Free Republic

Republican Sen. John Cornyn -- citing Health Secretary Kathleen Sebelius' recent admission that felons potentially could become ObamaCare navigators as well as new undercover video showing questionable behavior by these officials -- called Monday for the program to be halted. Cornyn ripped the program after conservative activist James O'Keefe released a new video that appears to depict ObamaCare navigators, in Cornyn's home state of Texas, encouraging applicants to fib on their applications. "This behavior is unacceptable, and is yet another broken piece of a deeply flawed system. The Obama administration should stop this program immediately," Cornyn said in a statement....

If the entire nation were one big New Jersey, Chris Christie would have the 2016 Republican presidential nomination in the bag....an NBC poll out Tuesday found that Christie was the preferred candidate of GOP voters in just one region, the Northeast. There, 57 percent of Republicans said they would support Christie in a GOP primary versus 22 percent who said they would not. However, pluralities of Republicans everywhere else said they would prefer a different candidate. Christie trailed a generic "other" GOPer in the Midwest (35/30 percent), the South (29/27 percent) and the West (40/22 percent.)

TAMPA, Fla. — What the heck happened to Chris Christie? Everyone eagerly anticipating his signature New Jersey-style smackdown on the first night of the Republican convention walked away scratching his head wondering who or what muted the famously uncontainable, confrontational, loud-mouthed governor. His speech was so tame and devoid of red meat, it could have been delivered by George H.W. Bush at a United Nations convention. Once it was clear how toothless a speech it would be, it became almost painful to watch him. It was like watching an episode of “Jersey Shore” with Snooki sober and fully dressed in...

A poll conducted by Harper Polling released today shows US Senator Lindsey Graham remains vulnerable and within the margin of error of being forced into a head-to-head runoff against a conservative challenger in the 2014 South Carolina Republican primary for re-election. Meanwhile, among those vying to replace Graham, South Carolina State Senator Lee Bright has broken away as the main challenger with more support than all others taking on Graham combined.

<p>Erick Wyatt, a 37-year-old veteran of the war in Iraq, is running for Sen. John Cornyn’s seat in the Republican primary in March 2014.</p> <p>The young Veteran said he does not think Cornyn is doing a good job representing Texas, and the current Senator is “a moderate at best.”</p>

Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, who lost the 2012 election to President Barack Obama, said on NBC’s “Meet the Press” on Sunday that he believed New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie could “easily” become the GOP presidential nominee in 2016 and “save our party.” Christie most recently made national news when he decided to drop a legal challenge to rulings in New Jersey state courts that declared same-sex marriage legal there. And not long before that, he changed his position on the question of whether illegal aliens should get in-state tuition rates at New Jersey state colleges. Now he backs legislation...

A prominent figure in the Republican party and one to watch as 2016 approaches, Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush Monday night offered a fiscal and social blueprint for the conservative movement, pushing for economic freedom and a repeal of Obamacare. Speaking before a crowd of who's-who in the Republican Party, Bush decried Washington's current fiscal path as bogged down with unnecessary bureaucratic regulations and laden with policies that benefit the rich while disenfranchising the working-class. "Our current policy awards portfolio Americans at the expense of pay check America while enabling the greatest sustained deficits in American history," -snip- "Much of...

Sen. Lamar Alexander said Wednesday that someone ought to be fired over the online glitches surrounding the Affordable Care Act, whether it’s President Barack Obama, or someone else. “Somebody needs to be on the flagpole for this, and somebody ought to be fired. If the president’s not going to resign, he should fire somebody else,” Alexander said during Fox News’s “Happening Now.” Alexander (R-Tenn.) added that “the president first” is to blame, but wouldn’t say whether Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius should be fired. “Well, that’s up to be president. I think he should make that decision,” Alexander...

In a 2003 speech, then Speaker Denny Hastert (R-Ill.) discussed his House management guidelines that became known as “The Hastert Rule.” The rule calls for a leader not to send legislation to the House floor for a vote unless it has the support of the majority of the majority. On Wednesday, with just hours left to raise the debt ceiling or risk default, House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio)–who has been holding fast to the Hastert Rule–has to decide whether to break it.

Senate Republicans met with President Obama for more than 90 minutes on Friday, as lawmakers search for a breakthrough agreement that could end the government shutdown and raise the debt ceiling. Like House Republicans the night before, the GOP senators departed the White House without speaking to reporters. Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) tweeted shortly after the meeting that it was a "very good discussion." "Nothing obvious decided, but hope," he tweeted. "I'm surprised there may be progress."

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) on Wednesday said he would like to see a clean funding resolution pass the House to end the government shutdown. McCain expressed hesitancy at criticizing Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) or Republicans in the House but said he is trying to convince them to sit down and negotiate. “I would like to see that myself,” McCain said on CNN when asked if he would like to see the House take up the measure. “But also again I really am hesitant to pile on members of the House of Representatives.” “I try to keep in mind that many...

On Monday, former vice presidential candidate Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) wrote an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal, suggesting that Republicans drop all Obamacare demands in their push for a deal on the debt ceiling and a continuing resolution to fund the government. Instead, he suggested that Republicans look for a bargain on entitlement reform, a pet project of his, as well as tax reform. “This isn't a grand bargain. For that, we need a complete rethinking of government's approach to helping the most vulnerable, and a complete rethinking of government's approach to health care. But right now, we need...

Republican Rep. Spencer Bachus, the longest-serving member of Alabama's House delegation, said Monday he will not seek re-election in 2014 after his current term. The 6th District congressman, who first made the announcement during a live interview on WBRC-TV, said he is too worried about problems like the national debt to resign, yet he also is frustrated by the climate in Washington

Ad Highlights Mitch McConnell’s Long Career Of Making Things Worse In Washington (Washington DC) As part of the ongoing “30 Years Is Too Long Campaign,” a new radio ad launched today highlights the disastrous record of failure and gridlock that Mitch McConnell has racked up in his 10,000 days as a U.S. Senator. Mitch McConnell has had 30 years to make things better in Washington, but instead it’s just gotten worse. After 10,000 days of Mitch McConnell in Washington, we’ve got $16 trillion in debt and he’s out of touch with Kentucky. The ad fights back against the latest misleading...

The House passed a short-term spending plan Friday morning that would continue funding government operations through mid-December and withhold funding for President Obama’s signature health-care law, the opening act in what promises to be a several-act drama over how to pay for government operations and raise the federal debt limit. -snip- Which Republican voted against the budget plan?: Rep. Scott Rigell (Va.)

On Tuesday, after John Boehner’s last gambit to pass a government-funding bill ran aground in the face of a Tea Party revolt, a reporter asked the House speaker if he had any idea what he’d do next. “No. Do you have an idea?” Boehner replied, according to Politico. “They’ll just shoot it down anyway.” Boehner’s dilemma -- finding a way to satisfy the right wing of his caucus that doesn’t involve shutting down the government -- isn’t new. The debate rages in Washington over whether he has an impossible job or whether he’s just terrible at it, but it doesn't...

With the Syrian crisis receding on Capitol Hill, Congress on Thursday plunged back into its bitter fiscal standoff as Speaker John A. Boehner appealed to the Obama administration and Democratic leaders to help him resolve divisions in the Republican ranks that could lead to a government shutdown by month’s end. In meetings with Democratic and Republican Congressional leaders on Thursday after a session with Treasury Secretary Jacob J. Lew on Wednesday, Mr. Boehner pleaded for a resumption of negotiations that could keep the government running and yield a deficit-reduction deal that would convince b>recalcitrant conservatives to raise the government’s borrowing...

JEFFERSON CITY • The Missouri House has failed to override Gov. Jay Nixon’s veto of legislation that would cut state income taxes for the first time in nearly a century. The vote, which happened after more than an hour and a half of debate near the start of the state Legislature’s annual veto session today, signaled a key victory for Nixon, who has spent the summer advocating against the tax legislation, which he often characterized as poorly drafted. “This (legislation) is bad tax policy and bad public policy,” state Rep. Jill Schupp, a Creve Coeur Democrat who spoke out against...

The buzz in Washington continues over Republican Sen. Marco Rubio's assertion last week that if Congress stalls out on immigration reform, President Obama may legalize many of the 11 million illegal immigrants administratively. The Florida lawmaker told a radio station that Mr. Obama will be "tempted to issue an executive order like he did for the Dream Act kids a year ago, where he basically legalizes 11 million people by the sign of a pen." Then he added, "a year from now we could find ourselves with all 11 million people here legally under an executive order from the president."...

RACINE — On Thursday it was a panel discussion and before that it was a post-town hall rally. There were press conferences, forums in English and Spanish and demonstrations. On Saturday, the push for immigration reform manifested in a hot parking lot behind Lopez Bakery, 1667 Douglas Ave., where a handful of young activists gathered to spray-paint a poster. “Rep. Paul Ryan,” they wrote, “we want a vote on comprehensive immigration reform.” The city has become a hot spot for pro-immigration reform demonstrations, panels and more because Racine County is represented by Ryan, R-Wis., one of few congressional Republicans to...