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Establishment Republicans desperately trying to secure the passage of Trade Promotion Authority (TPA), which would give President Obama fast-track authority to secure congressional approval of at least three secretive trade deals, are now willing to increase taxes on small businesses in a way that would violate a pledge almost every Republican Congressman has taken when elected into office. To secure final passage through Congress of a package that would include TPA fast-track authority—which would ensure finalization of the secretive Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP), Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (T-TIP) and Trade in Services Agreement (TiSA), among other deals—the House would...

WikiLeaks is releasing another part of President Obama’s Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPP). The Healthcare Annex, according to WikiLeaks, “seeks to regulate state schemes for medicines and medical devices. It forces healthcare authorities to give big pharmaceutical companies more information about national decisions on public access to medicine, and grants corporations greater powers to challenge decisions they perceive as harmful to their interests.”

Discovered inside the huge tranche of secretive Obamatrade documents released by Wikileaks are key details on how technically any Republican voting for Trade Promotion Authority (TPA) that would fast-track trade deals like the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade deal would technically also be voting to massively expand President Obama’s executive authority when it comes to immigration matters. The mainstream media covered the Wikileaks document dump extensively, but did not mention the immigration chapter contained within it, so Breitbart News took the documents to immigration experts to get their take on it. Nobody has figured how big a deal the documents uncovered...

Could you just give me a straight answer? Like a simple yes or no? Please don't try to squirm your way out of it. You still won't answer? Aggghhh! Aggghhh! AGGGGHHHHHHH!!!! One could forgive Jake Tapper if he felt like channeling his inner Sam Kinison on CNN's The Lead today while he was trying to get a simple answer from Hillary Clinton spokeswoman, Karen Finney, on the subject of Hillary's position on the TPP (Trans-Pacific Partnership) trade bill in Congress. Tapper's very visible exasperation with Finney's nonanswers were  completely understandable as she continued her evasive shuffle on the topic all through...

. CLICK This LINK to HEAR the Entire Kuhner Radio Interview A Note to Conservatives on Trade Agreements Senator Cruz entirely understands the widespread suspicion of the President. Nobody has been more vocal in pointing out the President’s lawlessness or more passionate about fighting his usurpation of congressional authority. Senator Cruz would not and will not give President Obama one more inch of unrestricted power. There have been a lot of questions and concerns about 2the ongoing Pacific trade negotiations. Many of those concerns, fueled by the media, stem from confusion about Trade Promotion Authority (TPA) and the proposed Trans-Pacific...

Chief Obamatrade proponent House Ways and Means Committee chairman Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) 60% admitted during Congressional testimony on Wednesday evening that despite tons of claims from him and other Obamatrade supporters to the contrary, the process is highly secretive. He also made a gaffe in his House Rules Committee testimony on par with former Speaker Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) 7% ’s push to pass Obamacare, in which she said infamously said: “we have to pass the bill so that you can find out what is in it.” “It’s declassified and made public once it’s agreed to,” Ryan said of...

President Barack Obama's free-trade agenda, known as Obamatrade, faces close votes in the GOP-controlled House. But it's Democrats, not Republicans, who want to derail the process. Ahead of Friday's votes, House Ways and Means Chairman Paul Ryan said he hopes Democrats will come around and support Obama on trade. It's a rather confusing issue with lots of acronyms, but here's the story. The House is set to consider fast-track trade legislation Friday. The Senate has already backed the measure known as Trade Promotion Authority (TPA), which puts the White House and Republicans on the same side. It would renew presidential...

It’s going to be weird when John Boehner and John McCain are returned to Congress next November by landslide margins while Mr. Entitlement Reform is busy clearing out his desk. Oh well. The Ted Cruz primary fight in 2018 will be interesting, at least. Laura Ingraham ✔ ‎@IngrahamAngle Wisconsin sources say discussions building in favor of challenging @RepPaulRyan over his role in the #ObamaTrade. #PeoplesCandidate 10:05 AM - 12 Jun 2015 Laura Ingraham ✔ ‎@IngrahamAngle FACT: @RepPaulRyan will have mega bucks to defend his reelection from the same Corps that benefit from & lobbied for #ObamaTrade. 10:30 AM - 12...

House Ways and Means Chairman Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) joined NPR Wednesday with Steve Inskeep to stress why he says it’s important for Congress to pass Trade Promotion Authority (TPA), which grants President Obama fast-track trade authority. With TPA, Congress cannot issue any amendments to trade agreements and merely gets an up or down vote on a final trade deal. Ryan’s go to remark when first questioned about TPA or the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) – which is part of three trade deals currently being negotiated – is he needs to clarify “misperceptions.” “We’re not considering the TPP, the Trans-Pacific...

In the final hours before the House votes on a new leadership-concocted scheme to sneak Obamatrade past the American public, it’s been revealed that pro-Obamatrade forces are now aiming to sneak a renewal of the highly controversial Export Import Bank into the deal to secure Senate passage later if the House passes it on Thursday. “I and all the other members there are looking for a guarantee … for a deal to be good it’s got to have enforcement, TAA, I think it’s got to have Ex-Im reauthorization,” Sen. Tim Kaine, a Democrat who’s angling for this in the deal,...

Illinois Republican Rep. Adam Kinzinger this week blamed misinformation from sites like ObamaTrade.com and other sites like Drudge Report that pass along those links for distorting information about trade legislation, including bills on trade promotion authority, trade adjustment assistance and the Trans-Pacific Partnership, the massive trade deal that has yet to be finalized. (emphasis mine)

FULL TITLE: PAUL RYAN UNCHAINED: LASHES OUT AT BREITBART, DRUDGE, ‘DON’T BELIEVE EVERYTHING YOU READ ON THE INTERNET’ You know you’re losing when you’re reduced to attacking the Internet. House Ways and Means Committee chairman Rep. Paul Ryan is now attacking the Web, proving he shouldn’t be trusted by Republican members of Congress to tell the truth about controversial trade legislation. In an appearance Thursday on Fox and Friends, Ryan criticized Breitbart News and other conservative media including the highly influential Drudge Report, which have revealed the immigration and climate change provisions within President Obama’s trade agenda. “Let’s talk about...

Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) and his aides swear the Syrian “rebels” he was pictured last year with weren’t ISIS members or supporters, and the mainstream media is by and large buying the 2008 GOP presidential nominee’s story. Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) has endured brutal criticism—media fact checkers, reporters, and political figures have shredded him—for questioning just who McCain posed with. But a closer look at the situation tells perhaps a different story than McCain’s office or the mainstream media have pushed. The criticism of McCain centers around how the Arizona senator met with Syrian rebel leaders in May 2013 when...

Russia's investigative committee spokesman has demanded that an international investigation be launched into the US 1969 moon landings, after a US-led investigation into the world governing body Fifa, cast doubt over the fairness of choosing Russia to host the next World Cup. Nine Fifa officials were implicated in a US and Swiss investigation into the alleged corruption, with the scandal eventually leading to the organisation's president Sepp Blatter to announce his resignation. Russia and Qatar have both denied that their hosting rights are linked to any wrongdoing, however about a fortnight ago the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) confirmed...

As Jeb Bush announced his bid for the Republican presidential nomination Monday, a conservative political action committee released an open letter urging Fox News legal analyst Andrew Napolitano to run as a third-party candidate if Bush and Hillary Clinton are their parties’ nominees. “The Democrat and Republican brands have become ‘two wings of the same bird of prey,’ as you yourself have pointed out, which is why the American People deserve an alternative choice in the coming presidential election,” reads the letter from Constitutional Rights Political Action Committee Chairman Larry Ward. The letter concludes, “Above all, we need a President...

I'm wondering what Freepers think if the 2016 election turns out to be Trump vs. Clinton. In my view Trump easily wins. What is your opinion in this hypothetical scenario?

Is there another city Jeb would prefer?

Finally explaining their unexplainable actions in Congress since the midterm elections last November, House and Senate leaders announced today that they were “transpolitical,” meaning they consider themselves to be a member of both political parties. The move was made after Speaker of the House, John Boehner, said he viewed being called a “RINO” (Republican in Name Only) to be a political micro-aggression, and it always made him cry. Congressman Paul Ryan and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell also said that conservative lawmakers and critics have been hurting their feelings for quite some time by questioning their decisions and they were...

(AP) Russian President Vladimir Putin listens during an annual call-in show on Russian television, "Conversation With Vladimir Putin," in Moscow, April 16, 2015. Russia's ambassador to Sweden has warned the country of the potential military "consequences" associated with joining NATO in an interview with the Swedish newspaper Dagens Nyheter, The Local reports. Russian Ambassador Viktor Tatarintsev told Dagens Nyheter that Russia does not have any military plans against Sweden, in line with Stockholm's alliance neutrality.

At FiveThirtyEight, we like to celebrate outliers. LeBron James’s Cleveland Cavaliers may end up losing in the NBA Finals, but James’s performance has been outlandishly good. In the same vein, I want to congratulate Donald Trump, who reportedly will declare today that he is running for president. Trump is the anti-LeBron — popularity is performance in politics, and Trump is the first candidate in modern presidential primary history to begin the campaign with a majority of his own party disliking him. A whopping 57 percent of Republicans have an unfavorable view of Trump, according to an average of the three...