Free Republic

Not long ago Rep. Jackie Speier (D-California) publicly stated that taxpayers paid $15 million to settle and cover up sexual misconduct lawsuits in the last decade. Our tax money helped keep quiet these misdeeds by out elected officials. Outrage at the time, but silence since. Who were these officials? What was their conduct? We're still waiting for the official report from Congress. Will it ever come?

The Democratic rebuttal memo to the Republican House Intelligence Committee memo on alleged government surveillance abuses was released Saturday afternoon. House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes, R-Calif., acknowledged its release at his appearance at the Conservative Political Action Conference, at about 4 p.m. "It's just posted," he told American Conservative Union chairman Matt Schlapp, quipping that the committee website was probably already crashing due to high traffic. Democrats say their memo was written as a rebuttal to provide greater context to a Republican memo that was released earlier this month, which outlines abuses by the FBI and the Justice Department...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The body of evangelist Billy Graham will lie in honor under the U.S. Capitol rotunda next week as Congress pays tribute to a clergyman who counseled presidents and preached the Gospel to millions worldwide, House Speaker Paul Ryan said on Thursday. Graham, who died at his home near Asheville, North Carolina, on Wednesday at age 99, will arrive at the white-domed Capitol on Feb. 28 and lie in honor there until the following day, Ryan said in a statement. “Members of the public and Capitol Hill community are invited to pay their respects to the late reverend...

The clearest way to get a picture of how well Democrats are doing in 2018 is to go down the list of recent special state legislative elections: * A Florida state legislative district that Donald Trump won by five points, according to data from liberal political blog Daily Kos, is now in the hands of Democrats, who won it by eight points this month. * In January, Democrats flipped a Wisconsin state legislative district that Trump won by 20 points. * A few weeks later, Democrats flipped a Missouri state legislative district that Trump won by nearly 30 points, for...

Remember me? I'm the guy who, in the middle of the Khan imbroglio in August '16, predicted that Trump would win the presidency. And I did so again after the release of the Billy Bush tapes in October. Well, I'm here to make another prediction: In the last four days, the Democrats just forfeited their shot at winning the House or the Senate in 2018. In fact, Democrats have made such a grave political miscalculation that only quick action by Republicans can save them from defeat. The story begins in 1994, when President Bill Clinton gleefully signed a ban on...

The woman who had an affair with former U.S. Representative Tim Murphy is now running for Congress. Shannon Edwards will challenge Democratic incumbent Mike Doyle. Murphy resigned in October after it was revealed the pro-life Republican had asked Edwards to get an abortion.

Starting in late 2017, Boeing executives discussed plans to conceal employee bonuses or cancel them altogether in order to keep President Trump from getting credit, following the passage of the Republican tax-reform bill. On a series of conference calls led by Boeing’s Senior Vice President of Communications Phil Musser, Musser proposed and lobbied for canceling bonuses out of fear that the company may contribute to President Trump’s rising approval rating. Before Musser worked as a high level Boeing’s communications staffer in Washington, his employment history included public and media relations work for Mitt Romney’s 2012 Presidential Campaign and The Freedom...

MYRTLE BEACH, SC (WBTW) - The South Carolina leg of a proposed interstate that would end on the Grand Strand may benefit from President Trump's infrastructure plan. Some leaders say Interstate 73 construction could be approved sooner, but paying for the highway could change. The president's plan says the federal government would pay for 20 percent of a project, with more costs shifted towards local governments, the private sector and people. That means if I-73 is built, it will likely include tolls. "I think the odds for I-73 are looking better and better," says Brad Dean, president and CEO of...

Can Congress Legislate Gun Ownership If ...? Can Congress Legislate Gun Ownership If ... If there were no 2nd Amendment would Congress have the enumerated constitutional power to legislate gun ownership?

Does the President have authority over immigration? That question cannot be answered by quoting a particular article, section, and clause. The Constitution must be applied. First, we must consider whether immigration involves a power delegated to the federal government. The answer to that question is yes and no. The authority to create “a uniform Rule of Naturalization” is vested in the federal government. However, not everything our federal government currently considers as immigration falls under this delegation. The power over foreign immigration is delegated through Article 1 section 8 clause 4; “To establish an uniform Rule of Naturalization.” Because it...

House GOP leaders are forging ahead with their own hardline immigration bill, as the Senate threw in the towel Thursday on legislation to protect hundreds of thousands of young, undocumented immigrants from deportation. The main author of the House bill, Judiciary Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.), said Thursday that he’s building support for his measure, even as other GOP colleagues said an initial vote tally this week was well below the 218 votes needed to pass the bill. Speaker Paul Ryan’s (R-Wis.) “instructions to me are ‘get this bill done,’ and we’re working hard to accomplish that,” Goodlatte said in an...

Democratic opposition to House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D., Calif.) has been increasing both in public and behind the scenes in recent months, and now even some of the minority leader's supporters predict she will soon step aside. Democratic Rep. Bill Pascrell (N.J.) told the Atlantic he expects Pelosi to step down from leadership next year, no matter who wins the House. "She would love nothing more than to win, and then she’ll get out," Pascrell said. A number of Democratic lawmakers and insiders spoke to the Atlantic both on and off the record about the desire among some Democrats...

Sen. Ted Cruz said Thursday that if Republicans pass an immigration plan that allows citizenship they will lose the majority in Congress this November. “Mark my words, if Republican majorities in Congress pass citizenship for millions of people, do amnesty, I think it is quite likely we will lose both houses of Congress,” Mr. Cruz, Texas Republican, said on Fox News.

2018 SEOLLAL MESSAGES BROADCAST TO NORTH KOREA ON FNKR: MESSAGE FROM CONGRESSMAN ALAN LOWENTHAL OF CALIFORNIA “I’m United States Congressman Alan Lowenthal; Today, I am happy to join with you, the people of North Korea and the Republic of Korea, as well as Koreans around the world in celebrating the Lunar New Year, as we move into the Year of the Dog. I am proud to represent an area in the American state of California that is home to a large and vibrant Korean-American community. This year we all join in celebration and excitement on the news that both North...

President Trump on Wednesday called on lawmakers to oppose a series of bipartisan efforts to address immigration and resolve the fate of the so-called “Dreamers,” demanding fealty to his hard-line approach even as more moderate senators converged on a narrower approach. Senators in both parties are racing against a self-imposed, end-of-the-week deadline to write legislation that could win broad support by increasing border security while at the same time offering a path to citizenship for immigrants brought to the United States as children. Members of a bipartisan group calling itself the Common Sense Coalition said they have reached a deal...

A congressional candidate from Wisconsin was busted by the NYPD in her home state when she tried to hawk a ring she ripped off from a Manhattan jewelry store, police said. Juliet Germanotta — who in campaign literature vowed to keep the state “fiscally responsible by questioning expenses ” — ordered a $4,800 ring from Mikaelians Jewelry on West 47th Street in Midtown on September 19. But Germanotta, 36, who describes herself as a “proud transgender woman,” claimed the ring she received was not to her liking, and requested her money back, police said. Instead of sending the real ring...

If you’re reading The Hill, chances are you’ve heard the scary statistics or doomsday predictions about government spending. Or you’re heard it from the Congressional Budget office or Congressional Research Service or CBS, or you’ve heard it from House Speaker Paul Ryan or Office of Management and Budget Director Mick Mulvaney. In short, there is no shortage of professionals sounding the alarm over spending. If you’re like me, each time you’ve heard those, you’ve wondered, “How is that possible?” or “How did we get here?” or “If that were true, Congress wouldn’t be getting away with it.” Well, it’s...

On the day of the latest government shutdown, Congress passed a two-year $300 billion, 652-page budget under 18 hours, much to the dismay of conservatives. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) struck a deal on Wednesday to fund the government for two years, featuring substantial increases in domestic and defense spending. Both the House and Senate passed the $300 billion two-year budget on Friday morning, halting a temporary government shutdown. The House passed a stop-gap spending bill on Tuesday that funded the government through March 23; the bill funded the Defense Department for...

Democratic Rep. Maxine Waters described an eight-hour speech given by her colleague House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi as "the most profound one minute," Wednesday. Waters, of California, praised Pelosi for refusing to yield her minute on the House floor and for speaking eight hours on the importance of voting on the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA)

A California politician — who has been a vocal supporter of the Me Too movement — is reportedly under investigation after a former male staffer accused her of groping him. Assemblywoman Cristina Garcia allegedly cornered the then-25-year-old staffer in the dugout in 2014 after the annual state assembly softball game and squeezed his butt, according to Politico. The staffer, Daniel Fierro, told the newspaper that he “extricated himself” from the situation before the assemblywomen could grab his crotch.