Free Republic

<p>OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Before he became a leading voice for conservative causes on Capitol Hill, U.S. Senator James Lankford spent more than a decade as the director of youth programming at the Falls Creek Baptist Conference Center, a sprawling campground about 80 miles south of Oklahoma City that attracts more than 50,000 campers in grades six through 12 each year.</p>

Rep. Markwayne Mullen (R-OK) said the Biden administration is deliberately harming the U.S. economy to create pretexts for further governmental seizures of power and control over society. Inflation of gas prices due to government decrees and policies is part of a broader undermining of U.S. prosperity driven by the Democrat Party to create citizens’ dependency on the state, Mullen stated. “There are three things that a socialist takeover has to control,” Mullen said. “They have to control the education system, the healthcare system, and the energy sector. The energy sector, because the energy sector is the backbone of every economy....

Senate Republicans and Democrats are rebuking claims from President Joe Biden and Treasury Department Secretary Janet Yellen that United States tariffs on Chinese imports have helped spur record inflation for American consumers. Sens. Rob Portman (R-OH), Sherrod Brown (R-OH), Mitt Romney (R-UT), Kevin Cramer (R-ND), Mike Braun (R-IN), Robert Casey (D-PA), Rick Scott (R-FL), James Inhofe (R-OK), and Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) have written a letter to Biden urging him to keep in place U.S. tariffs on billions of dollars worth of China-made products.

The race for retiring Senator Jim Inhofe’s coveted seat added another Republican competitor on Thursday, with former Speaker of the Oklahoma House T.W. Shannon announcing his candidacy.

At just 44 years old, T.W. Shannon is mounting his second bid for the Senate. For the second time, the Oklahoma Republican is running in a special election to fill the remainder of a six-year term being vacated prematurely by a GOP incumbent. This time, it's Sen. James Inhofe, 87, who was first elected in 1994 and is resigning from Congress at year’s end. So, what dragged Shannon, now chief executive officer of a community bank in Oklahoma City, out of political retirement since his first (and unsuccessful) campaign for Senate eight years ago? ... “My story is unique, and...

@ChadPergram GOP OK Sen Inhofe: To challenge a state’s certification, given how specific the Constitution is, would be a violation of my oath of office—that is not something I am willing to do and is not something Oklahomans would want me to do.

President Donald Trump dismissed the “bullshit” of the effects of cancel culture as he negotiated with a senator to preserve the name of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee at military installations, according to a recording of a phone conversation given to The New York Times. Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.) put Trump on speakerphone at an Italian restaurant in Washington, D.C., as the men talked politics Wednesday night. The conversation was overheard and recorded by “someone in the room,” the Times reported Thursday.

The Lincoln Project, a Republican super PAC, in a new ad slammed some of President Trump’s top GOP allies in the Senate, accusing a slate of Republican lawmakers of “cowardice” and “betrayal.” The ad, released Wednesday, states, “Someday soon, the time of Trump will pass. This circus of incompetence, corruption and cruelty will end. When it does, the men and women in Trump’s Republican Party will come to you, telling you they can repair the damage he’s done. They’ll beg you to forgive their votes to exonerate Trump from his crimes, ask you to forgive their silence, their cowardice and...

This is not an emergency virus bill. It is a Democratic election wish list, at a time hundreds are dying, thousands are losing their businesses, and millions are out of work in the United States. The weekend began with a bipartisan plan. People were hopeful. Outside of Washington, business owners told The Federalist they finally saw light in all the darkness. They thought they’d be able to hire their employees back again. These are employees who have families, mortgages, and lives, people who have never asked for public assistance in their lives and never thought they’d have to.The mood in...

This morning news broke out that four Republican senators are being accused of dumping their stocks after being briefed on the coronavirus in private meetings. Richard Burr of North Carolina, Kelly Loeffler of Georgia, James Inhofe of Oklahoma and Ron Johnson from Wisconsin. The mainstream media was quick to attack the GOP members as corrupt but it seems they are not alone. Democratic senator Dianne Feinstein of California is also accused of insider trading. Feinstein, who serves as ranking member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, and her husband sold between $1.5 million and $6 million in stock in California biotech...

Roughly a dozen GOP senators want to change the Senate’s rules and allow for lawmakers to dismiss articles of impeachment against President Trump before the House sends them over. Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) introduced the resolution on Monday, arguing the Senate's impeachment rules do not envision a scenario where the House would delay transmitting articles against a president, as Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) has done. "The Constitution gives the Senate sole power to adjudicate articles of impeachment, not the House. If Speaker Pelosi is afraid to try her case, the articles should be dismissed for failure to prosecute and Congress...

TEL AVIV: Five days ago, an undisclosed intelligence agency intercepted a telephone call made by the head of Iran’s Quds Force, Maj. Gen. Qassem Soleimani, in which he was heard ordering his proxies in Iraq to attack the U.S embassy in Baghdad, as well as other Israeli and American targets, with the aim of taking hostages, Israeli sources say. It’s unclear whether this was a lapse in tradecraft on the part of the usually savvy Soleimani or whether the notorious Iranian military leader’s phone calls were being routinely intercepted. Nor is it clear whether it was the US or another...

President Trump is trumpeting a string of big victories in the massive compromise defense policy bill working its way through Congress, as liberal Democrats lament a host of priorities that have been cut from the legislation. The final version of the National Defense Authorization Act gives the president a freer hand on Iran and Saudi Arabia and on ways to fund the southern border wall. The Senate is expected to pass the annual defense policy bill this week, and the White House said Mr. Trump is enthusiastically waiting to sign it into law. In a memo to fellow Republicans just...

Armed Services Committee member Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) on Monday called for the panel to hold a hearing to investigate U.S. strategy in the 18-year Afghanistan War following a damning report that senior U.S. officials knowingly lied to the public for years about the country's progress in the conflict. “We all read today, the striking reporting by The Washington Post, suggesting that administration officials, potentially including military officials, have misled the American public about the war in Afghanistan. I am writing to request hearings to address these deeply concerning revelations about the Afghan war,” Gillibrand wrote in a letter to...

Sen. Mitt Romney’s (R-Utah) public battles with President Trump are taking a toll on his relationship with fellow GOP senators, with many resenting the implication that they’re afraid of standing up to the president. Romney has replaced retired Sens. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) and Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) as the go-to senator for voicing dissension within the Senate GOP ranks when Trump finds himself in hot water. That distinction has made Romney one of the most high-profile freshman Republican senators in recent years, but it has also fueled grumbling among his colleagues. Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.), one of Trump’s biggest defenders, told...

GOP senators attack whistleblower's credibility GOP senators attack whistleblower's credibility BY ALEXANDER BOLTON - 09/30/19 06:00 AM EDT 13,753 Republican senators scrambling to protect President Trump from a formal impeachment inquiry are attacking the credibility of the whistleblower who filed a complaint. GOP lawmakers are asserting the whistleblower did not have firsthand knowledge of the actions detailed in the complaint and question whether the person had a political agenda. “It doesn’t come from a person with personal knowledge. It’s like I heard these people say this, and now I’m reporting it. I think that is pretty bizarre,” said Sen. John...

The Senate on Thursday voted to confirm Andrew Wheeler as administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in a 52-47 mostly party-line vote. Every Democrat voted against Wheeler, while Sen. Susan Collins (Maine) was the only Republican to vote against him. Collins in a statement Wednesday said she would not vote for Wheeler, a former energy lobbyist, because of his track record backing policies that weaken rules protecting are pollution and lowering car emissions. “While Mr. Wheeler is certainly qualified for this position, I have too many concerns with the actions he has taken during his tenure as Acting Administrator...

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger says the debate whether humans are changing the climate is over. Sen. John McCain, an Arizona Republican, says the science linking human activity to global warming is overwhelming. President Bush recently called global warming "a serious problem." He said there is still uncertainty over how much of the warming is natural and how much man-made, but he added that it was time to "get beyond the debate" and deploy new technologies to curb greenhouse gases. But in the U.S. Senate, one prominent lawmaker isn't buying it. Sen. James Inhofe, R-Okla., has argued repeatedly that the idea that...

Senate Republicans on Thursday delayed a vote on one of President Trump's judicial nominees after a determination that they don't yet have to vote to confirm him. The Senate was set to vote at noon on Thomas Farr, who was nominated by President Trump to serve on the federal bench in North Carolina's Eastern District. But that vote was moved until some time next week. Sens. Tim Scott, R-S.C., and Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, are still deciding whether to support Farr, a former campaign lawyer for the late Sen. Jesse Helms who has been accused participating in a scheme to suppress...

The Senate on Wednesday took a symbolic shot at President Trump’s trade policy amid anxiety on Capitol Hill over his tariff strategy. Senators voted 88-11 to instruct lawmakers hashing out a deal on a government funding bill to include language “providing a role for Congress” on tariffs implemented for national security reasons, known as Section 232 of the trade laws. The vote is nonbinding, meaning lawmakers don’t have to add trade language into the funding bill. But the vote margin, with more senators supporting it than the amount needed to override a veto, underscores the depth of concern on Capitol...