Free Republic

Rep. Eliot Engel (D-New York) announced Tuesday morning that he will not stand on the aisle of the House floor to shake President Donald Trump’s hand ahead of his speech to a joint session of Congress -- the first time in his 29-year career in Congress that he has not shaken the president’s hand before a State of the Union or joint session speech. “I have deep respect for the presidency and I will attend the joint session,” he said on the House floor. “But that respect between branches must be mutual.” In the past, Engel has arrived on the...

First lady Melania Trump will sit with the families of three people killed by illegal immigrants as her husband, President Trump, delivers his first address to a joint session of Congress Tuesday night. The move seemed designed to counter the slew of Democrats who were hosting illegal immigrants as their guests, saying they wanted to put a human face on Mr. Trump’s deportation policies. Democrats even tapped an illegal immigrant “Dreamer” to deliver their party’s official Spanish language response to the president’s speech. The dichotomy between valedictorians and felons in the illegal immigrant community has been on display over the...

Tomorrow night, President Trump is going to give the most important speech that he's had the opportunity to present so far in the 45 days since he became president. Dennis Michael Lynch [DML] has some excellent advice for the president that I hope he takes so the important narrative of what he wants and needs to do to Make America Great Again doesn't get lost in the tall weeds of "fake news", the election results ["I won"] or them vs us.

The invite list by Democrat members of Congress reads like yet another staged protest like so many in recent years that resulted in costly mayhem and damage. This time, though, it won’t be a protest on city streets, but rather within the halls of Congress itself as President Donald Trump takes center stage to lay out his year one agenda for the nation to the legislators responsible for turning that agenda into law. Both Democrats and the Establishment Media see it as yet another opportunity to try and challenge and embarrass the president. The anti-president mood will be unprecedented. Remarkable...

Although President Donald Trump won’t be giving a formal State of the Union address Tuesday night (he’s only been in office a month), Democrats are still planning on making his address to a joint session of Congress as uncomfortable as possible. Each legislator is allowed a handful of tickets for the public gallery, so that interested constituents and guests can be present for what is typically the President’s most important speech of the year. Most often, those tickets go to hometown heroes from the legislator’s respective districts, people who have made the news over the past year, or those who have...

Republicans on Monday blocked Democrats’ attempt to obtain President Trump’s tax returns. House Republicans won a procedural vote, 229-185, that called for his IRS returns.  The Wall Street Journal reported that all Democrats were in favor of the release. “If there’s nothing there, then what are Republicans afraid of?”  Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said. She reportedly said Republicans “made themselves accomplices” to Trump in hiding his financial affairs. Trump’s refusal to disclose his tax returns is a break with presidential tradition. He has said he would be happy to release them after the completion of an IRS audit.

The new interim chief of staff for the Department of Veterans Affairs reportedly ordered employees in 2014 not to disclose information about secret wait lists to members of Congress. The VA released a statement Friday listing Vivieca Wright-Simpson as the interim chief of staff effective Sunday. ... Wright-Simpson was instrumental in blocking an investigation initiated by two Pennsylvanian congressmen, who wanted to know more about veterans waiting years for health care appointments at the Pittsburgh VA. According to a 2014 report by CNN, GOP Rep. Tim Murphy and Democratic Rep. Mike Doyle felt like the VA was running interference to...

On Tuesday, the House Judiciary Committee is scheduled to mark-up H.R. 372, the so-called Competitive Health Insurance Act of 2017 introduced by Rep. Paul Gosar (R-AZ), to make crony GOP donors’ regulatory dream a reality. The Gosar bill would throw conservative principles to the wayside by amending the McCarran-Ferguson Act of 1945 to bring health insurance companies under federal antitrust oversight…

The 2017 Maryland General Assembly session recently started with several issues receiving the majority of attention. We have all heard about both medical marijuana and Gov. Larry Hogan's "road kill bill." As someone who has spent a lifetime involved in the highway industry, I would like to share my thoughts on the latter topic ("Hogan's 'road kill bill' lie," Jan. 5).We have all noticed the severe deterioration in our highway system, be it local, state or interstate. There are many reasons for this and I will share them all with you. However, the overriding principle is that our roads are...

Congress has written some laudable policies into the Pet and Women Safety Act of 2017 (H.R.909) that are designed to protect domestic violence victims from “trauma caused by acts of violence or threats of violence against their pets.”There is one provision of the bill, however, that takes a familiar step too far: It would create a federal crime to harass or intimidate any person’s pet in a way that causes “substantial emotional distress.”Given the threats from cyberattacks, interstate and international crime cartels, terrorist groups, drug trafficking, and the criminal aspects of immigration issues, the resource-constrained federal law enforcement community does...

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said Thursday that he wants to see "very significant" tax reform passed before Congress' August recess, in what could prove a tough task as lawmakers work through a complex agenda. "We want to get this done by the August recess. We've been working closely with the leadership in the House and the Senate and we're looking at a combined plan," he told CNBC in his first television interview since assuming office. President Donald Trump has repeatedly made pledges for tax reform and regulatory cuts since he took office, creating optimism among business executives and investors. So...

Congress should use every tool at its disposal to rein in activist federal courts, Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas (A, 97%) said in a closed-door meeting with reporters at the 2017 Conservative Political Action Conference Thursday. And this includes limiting their jurisdiction with federal legislation, Cruz stated. Don't Miss A Tweet Profile Picture Conservative Review @CR Follow In the last congressional session, Sen. Cruz introduced a bill that would have limited the jurisdiction of federal court on marriage. When asked about similar legislation, the senator reiterated his unapologetically bold thoughts on the subject of judicial overreach. “We should be using all...

Former House Speaker John Boehner predicted on Thursday that a full repeal and replace of Obamacare is “not going to happen.” Boehner, who resigned in 2015 amid unrest among conservatives, said at an Orlando health care conference that the idea that a repeal-and-replace plan would blitz through Congress is just “happy talk.” Instead, he said changes to former President Barack Obama’s signature legislative achievement would likely be relatively modest. “[Congressional Republicans are] going to fix Obamacare – I shouldn’t call it repeal-and-replace, because it’s not going to happen,” he said. Boehner’s comments come as Republican lawmakers across the country are...

A group of chief executive officers are praising House Republicans' proposed border-adjustment tax as the debate escalates. Border adjustability, which would subject imports to U.S. tax and exempt exports "is consistent with the tax policies of nearly every other country in the world, and it would effectively end the 'Made in America' tax that creates an unfair advantage for foreign-based companies at the expense of U.S. jobs and economic growth," the CEOs wrote in a letter to congressional leaders Tuesday. Sixteen business leaders signed the letter, including the CEOs of Boeing, GE, McIlhenny Company, Pfizer and S&P Global. The chief...

Congressional aides suspected of criminally misusing their access to House computer systems owed $100,000 to an Iraqi politician who is wanted by U.S. authorities and has been linked to Hezbollah, the Iranian-backed Middle Eastern terrorist outfit. Imran Awan and four of his relatives were employed as information technology (IT) aides by dozens of House Democrats, including members of the intelligence, foreign affairs and homeland security committees. The aides’ administrator-level IT access was terminated earlier this month amid a criminal probe by U.S. Capitol Police of a suspected security breach, including an off-site server housing congressional data. The Daily Caller News...

HIGHLIGHTS o The PM referred to the role of skilled Indian talent in enriching the US economy and society o He urged developing a reflective, balanced and far-sighted perspective on movement of skilled professionals o As of now, Indian professionals are granted a large number of visas to stay in US for 6 years NEW DELHI/WASHINGTON: PM Narendra Modi has urged the US to take a "reflective, balanced and far-sighted" perspective on the movement of skilled professionals, indicating India's discomfort with the Trump administration's intent to curb H-1B visas. The PM raised the issue during his interaction with US Congress...

In all, 46 of the 52 new members signed the document, which takes a stand for "productive dialogue" and against the idea that political rivals are enemies.

First of all, I blame Paul Ryan for hindering President Trump’s most valiant efforts to truly help the American people. I am speaking of Trump’s policy changes on ObamaCare and tax cuts for the American people. These things would help the American people more than anything Trump could do. Matt Drudge took to Twitter to blast Congress for hanging the new president “out to dry” by failing to move on ObamaCare and other agenda items. Drudge included a photo of House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI) in the tweets. Drudge tweeted: “Congress hanging The Donald out to dry. Making him do...

Forget Curt Schilling. It's Tom Brady who should be running for the U.S. Senate. His campaign slogan will be, "Let's go!" After all, if the famous quarterback of the New England Patriots is going to get grief for being President Donald Trump's friend, or for a visit to the White House, then he should at least make the most of i

Last summer, at the first meeting of the Trump Leadership Council -- an advisory group consisting of top CEOs from major companies -- Donald Trump asked business leaders what their biggest problems were. I expected the answer to be America's anti-growth tax system. Almost all the CEOs did list the federal tax code as an albatross, but not the heaviest one. Instead, I was surprised to learn, most found the biggest restraint on growth to be federal red tape and regulation. Across all industries -- manufacturers, energy firms, financial services, agriculture interests -- federal rules were seen as mindless, inefficient,...