Free Republic

Fiscal Policy: President Trump hasn't released a detailed budget plan yet, but already some Republicans are signaling their disinterest in making deep cuts to federal spending. The biggest obstacle to the conservative parts of Trump's agenda could be his own party. Trump hasn't been shy about wanting to see big changes in federal spending. Shortly before taking the oath of office, news came out that he is aiming for 10% spending cuts and a 20% cut in federal staffing. On his first full day in the White House, he announced a halt to hiring federal workers and a freeze on...

President Donald Trump is home alone, so suddenly one of the hottest new tickets in town is an invitation to the White House. The President is going to start hitting the Washington dinner party circuit. In most cases, actually, his guests will come to him as he tries building bridges in a city that he has spent years railing against. "It's very good -- a beautiful relationship," said Trump, all smiles Monday as he hosted congressional leaders at the White House for his first round of evening visitors. A piano played Billy Joel's "New York State of Mind," as the...

Matthew Lee and Richard Lardner, Associated Press January 23, 2017 Officials say the Obama administration in its waning hours defied Republican opposition and quietly released $221 million to the Palestinian Authority. GOP members of Congress had been holding up the money. A State Department official and several congressional aides say the outgoing administration formally notified Congress it would spend the money Friday morning, just before Donald Trump became president. More than $227 million in foreign affairs funding was released at the time, including $4 million for climate change programs and $1.25 million for U.N. organizations.(snip)

Submitted by John Mauldin via MauldinEconomics.com,I have been in Washington DC for the last three days. The ostensible reason was to participate in a board meeting of a public company, Ashford Inc. (AINC). We manage hotel REITs that own three hotels here in DC, and the group decided to move our board meeting up a few weeks and hold it in DC during the inauguration. That gave me the opportunity to set up a few meetings to try to gain some insight into what the first 100 days, the first six months, and the first year of the Trump...

UNITED STATES: Bill to withdraw the US from the United Nations has been submitted to Congress as the 'American Sovereignty Restoration Act'

Republicans, both in the incoming Trump administration and on Capitol Hill, are growing increasingly angry with Senate Democrats' efforts to slow the confirmation of Trump nominees. GOP lawmakers and staff often point out that the Senate confirmed seven Obama nominees — secretaries of agriculture, education, energy, homeland security, interior, veterans affairs and a budget director — on Inauguration Day 2009. Now, Democrats are saying they might — might — allow the confirmation of two Trump nominees on Friday. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer is accusing Republicans of trying "to jam through Cabinet nominees in a way that hides their views...

GOP-Hating Rep. John Lewis Didn’t Pay His Real Estate Taxes Instead of finding fault with the new president, maybe Rep. John Lewis should worry about paying his real estate taxes. The well-paid congressman didn’t pay taxes on his nearly $1 million posh D.C. townhouse on Capital Hill. Rep. Lewis said Donald Trump isn’t a “legitimate” president, same thing he said about George Bush, but he’s not a legitimate taxpayer. Public records show he avoided paying property taxes on his DC townhouse at 219 3rd Street SE on Capitol Hill, Got News reported. Click the link for Got News to see...

Anyone who believes Democrats own exclusive opposition to Donald Trump are completely ignoring the deliberate construct of the 2015/2016 republican primary. There are just as many -if not more- natural enemies within the Republican apparatus as there are within the Democrat group. “America-First” is antithetical to the UniParty. Again, prior to Donald Trump there was one party in Washington DC, “The UniParty”. President Donald Trump represented a second party, an independent approach toward legislative and economic priority. He was not a third choice, he was the second option.

John Lewis’s Record in Congress Is Less Than Heroic The Democrat deserves an honored place in history. But Trump has a point about what he’s done lately. Jason L. Riley If Donald Trump had been referring to Rep. John Lewis’s civil-rights record when he wrote on Twitter Saturday that the congressman was “all talk” and “no action,” the president-elect might need a refresher course in U.S. history. One of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s closest allies, Mr. Lewis was on the front lines of the successful fight to end Jim Crow. But for anyone who bothers to check out the...

President Obama oversaw the deepest legislative malaise in modern political history, according to the Washington Times Legislative Index, which captures his struggles to find ways to work with a Congress that ranged from lukewarm to openly hostile toward him. Over the course of his eight years, he has signed just 1,227 bills into law — less, even, than one-term Presidents Carter and George H.W. Bush. Digging deeper into the numbers, Congress spent less time in session, handled less business on the chamber floors and generally sputtered for much of Mr. Obama’s tenure, according to The Times’ index. Blame for the...

The wife of Orlando nightclub gunman Omar Mateen was arrested by the FBI on Monday in connection with the mass shooting, officials said. Noor Salman was taken into custody in California, where her family lives, but the case is filed in Florida, where her husband massacred 49 people at the Pulse nightclub in June. "I can confirm the arrest did occur," Attorney General Loretta Lynch said on MSNBC. This is a matter that we continue to take very seriously," she said. "We said from the beginning we were going to look at every aspect of this case, every aspect of...

As part of its broader package of rules for the 115th Congress, the House of Representatives revived the Holman Rule, a provision that allows House members to propose amendments to spending bills that closely manage federal agencies. These "retrenchment" amendments can affect details down to individual federal salaries and the number of staff in an office. ... The restoration of the Holman Rule means merely that when it comes to firing a federal employee, the president's signature on an act of Congress can do it. It doesn't seem extraordinary that the heads of the federal government should be able to...

Congress took its first step toward rolling back President Obama’s health care reform law Friday, with the House voting along party lines to pass key preliminary legislation. The measure, which was passed Thursday by the Senate, will allow Republicans to use special budget procedures to repeal major parts of the Affordable Care Act without cooperation from Democrats.

A Democratic congresswoman announced Thursday she plans on skipping Donald Trump’s inauguration next week as the 45th president of the United States, vowing instead to spend her time laying the groundwork for “resistance.” Rep. Barbara Lee of California said she can’t stomach the idea of attending the Jan. 20 ceremony after Mr. Trump ran “one of the most divisive and prejudiced campaigns in modern history.” “I will not be celebrating or honoring an incoming president who rode racism, sexism, xenophobia and bigotry to the White House,” said Ms. Lee, a member of the Congressional Black Caucus.

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...