensarling, the chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, authored and passed the House in the last session 417 to 7. In December, the TRIA was allowed to expire when the strange bedfellows, Sen. Charles E. Schumer (D.-N.Y.) and President Barack Obama teaming up with the then-Republican senator from Oklahoma Thomas A. Coburn,...

The President is set to announce plans to increase the welfare gravy train. This time he wants to make two years of community college free. The cost is unknown at this time though the administration acknowledges it would be significant. After spending $10,000 or more a year per student per year on mediocre government schools, Obama wants taxpayers to further fund mediocre community colleges. College tuition at four year schools has increased dramatically because of the influx of free money via student loans. The cost of “free” community college may be low today but once schools stop chasing students around...

Two universal truths in the liberal universe are: #1 lefties hate democracy when it works against their wacko agenda and #2 white white men are to blame for everything. Proving these truths brilliantly, Arab American comic Dean Obeidallah wrote an extended bitch-fest for The Daily Beast complaining how the democratic process has cursed us with too many white people (and men) in Congress. The Unbearable Whiteness Of Congress starts with the fact that the newly sworn in Congress is the most diverse in history, but that’s not good enough for Obeidallah because in liberal land the will of the people...

Just weeks after it announced that it killed another 327,000 unborn babies in abortions in its most recent fiscal year, Planned Parenthood faces a new Congressional bill to yank its taxpayer funding. Congressional Republicans informed LifeNews today that more than 80 other House members re-introduced the Title X Abortion Provider Prohibition Act would would revoke taxpayer funds from Planned Parenthood to ensure taxpayers are not financing the abortion industry. Representative Diane Black, a pro-life congresswoman from Tennessee, is the lead sponsor of the bill along with Reps. Bill Flores (R-TX), Jackie Walorski (R-IN), Pro-Life Caucus Co-Chairman Chris Smith (R-NJ), and...

(VIDEO-AT-LINK)In his most forceful language yet against GOP detractors, House Speaker John Boehner said Thursday that he dislikes being described as "spineless or a squish" by conservative Republicans, but that the label that stings him the most is when he's called a part of the "establishment." "I am the most anti-Establishment Speaker we have ever had" he told NBC News at his first solo press conference of the new Congress. "Who was the guy who got rid of earmarks? Me. Who's the guy who believes in regular order? Me. Who believes in allowing more members to participate in the process,...

House Speaker John Boehner on Thursday displayed emotional candor rare for a national leader, acknowledging to reporters that it stings when critics call him "spineless" or a "squish." (snip) Boehner said: “During my years here when I voted, I had the eight most conservative voting record in the Congress. And, it does pain me to be described as spineless, or a squish. And, I tell you what pains me the most is when they describe me as the establishment. Now, I’m the most anti-establishment speaker we’ve ever had. Who was the guy who got rid of earmarks? Me. Whose the...

Mr. Speaker: As the new Congress begins its work on behalf of the American people, I rise to address my colleagues about an issue of national importance, namely Puerto Rico’s quest to discard its status as a U.S. territory and to become a U.S. state. Puerto Rico has been a territory since 1898. If Puerto Rico does not desire to remain a territory, it can follow one of two paths. The territory can become a state or it can become a sovereign nation, either fully independent from the U.S. or with a compact of free association with the U.S. that...