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One of the recurring topics during Obama's speech to the Business Roundtable taking place today, aside from Obama's clear revulsion against any sort of pessimistic thought - although we admit there is still time for an executive order that makes only Optimistic thought legal, or a brand new Federal Department of Optimism with a $1 trillion annual budget - has been Obama's fear and loathing of another government shutdown. The issue, you see, is that Republicans are simply unwilling to compromise. Because, apparently, Obama is, about everything... except taxes, immigration or healthcare. And while everyone knows Obama's position and...

Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) blasted President Obama’s executive order on immigration, saying the president needs a “remedial civics 101” course to refresh his understanding of the Constitution's separations of power. “There is an appropriate way to address this, and it’s not amnesty,” Cornyn said on the Senate floor Thursday. “This is really a terrible precedent.”

The Senate narrowly rejected legislation to authorize the Keystone XL pipeline on Tuesday, handing a defeat to the oil industry and dealing a major blow to Louisiana Democrat Mary Landrieu, who staked her political career on the outcome. The Senate voted 59-41 for the legislation, falling one vote shy of the 60 needed for passage under the deal bringing it to the floor. But Keystone supporters insisted the defeat would be short-lived. Republican leaders are vowing to try again after they take over the chamber in January — when they will have more than enough votes to get a measure...

Internet old-timers - those of us over age 25 - remember a time when the web was called the Information Superhighway. The debate over net neutrality has us thinking about another sort of highway: the Trans-Texas Corridor. The TTC, a proposed 4,000-mile toll road, rail and utility project, died a death of a thousand cuts in 2010. First proposed as a much-needed infrastructure investment, the well-intentioned project grew into a monstrosity of politically connected contractors, private property concerns and conspiracy theories. The biggest blow to TTC was statewide opposition to granting Spanish-owned developer Cintra a 50-year, multibillion-dollar deal to control...

During a debate with Democratic challenger David Alameel, Texas Sen. John Cornyn said it is time to reach a "consensus" on immigration reform by "finding parts that we agree on," including providing children of illegal immigrants access to education. "I believe education is the way out," the Republican said. He added that the children of parents "who did not comply with our immigration laws are guilty of nothing," and "it makes no sense to condemn them to a minimum-wage job for the rest of their lives when they could produce so much more, when they could be so much more....

Texas' two Republican Senators disagree on what Republicans should prioritize if the party regains control of Congress. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), who is considering a 2016 presidential run and is seen as the conservative voice in Congress, wants Republicans to try to repeal Obamacare and stop President Barack Obama's executive grants of amnesty. Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX), who may become Majority Whip if the GOP wins a net of six Senate seats this year, believes Republicans will only win the White House in 2016 if conservative stalwarts like Cruz water down their bold conservatism and compromise. Cornyn recently said "that...

A bipartisan group of senators from across the political spectrum—from Elizabeth Warren and Patrick J. Leahy to Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio—wants President Barack Obama to speak out and act to support Hong Kong’s democracy movement.They don’t specify exactly what they want Obama to do—they say “demonstrable, meaningful steps”—but note that a 1992 law “authorizes you to suspend trade and economic provisions should Beijing not provide sufficient autonomy for Hong Kong.”Leahy, the Vermont Democrat who is president pro tempore and Judiciary chairman, leads the letter with Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Miss., and Rubio.“The people of Hong Kong have sent a strong...

U.S. Senator John Cornyn (R-TX) today wrote to U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Commissioner R. Gil Kerlikowske to request additional information on the screening process for incoming passengers to the U.S. following this week’s first confirmed case of Ebola in Dallas: “Under current protocols, what specific events or indicators would justify an enhanced screening process by CBP? Is CBP currently considering additional plans to increase enhanced screenings of incoming passengers?,” wrote Sen. Cornyn. “I urge you to coordinate with the CDC to ensure that we are providing accurate, timely, and appropriate information to all passengers arriving into the United...

National Republican Senatorial Committee Chairman Jerry Moran (Kan.) said Thursday that lingering disappointment over the outcome of recent elections has made it harder for Republicans to raise money in their pursuit of the Senate majority. "When I started the attempt to raise money for our candidates -- or for races even before we had candidates -- it was hard to get Republican donors to get out the checkbook," said Moran. "They had been through election cycles before in which we didn't have the success that people thought we should and Governor Romney did not get elected president." Moran made his...

Remember how the National Republican Senatorial Committee wanted everyone to know just how terrible the Senate Conservatives Fund is? Remember how NRSC consultants took to op-ed pages, pushed reporters, and tweeted about the lavish and extravagant expenses of SCF? Remember how when a candidate got endorsed by SCF, everyone knew immediately NRSC would support the opposite candidate out of spite? (See e.g. Ben Sasse v. Shane Osborn) Remember how the NRSC, Chamber of Commerce, and other establishment groups poured tons of money into primaries to stop SCF gains and those of other outside groups? Well, NRSC spent so much money...

Several Republican candidates in the year's most competitive Senate races have begun their fall sprint to Election Day, not by embracing Tea Party-fueled conservatism but by defensively tacking leftward. Let’s start in Colorado, site of a strategic GOP retreat in the “War on Women.” The Republican backtracking there is being done by Rep. Cory Gardner, following withering attacks by Democrats on his past support for “personhood amendments” that bestow rights to fertilized human eggs and effectively ban some forms of birth control. Gardner released an ad claiming he would make access to “the pill … cheaper and easier” than would...

Unlike many of his fellow Republican lawmakers, U.S. Senator John Cornyn sounded a conciliatory note when talking about the border crisis in San Antonio on Friday afternoon. He complimented the federal government on its response along the border and treatment of the children who have immigrated from Central America, said that he would be open to compromise on his controversial — but bipartisan — proposal that would require the children have a hearing before an immigration judge within seven days of entering the country; and added that he would not touch President Barack Obama’s current policy that allows children of...

NRO is hearing from a GOP aide that Senators John McCain and John Cornyn, of Arizona and Texas, respectively, are working on a Senate version of the House supplemental-funding bill aimed at addressing the border crisis that is expected to move forward tomorrow. -snip- It will likely provide new funding for immigration courts and enforcement agencies, as well as some aid for Central American countries from which the migrants currently crossing the border hail. Senator Ted Cruz’s proposal to halt the president’s Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program by refusing funding for the program is not expected to be included...

The Senate on Wednesday narrowly advanced an emergency funding measure to respond to the influx of unaccompanied migrant children crossing the southern border that has triggered a humanitarian crisis. -snip- Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), who is opposed to the Senate Democratic measure, initially voted in favor to advance the bill. But once it looked like the legislation might collapse, he switched his vote to “no.” A McConnell aide said when the outcome of the procedural vote looked murky, “many of our members wanted to be on record in opposition to a bill that didn’t even include the minor...

Pair proposed Humane Act to handle influx of minors at border The deadline is looming for a solution to the illegal immigration surge at the border. Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, and Rep. Henry Cuellar, D-Texas, continued to pitch their bi-partisan proposal on Sunday. The pair proposed a bill called the Humane Act, which they say could mean a quicker resolution for many unaccompanied minors crossing the border. Under the bill, U.S. Border Patrol agents would be allowed to ask children from Central America whether they choose to return home, the same question they ask those from Mexico. That question is...

I’m hearing from Senate sources that Senator Ted Cruz (R., Texas) is writing an alternative to the border crisis bill proposed by Senator John Cornyn (R., Texas) and Representative Henry Cuellar (D., Texas). A “central feature” of Cruz’s bill will be a reversal of President Obama’s Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, according to one Senate source.Republicans in both chambers agree that the surge of children from Central America was caused by Obama’s 2012 announcement of DACA, a policy under which the federal government does not deport people who would have qualified for the DREAM Act, a bill that never...

U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, a Republican from Texas, says the United States should provide financial assistance to Mexico to help secure its borders and slow the flow of thousands of immigrants. Cornyn says some 47,000 immigrants have been apprehended along the southwest U.S.-Mexico border this fiscal year, and that the number is expected to exceed 60,000 by the end of September.

U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, a Republican from Texas, says the United States should provide financial assistance to Mexico to help secure its borders and slow the flow of thousands of immigrants.

Ted Cruztook a victory lap of sorts this week after Eric Cantor's primary defeat. And why shouldn't he? The junior senator from Texas helped fuel the anti-establishment furies that devoured the House majority leader. "This election should be a reminder to all in Congress—Republicans and Democrats alike—that the conservative base is alive and well, and the American people will hold us all accountable," said Mr. Cruz. "Each of us needs to do what we said we would do and tell the truth." If this sounds like a threat, that's because it is.Mr. Cruz is wont to criticize Republican politicians who...

It’s only a small matter of time until the Obama administration finally, rapturously releases what its hopes will be the crown jewel of its rise-of-the-oceans-slowing climate-change agenda: Regulations capping the emissions from existing power plants, a.k.a., stamping out coal plants across the country. This set of regs is going to be even more complicated and controversial than the regulations for only new power plants the administration released last year, and as the AP obliquely explains, we’re likely to start seeing those “necessarily skyrocketing” energy prices Obama once mentioned pretty quickly here: Electricity prices are probably on their way up...