Free Republic

WASHINGTON - Sen. Pat Toomey (R., Pa.) hasn't given up on his bill to expand background checks for gun purchases, he said Thursday, signaling more willingness to return to the plan than he had publicly shown before. "If we could find a way to bring some more folks on board, then of course it would be worth bringing it up again," Toomey said in an interview. While he has largely returned his focus to the fiscal issues he has long been associated with, he said he still occasionally talked privately with fellow senators about the background-check bill that was defeated...

Democratic leaders are wooing staunchly pro-gun candidates to run in pivotal Senate races at the same time they are discussing a strategy for bringing gun control legislation back up for debate. The two-pronged effort has prompted Republicans to accuse the Senate Democratic leadership of hypocrisy, but Democrats say it is simply smart politics. The question is whether two of the Democrats’ most promising potential candidates in Montana and South Dakota will pay a price for the leadership’s political maneuverings in Washington. Or will recruiting candidates who do not support President Obama’s gun control agenda have any effect on Democratic fundraising...

His gun-control bill may have fizzled, but Senator Joe Manchin, Democrat of West Virginia, isn’t giving up hope. “I was with Pat [Toomey] last night, and Pat’s totally committed to this bill. And I believe that with all my heart,” he said on Fox News Sunday. Manchin predicted that their legislation to expand background checks will “absolutely” come up for another vote. ”We’re going to work this bill,” he said. “I truly believe that if we have time to sell the bill,” it can pass, he said. In an interview last week with NR, Toomey shared Manchin’s perspective. “If we...

Posted from an Android. The fight is not over.

President Barack Obama delivered an impassioned speech Thursday at the memorial service for victims of the Boston Marathon bombing. But that was to be expected. We all know Obama can give a stem-winder. What wasn’t expected was that this would be by far the toughest week of the Obama presidency—the first time I can remember the president being dealt an unequivocal policy defeat. Only the “shellacking” of the 2010 midterm comes close, and even there a case can be made that achieving the decades-old progressive dream of universal health care was worth losing the House of Representatives and a filibuster-proof...

After two weeks in the national spotlight, Sen. Pat Toomey was ready to move on. Toomey, seeming refreshed Thursday after the deflating defeat of his background-check plan the day before, greeted reporters with a smile as he rode an escalator up from the Capitol's subway platform. But the Pennsylvania Republican did not want to talk much about the fight that had put him at the center of the political and cultural maelstrom on gun laws. "The Senate has spoken on this," Toomey said. "It's not obvious to me what alternative path forward there is. I gave this my best shot."

Organizing for Action (OFA) executive director Jon Carson said his group will now pour resources into opposing Senators who opposed gun control--especially Democrat Senators. This means Sens. Max Baucus (D-Mont.), Mark Begich (D-AK), Heidi Heitkamp (D-ND), and Mark Pryor (D-AR) are marked for defeat by their own party. While OFA does not engage "in electoral politics," they can go from now until the 2014 elections doing what they will to create a divide between these Senators and their constituents. Said Carson: "This is one of those moments where we have to prove that in the face of a setback we're...

As the Senate debated the merits of an assault-weapons ban, an emotional Dianne Feinstein urged her colleagues to “show some guts” and vote in favor of the measure. “I am really chagrined and concerned. If anybody cares, vote at least to prospectively ban the manufacture, the sale, the importation of military-style assault weapons,” she said in remarks on the Senate floor. Feinstein is the author of the assault-weapons ban, which was defeated earlier today by a margin of 60 to 40. The compromise on background checks introduced by GOP senator Pat Toomey and Democratic senator Joe Manchin was also defeated,...

The White House and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid are shy of the 60 votes they need to move the bipartisan compromise bill on background checks for gun sales. Vice President Joe Biden has been personally calling senators to urge them to support the measure, Democratic aides say. Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) began a whip count on Monday, Democratic aides said, and Biden has been pressuring his fellow Democrats to fall in line. Biden’s office did not return an email seeking comment. Sens. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) and Pat Toomey (R-Pa.) are co-sponsoring the proposal that would expand background checks...

Will the ATF's "No Buy" list be any more accurate than TSA's "No Fly" list? If lists are not accurate or meaningful, background checks won't succeed. Senators Pat Toomey (R-PA) and Joe Manchin (D-WV) released a gun-control bill on April 10 that leans heavily on expanding background checks. However, their proposal is only as good as the lists used for the background checks. First, what happened to patient privacy? The Toomey/Manchin proposal proudly announces that their bill "Clarifies that submissions of mental health records into the NICS system are not prohibited by federal privacy laws (HIPAA)." A retired emergency room...

Growing momentum in the Senate for new gun control legislation has failed to flow down to the House, where just a handful of House Republicans have embraced a deal to expand background checks for firearm purchases. Rep. Peter King (R-N.Y.) and multiple Republican members of the Pennsylvania delegation are backing a compromise brokered by the Keystone State’s Sen. Pat Toomey (R-Pa.) that advanced in the Senate on Thursday. Yet in interviews, those lawmakers said they have had no discussions with the House GOP leadership and don’t know what the prospects for the legislation would be in a chamber dominated by...

The Republican plan to block debate on Senate Bill 649, which requires background checks on almost all gun purchases and transfers, failed spectacularly Thursday morning when sixteen Republican Senators joined almost all of the Democrats to vote in favor opening debate on the bill. Among those voting to defeat the filibuster were 9 Democrats with “A” ratings from the National Rifle Association, and 12 A-rated Republicans (out of 16 Republican “ayes”). Two Democrats, Sen. Mark Pryor (D-AR) and Sen. Mark Begich (D-AK), joined the majority of Republican Senators who tried to prevent debate, much less a vote, on the bill....

I had fallen out with Senator Pat Toomey in the last year when I realized his plan to balance the budget in ten years was no plan at all. I consider a balanced budget to the be the top issue and that when a politician says they have a plan to do something in ten years, they are not serious. Ted Kennedy and George W. Bush promised 100 percent proficiency in math and reading by 2014 when No Child Left Behind was made into law a decade or so ago. Now, Senator Toomey has stepped into the waters of tearing...

Senators Joe Manchin (R) and Pat Toomey (D) today announced a so-called "compromise" bill/amendment which they claim would increase gun safety through improving "background checks," but is in truth a flawed piece of legislation, WHICH IS WHY YOU SHOULD ACT NOW TO STOP THE MEASURE (or click here for more options). The title of their bill is Orwellian: "The Public Safety and Second Amendment Rights Protection Act." It is double-speak, as their measure infringes on the Second Amendment -- it doesn't "protect" anything. It will in fact push the U.S. towards the establishment of a national gun registry, the eventual...

A bipartisan group of senators has struck a deal to expand gun background checks to all commercial sales — whether at gun shows, via the Internet or in any circumstance involving paid advertising, according to Senate aides familiar with the talks. The proposed agreement would be more stringent than current law, which requires checks only when purchases are made through a licensed dealer, but less than originally sought by President Obama and congressional Democrats, who were seeking to expand background checks to nearly every kind of sale. The agreement should secure enough bipartisan support for the Senate to proceed to...

Sen. Pat Toomey (R-Pa.) told reporters on a conference call moments ago that his compromise bill with Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) on gun background checks “doesn’t change in any way” his “conservative record or views.” The former Club for Growth president acknowledged he was out of his usual legislative area on the issue, but “it became clear to me a bill of some sort was very likely to reach the floor” that would be “badly flawed,” so he reached out to his friend and neighboring state senator Manchin to sit down and talk. “You’re probably used to hearing me talk...

The National Rifle Association will oppose the background check bill introduced by Sen. Joe Manchin (D., W.Va.) and Sen. Pat Toomey (R., Pa.) Wednesday, the pro-Second Amendment group told the Free Beacon. Manchin and Toomey held a press conference Wednesday morning announcing a bipartisan bill that would expand background checks for all commercial firearm sales, including gun shows and Internet sales. The bill is the latest effort by the Senate to introduce background check legislation, after negotiations between Sen. Tom Coburn (R., Okla.) and Democrats broke down earlier this year. Manchin’s office told BuzzFeed Wednesday that the senators had been...

Pennsylvania Republican Sen. Pat Toomey is close to a deal with Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia on background checks for gun show and Internet gun sales, his office said Tuesday night. The two are planning a joint press conference for Wednesday morning. A Toomey spokesperson on Tuesday told NBC News that the two senators have agreed on all but the final details of a compromise. Manchin told reporters Tuesday that the compromise would close the gun show loophole by mandating background checks for those transactions and also require background checks for all Internet gun sales.

WASHINGTON - Could Pennsylvania Sen. Pat Toomey be a Republican bridge who helps secure a deal on background checks on guns? His office confirmed Friday that Toomey, a strong Second Amendment advocate, was in discussions on pending gun bills that have struggled to gain traction with Republicans and many pro-gun Democrats in the Senate. "Sen. Toomey and his staff are talking to a lot of folks - both in Pennsylvania and in the Capitol - on the issue of guns in the hopes that we get to an approach that works," his spokeswoman wrote in an e-mail. There was no...

I was Quinnipiac polled tonight via my (gf) cell phone. First Questions Corbett v various dem challengers state gov doing a good job Hillary v various repub challengers rubio, christie, ryan is bambi doing a good job -- i got her to laugh when i asked her if he is actually working and not playing golf. Toomey v Casey. I told her that Casey was a waste and his father would be very disappointed.

Following the defeat of 2012, it seems as if everyone – yours truly included – has an opinion about where the conservative movement goes from here. But right now presents an excellent opportunity to rally the Right again. Following the fiscal cliff fiasco, the next big battle inside the beltway will be the debt ceiling in March. Some Republicans who caved on the fiscal cliff are already talking tough. Take Pennsylvania Senator Pat Toomey, for example. After voting for the largest tax increase in 20 years, Toomey is one of several Republicans now saying the debt ceiling showdown may require...

Toomey to replace DeMint as head of GOP Steering Committee By Colby Itkowitz Call Washington Bureau April 26, 2012 Washington— Pat Toomey's U.S. Senate GOP colleagues have tapped him to take over as head of the Senate Republican Steering Committe, a group that shapes conservative policy making on Capitol Hill. Toomey will replace South Carolina Tea Party favorite Jim DeMint. In handing over the job, DeMint in a statement said, “Sen. Pat Toomey is a proven and trusted conservative, and I'm very glad he's taking on this new role. I've fought hard over the last few years to help elect...

Yesterday on Laura IngrahamÂ’s radio show, she asked Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell about a recent Roll Call article that framed me as one of the loud leaders of conservatives opposed to Mitch McConnell. The Senator from Kentucky responded that he had never heard of me and I did not have an audience. That sounds a bit like the child, when asked if he ate the cookie, replying that he had not and besides it did not taste good. If heÂ’d never heard of me, how can he comment on my audience? If he states plainly I have no audience,...

PHILADELPHIA -- Authorities say a letter containing suspicious white powder was sent to the Philadelphia office of U.S. Sen. Pat Toomey. Philadelphia police say Toomey's downtown office received the letter around 2:30 p.m. Thursday and that police and firefighters responded. Officer Jillian Russell, a police spokeswoman, says authorities are conducting tests on the substance, but have not yet identified it. It wasn't immediately clear what the letter said. No injuries were reported. A Toomey spokeswoman says the matter has been referred to law enforcement.

Supercommittee member Sen. Pat Toomey (R-Pa.) accused Democrats on Monday of torpedoing the deficit supercommittee because a success would have “stepped on” President Obama’s campaign narrative. Speaking Monday on CNBC’s Squawk Box, Toomey said there’s “something to” suggestions that Democrats had an incentive to see the supercommittee fail. “That goes to the asymmetry of the incentives and I think there was something to that,” Toomey said. “The president’s fundamental campaign message was to run against Congress - never mind the fact that half of Congress is controlled by the Democrats, but that’s his purpose, and certainly an agreement in this...

While there’s still a lot of road ahead in the 2012 presidential race, one fact is already clear: The eventual GOP nominee is probably going to leave a certain number of conservative Republicans wary, or even skeptical. The selection of a running mate will be even more important than usual, as it will be the biggest decision of the campaign and the clearest signal the nominee can send to GOP doubters looking for reassurance. For Mitt Romney, numerous conservatives just don’t trust him. Between the health-care plan and individual mandate that he signed into law in Massachusetts and the leftover...

Aug. 20, 2011, 2:50 p.m. EDT ‘Super committee’ Republican: Simplify taxes More spending ‘very bad idea,’ tea-party favorite Sen. Toomey says By Robert Schroeder, MarketWatch WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) — The 12-member “super committee” tasked with cutting the U.S. budget deficit has a “great opportunity” to simplify the tax code, Sen. Pat Toomey says. What it won’t do, if the Pennsylvania Republican gets his way, is spend any government money in an attempt to boost economic growth. Spending, the former Club for Growth president said in a phone interview with MarketWatch, is “an artificial way that the government tries to conjure up...

Sky 4 flies over the trolley station at Station Square, where a large group of Verizon workers are on strike and protesting across the street from the Pittsburgh office of U.S. Sen. Pat Toomey. (Video at link)

LOUISVILLE, KY – U.S. Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell Wednesday announced his appointments to the 12-member Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction tasked with reducing the deficit by $1.5 trillion more than the cuts already identified in the Budget Control Act. McConnell appointed Sens. Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.), Pat Toomey (R-Pa.), and Rob Portman (R-Ohio). “Chronic joblessness, out-of-control deficits and debt, and an unprecedented credit downgrade represent an historic challenge but also an historic opportunity for lawmakers in Washington to show they can work together on a plan that puts America back on the path to prosperity. All three of these...

There is broad consensus in Washington that a “balanced approach” between spending cuts, controls, and increased revenue is the only possible way to reduce our $14.3 trillion national debt and avert a Greek-style debt crisis. I share this perspective. As the ongoing debt negotiations advance, members of Congress should evaluate the components of a debt package through one question: Will this make it harder or easier for the American people to create jobs? For my part, I have never met a job creator in Florida that has told me they are waiting for Congress to pass another tax hike before...

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) - As the Republican campaign to replace President Barack Obama heats up in early voting states like South Carolina, U.S. Sen. Jim DeMint is releasing a book discussing the roots of the tea party crusade and his hopes for the movement in 2012. "I believe that the 2012 elections may be our last chance to stop this insanity of spending and borrowing and debt," DeMint told The Associated Press recently. "I'm trying to recruit more Americans with this book."

[Note: This is a companion to an earlier thread about Jim DeMint's new book] Sen. Jim DeMint, a conservative kingmaker who spent millions of dollars helping tea party favorites get elected to Congress, faced contempt from other Republican senators as he tried to curb appropriators' powers and limit senior members' clout. In his new book, "The Great American Awakening," DeMint describes himself as an upstart freshman lawmaker on a lonely mission among "sorry rascals" infuriated by his bucking of venerable Senate practices in his bid to cut federal spending and limit colleagues' ability to fund local projects. In one of...

Sen. Pat Toomey’s proposal to balance the budget in nine years was defeated in the Senate today, though his plan proved to be the most popular budget rendition to hit the floor. By design, all four votes failed as bipartisan budget talks continue. Mr. Toomey, who serves on the Budget Committee, drafted a plan that earned all but three Republican votes but not a single Democrat, falling 42-55.

Coburn, Toomey: Drop the Policy Riders April 8, 2011 1:03 P.M. By Daniel Foster Here’s Senator Toomey: “I’d like to defund Planned Parenthood, but I understand that Republicans don’t have complete control of the elected government,” Toomey said on MSNBC. “I think what we should do is cut spending as much as we can, get the policy changes that we can, but move on, because there are other, bigger battles that we are fighting.” And here’s Senator Coburn: COBURN: The one thing I’ve learned in my years here is there’s one reason to talk about something, if you want to...

Liberals were so caught up in the effort to derail the House Republican budget resolution authored by Rep. Paul Ryan (R., Wis.) that they barely seemed to notice when freshman senator Pat Toomey unveiled his own ambitious proposal to balance the budget in ten years without raising taxes. Instead, it was conservatives who were all too eager to denigrate Toomey’s effort: Just as the Left slammed Ryan’s budget for daring to reform Medicare for future generations, some on the right criticized Toomey’s budget for failing to do so. Whereas the Ryan plan takes a more gradual approach, reaching balance in...

As I traveled across Pennsylvania last year, I promised Pennsylvanians that I would dedicate myself to two key priorities in the United States Senate: restoring economic growth and private-sector job creation, and putting our federal government on a sustainable fiscal path. These two goals are inextricably connected. We cannot maximize economic growth without getting our government’s finances in order. And we can’t get our finances in order if we don’t have the courage to make serious and tough choices right now. Today, we are barreling toward a fiscal crisis like a downhill freight train. A few weeks ago, Standard &...

Sen.-elect Pat Toomey (R-Pa.) believes Sarah Palin would have shot at carrying his home state. Asked on NBC's "Meet the Press" if the former Alaska governor - assuming she becomes the 2012 Republican nominee for president - could win Pennsylvania, Toomey allowed, "It is possible."

Toomey: "The Tea Party movement is a powerful source of energy and if the Republicans generally, and the Republican nominee in particular, is not acceptable to that wing of the electorate, I would be worried about a third- party movement that could undermine the center right coalition" ......Toomey also say Sarah Palin could carry Pennsylvania as the nominee....(Video)

Senator-Elect Pat Toomey has just issued a statement supporting repeal of “Don’t Ask/Don’t Tell.” “As I’ve said previously, my highest priority is to have the policy that best enables our armed services to do their job,” Senator-Elect Toomey said. “Our civilian and professional military leadership have now spoken and said we should repeal Don’t Ask Don’t Tell. I would support a free-standing measure to do so.” If Majority Leader Reid keeps his word, the freestanding repeal measure passed by the House yesterday will be voted on in the Senate in the lame duck, before Sen.-Elect Toomey is seated. Still, the...

Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) urged his GOP Senate colleagues Friday to reject a deal on the extension of Bush-era tax cuts and wait until the incoming crop of GOP senators are sworn in to move forward. In an e-mail to supporters of his Senate Conservatives Fund, DeMint said waiting until the January arrival of many of the Senate Republicans, whom he helped elect this past cycle, would mean the GOP could "fight for a better deal." "I appreciate the efforts made by my party's leaders to negotiate this deal but I believe Americans deserve much better. This deal should be...

Centrist Senate Republicans are likely to get a new ally in Sen.-elect Mark Kirk (R-Ill.), according to Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine).

PAUL E. KANJORSKI YOU ARE FIRED!!! DAMN IT FEELS GOOD TO SAY THAT!Tuesday I stood at a poll for a guy I considered to be the best guy in any Pennsylvania race. Throughout the day I had many conversations with the folks coming in to vote. My primary goal was promotion of a candidate, the bonus for me was the various reasons, attitudes and personalities encountered through out the day. To breakdown the Scranton voters in Lackawanna County goes a little like this, people who knew, people who didn’t know, people who would vote Democrat no matter what, people who...

Pennsylvania Democratic Senate candidate Joe Sestak defends signing letter pushed by J Street calling for easing Gaza blockade. LOWER MERION TOWNSHIP – One day, months before the race to represent Pennsylvania in the US Senate entered the homestretch, Democratic candidate Joe Sestak arrived at his campaign office to find it practically empty. “Where is everybody?” Sestak told The Jerusalem Post he had asked at the time, only to be told it was Pessah. That’s how he found out that nearly half his staff was Jewish. But on Monday, the day before Americans finally head to the polls, Sestak’s headquarters in...

New polling data indicates that Pennsylvania Republican Senate hopeful Pat Toomey has regained the lead he held for months, thanks largely to continued strength among independent voters. After Democratic Rep. Joe Sestak closed the gap recently to take a narrow lead in the competitive race, Toomey surged back ahead this week, according to the state’s two largest polling institutes. A Franklin & Marshall College survey released Wednesday morning showed Toomey leading by seven points among likely voters, 43 percent to 36 percent. That finding substantiated movement in the Muhlenberg College daily tracking poll, which swung 11 points in the span...

HARRISBURG - About 700,000 acres of state forest land in the Marcellus Shale region is being placed off-limits to any natural gas drilling under an executive order signed Tuesday by Gov. Ed Rendell. Rendell said a moratorium on new leasing of forest land to drillers is needed to protect Pennsylvania's ability to manage the forests in a sustainable manner and protect the state's forest products and tourism industries. He said an executive order is necessary because the Senate didn't act this session on a House-passed bill to place a three-year moratorium on additional leases while environmental impact issues are studied....

Pennsylvania’s competitive Senate race can be boiled down to a simple back-and-forth: You’re an extremist! No, you are! Those were the volleys traded once again by Democratic Rep. Joe Sestak and Republican nominee Pat Toomey Friday night, as the two used their second and final televised debate of the campaign to paint the other as out-of-step with mainstream Pennsylvanians. Sestak said Toomey is “on the fringe of his party.” Toomey said Sestak is “to the left” of Nancy Pelosi. In the end, each had landed some punches, but neither suffered anything like a knockout blow. “The only time Joe has...

The latest Rasmussen poll has Republican Pat Toomey up 48-44 percent over Congressman Joe Sestak in the race to replace Arlen Specter as senator from Pennsylvania. The poll taken Thursday night surveyed 750 likely voters and has a plus-minus of 4 percent. Seven percent of voters said they were undecided while 1 percent said they liked another candidate.

For those who are worried about Pat Toomey’s sudden slip in the polls in Pennsylvania — and I was among them — you’ll want to read this analysis from “Number Cruncher,” a finance/political junkie who spends even more time breaking down polls than I do. Your readers should calm down. This race isn’t that close, or even closing. The only thing closing is the pollsters’ prediction of who to consider a likely voter. Looking at the Quinnipiac results, I find them very encouraging for Toomey, specifically among Independents. Taking the Quinnipiac crosstabs and applying 2004, 2006, 2008, and my predicted...

Allentown – As expected, Congressman Sestak lobbed one dishonest attack after another in order to try to run away from his extreme record of voting for every single bailout, record-breaking debt, hundreds of billions of dollars in new tax increases, a cap-and-trade energy tax, and government-run health care. But the truth is catching up with him. FALSEHOOD: Pat Toomey voted for the largest deficits in history. TRUTH: Actually, Joe Sestak voted for the largest deficits in U.S. history. Over his four years in Congress, Joe Sestak voted for $3.3 trillion in new deficit spending. In contrast the cumulative budget deficit...

I am a huge Pat Toomey fan – how can one be conservative and not? A highlight of my two decades at NR has been getting to know Pat, Kris, and their kids – the Toomeys are a super family. Not only that, as far as we conservatives are concerned, Pat Toomey is the Real Deal. He is A-List material: a thoughtful and articulate man who has proved himself to be a vital force in our movement, a true believer who seeks to advance the core limited-government/free-enterprise economic principles that find themselves at the center of this election cycle. To...