Free Republic

Ranking Member Doug Collins: I’m confident every lawmaker in this room agrees that our democracy depends on protecting voting rights and election integrity. Congress has the authority to prohibit discriminatory treatment in voting based on race or ethnicity as part of its duty to ensure the sanctity of every vote. Unfortunately, this bill actively undermines these goals. The bill before us today federalizes elections in ways that have nothing to do with outlawing discrimination. Instead, it federalizes elections in ways that actually disenfranchise state voters. H.R. 1 would deprive state voters of their own right to determine their state’s voting...

Nearly 200 nations have agreed rules on implementing the 2015 Paris agreement. After marathon talks in Katowice, Poland, the rulebook was approved unanimously on Saturday evening. The agreement aims to deliver the Paris goals of limiting global temperature rises to well below 2C. The final session was delayed by more than 30 hours amid an ongoing stand-off over carbon markets to reduce emissions. Some accused the hosts of not shepherding the agreement through.

The UK’s obligations in response to this week’s warnings from the UN over global warming will be controversial and politically fraught, taking the country into “uncharted territory” and testing the political consensus on climate change, the its top climate adviser has warned. The government will have to regulate industry and intervene in the market in ways that will prove controversial in parliament, predicted Chris Stark, chief executive of the Committee on Climate Change (CCCP). He said reducing emissions by the amounts needed would “require answers that the market unfettered will not deliver”. Stark said the independence of the CCCP, which...

Over the last decade, short-term rental platforms like Airbnb, HomeAway, and VRBO have expanded and provided an economic boom to many communities. Yet several localities are pursuing onerous zoning rules and other regulations that would restrict short-term rental activity. For many homeowners, short-term rental provides a critical source of additional income to help them pay their mortgages and to meet other financial obligations. States can protect their residents from overzealous, local bureaucrats with state pre-emption. Short-term rental helps local communities by growing the number of tourists that visit the area. A recent study published by the National Bureau of Economic...

NEW DELHI: A turf battle for national highways has erupted with the department of economic affairs (DEA) seeking to take control of the funding for the highway construction programme. After unsuccessfully pushing for corporatisation of the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI), the DEA has proposed changes in the Central Road Fund (CRF) Act to take control of the allotment of fuel cess for infrastructure projects and to decide the priority of expenditure. So far, the road transport and highways ministry is entitled to get the largest share of the CRF, estimated at 41%. The proposal to use 2.5% of...

President Emmanuel Macron says the French state fueled homegrown extremism by abandoning its poorest neighborhoods, and is promising tough and “sometimes authoritarian” new measures to combat the problem.The pledge is part of a multibillion-euro plan that Macron is laying out Tuesday focusing on suburban housing projects plagued by crime and joblessness. Macron was unusually harsh in his criticism of previous governments, saying radicalization took root because the state abdicated its responsibility in impoverished public housing, and extremist preachers filled the void. …

CARACAS, Venezuela — Venezuela’s new pro-government Constituent Assembly formally moved Friday to assume the powers of the opposition-dominated congress, completing what critics call a power grab that effectively puts all branches of government under the control of President ­Nicolás Maduro. The Constituent Assembly, created in a July 30 vote decried as fraud by the opposition and a host of nations, had begun to assume the role of the National Assembly, whose members were democratically elected in 2015. But in a move likely to spark further international condemnation, the motion Friday formalized the arrangement. The body was also poised to pass...

“This arrogant act by a lame duck president will not stand,” tweeted Senator Mike Lee (R-Utah) in reaction to President Barack Obama designating two national monuments Wednesday at sites in Nevada and in Lee’s home state of Utah.Christy Goldfuss, managing director of the White House Council on Environmental Quality, stated that the action will not allow any new mining or oil and gas development within the monument boundaries.The Bears Ears National Monument in Utah designation adds even more land to the control of the federal government, covering 1.35 million acres in the Four Corners region. While Lee and many other...

When farmers plow their land, it produces grooves called "furrows," bordered by small ridges of dirt. But in pursuit of new regulatory powers, federal agencies refer to the little dirt mounds by another term: “mini mountain ranges.” That seemingly absurd distinction is being used to impose more federal control over private land use decisions made by U.S. farmers. That was the claim described in a U.S. Senate committee report released Sept. 20. The committee reviewed the powers held by the nation’s two largest environmental regulation agencies, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Environmental Protection Agency, and a proposed...

The D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals will hear oral argument next Tuesday, September 27 on the Environmental Protection Agency’s so-called Clean Power Plan. The centerpiece of resident Obama’s climate policy agenda, the Plan establishes first-ever carbon dioxide (CO2) emission standards for “existing” (already built) coal and natural gas power plants. The Plan will increase consumer energy prices and impede job and GDP growth yet have no discernible effect on global temperatures or sea levels. However, that’s not why the Court should strike it down. The Court should overturn the Plan because it is an unlawful power grab. The Plan will...

Seemingly every day some politician or another, usually from the left of the political spectrum, calls for more infrastructure investment. In North Dakota there is a $3.7 billion infrastructure project under construction. This project received all the necessary federal permits and is 60% complete. But now the Obama administration, bowing to radical left wing protestors, has thrown the project into doubt with its unprecedented decision last Friday to halt construction on one section of the project. Apparently infrastructure investment is not the priority we were led to believe. The project in question is known as the Dakota Access Pipeline. It...

Gerrymandering is something Democrats usually whine about. It’s easy for them to do with Republicans controlling an unprecedented amount of state legislatures and gubernatorial seats in modern history – these entities deciding how congressional districts are drawn after the U.S. census is completed every ten years. However, there are undoubtedly cases of gerrymandering taking place in Democrat-controlled states. Maryland is one such example and a law school student has taken their antics to court. Steve Shapiro, an American University student, has challenged the districts drawn by former Governor Martin O’Malley and the blue legislature on first amendment grounds. The case...

Gun control advocates said on Monday they’re going to push “to finally close the terror gap once and for all” by barring gun sales based on the FBI’s suspicions about how a gun will be used. “If the FBI believes there’s a reasonable chance someone is going to use a gun in a terrorist attack, it should be able to make that determination and block the sale,” Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) told a conference call on Monday. “And now that we have lone wolves inspired by ISIL, even more the reason to do this than ever, ever before. It made...

Former House Speaker John Boehner Wednesday endorsed current House Speaker Paul Ryan to be the Republican presidential nominee. At the Republican convention, “anybody can be nominated,” Boehner said at a conference in Boca Raton, Fla. “If we don’t have a nominee who can win on the first ballot, I’m for none of the above,” Boehner said. "They all had a chance to win. None of them won. So I’m for none of the above. I’m for Paul Ryan to be our nominee.” Over the last few months, Boehner has privately said that he thought Ryan would be a good candidate...

The Obama administration has almost inarguably executed more unilateral sweeping power grabs than any previous presidency ever. Administration defenders lamely point to the number of Executive Orders issued: "GOP Slams 'Imperial' Obama After Fewest Executive Orders In 100 Years (CHART)." Which is technically true - but totally irrelevant. A minor point: Not every single Executive Order grabs additional unilateral power (though many do). A major point: What matters most is total Grabs-by-Regulations - not specifically Executive Orders. New regs issued by the multitudinous Executive Branch departments, agencies, commissions and boards - that exceed the power granted them by Congressional legislation....

Last month the Obama administration's Labor Department issued Interpretive Bulletin 2015-01, which tells pension funds what factors to use when choosing investments, including climate change. Only a few tax lawyers noticed, but with U.S. pensions at $9 trillion, this is a gross power grab that will hurt the retirees it claims to protect. This government is essentially saying: Don't you dare invest in anything that causes or is hurt by climate change, or you'll be sued for failing your fiduciary responsibilities. Energy, utilities and industrials are 20% of the market. How can pension funds now own any of them? Pushing...

The end of this year will see yet one more effort by some governments to grab greater control of the internet when the United Nations General Assembly meets in New York. As an appetizer to that main event, the annual Internet Governance Forum (IGF) took place this week in Brazil and at the center of the debate was how decisions over the internet's future evolution should be made. Will it be "multistakeholder" which means that everyone including governments, business, the technical community and civil society has an equal say? Or will it be "multilateral," which means that governments will be...

To reform the process by which Federal agencies analyze and formulate new regulations and guidance documents.

A federal judge on Friday declined to halt the Obama administration's controversial water rule nationwide, rebuffing the request of 13 states that are battling with the Environmental Protection Agency.Judge Ralph Erickson of the North Dakota U.S. District Court ruled that there are “significant prudential reasons to limit the scope” of the injunction he already gave the 13 states last week. Other courts have denied injunctions, he said, and some states want to implement the “Waters of the United States” rule. “On the one hand, there is a desirability for uniformity regarding a national rule with national application,” Erickson wrote. “On...

WASHINGTON (AP) — Nine months after police in riot gear dispelled racially charged protests, President Barack Obama is prohibiting the federal government from providing some military-style equipment to local departments and putting stricter controls on other weapons and gear distributed to law enforcement.