Free Republic

An old story from Albany is unforgettable. Gov. Nelson Rockefeller was a skilled arm-twister, but one legislator, a fellow Republican, resisted demands to vote a certain way, even rejecting offers of pork-barrel spending in his district. Feeling triumphant, the legislator looked at Rocky and declared, “There’s nothing you can give me I don’t have.” “Yes there is,” the governor ­responded cooly. “A primary opponent.” With that threat, so the story goes, Rocky got his man. The anecdote has always been a favorite for what it says about power and how successful pols use it. Rockefeller, like Lyndon Johnson, believed every...

recruitment program, ‘infiltration’ feared James Rosen By James Rosen Published August 01, 2017 Fox News NOW PLAYING VP Pence assures Eastern Europe's NATO partners Close EXCLUSIVE: Defense Department investigators have discovered “potential security risks” in a Pentagon program that has enrolled more than 10,000 foreign-born individuals into the U.S. armed forces since 2009, Fox News has learned exclusively, with sources on Capitol Hill and at the Pentagon expressing alarm over “foreign infiltration” and enrollees now unaccounted for. After more than a year of investigation, the Pentagon’s inspector general recently issued a report – its contents still classified but its existence...

What do we take away, then, from the earthquake on the Senate floor last week, with wisps of smoke still rising from the ruins of Republican efforts to do something -- anything -- likely to rationalize the health care mess? We take away, or should, the lesson that government can't do everything, and when it tries to, you get something approximating Obamacare: too big and complex to succeed, unless you redefine success to mean: "We're getting there, OK?" Well, no. It's not OK at all. At the center of national attention, currently, are the Republicans' busted plays. Repeal and replace?...

Liberal filmmaker Michael Moore says Americans still support President Trump despite issues with his administration because Democrats haven’t offered them an alternative. Speaking on "Morning Joe" on Monday, Moore slammed Democrats for not “running the right people” in local elections and the upcoming 2018 midterms. “The Democrats have yet to offer what the alternative is,” Moore said. “Like, ‘we’re going to take the House back’ — and really? Where are all of those great candidates for next year?” The filmmaker, whose one-man show about Trump is in previews on Broadway, said that the U.S. is in line with the liberal...

(Washington, D.C.) – Today, Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW) named former Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) its July 2017 Porker of the Month for advocating for taxpayer-funded housing for members of Congress.During an interview with The Hill on June 26, 2017, then-Rep. Chaffetz said, “I really do believe Congress would be much better served if there was a housing allowance for members of Congress.” He admitted that the current political climate made such a proposal legislatively arduous, but claimed that, “A $2,500 housing allowance would be appropriate and a real help to have at least a decent quality of life in...

Simple: Both Republican, Senate Leader, Mitch McConnell & Republican, House Speaker, Paul Ryan should cancel any Congressional recesses for the rest of this year, immediately. These lazy, good for nothing, non-productive, low life Senators & House members, both Democrats & Republicans are on recess far too much, living the life of rich, elite, scum & vermin...period. Bottom line...there was plenty and ample time to pass Obamacare Repeal & Replacement, Massive Tax Reform & Infrastructure Renewal, since January 3, 2017. Nothing has happened. Please vote "YAY or NAY" on this critical issue. And.....McConnell and Ryan must go.

Politicians on Capitol Hill are learning what businessmen around this country already know: don’t cross Donald Trump. This is the kind of President the American people have hungered for. When a group of Republican senators joined Democrats in defeating Trump’s goal to repeal Obamacare, they messed up royally. Now they are dealing with the wrath of President Trump. You’re talking about a president who doesn’t care about political or mainstream media wars, as long as he gets the job done. Trump is not playing the typical game of politics, at least not by the same rules as the Republican and...

Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee (R) on Friday called for the repeal of the 17th Amendment and the return to senators selected by state legislatures after the Senate GOP's effort to repeal and replace ObamaCare died in a late-night vote. The 17th Amendment was ratified in 1913 and established the popular election of senators. Previously, senators were elected by state legislatures. @GovMikeHuckabee Time to repeal 17th Amendment. Founders had it right-Senators chosen by state legislatures. Will work for their states and respect 10th amid The Senate's "skinny repeal" of ObamaCare failed late Thursday night by a vote of 51-49. The...

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi on Sunday again dismissed assertions that she should resign her long-held leadership post, saying "I am a master legislator." Pelosi, who has been the House’s top Democrat since 2007, has faced repeated suggestion that she step down since 2010, when Republicans took control of the chamber in a wave election. "Self-promotion is a terrible thing, but somebody has to do it," the California lawmaker told Fox News Sunday. "I am a master legislator. I know the budget to the nth degree ... I feel very confident about the support I have in my caucus."

As Obamacare was winding its way through the Senate in 2009, Sen. Chuck Grassley (R., Iowa) slipped in an amendment requiring that members of Congress, and their staff, enroll in Obamacare’s health insurance exchanges. The idea was simple: that if Congress was going to impose Obamacare upon the country, it should have to experience what it is imposing firsthand. But now, word comes that Congress is quietly seeking to rescind that provision of the law, because members fear that staffers who face higher insurance costs will leave the Hill. The news has sparked outrage from the right and left. Here’s...

House Judiciary Committee Republicans on Thursday called for a new special counsel — to investigate Hillary Clinton, James Comey and Loretta Lynch. In a letter addressed to Attorney General Jeff Sessions and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, the Republicans said they were writing to "request assistance in restoring public confidence in our nation's justice system and its investigators, specifically the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)." The lawmakers said they presumed investigation of potential Russian influence on the U.S. presidential election was covered by special counsel Robert Mueller, but that they "are not confident that...

My good friends at Free Republic. We must force Congress to live under the same laws as all of us normal Americans. The time is now. We are not surfs. We own this country, we make it run. The Trump Presidency has given us the window we need to fix our criminal Congress. No Congressman should get lifetime anything in excess of what any U.S Soldier, Sailor, Airman, or Marine, Coast Guard earn defending this country. No special health care, No lifetime perks, no insider trading. We must show up at every event where our elected representatives and make it...

We have been so patient. Democrats are not patient. We have maintained our values. Democrats have only two values: Money and Power (not necessarily in that order). The Democrat Party in lockstep fashion continues fight for immorality, socialism and everything evil. They are not ashamed, discouraged or even close to giving up. Somehow, they corrupt everyone with whom they come in contact. It is now apparent that whoever goes to Washington may initially go there with moral values, a clear goal to enact legislation to benefit the people in a real way and a love of country, but almost every...

By now, the events related to Republicans' plans for health care early Friday morning have reverberated across Washington. Three GOP senators voted down a so-called "skinny repeal" plan, a devastating blow to President Donald Trump and Republican leadership. House Republicans met Friday morning. The closed-door conference was planned to be a discussion where House Speaker Paul Ryan laid out the conference committee structure/next steps. In fact, GOP aides say they were planning to vote to go to conference, appoint conferees and motions to instruct Friday before they left town. That obviously isn't applicable anymore.

Does anyone have information on the process of recalling Senators in the states of Maine, Arizona and Alaska? How can McConnell justify remaining Majority Leader after such an epic fail? Share your thoughts.

Fearing that President Donald Trump could short-circuit the investigation of Russian meddling in the 2016 elections, Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., plans to introduce legislation to block any such action. Graham said the bill he will introduce next week will block the president from firing a special counsel without a federal judge’s approval if that counsel is investigating the president or his administration. Graham said, “We need a check and balance here,” and that the bill will apply to Trump as well as to all future presidents.

WASHINGTON (AP) - The Latest on the House's $788 billion spending measure (all times local): 2:30 p.m. The Republican-led House has voted to make a $1.6 billion down payment for President Donald Trump's long-promised wall along the U.S.-Mexico border. The vote was 230-196. Republican leaders avoided voting directly on the divisive issue Thursday. Instead, they tucked the wall provision into a broader procedural vote.....

The American political system has never quite seen anything like the current opposition to President Trump and his unusual reaction to it. We are no longer in the customary political landscapes. Usually, the out-of-power opposition -- in this case, the Democratic Party -- offers most of the criticism and all of the alternative policies in order to win in the next election. Instead, Trump has an entire circle of diverse critics shooting at him. But they just as often end up hitting each other -- and themselves. So far, Trump's most furious Democratic opponents have not been able to...

Shortened title. Full title: Wasserman Schultz’s IT Aide Arrested At Airport After Transferring $300k To Pakistan From House Office Florida Democratic Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz’s top information technology (IT) aide was arrested Monday attempting to board a flight to Pakistan after wiring $283,000 from the Congressional Federal Credit Union to that country. He attempted to leave the country hours after The Daily Caller News Foundation’s Investigative Group revealed that he is the target of an FBI investigation, and the FBI apprehended him at the airport.

Many of the ideas that emerge from Washington are stale, unimaginative and unworkable. Not so the latest pitch from a group of conservative congressional Republicans: Eliminate the IRS. This goes beyond some kind of political revenge fantasy. It's time to consider the damage that the IRS does both to Americans' freedoms as individuals and to the costs it imposes on the economy as a whole, argue the 151 members of the Republican Study Group, an in-house conservative think tank, in their newest budget proposal. The proposal, an alternative to the House Budget Committee's official 2018 budget, comes as part of...