Free Republic

Democratic lawmakers are calling for President Obama to close Guantanamo Bay because "Donald Trump must be deprived of the use” of the controversial prison. Representatives including New York City’s Hakeem Jeffries, Jerrold Nadler, Nydia Velazquez and Jose Serrano signed a letter sent to the White House Wednesday. Obama promised during his first presidential campaign to close the facility on Cuban soil, which was filled with suspected terrorists during the Bush administration, some of whom have stayed there for years without a trial or charges. The White House has said that it is working to move the 18 inmates who remain...

After years of promising to repeal the Affordable Care Act, a growing number of Republicans are balking at the prospect of doing so quickly without a firm plan to replace it. As the Senate begins voting Wednesday on a path to eliminate the landmark health-care bill, some Republicans are worried about the political fallout and uncertainty of starting to roll back Obamacare without knowing how the process will end.

Democratic lawmakers on Tuesday re-hung a painting on Capitol Hill that depicts a police officer as a pig, just days after a Republican colleague took it down -- in a move sure to inflame the controversy and rile law enforcement groups.  California Republican Rep. Duncan Hunter on Friday personally removed the painting, saying he was angered by its depiction of police. He said Tuesday the piece also violates the art-contest rules. But Democratic Rep. Lacy Clay, a member of the Congressional Black Caucus from whose Missouri district the picture came, said Tuesday after helping re-hang the picture that Hunter’s action...

Senate Republicans will begin the confirmation process for President-elect Trump's Cabinet this week amid efforts by Democrats to stall the process. Half a dozen nominees will appear at Senate confirmation hearings scheduled for Jan. 11. The Senate Judiciary Committee will start a two-day hearing beginning Jan. 10 to consider the nomination of Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., who is Trump's pick for attorney general. "The priorities between now and Jan. 20 are hearings on Cabinet members," said Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky. Besides Sessions, the other nominees appearing are Rex Tillerson for state, Betsy DeVos for education, retired Marine Gen....

The House on Thursday passed legislation that would allow Congress to overturn in a single vote any regulations finalized in the last days of the Obama administration. Despite Democratic opposition, the Midnight Rule Relief Act passed largely along party lines, by a 240-179 vote. The bill would amend the Congressional Review Act to allow Congress to overturn many rules all at once by way of a resolution. Rep. Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.) urged his colleagues on the floor Thursday morning to pass the legislation and tell the American people that lawmakers heard them on Election Day loud and clear. “The American...

For almost eight years, the members of the Congressional Black Caucus existed in the shadow of the first black president. They praised President Barack Obama’s achievements while at the same time pushing him to do more for their constituents who overwhelmingly supported his history-making campaign and administration. But with Obama set to leave the White House on Jan. 20, black lawmakers in the House and Senate are recalculating and reassessing their place in Washington. And realizing they’re regaining the limelight as the most visible and powerful African-American politicians in the nation’s capital. President-elect Donald Trump will face a larger and...

WASHINGTON, Jan 5: Hindus and Jews have gained ground in the new US Congress, even as a latest research suggests that the members of the legislative body remain overwhelmingly Christians despite significant change in the religious demographic profile of the country in less than five decades. This is for the first time in American history that the Congress has three Hindus members -- Tulsi Gabbard, Raja Krishnamoorthi and Ro Khanna. After Jews, who have 30 members in the new US Congress, Hindus and Buddhism, each having three members jointly share the third sport in terms of religious ranking of US...

Congress has signalled it will not tolerate Obama or Kerry attempting to subvert American foreign policy on Israel at the forthcoming conference in Paris on 15 January or in the Security Council in the last five days of Obama's Presidendcy The US Congress has swiftly moved to rebuff the efforts by President Obama and Secretary of State John Kerry to reverse long-standing American policy in relation to Israel. Congress’s decision goes a long way to restoring America’s reputation and integrity

A Republican congressman took matters into his own hands Friday and personally removed a painting depicting police officers as pigs that a colleague had allowed to be displayed at the U.S. Capitol complex. “I was angry,” Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Calif., told FoxNews.com. “I’ve seen the press [reporting] on this for about a week or so. … I’m in the Marine Corps. If you want it done, just call us.” Hunter said he walked over to the artwork Friday morning with a few colleagues and unscrewed it. He then delivered it to the office of Rep. Lacy Clay, D-Mo., the congressman...

Today the Congress made it official as they tallied the Electoral College totals, making Trump's presidency OFFICIAL, but.. It's getting a bit OBVIOUS now isn't it, people? It seems every time Trump reaches a major milestone as he inches towards the White House, another MAJOR INCIDENT DIVERTS THE MEDIA'S ATTENTION. Grab your tin foil hats because it seems there's a force in play here that seeks to take the wind out of Trump's sails every time he would've otherwise made big news.

CNN was gloating last night that this is a broken promise, but is it? Watch this short clip from late October, where Trump talks about Mexico “reimbursing” the U.S. for the cost of the wall. In Gettysburg, Trump appears to tweak his border wall plan: the U.S. will pay for the wall, then Mexico will reimburse the U.S. for the cost pic.twitter.com/Bw2kqCniIp— Bradd Jaffy (@BraddJaffy) October 22, 2016 Congress fronts the money, then Mexico pays us back. That was his position this morning, too: The dishonest media does not report that any money spent on building the Great Wall...

War hero and long-serving Congressman Sam Johnson will retire in 2018, he announced Friday morning. Johnson, an Air Force veteran known for his time as a prisoner of war during the Vietnam conflict, has served in the U.S. House of Representatives since 1991. The Plano Republican is 86 years old. In a letter to his constituents on Friday, Johnson wrote “it has been a great honor to serve you and strive to be the kind of representative the people want, need and deserve.”

House Republicans this week reinstated an arcane procedural rule that enables lawmakers to reach deep into the budget and slash the pay of an individual federal worker — down to $1 — a move that threatens to upend the 130-year-old civil service. The Holman Rule, named after an Indiana congressman who devised it in 1876, empowers any member of Congress to propose amending an appropriations bill to single out a government employee or cut a specific program. The use of the rule would not be simple; a majority of the House and the Senate would still have to approve any...

Verified from Twitter: Donald J. Trump @realDonaldTrump The dishonest media does not report that any money spent on building the Great Wall (for sake of speed), will be paid back by Mexico later! 3:19 AM - 6 Jan 2017 -------------------------------Snip----------------------------------------------- President-elect Donald Trump opened the news agenda this Friday morning with a 3AM tweet about the new border wall referring to it as the "Great Wall" while clarifying what the dishonest media deliberately fails to report. Initially U.S. money will be utilized for the "sake of speed," and later, Mexico will be reimbursing the building cost of the border wall....

The House of Representatives overwhelmingly approved a bipartisan measure objecting to last month’s anti-Israel United Nations Security Council Resolution 2334 on Thursday, garnering 342-80 votes in favor of House Resolution 11. HR 11 was introduced and co-authored by House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Ed Royce (R-CA) and the committee’s top Democrat Rep. Eliot Engel (D-NY). It states UN Res 2334 “undermines the prospect for Israelis and Palestinians resuming productive, direct negotiations” and should be “repealed or fundamentally altered.”

Congressional Republicans and Donald Trump's transition team are exploring whether they can make good on Trump's promise of a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border without passing a new bill on the topic, officials said Thursday. Under the evolving plan, the Trump administration would rely on existing legislation authorizing fencing and other technology along the southern border. Congress would be asked to ensure that enough money is appropriated to take additional new steps — but would not pass a stand-alone bill authorizing a big new wall. The potential approach was confirmed by two congressional officials and a senior transition official with...

Congressional Republicans and Donald Trump’s transition team are exploring whether they can make good on Trump’s promise of a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border without passing a new bill on the topic, officials said Thursday. Under the evolving plan, the Trump administration would rely on existing legislation authorizing fencing and other technology along the southern border. Congress would be asked to ensure that enough money is appropriated to take additional new steps — but would not pass a stand-alone bill authorizing a big new wall. The potential approach was confirmed by two congressional officials and a senior transition official with...

WASHINGTON — Sen. Ted Cruz is stepping up his efforts to impose term limits on Congress, calling for a constitutional amendment on the issue. The amendment, proposed Tuesday with Republican Rep. Ron DeSantis of Florida, would limit senators to two six-year terms and House members to three two-year terms. “D.C. is broken,” Cruz said in a written statement. “The American people resoundingly agreed on Election Day, and President-elect Donald Trump has committed to putting government back to work for the American people. It is well past time to put an end to the cronyism and deceit that has transformed Washington...

U.S. Rep. Schakowsky: GOP might use waterboarding to punish for livestreaming Wednesday, January 04, 2017 WASHINGTON - Illinois Democrats in the U.S. Congress hold the majority over Republicans in the state's delegation 11 to 7, but overall in Congress, Democrats are vastly outnumbered. Tuesday, one Democrat staged a protest when the GOP leadership pushed an effort to ban livestreaming from the House floor. In defiance, Congress member Jan Schakowsky (D-9) livestreamed, saying that the Republicans might set into place "terrible punishments" for livestreaming, including waterboarding:

Who’s “we,” kemosabe? Twenty-four hours ago, over Ryan’s own objection, House Republicans were all set to revamp the Office of Congressional Ethics. Then Trump logged into Twitter and, three hours later, the plan was scrapped. Members of Ryan’s caucus were eager to reassure the media yesterday that it wasn’t Trump’s influence that made them reconsider, it was the barrage of angry phone calls their offices were getting from grassroots Republicans, but that seems to be a partial explanation at best: OVERHEARD in the Speaker's lobby: "The guy puts out a tweet and half our conference goes nuts. What are...