Free Republic

On November 4, voters fired the Democratic majority in the U.S. Senate, replacing it with a GOP majority that campaigned against Obamacare and big spending. But the Democrats who lost are still running the show. These lame ducks lack the moral authority to govern. They shouldn’t be allowed to do any more than the bare minimum to keep government operating until January, when the new Congress meets. Allowing Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid to ram through an omnibus spending bill for the coming year, or make other key decisions, would be like letting your ex-spouse keep using your checkbook. One...

Conservative lawmakers are pitching a number of legislative proposals to House speaker John Boehner (R., Ohio) and other House Republicans in order to avoid passing a long-term funding bill that would provide President Obama with the money he needs to implement his pending administrative amnesty for millions of illegal immigrants. “We could essentially be green-lighting it if we do a full omnibus in the lame-duck with everything,” says a House Republicans who signed Representative Matt Salmon’s letter calling for the House to pass a continuing resolution in the lame-duck session that would prohibit Obama from implementing his executive orders. The...

The White House on Wednesday is expected to ask Congress for additional funding to fight Ebola, congressional aides told The Hill. The administration will ask lawmakers to approve $6.2 billion in emergency funding, according to Bloomberg News. Of the total amount requested, $3.1 billion would be allocated toward the Department Health and Human Services (HHS), $2.9 billion would be for the State Department and HHS, and $100 million would be for the Defense Department. House Appropriations Committee spokeswoman Jennifer Hing confirmed the panel has heard about the request, but members have not yet seen details.

While federal and state agencies institute new policies and procedures in light of Ebola making an appearance in the U.S., the White House has called for a suspension on research involving other viruses with deadly potential for the time being. On Friday, the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy announced its moratorium on funding new “gain-of-function” research, saying it plans to further assess its risks and benefits. It also called for a voluntary stop on current research in this field. “Because the deliberative process launching today will aim to address key questions about the risks and benefits of...

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. — Judith White, who runs a research lab at the University of Virginia School of Medicine, submitted a proposal to the National Institutes of Health to test potential countermeasures against Ebola in March — just as Liberia was confirming its first two cases of the deadly virus. The project, a collaboration of the university, the Army and a drug company, showed promising early results: Mice injected with two compounds — one used in a drug to treat female infertility, the other found in a breast cancer drug — showed immunity to Ebola. But a few months later, not...

The pitch was intriguing: U.S. health officials wanted to fast-track trials for an Ebola vaccine and sounded the call for volunteers. Charles Sullivan called up the hotline on a whim, figuring the National Institutes of Health already had filled its queue and wouldn’t need him. But he was accepted for three rounds of shots of a deactivated virus, a year’s worth of blood analysis and a $900 check for his trouble. The clinical trial went well, and the vaccine seemed promising. A decade later, the country is still waiting for a vaccine amid a worldwide Ebola outbreak, and Mr. Sullivan...

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has spent more than $39 million on obese lesbians, origami condoms, texting drunks, and dozens of other projects that could have been scrapped in favor of developing an Ebola vaccine. “Frankly, if we had not gone through our 10-year slide in research support, we probably would have had a vaccine in time for this that would’ve gone through clinical trials and would have been ready,” said NIH Director Francis Collins, blaming budget cuts for his agency’s failure to develop a vaccine for the deadly virus. However, the Washington Free Beacon has uncovered $39,643,352 worth...

... What’s particularly interesting about this discussion, then, is that nobody has even discussed the fact that the federal government not ten years ago created and funded a brand new office in the Health and Human Services Department specifically to coordinate preparation for and response to public health threats like Ebola. The woman who heads that office, and reports directly to the HHS secretary, has been mysteriously invisible from the public handling of this threat. And she’s still on the job even though three years ago she was embroiled in a huge scandal of funneling a major stream of funding...

A new survey of communities from the Center for Local, State and Urban Policy at the University of Michigan shows an uptick in the percent that say they are better able to meet their fiscal needs. This is good as it generally tracks with an improving state economy, but there are some warning signs ahead. The survey notes, “For the first time in six years, more Michigan communities report that they are better able to meet their fiscal needs this year than those who say they are less able to do so.” (See chart nearby.) Local government property tax revenue...

A new Mark Schauer for governor political advertisement features four teachers from four different school districts who claim that Gov. Rick Snyder has cut funding to their districts. But in fact, on a per-student basis, all four districts actually received more taxpayer money in 2013-14 than they did in 2010-2011, which was the last budget approved by Gov. Jennifer Granholm. The ad features seven teachers but only four specifically cite lower funding. For months Schauer, who is the Democratic candidate for the state’s top office, has claimed that Gov. Snyder cut funding to public schools. This claim has been refuted...

Federal taxpayer funds continue to flow to a slew of U.S. universities that are spending the cash on programs that promote anti-Israel, anti-Semitic, and anti-American viewpoints, according to a large group of Jewish and civil rights organizations that are now pushing Congress to rectify what they call a systemic problem. Taxpayer funds have been allocated to universities under Title VI of the Higher Education Act (HEA) since 1965. However, Congress and the Education Department have exerted little oversight, leading these funds to be spent on biased educational programs that promote radical views about Israel and even America, according to the...

Mufid A. Elfgeeh, a 30-year-old man who owns a food store in upstate New York, has been arrested and charged with funding Islamic terrorist group ISIS, attempting to send jihadists to fight with them in Syria and even plotted to gun down U.S. troops, according to Federal authorities. The Democrat & Chronicle reports that Elfgeeh is the nephew of Abad Elfgeeh, an ice-cream shop owner who was arrested in Brooklyn in 2003, after being accused of being deeply involved in a terrorism network. Authorities alleged that Abad Elfgeeh funneled millions of dollars to his homeland of Yemen and had links...

Thursday at the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Africa, Global Health hearing titled, “Combating the Ebola Threat,” Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ) said he will be requesting funding for a "pandemic." Smith said, "This is unprecedented. Many people are not cooperating with efforts to contain the disease. There is an information gap. Despite the efforts through cell phone and radio to get the message out, there is a learning curve. as we consider what to do to meet this health challenge, I suggest we get funding levels for pandemic preparedness. This is for congress and the executive branch, in a restricted...

WASHINGTON (AP) — The GOP-controlled House has voted to slash the budget for the Internal Revenue Service's tax enforcement division by $1.2 billion, a 25 percent cut that would mean fewer audits of taxpayers and make it more likely that people who cheat on their taxes will get away with it. The House approved the cuts by voice vote after little debate Monday night as it took up a $21 billion spending bill that sets the IRS budget. The cuts reflect GOP outrage over the agency's scrutiny of tea party groups seeking tax-exempt status and frustration over the agency's failure...

FULL TITLE: Congress Is Using Its Favorite Budget 'Gimmick' To Avoid A 'Highway Shutdown,' But Everyone Else Hates It Right- and left-leaning groups are divided on the fate of federal highway spending. But one thing they can agree on is they don't like the way House Republicans' bill set to be voted on Tuesday is paid for. The House GOP's bill, which was drafted by House Ways and Means Committee Chair Dave Camp, would inject a cash infusion of more than $10 billion into the Highway Trust Fund. Camp said this money would pay for the infrastructure projects the fund...

Republicans in the House and Senate have voted thumbs down on President Obama's request for $3.8 billion to deal with the crisis on our southern border. Most lawmakers think it's too much money and not enough funds earmarked for border security. Washington Times: Even Texas Gov. Rick Perry, personally recruited by the president to persuade Republicans to support the measure, threw cold water on the idea. He said the president doesn’t need that much money and instead should send National Guard troops to secure the border. The apparent defeat caps a whirlwind several days for the White House, which responded...

Very few Americans realize there exists a large network of far left philanthropists and foundations in America dedicated to destroying the American way of life, our Christian-based culture and our free enterprise system. They seek to remove America from its constitutional foundations and move it toward a European-style socialism. Much of this effort is coordinated by a little known group called the Tides Foundation and its related group, the Tides Center. Over the course of its 33 year history, the Tides network has given hundreds of millions of dollars to anti-free enterprise groups, gun control groups, anti-private property groups, abortion...

NEW YORK (MainStreet) — This spring, new research out of Canada's McGill University that reviewed historical temperature records and geological data (ice cores, tree rings and lake sediments) concluded with 99% certainty that our current climate change predicament cannot be ascribed to natural cycles. But many are still dubious that man-made climate change is real. What's more, some skeptics even claim climate change is a money-making scam. In reality, you can follow the "dark money" to see how targeted funding is perpetuating these misconceptions -- even as climate change awareness and research groups lose funding.The article attempts to attack "skeptic"...

Democratic gubernatorial candidate Mark Schauer recently visited the West Bloomfield School District with a familiar message: Michigan schools, like West Bloomfield, are receiving less and less money. Except, according to state data, neither statement Schauer made April 23 was accurate. The Oakland Press reported Schauer's claims of a reduction in spending on K-12 education without challenging them. "Public education has been cut dramatically, it's been systematically privatized," said Schauer, walking alongside running mate Lisa Brown, Oakland County's clerk. "What I've seen here at (West Bloomfield High School) is amazing. They're doing more with less, they've felt the state budget cuts,...

The White House and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) solicited millions in donations from private health care companies for a nonprofit organization to promote Obamacare, according to the Government Accountability Office (GAO). The GAO released a report on Monday following a request from Republican senators to investigate HHS’s coordination with Enroll America, a “nonprofit, nonpartisan” organization founded by former White House staffers. The report noted that former HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius contacted the CEOs of five organizations last year to “solicit support” for Enroll America, which it would use to promote Obamacare. Additionally, the report links the...