Free Republic

Regulations: Donald Trump will have a busy first day if he plans to undo much of the damage inflicted on the economy by President Obama. Nevertheless, here's one more item to add to his list: Overturn $1.7 billion in Dodd-Frank rules. The Dodd-Frank financial "reform," passed by Democrats and signed into law by President Obama in 2010, is arguably the most misguided and economically harmful piece of legislation ever imposed on the country (the second, arguably, is ObamaCare). As we've noted in this space before, one of the main reasons the economy has been stuck in neutral for the past...

“Repeal and delay” is the sequel to “repeal and replace,” which isn’t viable because after seven years of opposing ObamaCare the congressional GOP still has yet to coalesce around a replacement plan. They can’t repeal and replace the law in January because there’s nothing to replace it with. If, however, they wait to repeal the law until they do have a replacement ready, things could go haywire — the Republican base could become angry and demoralized at having to wait, Democrats could come roaring back and take back Congress in 2018, and suddenly the votes aren’t there for repeal...

WASHINGTON — Republicans in Congress plan to move almost immediately next month to repeal the Affordable Care Act, as President-elect Donald J. Trump promised. But they also are likely to delay the effective date so that they have several years to phase out President Obama’s signature achievement. This emerging “repeal and delay” strategy, which Speaker Paul D. Ryan discussed this week with Vice President-elect Mike Pence, underscores a growing recognition that replacing the health care law will be technically complicated and could be politically explosive. Since the law was signed by Mr. Obama in March 2010, 20 million uninsured people...

Congressman Keith Ellison argued Friday at a gathering of Democrats that he could take over as chairman of the Democratic National Committee and keep his job in congress because, “All there is to do is to vote ‘no’.”The Friday gathering in Denver was viewed as a try out for the various contenders for the DNC post being vacated by interim chairwoman Donna Brazile. Appearing by video, Howard Dean made a surprise announcement that he would no longer be seeking the DNC chairmanship. That was good news for Ellison who is considered the leading contender for the job. However, one thing...

Earmarks again are a topic in Congress, and people in this part of Pennsylvania shouldn’t condemn them. Back in the 1970s, when highway construction was booming around the biggest population centers of the Keystone State, places like Altoona, Johnstown, Ebensburg and Bedford were told that once those projects were completed, work would begin on their roadway needs.But as the large-scale projects around Philadelphia, Harrisburg, Pittsburgh and Erie were completed, the promises that had been made to Blair County and other smaller-population areas, didn’t materialize because of alleged money shortages.The message seemed to be: “We’ll get to you sometime, but for...

“ He’s having fun with it,” said the aide, who recalled how much the House “Trump caucus” has grown from five or six members when Collins first launched it to another meeting this week where 50 members appeared who had never been there before. (Snip) A few Democrats have also slipped Collins their resumes as well. “I think there are a handful of Democrats that are interested in working in the administration. As we’ve seen Donald Trump is being very strategic with whom those Democrats are. They’re senators in very Republican states...”

Complicated transitions I don’t like the sound of this, but I’m somewhat hopeful the worst possible interpretation of it is not accurate. Plus, it does come from the Worst Web Site in the World (at least until Mike Allen and Jim VandeHei complete the task of outdoing themselves), so maybe it’s all made up: Congressional Republicans are setting up their own, self-imposed deadline to make good on their vow to replace the Affordable Care Act. With buy-in from Donald Trump’s transition team, GOP leaders on both sides of the Capitol are coalescing around a plan to vote to repeal the...

Washington, DC – The House Select Panel on Infant Lives has released a list of nine criminal and regulatory referrals against abortion providers and/or fetal tissue procurement companies made as a result of their investigation into the illegal practice of selling aborted baby remains for profit. The list was released in advance of an expected vote today on H. Res. 933, which would cover the expenses of the Select Panel’s work through the end of the year. Floor debate is currently scheduled to begin around 2:30pm ET, with 30 minutes for debate allotted to each of the two sides. The...

A last-minute fight over a “Buy America” provision has erupted in the final negotiations over a waterways bill. At issue is language included in the Senate-passed version of the Water Resources Development Act (WRDA) that would require American iron and steel products be used in projects assisted by the Drinking Water State Revolving Fund. Sources familiar with the negotiations say Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) is actively pushing to strip the provision from the bill. Supporters of the provision say Ryan's push is at odds with President-elect Donald Trump’s promise to support American manufacturers and create jobs for the middle class....

Pamela EngelNovember 30, 2016 Top-level members of President-elect Donald Trump's transition team celebrated Democrats choosing to keep Nancy Pelosi as House minority leader, a decision that came after bruising losses for the party in this year's general election. Pelosi, who has been in Congress for 30 years and led House Democrats for the past 14, faced a challenge from Ohio Rep. Tim Ryan, who said the party needed new leadership after Hillary Clinton's shocking loss to Trump in the general election. The House and Senate are also controlled by Republicans. Some top Republicans seemed happy with the continuation of the...

House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) on Wednesday fended off a challenge to her long leadership reign, defeating Rep. Tim Ryan (D-Ohio) in a closed-door vote prompted largely by Donald Trump’s unlikely ascension to the White House. Pelosi got 134 votes to Ryan's 63. The victory sends a message that while there's a growing appetite for major changes in the party's leadership structure and messaging tactics, it's not strong enough to loosen Pelosi's grip on a liberal-heavy group that's rarely challenged her authority. Ryan and his supporters had argued that the Democrats' grim performance in this year's elections — the...

House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) on Wednesday fended off a challenge to her long leadership reign, defeating Rep. Tim Ryan (D-Ohio) in a closed-door vote prompted largely by Donald Trump’s unlikely ascension to the White House. Ryan and his supporters had argued that the Democrats' grim performance in this year's elections — the latest in a string of cycles planting Republicans firmly in the majority — was a clear signal that Pelosi's leadership strategy has failed to attract the broad coalition of voters required to return the Speaker's gavel to the Democrats' hands.

It took three weeks to confirm it, thanks to California’s excruciatingly slow ballot counts, but Darrell Issa will return to Congress in January. Democrats had targeted his seat in order to push out one of the most conservative Republicans in the House, and to send a message to Barack Obama’s critics. Instead, Issa managed to eke out a narrow win over Doug Applegate in the toughest race of his career.Note, though, the way the Associated Press leads this story as it calls the race for Issa: The wealthiest member of Congress is keeping his job.Republican Darrell Issa narrowly defeated...

Repealing Congress’ special exemption from Obamacare regularly polls at the 90+ percent level, and for good reason — the illegal ruling by OPM once again allowed Members of Congress (and their staffs) to live by a different set of rules than those they imposed on the rest of America. Worse, by exempting the legislative branch from the pernicious effects of this particular law, it allows Members and their staffs to avoid the personal pain (financial and health) imposed by the monstrosity they imposed on the rest of us, and, by doing so, delays its inevitable repeal. The good news is,...

Ohio congressman Tim Ryan is campaigning to replace Nancy Pelosi as the House minority leader. In an interview with the Washington Post, he argued that Democrats need a strategy for appealing to voters that doesn't rely on President Obama's personal popularity. “If we don’t have Barack Obama at the top of the ticket, we can’t win elections. That is an unsustainable model. He can’t run again, so it’s not even like we can say, well, every four years we’ll win.” Indeed, Barack Obama can't run again ... OR CAN HE??? Such is the question posed by this Change.org petition, which...

Rutherford Birchard Hayes, 19th President of the United States wrote: The real difficulty is with the vast wealth and power in the hands of the few and the unscrupulous who represent or control capital. Hundreds of laws of Congress and the state legislatures are in the interest of these men and against the interests of workingmen. These need to be exposed and repealed. All laws on corporations, on taxation, on trusts, wills, descent, and the like, need examination and extensive change. This is a government of the people, by the people, and for the people no longer. It is a...

I sirred up some controversy last week, when I told a conference of several dozen House Republicans that the GOP is now officially a Trump working class party. For better or worse, I said at the gathering inside the Capitol Dome the baton has now officially been passed from the Reagan era to the new Trump era. The members didn’t quite faint over my apostasy, but the shock was palpable. I emphasized that Republicans must prioritize delivering jobs and economic development to the regions of the country like the industrial Midwest — states like Michigan, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Wisconsin, Iowa,...

The breakneck pace ahead for Congress By Chad Pergram Published November 24, 2016 So 2017 is probably going to be a lot like 1995 on Capitol Hill. Republicans in the House and Senate are practically exuberant that they now have control of both bodies of Congress and President-elect Trump coming into the White House. They have a chance to legislate and promulgate GOP and conservative policies which registered merely as “messaging bills” under President Obama. The election of Trump grants Republicans agency to truly legislate. Many Republicans in Congress have never served under a GOP President. Eight years of a...

At first blush, Donald Trump’s decision to swear off criminal investigations of Hillary Clinton didn’t look like a good idea. At second blush, it looks like a terrible idea. The decision, dribbled out in a TV report and then confirmed by aide Kellyanne Conway, is too momentous to come in bits and pieces and from anyone other than Trump directly. He made the pledge at a debate to appoint a special prosecutor, and it smacks of Washington-as-usual for the reversal to slither out the back door. Yet instead of the president-elect personally explaining his big decision, the public got snippets...

The House Ethics Committee opened an investigation into Rep. Keith Ellison (D., Minn.) after he failed to disclose that a group founded by members of the Muslim Brotherhood paid for him to make a pilgrimage to the Islamic holy site of Mecca in Saudi Arabia. Top Democrats have considered shifting to the left by electing Ellison party chairman, but critics say his previous association with radical groups should disqualify him from the leadership role. Ellison has associated with the Muslim American Society, a Virginia-based group founded by Muslim Brotherhood members in 1993 to act as the “overt arm of the...