Free Republic

Do a Google News search for “income inequality” and it will remove any doubt that this is already the political issue of 2014. The left has been gearing up for months. The liberal Center for American Progress launched a new center devoted to the subject, and President Obama has been making it a centerpiece of his speeches. Get ready to hear about “fairness”—because some people make more money than others, and this isn’t fair. How can you sit by and watch this happen? What is the government going to do about it? It’s a popular argument because everyone—even Warren Buffett—wants...

It takes only an inch of snow to shut down Washington, but even the nuclear option cannot get Republicans to shut down the Senate. Several weeks after Harry Reid changed hundreds of years’ of Senate rules by abolishing the filibuster for all judicial and executive appointments, Republicans have all but forgotten about it. They could have threatened to block every piece of legislation until the rules are restored, but instead they are fully cooperating with a budget bill to fund Obamacare and increase spending, along with a farm bill to grow government intervention in the agriculture sector. They might even...

WASHINGTON — In a boost for the president on global warming, the Senate on Thursday rejected a challenge to Obama administration rules aimed at cutting greenhouse gas emissions from power plants and other big polluters. The defeated resolution would have denied the Environmental Protection Agency the authority to move ahead with the rules, crafted under the federal Clean Air Act. With President Barack Obama’s broader clean energy legislation struggling to gain a foothold in the Senate, the vote took on greater significance as a signal of where lawmakers stand on dealing with climate change. “If ever there was a vote...

Reuters) - The Senate approved a sweeping Wall Street reform bill on Thursday night, capping months of wrangling over the biggest overhaul of financial regulation since the 1930s. By a vote of 59-39, the Senate awarded a victory to President Barack Obama, a champion of tighter rules for banks and capital markets after a 2007-2009 financial crisis that slammed the economy and led to massive taxpayer bailouts. The Senate bill must now be merged with a measure approved in December by the House of Representatives. Only then could a final package go to Obama to be signed into law, something...