Free Republic

Sherrill, Stefanik, King, and Cisneros Introduce Bipartisan SALT Bill to Increase CapWashington, DC – Today, Representative Mikie Sherrill (D-NJ) announced the introduction of bipartisan legislation with Representatives Elise Stefanik (R-NY), Peter King (R-NY), and Representative Gil Cisneros (D-CA) to raise the State and Local Tax (SALT) deduction cap. The 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act limited the SALT deduction to $10,000, and married couples filing jointly are harmed by having the same limit to $10,000 cap as individuals. The SALT Relief and Marriage Penalty Elimination Act would make the SALT deduction equal to the standard deduction taken by taxpayers, encouraging...

Republican Reps. Zeldin, Stefanik and Budd introduced a resolution Wednesday to condemn the rise of anti-Semitism and anti-Israel sentiment in politics. The resolution specifically called out Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan, the leaders of the Women’s March, as well as Democratic Reps. Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar who have expressed their support for the anti-Israel Boycott, Divestment and Sanction (BDS) movement. The BDS movement calls for companies and groups to protest and penalize the state of Israel over its treatment of the Palestinian people. Many of those who are in opposition to the movement label it as anti-Semitic because...

The campaign manager of a Democrat seeking a U.S. House seat in upstate New York quit the campaign Tuesday, after a video showed the candidate saying she wouldn't publicly endorse a ban on certain firearms -- for fear that she’d lose the election. Mike Szustak, who since April had run the campaign of candidate Tedra Cobb, told the Watertown Daily Times that he’s no longer part of Cobb's bid to unseat Republican incumbent Elise Stefanik in New York's 21st Congressional District. The departure follows revelations that Cobb won’t publicly state that she favors banning assault rifles. The video was first...

The campaign manager for Democrat Tedra Cobb, who is running to unseat Rep. Elise Stefanik (R., N.Y.), left the campaign on Tuesday in the wake of a video where Cobb says she won't publicly state what she actually believes about banning certain guns. Mike Szustak, who has been running Cobb's campaign since April, told the Watertown Daily Times that he was no longer working on the campaign. It is not clear if he quit or if he was fired. The move comes in the aftermath of a Washington Free Beacon report on a video showing Cobb telling a group of...

So much has been said recently about the rivalry between the House Freedom Caucus and a group called “The Tuesday Group,” a group of largely unnamed so-called “moderates” in the House. The leadership of the Tuesday Group is named, and some members willingly speak to reporters about their agenda. The group boasts of a membership of somewhere between 40 and 50 members, but only a few have outed themselves as part of the secretive backroom group. The most vocal member is one of the co-chairs named Charlie Dent, a Pennsylvanian Republican whose liberty score reveals that he votes liberal 72%...

So, did everyone enjoy yesterday’s kabuki theatre? Both the Comey testimony in the House and the Gorsuch hearing in the Senate was Congressional Open Mic Night at its best: pols otherwise unknown outside their home districts pontificating their respective talking points. Lately all Congressional hearings seem more like a game of reverse-rule Jeopardy: all contestants are required to ask their question in the form of an answer. Occasionally a rookie lands a seat on the panel who doesn’t follow the rules and asks real questions: Representative Elise M. Stefanik is a young, freshman republican congresswoman from the Albany New York...

Buffalo businessman Carl Paladino is circulating a call for primary challengers to Rep. Elise Stefanik, a North Country Republican who is heading into her first re-election bid. In an email sent to supporters Wednesday, Paladino called Stefanik a “RINO Washington elitist establishment sell-out.” “Ron, we are done with Elise,” he wrote in response to an email from Ronald Deeley, a conservative activist from the western side of Stefanik’s district. “She drinks the cool aid (sic). Clearly she’s a fraud.”

We’re having ourselves an historic presidential campaign in case you hadn’t noticed. Sure, we’ve only had one state vote so far, but a new record has been set. We now have not one, but two Hispanic candidates who have received more votes and more delegates than any other in the history of presidential primaries. This is a truly great day for diversity and the future of the American melting pot. Or at least it would be if either of them had been Democrats. Sadly, the Party of the Donkey is running two very white senior citizens so the groundbreaking nature...

You may remember “can’t say it? don’t legislate it.” For those who need a refresher, abortion advocates made a fuss by falsely claiming that Michigan state Rep. Lisa Brown was censured simply for using the word “vagina.” In reality she was censured for violating House decorum and comparing support for pro-life legislation to rape. It is the abortion industry that is obsessed with a woman’s reproductive organs. While a baby does come out of her mother, this is not the only aspect of pregnancy, childbirth, and abortion. Another human being’s life is always at stake, and that life deserves just...

WATERTOWN, N.Y.— Elise Stefanik, the youngest woman ever elected to Congress, has never held elected office, but her résumé looks more like that of a Beltway insider than a political newcomer. By the time she won her seat representing a swath of upstate New York in the November election, she had served as a domestic policy aide for former President George W. Bush , a policy director for former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty ’s 2012 presidential campaign and head of debate preparation for vice-presidential nominee Rep. Paul Ryan .

A headline on the Cut announces that the midterm election results were “Bad News for Women.” Under it, Ann Friedman argues that even though there were several “prominent victories” for Republican women this week—including combat veteran and hog castrator Joni Ernst in Iowa, black Mormon Mia Love in Utah, and youngest woman to ever be elected to Congress Elise Stefanik in New York—because they do not support abortion rights and are pro-gun, that means their wins are not a boon for women. I’m not sure I agree. If you are against everything Joni Ernst or Mia Love stand for, then...

Radical liberal feminism — the kind that likes abortion on demand and taxpayer-funded birth control — has been rejected at the polls. Or, at least, it’s been a really rough week, or so. And I’m not just talking about the fact that Sen.-elect Cory Gardner effectively pushed back on the “war on women” narrative by defeating Colorado’s ”Mark Uterus.”The story also played out in Texas, where — writing about the race — Mollie Hemingway observed: “Wendy Davis was the face of ‘War On Women’ Politics. How’d that go?” And it played out in California, where Sandra Fluke lost a bid for...

Republican Elise Stefanik on Tuesday became the youngest woman ever elected to Congress. And she’s pro-life. And she’s from New York state. Stefanik, who was a staffer with the presidential campaign of pro-life Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty, romped to a 22-point victory over Democratic challenger Aaron Woolf in New York’s 21st congressional district. The 30-year-old Stefanik is considered a rising Republican star and leading pro-life groups like the Susan B. Anthony List campaigned for her. elisestefanik“I didn’t think I was ever going to run for office,” Stefanik told Business Insider recently. “But I was disappointed in the 2012 elections. I...

Elise Stefanik, 30, became the youngest woman elected to Congress in the nation's history on Tuesday, winning New York's 21st open district 56-32 against Democrat Aaron Woolf. "I didn't think I was ever going to run for office," Stefanik, a Republican, told Business Insider in the lead-up to Election Day.

Challengers see themselves in the Texas senator, even in races where their odds of an upset are considered steeper than Cruz’s surprise victory over a GOP establishment figure two years ago. He’s made endorsements in the Oklahoma and Nebraska Senate races, plus the Nebraska gubernatorial race, and sent almost $26,000 to federal candidates through his leadership PAC. “Ted Cruz would be extremely helpful as an endorser and a fundraiser,” said C. Edmund Wright, a consultant to longshot South Carolina Senate hopeful Lee Bright, in an email. “Rand Paul and Mike Lee would be great also.” But, he said, “the reason...

Updated 12:30 PM | Rep. Bill Owens, D-N.Y., announced Tuesday that he will retire from Congress after just two full terms. “After careful thought and consideration, I have decided not to seek re-election for the 21st Congressional District this November,” he wrote in a news release. “It has truly been a privilege to serve, and I plan on continuing to work for a brighter future for the region.” Owens faced a somewhat competitive race against former Bush White House staffer Elise Stefanik. Republicans view the now-open seat in upstate New York as a potential pickup opportunity in 2014. In 2012,...