Free Republic

The U.S. House of Representatives overwhelmingly backed legislation on Thursday that will make it easier to export military equipment to Ukraine, reviving the "Lend-Lease Act" that helped defeat Hitler during World War Two. The House passed the "Ukraine Democracy Defense Lend-Lease Act of 2022" by 417 to 10, three weeks after it sailed through the Senate with unanimous support. It next goes to the White House for President Joe Biden to sign into law. The measure revives a World War Two-era program that allowed Washington to lend or lease military equipment to U.S. allies. In this case, it will help...

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) -- President Barack Obama on Monday pressed the chief executives of the nation's largest banks to lend more to small businesses, increase their assistance to troubled homeowners and end their opposition to bank regulatory reform legislation moving on Capitol Hill. "I urged these institutions here today to go back and take a third and fourth look about how they are operating when it comes to small business and medium-sized business lending," Obama said after meeting at the White House with the bankers. "Banks could be doing more to lend to small businesses." See full text of Obama's remarks....

The Energy Department said Tuesday it would lend $5.9 billion to Ford Motor Co. and provide about $2.1 billion in loans to Nissan Motor Co. and Tesla Motors Inc., making the three automakers the first beneficiaries of a $25 billion fund to develop fuel-efficient vehicles.

President Obama on Saturday struck back aggressively at critics of his $3.6 trillion budget proposal, casting himself as a populist crusader whose "sweeping change" has angered Washington's entrenched special interests, and promised to fight them. "I realize that passing this budget won't be easy. Because it represents real and dramatic change, it also represents a threat to the status quo in Washington," Mr. Obama said in his weekly video and radio address. Mr. Obama's language was combative and confrontational, as he promised to fight for "American families." "I know these steps won't sit well with the special interests and lobbyists...

President Barack Obama's first budget includes $15 billion a year for renewable energy programs and an ambitious plan to raise $646 billion from a carbon reduction proposal. "Because our future depends on our ability to break free from oil that's controlled by foreign dictators, we need to make clean, renewable energy the profitable kind of energy," Mr. Obama said Thursday morning. "That's why we'll be working with Congress on legislation that places a market-based cap on carbon pollution and drives the production of more renewable energy." The plan uses money from a cap-and-trade program — which would allow companies to...

President Obama will pledge Tuesday night that the nation "will rebuild, we will recover," as he delivers an address to a joint session of Congress and with a nervous nation watching at home. "While our economy may be weakened and our confidence shaken; though we are living through difficult and uncertain times, tonight I want every American to know this: We will rebuild, we will recover, and the United States of America will emerge stronger than before," Mr. Obama will say, according to excerpts of his remarks. In lofty language, Mr. Obama is expected to promise a new path forward...

From television specials to newspaper editorials, the media are pushing the idea that current economic problems were caused by the market and that only the government can rescue us. What was lacking in the housing market, they say, was government regulation of the market's "greed." That makes great moral melodrama, but it turns the facts upside down. It was precisely government intervention that turned a thriving industry into a basket case. An economist specializing in financial markets gave a glimpse of the history of housing markets when he said: "Lending money to American homebuyers had been one of the least...

WASHINGTON, April 9, 2007 – The Pentagon Federal Credit Union Foundation is lending a helping hand to those serving in the global war on terrorism, a foundation official said The group was founded in December 2001 to assist servicemembers and military families who face financial issues due to predatory lending. Pentagon Federal Credit Union Foundation is a member of America Supports You, the Defense Department program established in November 2004 to directly connect military members to the support of the America people and to offer a tool to the general public in their quest to find meaningful ways to support the...

2006 Q4 FReepathon. Target: $70,000 Receipts & Pledges to-date: $63,464 90%   Woo hoo!! Less than $7k to go!! Thank you all very much!!

WASHINGTON, July 25, 2006 – Seeing his artistry on the big screen was a bit of a rush, but former Hollywood sculptor Chuck O'Brien said it's nothing compared to the satisfaction he gets using his art to help transform military amputees. Army Spc. Adam Standfuss, a Minnesota Army National Guardsman wounded in Iraq, looks on as artist Robert Rubino paints a new artificial hand for him at Walter Reed Army Medical Center. Photo by Michael Dukes  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. "You can't go wrong working with heroes," O'Brien said as he sat side by side with two...

MARINE CORPS AIR STATION NEW RIVER, N.C. (Dec. 6, 2005) -- Approximately 115 athletes and nearly 120 Marine and civilian volunteers participated in the annual Special Olympics of Onslow County Fall Basketball Games in the New River Fitness Center gym Dec. 2. The Special Olympics offers year-round sports training and competition for more than one million children and adults with intellectual disabilities. According to Laura Quinn, SOOC public relations director, the athletes for the Fall Basketball Games were students from 11 area schools, including Brewster Middle School aboard Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune, and Carobell, Inc., which provides 24-hour care...

11/2/2005 - EGLIN AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. (AFPN) -- Airmen here gave up their free time help their neighbors during Make a Difference Day Oct. 22 and 28. Residents of Bob Hope and Theresa villages and Eglin’s Thrift Shop benefited from these Airmen’s labors. The annual event is the most encompassing national day of helping others -- a celebration of neighbors helping neighbors. In 2004, three million people cared enough about their communities to volunteer on that day, accomplishing thousands of projects in hundreds of towns. Staff Sgt. Jeff Henson, 68th Electronic Warfare Squadron’s Intelligence Directorate, said Make A Difference...

MARINE CORPS RECRUIT DEPOT SAN DIEGO, Calif. (Oct. 28, 2005) -- In preparation for the depot's Marine Corps Birthday Ball, the Marine Corps Family Team Building office hosted its annual Ball Gown Giveaway and Fashion Show Oct. 19 at the Bay View restaurant. The show kicked off at 5:30 p.m. with opening remarks made by headquarters and service battalion's commanding officer's wife, Mrs. Sheila Redfern. Civilian depot employees and female Marines waltzed the catwalk in a display of 520 gently used ball gowns and a few rental gowns from local businesses. "It was different than last year; there were less...

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (Sept. 17, 2005) -- As East Coast Marines wade through the aftermath of Louisiana’s deadly flood zones, left by Hurricane Katrina’s path of destruction, survivors slowly begin are bringing their lives back to some kind of normalcy. The West Coast Marines of Recruiting Station Sacramento found it in their hearts to lend a helping hand in what seemed to be a nationwide effort in assisting Katrina victims to regain some of the simple comforts of home, despite their losses. All 14 stations throughout RS Sacramento’s area of operation decided to take a break from their usual mission of...

<p>As a troika of California financial officers heads east today to convince Wall Street that the state remains credit-worthy, the situation at home is anything but persuasive. Recent events have begun to erode a thin layer of credibility that Gov. Gray Davis had erected around a fiscal crisis that ultimately could threaten the state's solvency.</p>