Free Republic

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) - Legislators are debating whether to fire the director of South Carolina’s Department of Public Safety through the state budget. A budget amendment proposed Tuesday would eliminate the director’s position and reduce the agency’s funding, effectively firing Leroy Smith. Democratic Rep. Russell Ott says that’s a decision for the governor.

Sunday on ABC’s “This Week,” while discussing the Republican plan to repeal and replace Obamacare, Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) said he was “afraid if they vote for the bill, they’ll put the House majority at risk next year.” Cotton said, “As it’s written today, this bill cannot pass the Senate. I believe it would have adverse consequences for millions of Americans and wouldn’t deliver on our promises to reduce the cost of health insurance to Americans. I would say to my friends in the house of representatives, with whom I serve, do not walk the plank and vote for a...

“I am a friend of the President. I have an appointment.” These were the words a California man said to a U.S. Secret Service officer after jumping a fence and entering restricted White House grounds late Friday night, according to charging documents filed in filed in U.S. District Court. The man, who police identified as 26-year-old Jonathan Tuan-Anh Tran of Milpitas, California, was discovered in the restricted area of the White House when an officer approached him to ask him whether he was a pass-holder, police and court records said. That’s when Tran replied that he did not have a...

The Daily Caller News Foundation reported in February that three brothers who managed office IT for government officials were relieved of their duties on suspicion that they accessed specific computer networks without permission, also known as hacking. Brothers Abid, Imran, and Jamal Awan were barred from computer networks at the House of Representatives. One of the brothers has a criminal record. Bill Clinton with Imran Awan The three brothers funneled House data to an external server. Now this… Imran Awan possessed the password to DNC Chair Debbie Wasserman Shultz’s ipad when DNC emails were leaked to Wikileaks.

Days before U.S. Capitol Police told House members that three Pakistani brothers who ran their computer networks may have stolen congressional data, their stepmother called Fairfax County, Virginia police to say the Democratic staffers were keeping her from her husband’s deathbed. A relative described her situation as being held in captivity for months while the brothers schemed to take their father’s life insurance and other assets. The brothers — who as IT professionals for Congress could read House members’ emails — allegedly used wiretapping devices on their own stepmother and threatened to abduct loved ones in Pakistan if she didn’t...

Congressional Republicans on Monday night released their formal plan for replacing Obamacare. Read the bill here.

THE DEPARTMENT OF Justice secretly obtained phone records for reporters and editors who work for the Associated Press news agency, including records for the home phones and cell phones of individual journalists, according to the AP, in what the agency characterized as “serious interference with AP’s constitutional rights to gather and report the news.” The records, covering all of April and May 2012, were seized by the DoJ earlier this year and covered more than 20 separate phone lines. The records listed outgoing calls for both the work and personal phone numbers of individual reporters, as well as the general...

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said Thursday that he wants to see "very significant" tax reform passed before Congress' August recess, in what could prove a tough task as lawmakers work through a complex agenda. "We want to get this done by the August recess. We've been working closely with the leadership in the House and the Senate and we're looking at a combined plan," he told CNBC in his first television interview since assuming office. President Donald Trump has repeatedly made pledges for tax reform and regulatory cuts since he took office, creating optimism among business executives and investors. So...

Anyone have a good site suggestion to look up current Senate/House Resolutions in progress? Thanks!

Remember when Paul Ryan set Trump up before he won the Presidential election? He told him he would meet with him at a gathering, but at the last minute he canceled, humiliating Trump? Trump had made some unbecoming comments which made many turn against him. However, in the political arena, that does not usually turn Presidential supporters against the candidate. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/powerpost/wp/2016/10/07/ryan-mcconnell-silent-on-lewd-trump-video/?utm_term=.039da67ec1e0 Ryan calls off plans to campaign with Trump; GOP-ers rush to distance themselves. It was a bad beginning for Trump, and it was his own fault, but it also gave us a glimpse into the GOP and Paul Ryan’s...

Three brothers who managed office information technology for members of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence and other lawmakers were abruptly relieved of their duties on suspicion that they accessed congressional computers without permission.Brothers Abid, Imran, and Jamal Awan were barred from computer networks at the House of Representatives Thursday, The Daily Caller News Foundation Investigative Group has learned.Three members of the intelligence panel and five members of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs were among the dozens of members who employed the suspects on a shared basis. The two committees deal with many of the nation’s most sensitive issues and documents, including...

Three brothers who managed office information technology for members of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence and other lawmakers were abruptly relieved of their duties on suspicion that they accessed congressional computer networks without permission. Brothers Abid, Imran, and Jamal Awan were barred from computer networks at the House of Representatives Thursday, The Daily Caller News Foundation Investigative Group has learned. Three members of the intelligence panel and five members of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs were among the dozens of members who employed the suspects on a shared basis.

BERLIN — The seemingly endless saga of the house in which Adolf Hitler was born has taken a new turn, with the owner challenging an Austrian law that allows the government to seize ownership and, possibly, demolish the property. The house in the town of Braunau, just across the Inn River from Bavaria, has been in limbo for decades. The Austrian government took over the main lease in 1972 in an effort to ensure that the property would not fall into the hands of someone seeking to glorify its link to a dark history. Hitler was born in the building...

Ivanka Trump has a new address, and it's in Washington, D.C. The daughter of president-elect Donald Trump will continue to play a role in his administration as she leaves her native New York for the nation's capital. Trump's new residence is situated in the city's Kalorama neighborhood, an area that will ring familiar to those who've followed the Obamas' next move—it's where the current First Family will be living after they move out of the White House. Incredibly, Trump will be living less than two blocks away, as Washington Fine Properties agent William F.X. Moody confirmed to The Washingtonian. While...

The minute Donald Trump was sworn into office, the White House’s web site changed—dramatically. WhiteHouse.gov immediately wiped pages on LGBT rights, civil rights, climate change, and health care from its “issues” section after Donald Trump took the oath of office.

Improprieties at the Detroit Land Bank Authority cost taxpayers over $824,000. Though they have been the subject of an audit and continue to be the focus of a federal criminal investigation, only one employee has experienced any consequences. That individual, a manager at a program overseeing the demolition of buildings in Detroit, was transferred to another job and took a pay cut of $15,000. The authority was created to package and sell abandoned and tax-foreclosed properties owned by the city. It receives federal funds meant for blight removal and is the subject of a federal investigation due to rising demolition...

The Trump effect has landed forcefully on Capitol Hill. Less than two hours after President-elect Donald Trump criticized House Republicans — in a tweet, of course — for trying to gut an ethics investigative unit on the first day of business in the new Congress, those plans lay in shambles in the Republican conference’s meeting room. The immediate outcome was to keep intact the independent Office of Congressional Ethics There was a broader outcome, too: The unruly Republican caucus that has wreaked havoc in the House for the entirety of Ryan’s tenure fell in line. And there were signs, judging...

As opposed to corruption of the US Senate, I’ve paid little attention over the course of this blog to the House of Representatives. The House isn’t involved with high profile treaties or appointments, and is far too infrequently involved with impeachments. Aside from hoping it doesn’t fall into democratic hands, it’s just sort of “there.” We dutifully vote every two years for the congressman of our choice, and that seems to be that. While few today give much thought to the topic of representation, it was high on the list of concerns during the Framing era. At the federal convention,...

It was probably never a good idea for House Republicans to use a procedural gimmick to change ethics rules. It was definitely foolish to do it as their first order of business in the new Congress. House Speaker Ryan told them so, but his lieutenants were not interested in optics as they prepared to clamp down on the independent Office of Congressional Ethics. Two tweets from President-elect Trump, however, were enough. In a sharp turn, lawmakers dropped their gambit today. Trump was understandably miffed at the ham-fisted move by the new Congress to make disempowering watchdogs the first order of...

Yes, the House is weakening the powers of an independent entity that was authorized to investigate allegations of wrongdoing... But keep some perspective: the Office of Congressional Ethics had two powers: the first was to issue those public reports — giving the accused member of Congress bad publicity. The second was to refer their findings to the House Ethics Committee, which could implement a more serious punishment, like fines and formal reprimands by the full House. Under the old system, the referrals went to the House Ethics Committee, consisting of five Democrats and five Republicans. Under the new system, the...