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(CNN)House Speaker Paul Ryan said Sunday despite Donald Trump's campaign rhetoric, lawmakers are not prepared to form a deportation force to round-up and deport undocumented immigrants. "We are not planning on erecting a deportation force. Donald Trump's not planning on that," Ryan told CNN's Jake Tapper on "State of the Union." "I think we should put people's minds at ease: That is not what our focus is. That is not what we're focused on. We're focused on securing the border. We think that's first and foremost, before we get into any other immigration issue, we've got to know who's coming...

He has repeatedly called the law a “disaster” and pledged full repeal. President-elect Donald Trump just announced his first big possible compromise. And it’s on, of all things, the Affordable Care Act (ACA), aka Obamacare. Trump made President Obama’s health reform law one of his scariest political boogeymen during the 2016 campaign. He called it a “disaster” that’s crushing consumers with spiraling costs and fleeing insurers (the reality is considerably more complicated despite very legitimate problems with the ACA). And Congressional Republicans, who have voted to repeal Obamacare upwards of 60 times during the now-lame duck president’s tenure, have pledged...

NEW YORK—President-elect Donald Trump said that, after conferring with President Barack Obama, he would consider leaving in place certain parts of the Affordable Care Act, an indication of possible compromise after a campaign in which he pledged repeatedly to repeal the 2010 health law. In his first interview since his election earlier this week, Mr. Trump said one priority was moving “quickly” on the president’s signature health initiative, which he argued has become so unworkable and expensive that “you can’t use it.” Yet, Mr. Trump also showed a willingness to preserve at least two provisions of the health law after...

The news report goes back in time documenting US history of international trade agreements starting from the time of Reagan administration who proposed a North American Common Market to current history. Fast Forward to November of 2004 when the Independent Task Force on the Future of North America is formed. Their focus is no longer trade and prosperity but security. Three private groups headed by the Council of Foreign Relations(CFR) and their respected organizations in Canada and Mexico. They claim in their own words North America is vulnerable on several fronts: the region faces criminal and terrorist security threats, increased...

Wisconsin governor Scott Walker said Thursday that in the event of a contested convention, the Republican nominee will likely be someone who is "not currently running." "I think if it's an open convention, it's very likely it would be someone who's not currently running," Walker said. "I mean, who knows. The one thing I qualify -- it's like the qualifications you see on those ads you see for car dealerships. I think any of us who comment on this election have to qualify that almost every prediction's been off, so it's hard to predict anything," Walker added. Walker's own run...

A group of conservative activists huddled behind closed doors Thursday at a Washington hotel to plot strategy to stop Republican front-runner Donald Trump , including calling for a unity ticket to oppose him and a floor fight at the GOP convention to deny him the nomination. The meeting was led by conservative talk radio host Erick Erickson, a longtime outspoken critic of Mr. Trump . “We believe that the issue of Donald Trump is greater than an issue of party. It is an issue of morals and character that all Americans, not just those of us in the conservative movement,...

Marco Rubio Says He Won’t Run for Re-Election — or Governor in 2018 Rebecca Ballhaus Florida Sen. Marco Rubio is done with politics – at least for now. The former presidential candidate and once-rising star in the Republican Party, who quit the race after losing his home state’s primary on Tuesday night, told reporters on Capitol Hill on Thursday that he is not looking to remain a member of Congress. “I’m not running for re-election to the Senate,” he said. “I’m going to finish out my term here.” Florida bars candidates from running for two offices at once, and Mr....

Mitt Romney, in his latest attempt to help stop Donald J. Trump, joined Gov. John Kasich of Ohio on the campaign trail on Monday as Mr. Kasich tries to pull out a victory in his home state. At an air museum between Akron and Canton, where Mr. Kasich’s campaign bus pulled in next to a World War II-era bomber, Mr. Romney highlighted Mr. Kasich’s experience in Congress and as Ohio’s governor. “Unlike the other people running, he has a real track record,” Mr. Romney said in introducing Mr. Kasich at the town hall style event. “He has the kind of...

Gov. John Kasich defended Monday his support of an immigration overhaul that includes the legalization of nonviolent illegal immigrants, telling supporters on the eve of the Ohio primary that it is unrealistic to think that the federal government is going to boot illegal immigrants out of the country. The issue of illegal immigration has been a dividing line in the GOP presidential campaign, including here in Ohio, where businessman Donald Trump has vowed to finish the fencing along the U.S.-Mexico border and make the Mexican government pay for it, and promised to make people living in the country illegally to...

The ultimate result of the 2016 presidential election could yet rest on the likes of Erling “Curly” Haugland, 69, a businessman from Bismarck, North Dakota, who will be one of the 2,472 delegates to the Republican party convention in July. And he isn’t saying what he’ll do. “I wouldn’t know until the day of the first ballot [at the convention in Cleveland, Ohio] because a lot can happen between now and then,” he said. With the Republican party in uproar over the runaway primary lead of billionaire property mogul Donald Trump, the role of convention delegates could be crucial in...

As a member of the controversial "Gang of Eight" working up comprehensive immigration reform three years ago, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio blocked bipartisan efforts to reform the worker visa program to make sure American workers get first dibs on jobs, according to a top Senate Democrat. At a hearing on H-1B worker visas Thursday, Sen. Richard Durbin of Illinois said that "a junior senator from Florida" fought to kill visa changes in the legislation that would have limited the ability of firms to replace American workers with cheaper foreign labor. "In 2013, I was part of the Gang of Eight....

Not as important as Tim Scott’s support since Toomey’s not from an early state, but still significant big-picture. This isn’t just a case of Cruz losing out to Rubio on another endorsement among his Senate colleagues, it’s a litmus test of electability — or perceived electability. Why might a Republican from a purple state, whose seat is up this year by the way, prefer Rubio to Cruz or Trump? Hmmm:

Donald Trump's proposal to ban all Muslim immigration into the US, including that of tourists, was met with an immediate and massive backlash from across the political spectrum. Republican presidential candidates moved quickly to condemn their party's frontrunner, with Jeb Bush describing Trump as "unhinged" and Lindsey Graham calling on everyone seeking the presidency to denounce the plan. "Donald Trump today took xenophobia and religious bigotry to a new level," Graham told the Guardian in an interview shortly after Trump unveiled his proposal. "His comments are hurting the war effort and putting our diplomats and soldiers serving in the Middle...

A secret meeting took place at the Washington Marriott Convention Hotel in Dupont Circle, where a coalition of big-business oriented, pro-Open Borders dedicated groups, corporations, and lobbyists gathered to discuss strategy on how to persuade and coerce if necessary, lawmakers on both sides of the Hill to pass Comprehensive Immigration Reform.  I thought you might be interested in knowing that mostly they are talking about you. They're calling you xenophobes, racists, bigots and devising tactics to not only marginalize you, but to render you a non factor altogether, in this fight over amnesty. Blasted Fools identifies the players, one of...

. . . . . . “I thought about that issue a lot and [went] back and forth on it before I signed on to my principles and I just concluded that it’s not good for the country in the long term to have millions and millions of people who are forever prohibited from becoming citizens,” Rubio told reporters on his way to a Senate vote. “That hasn’t worked out well for Europe.” Responding to a question from TPM, Rubio said he did not think Bush’s surprise move would make it harder to convince conservatives to accept an eventual path...

NEW YORK — Florida Sen. Marco Rubio is moving swiftly behind the scenes to lock down some of Wall Street’s biggest donors ahead of the 2016 presidential race. In recent weeks, the rising GOP star and possible 2016 hopeful has quietly met with some of the most powerful GOP backers in the world of high finance. The roster includes Blackstone Group Chief Executive Officer Stephen Schwarzman, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. CEO Henry Kravis and senior executives at Goldman Sachs and Barclays Capital among others. Rubio has gotten backing from big Wall Street titans before, notably hedge fund manager and...

Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) on Saturday panned a reported immigration reform proposal from President Obama, saying it would be “dead on arrival” in Congress. “If actually proposed, the President’s bill would be dead on arrival in Congress, leaving us with unsecured borders and a broken legal immigration system for years to come,” said Rubio in a statement. His response followed a report in USA Today on Saturday which said the Obama administration has prepared a draft plan that includes a provision to allow illegal immigrants to obtain green cards within eight years. The proposal would create a “Lawful Prospective Immigrant”...

Florida Republican Senator Marco Rubio's pause to take a drink of water during his rebuttal to President Obama's State-of-the-Union speech was declared “a possible career ender” by CNN's Wolf Blitzer. “Voters may tolerate a lot from their prospective leaders,” Blitzer observed. “We've learned that diddling interns is okay. A bogus birth certificate may be worth a few snickers, but does not seem to undermine our confidence in a man's leadership capabilities. However, the jarring interruption of a high-profile speech by a moment of thirst would appear to be the type of thing that raises serious questions about fitness to serve.”...

On Wednesday's NBC Nightly News, anchor Brian Williams proclaimed that Florida Senator Marco Rubio taking a sip of water during his response to the State of the Union was "the televised moment from last night that just might live on forever." [Listen to the audio or watch the video after the jump] Williams expounded: "Well, it's one of the cruelest aspects of politics in the television age. No matter how well-crafted the content, no matter how thoughtful a person you are, it's the television moments, the superficial, purely visual moments that are often remembered forever instead. And that will certainly...

This a darn good idea. I like that Rubio is hitting right back at the media.