Free Republic

PM Netanyahu at Cabinet: I just met US Senate Republican leader McConnell. Over the weekend I spoke with US Senate Democratic leader Reid. » I heard from both of them about strong and continuing bipartisan support for Israel and of course this is very important. » I expressed our concern over the agreement formulated with Iran in the nuclear talks, which appears to confirm all of our concerns and more» Even as meetings proceed on this dangerous agreement, Iran's proxies in Yemen are overrunning large sections of that country, » and are attempting to seize control of the strategic Bab-el-Mandeb...

It might be fun to poke fun at Texas Senator and GOP Presidential candidate Ted Cruz for signing up for Obamacare but he is far from alone. As a matter of fact some other top GOP candidates for the 2016 Republican nomination are right there with Cruz. In fact almost every member of the House and the Senate who have voted over 50 times to repeal Obamacare are enrolled in the plan. It is important to be clear there is no such thing as being “on Obamacare.” It’s not an insurance plan, or a single program like Medicare or Social...

Remember when a disagreement between Republicans on the budget was “cataclysmic” for GOP claims to governance? Democrats last passed a normal budget resolution six years ago, but Republicans went all of seven days before both chambers finally passed budget resolutions. Our long national nightmare, at least as envisioned by Politico, is over: The Senate passed a Republican-authored budget plan early on Friday that seeks $5.1 trillion in domestic spending cuts over 10 years while boosting military funding.The 52-46 vote on the non-binding budget resolution put Congress on a path to complete its first full budget in six years. It...

MANCHESTER, UK – House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) and a delegation of senior House lawmakers visited the North of England on Friday to meet with Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne and discuss opportunities to deepen the economic and security ties between the US and the UK. Chancellor Osborne hosted the delegation for a working lunch at Peover Hall, which General George Patton and the Third Army used during World War II to plan and train for the Normandy breakout. There, participants had a fruitful discussion on the state of the British economy, our shared efforts to defeat ISIL, and...

Speaker of the House says he received no information from Israel on nuclear talks as was suggested in 'Wall Street Journal' report. House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) said Tuesday that he was "shocked" and "baffled" by a Wall Street Journal report published Tuesday morning that claimed Israel had spied on US nuclear talks with Iran, collecting information that was used to lobby him and his colleagues in Congress to drum up opposition to an emerging nuclear deal. "I'm not sure what the information was, but I'm baffled by it," Boehner told reporters on Capitol Hill on Tuesday. "No information [was]...

Move to eliminate all U.S. funding for diplomacy with Iran Congressional leaders have begun pressuring their colleagues to cut off all U.S. funding for the ongoing talks with Iran over its contested nuclear program as the Obama administration rushes to hash out the details of a deal in the coming months, according to multiple sources and a letter that will be sent next week to appropriators in the House of Representatives. With the deadline approaching, congressional Republicans have been exasperated by the Obama administration’s efforts to prevent them from having any oversight over the deal.

Conservatives are seething after an outside group aligned with Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) spent hundreds of thousands of dollars targeting a trio of Republican lawmakers over threats to shut down the Department of Homeland Security. Tea Party Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) equated the attack ads to GOP “cannibalism,” while his conservative colleague Rep. Matt Salmon (R-Ariz.) called them a “stupid” tactic that would backfire. American Action Network, a nonprofit whose board includes former Boehner chief of staff Barry Jackson, launched the $300,000 ad campaign earlier this month with TV spots depicting terrorists and accusing GOP Reps. Jim Jordan (Ohio), Tim...

House Speaker John Boehner showed up President Barack Obama earlier this month by inviting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to urge Congress against a nuclear deal with Iran. Now, with negotiations stalling over the timing of sanctions relief and centrifuge development, the GOP leader is setting the stage to do it again. Boehner (R-Ohio) is expected lead a group of lawmakers to Israel at the end of March, a trip that could coincide with the March 31 deadline to get a framework agreement in place, according to reports. Boehner spokesman Kevin Smith confirmed the visit and said it was planned...

Trip was arranged before election but is likely to be a 'victory celebration' for Netanyahu and Obama's arch rival. Speaker of the United States House of Representatives John Boehner is expected to visit Israel in about a week. Boehner, a member of the Republican Party, is U.S. President Barack Obama’s arch rival and the man who invited Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to make his controversial speech in Congress. Senior Israeli officials who asked to remain anonymous said Boehner will begin his visit, which has not yet been announced publicly, on March 31, heading a delegation of Republican Congress members. The...

see, two landslide elections did accomplish something. ... the “doc fix” is simply and end run around the deficit accounting process. What is more unsettling is the way this piece of legislation came about. It seems to signal that the era of the “Hastert Rule,” where the Speaker will not entertain legislation without the consent of the majority of his caucus, is dead. ... The fact that the Speaker went to the Democrats first to get votes on this spending deal shows the extent to which Boehner has been mortally injured as a leader. It also tells us that the...

Those who have been paying attention understand Hillary Clinton’s nomination for president is no longer inevitable. Like Lucy and Ethel at the candy factory she has been called upon to do too much with too little to convince Democrats she can win 2016. The lies have piled up and are spilling over the end of the conveyor belt. In a nutshell: It aint happening. If this was the totality of Hillary Clinton’s problems she could actually become the doting grandmother she tells us she wants to be and ride off into the sunset with her pockets full of foreign money....

Those who have been paying attention understand Hillary Clinton’s nomination for president is no longer inevitable. Like Lucy and Ethel at the candy factory she has been called upon to do too much with too little to convince Democrats she can win 2016. The lies have piled up and are spilling over the end of the conveyor belt. In a nutshell: It aint happening. If this were the totality of Hillary Clinton’s problems she could actually become the doting grandmother she tells us she wants to be and ride off into the sunset with her pockets full of foreign money....

House Speaker John Boehner at his Jan. 8, 2015 press briefing. (AP Photo) (CNSNews.com) – House Speaker John Boehner has passed legislation opposed by a majority of his own party nine times since becoming speaker in January 2011.That places him ahead of his predecessor, Nancy Pelosi, and four votes shy of the record for violations of the “Hastert Rule.”The Hastert Rule, described by former House Speaker Dennis Hastert in 2004, refers to the idea that the House speaker will only bring legislation to the floor for a vote if it has the support of “the majority of the majority.”...

Oh my goodness, the 2014 election victories didn’t end the war! You mean the progressives are still out there dreaming of a future full of hugs and goosestepping? You mean the GOP Establishment hasn’t just given up its power and knelt before us, begging to be forgiven for its craven crony corporatism? You mean the fight’s not over? No, the fight’s not over. So stop whining that you can’t go back to sitting on your rear end – we have a long campaign ahead. I know you’re tired. I know you’re frustrated. And I don’t care. Some people want to...

By Joel Leyden Israel News AgencyJerusalem, Israel — March 7, 2015 … US President Barack Obama spoke today in Selma, Alabama. Obama marked 50 years since 600 protesters speaking out against discrimination and demanding greater freedom and security faced off with Alabama state police . The same Barack Obama used every PR asset in his office to silence Jews who arrived in Washington 4 days ago. Jews who came to protest against a terror state – Iran – which is developing a nuclear weapon. Iran which has vowed to annihilate every Jew in Israel. Obama called upon his Vice President...

A new bombshell report from Politico found that House Speaker John Boehner had several days of secret negotiations with Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, the recently emboldened former Speaker, leading up to his decision to flip-flop and fund President Obama’s executive amnesty—including a pre-hashed out deal to use the hoopla around Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Tuesday address to Congress over Iran’s nuclear ambitions as political cover to sneak in the extraordinarily controversial vote. Even with the bombshell report, however, Boehner’s office continues to deny any deal took place. “It was Monday at 5:30 p.m. when Pelosi and Boehner agreed that...

The House Freedom Caucus doesn’t have a Web site. It’s not completely clear exactly who belongs to the group. But in the just-completed fight over Homeland Security funding, it was hard to miss the influence of the insurgent conservative bloc as it clashed with GOP leadership. The small group of far-right renegades has emerged as the latest embodiment of the internal GOP resistance to House Speaker John A. Boehner (R-Ohio); as a general rule, they are unpredictable, opaque and completely unwilling to back down from any fight against President Obama and his agenda. As the unified Republican majority looks to...

Daily Show host Jon Stewart took issue with House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) on Monday after he failed to pass funding the Department of Homeland Security.“So to stop the President from being too lenient on illegal immigration, you want to defund the department that secures the border?” Stewart asked.“It’s as though the caucus that you, John Boehner, purport to control has told you to [kiss] their ass,” Stewart said, referring to Boehner recently making kissy face noises at a reporter.Republicans touted their leadership skills just before the midterm elections, but so far, that hasn’t worked out well.“This finally answers the question,...

House Speaker John Boehner plans to present Prime Minister Netanyahu with a gift when Netanyahu speaks to a joint session of Congress on Tuesday. The gift is a bust of a politician whom Netanyahu greatly admires: Winston Churchill. House Speaker John Boehner plans to give Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu a bust of Winston Churchill when he speaks to a joint meeting of Congress about the danger of a nuclear-armed Iran. The gift was chosen because Netanyahu and the former prime minister of Britain are the only foreign leaders who have addressed Congress three separate times. ... Boehner also...

Let’s try this again. Congress returns Monday staring at another deadline to finance the Department of Homeland Security. But instead of stalling again, lawmakers look more likely this time to steer the anti-terrorism agency away from the funding cliff through September. With the clock ticking until the new Friday deadline to avert a DHS funding lapse, the GOP-controlled Senate will take the first step with a vote Monday on whether to head into formal negotiations with the House on financing the security agency. Senate Democrats are expected to block that move. That will put the onus squarely back on Speaker...