Free Republic

This would be an A-list political story if it weren't buried beneath the avalanche of scandal that's consumed the nation's attention and undermined the president's approval ratings in recent weeks. We reported on Monday that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is maneuvering to execute the so-called "nuclear option" on filibusters of executive appointments, perhaps as soon as July. Since the game plan was initially sketched out by a liberal blogger in the Washington Post (who also confirmed that the White House has bestowed its blessing on the power grab), more circumstantial evidence has emerged that appears to confirm Reid's intentions:...

President Barack Obama will star at an “intimate” $32,400 per head June 6 fundraising dinner and discussion in the Portola Valley home of star Silicon Valley venture capitalist Vinod Khosla and his wife, Neeru, according to the invite obtained by the Chronicle. The dinner is one of two events in Peninsula private homes on Obama’s upcoming fundraising swing here, which benefits the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee. In addition to the Khosla home dinner, Obama will also attend an earlier reception in the home of Marci and Mike McCue of Palo Alto. McCue co-founded Flipboard, and serves as its CEO. Senator...

Well, Harry Reid is resorting to desperate measures in order to try and regain some power in the Senate. Reports say that he is getting ready to use the so-called “nuclear option” to change the senate rules so that 60 votes are no longer needed to block a filibuster. And it looks like President Obama will support Reid’s efforts if the Republicans try to block upcoming nominations. “If Senator Reid decides to do something on nominations, the president has said he’ll be there to support him,” a Democratic aide told the Post. "This would take away the right to...

U.S. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said Wednesday "House Republicans have truly lost their minds" under a popular definition of insanity. Reid, speaking of House GOP leaders' plan to hold a 37th vote on repealing the Affordable Care Act -- commonly known as "Obamacare" -- cited a statement often attributed to Albert Einstein, that insanity is defined as "doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.""If that's true, the House Republicans have truly lost their minds," Reid said in a speech on the Senate floor.Noting that House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, said after the 2012...

An anonymous individual or group claims to have obtained "all available" tax returns associated with Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney. The alleged hackers claim to have accessed them via computers in the Franklin, Tenn., office of professional services firm PriceWaterhouseCoopers. An anonymous posting on a file sharing website claims PwC was hacked; the same site has been used to boast of other high-profile corporate hacks. How'd they pull it off, allegedly? The posting states: "[Romney's tax returns] were taken from the PWC office 8/25/2012 by gaining access to the third floor via a gentleman working on the 3rd floor of...

FRANKLIN, Tenn. (AP) -- The Secret Service said Wednesday it is investigating the reported theft of copies of Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney's federal tax records during a break-in at an accounting office in Franklin. Someone claiming responsibility demanded $1 million not to make them public.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) reacted to Republican outrage at the IRS targeting of conservative groups Tuesday, saying that when the Internal Revenue Service targeted liberal organizations, “we didn’t hear a single Republican grandstand the issue then.” “It wasn’t long ago that the IRS inappropriately targeted the NAACP, Greenpeace, and a California church which was really progressive, called the All Saints Church in Pasadena, Calif. It was interesting. At that time, we didn’t hear a single Republican grandstand the issue then. Where was their outrage when groups on the other side of the political spectrum were

The top Democrat in the Senate is now coming under fire for comments about the Kermit Gosnell murder trial and the verdict finding him guilty on three counts of killing babies sin gruesome abortion-infanticides. Reid called Gosnell a butcher, according to a Weekly Standard report, but then Senate Democratic leader then went on to blame pro-lifers and said more access to abortion is needed. The top Democrat apparently thinks the Gosnell trial was merely about dirty and unsanitary abortion clinics rather than him taking the lives of women in botched abortions and killing babies by birthing them and snipping their...

HOW did Harry Reid know during the 2012 campaign that "Romney had not paid his taxes?"

Funding Will Research How To Make Solar Panels More Efficient & Minimize Water UseNSF Grant Expected To Employ 100 Technicians, Scientists and StudentsWashington, D.C.- Nevada Senator Harry Reid today joined Chancellor Dan Klaich and officials with the National Science Foundation  in announcing a grant for $20,000,000 which will be awarded to the Nevada System of Higher Education to improve the effectiveness of large-scale solar installations in arid desert lands. The grant comes from the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the project, called  “The Solar Energy-Water-Environment Nexus in Nevada,” will be a collaborative effort between the University of Nevada, Reno, the...

"Superficial" "A source close to the Senate negotiations [says] that two senators who voted against the background check bill would vote for it after minor, superficial changes." - Lawrence O’Donnell on MSNBC, May 6, 2013ACTION: Senators who voted pro-gun last month are under intense pressure - by Senate Democrats and Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s hit ads - to switch their votes.  We need to keep applying the heat and let them know that gun owners are ready to help in any Senate campaign, no matter which state, to defeat ANY SENATOR who votes for gun control.LEGISLATIVE UPDATE FROM WASHINGTON, DC. It’s...

BEGIN TRANSCRIPT RUSH: I've got audio sound bites I've been intending to get to for days, and now is the time. It's about Ted Cruz. Now, I mentioned at the top of the program that Ted Cruz wants to attach an amendment to the immigration bill, the Gang of Eight immigration bill. It says (summarized), "Fine, they can't become citizens. Whatever you do with them when you bring 'em out of the shadows, they're not citizens. They've been here illegally. We're not gonna reward them with citizenship, whatever else we do. CRUZ: Reconciliation bills have been used to increase the...

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) called freshman GOP Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) a “schoolyard bully” during a contentious exchange Monday on the Senate floor. The two senators bickered as Cruz rose to object to Reid’s motion to appoint conferees to a House-Senate budget committee. Cruz said he was concerned that the conference report—which cannot be filibustered—would be used to raise the nation’s debt ceiling. He asked that Reid amend his motion to go to conference to make out of order any provisions raising taxes or raising the debt ceiling. Reid said Cruz had a chance to amend the Senate...

Old and busted: ObamaCare is no “train wreck,� no matter what one of its authors says now. New hotness: Give us more money to head off this train wreck! Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) says he shares colleagues’ concerns that the Affordable Care Act could become a “train wreck” if it’s not implemented properly.Reid warned that people will not be able to choose health insurance plans on government health exchanges if federal authorities lack the resources to set them up and educate the public.“Max said unless we implement this properly it’s going to be a train wreck and I...

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) says he shares colleagues’ concerns that the Affordable Care Act could become a “train wreck” if it’s not implemented properly. Reid warned that people will not be able to choose health insurance plans on government health exchanges if federal authorities lack the resources to set them up and educate the public.

Reid defends remark likening Tea Party to modern-day anarchists By Alexander Bolton - 05/02/13 05:17 AM ET Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) says the Tea Party is the main reason why things are not getting done in Congress and views it as a party of modern-day anarchists. Reid on Wednesday afternoon stood by comments he made on the Senate floor last week comparing Tea Party-affiliated Republicans to 19th century American anarchists. “I believe that, my experience with the Tea Party is that they are against government in any form. They throw monkey wrenches into the government,” Reid said during...

Reid: More funding needed to prevent ObamaCare from becoming 'train wreck' By Alexander Bolton - 05/01/13 05:45 PM ET Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) says he shares colleagues’ concerns that the Affordable Care Act could become a “train wreck” if it’s not implemented properly. Reid warned that people will not be able to choose health insurance plans on government health exchanges if federal authorities lack the resources to set them up and educate the public. “Max said unless we implement this properly it’s going to be a train wreck and I agree with him,” Reid said, echoing a warning...

A few days ago in the Senate, Harry Reid gave a small speech in which he called tea partiers "non-violent anarchists". Most people will probably either debate the merits of his points or refute them, I want to point out that historically, he is in line with what earlier progressives believed. Before I give you the quotes, my reason for doing this is to highlight one single thing: Progressives do not change. They change the outside; they wear different suits, they use different language and key words, they even call themselves by different titles. "I'm a liberal", or "I'm a...

Senate Majority Leader Reid, House Majority Leader Cantor Deride Across-the-Board Cuts -In Joint Appearance, Two Hill Leaders Don't Outline Way To Replace Cuts LOS ANGELES(MNI) - In a rare joint appearance, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, a Democrat, and House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, a Republican, said Monday they are frustrated by across-the-board spending cuts that have been mandated by the sequestration process, but they did not agree on how these cuts should be altered or eliminated. Appearing on a panel at the Milken Institute Global Conference, Reid and Cantor took turns blasting the sequestration process. Speaking of sequestration, Reid...

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) believes the Tea Party is ideologically similar to anarchists and that government is "inherently good." Speaking on the Senate floor on Tuesday, Reid said he was frustrated that, "We have a situation where this country has been driven by the Tea Party for the last number of years." He then insinuated Tea Partiers were like anarchists. "When I was in school, I studied government and I learned about the anarchists. Now, they were different than the Tea Party because they were violent," Reid said. "But they were anarchists because they did not believe in...

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) on Tuesday introduced a bill that would require background checks to be run on anyone buying explosive powder, a reaction to last week's Boston Marathon bombing. Reid introduced the bill, S. 792, for Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.), who has been out sick for much of the year. But in a press statement, Lautenberg said the Boston bombing shows that background checks are needed for explosive materials. "It defies common sense that anyone, even a terrorist, can walk into a store in America and buy explosive powders without a background check or any questions asked,"...

HARRY REID: We have a situation where this country has been driven by the Tea Party for the last number of years. When I was in school, I studied government and I learned about the anarchists. Now, they were different than the Tea Party because they were violent. But they were anarchists because they did not believe in government in any level and they acknowledged it. The Tea Party kind of hides that.

Obama's Marxist socialist government is in a mad rush to destroy the final remnants of our constitution and our traditional American way of life. We love America. We love freedom. We love and defend our constitution. We cherish our God-given unalienable rights. We cherish and depend on our rights to free speech, free press, freedom of religion, freedom to keep and bear arms, freedom to be secure in our homes and personal affairs, freedom to travel, freedom to enjoy the fruits of our own labor. But the socialist don't. The Marxists don't. The Islamofascists don't. The socialist Democrat party led...

Gun-control opponents won a major victory this week when the Manchin-Toomey bill to expand background checks failed to advance, but a leading lobbyist says the behind-the-scenes wrangling was far more dramatic than the final vote suggested.

Those who support stricter gun control fear that the passage of time since the Dec. 14 shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary School will result in further watering-down of measures. They should not, however, discount the risk that attempts to shave a few weeks or months off the usual legislative process will result in bad laws, with unintended and lasting consequences. While pro-gun forces may overstate the case against expanded background checks — they are not, for example, a prelude to disarming the citizenry — President Obama and his allies have understated the difficult legal questions posed by extending the background-check...

(CNN) - Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said Thursday he'll set aside proposed gun legislation without a final vote following the defeat a day earlier of major provisions sought by President Barack Obama and Democrats in the aftermath of the Newtown school massacre. "(Obama) and I agreed that the best way to keep working towards passing a background check bill is to hit pause, and freeze the background check bill where it is," he said on the Senate floor. "This will allow senators to keep negotiating."A Senate Democratic leadership aide said Reid can bring up the package of gun proposals...

26 minutes agoReid to shelve gun bill Posted by CNN Chief Congressional Correspondent Dana Bash (CNN) - Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid will set aside proposed gun legislation on Thursday without a final vote following the defeat a day earlier of major provisions sought by President Barack Obama and Democrats in the aftermath of the Newtown school massacre, CNN has learned. A Senate Democratic leadership aide said Reid can bring up the package of gun proposals again if circumstances change and he believes he has the votes for key provisions to pass, particularly a measure to expand background checks on...

ET Williams discusses how Obama shows no emotion when talking about deaths in Benghazi or Sandy Hook but is visibly angry when his gun-control bill gets shot down in the Senate. "Gun Law Voted Down and Liberals Are Upset. Barrack Obama Is Angry Now. Gun Control Advocates are Upset. Michael Bloomberg Is Mad. Joseph Biden is sad. Al Sharpton Is Disappointed. We the people have spoken."

Following a series of amendment votes in the Senate, including the Manchin-Toomey Amendment expanding background checks that failed to pass, the President makes a statement to reporters on what the White House calls "common-sense" gun control.

Harry Reid today introduced legislation that would put new restrictions on purchase and ownership of pressure cookers. The legislation would require background checks and a 10 day waiting period for all purchases of these devices, including purchases of used pressure cookers at garage sales and pressure cooker fairs. Anyone whose name appears on the newly created register of the mentally ill would be ineligible to purchase the devices. The legislation also restricts the capacity of pressure cookers to be offered for sale. "Nobody needs a pressure cooker that is larger than 1.5 gallons," Sen. Reid said in a statement released...

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, an NRA supporter, announced on Wednesday morning he will vote for bans on assault weapons and high-capacity magazines being offered as amendments one month after pulling those bans from a package of overall gun-reform legislation.

"I will vote for assault weapons ban because maintaining law and order and saving lives is more important than preventing imagined tyranny."

WASHINGTON (AP) — Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid says a letter containing ricin or another poision was sent to the office of Sen. Roger Wicker of Mississippi. In brief remarks to reporters in the Capitol, Reid did not say when the letter was sent. It’s customary for mail addressed to congressional offices to be screened at an off-site facility.

A letter addressed to Senator Roger Wicker (R-Mississippi) tested positive for the deadly poison Ricin this afternoon, according to two sources, and high-ranking security officials are briefing U.S. Senators now on the situation. The letter, which there is no word on whether it was sent to Senator Wicker's Washington or home office, contained the poison in a powdery form, which is deadly if inhaled, injected or ingested. Ricin causes the body to stop forming protein and results in death within three to five days of exposure if not treated, and if successfully treated results in long-term organ damage. The toxin...

In an apparent slip of the tongue, Harry Reid this morning referred to the gun-control bill he brought to the Senate floor as “anti-gun legislation.” “On the anti-gun legislation before the Senate, we are making good progress on the effort to schedule a series of votes on amendments to the anti-gun-violence legislation before the Senate.” Some, however, are questioning whether the Senate minority leader accidentally revealed his true feelings. GOP Sentaor Ted Cruz, a leading opponent of the bill, asked whether Reid’s statement was a ”Freudian slip.” He said in a Tweet:

Dear GOA members, We thought this article by Daniel Horowitz from Red State.com was a provocative and interesting piece that you should read to get an insight into how the other side plans to win. It's worth reading so we can thwart them. Sincerely, Your Friends at GOA http://gunowners.org/news04152013.htm ______________________________________________ Yesterday, 16 Republicans voted along with the Democrats to break the filibuster against the Reid gun control bill (S.649). Although Mitch McConnell and John Cornyn voted against it, they failed to whip against the vote, exerting no pressure on these wayward Republicans to put the brakes on this fast moving...

Uh oh. Has Sen. Harry Reid been getting gun advice from Uncle Joe Biden? On Thursday, the Senate voted to move forward with gun control legislation. It’s a good thing Reid studied up on the gun-thingy lingo. Speaking on the Senate floor, he brought up the Aurora shooting. The accused shooter’s rifle was reportedly equipped with a 100-round magazine, but here’s what Reid said: The events of the last few months has been very tragic. People going to a movie theater to watch a movie and they’re gunned down? And more would have been gunned down but for the fact...

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has given Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) until 5 p.m. Tuesday to reach a background checks deal with Sen. Pat Toomey (R-Pa.), according to several sources close to the issue. If there’s no agreement by that deadline, Reid will move to start debate over a gun-control package that is a wish list for gun-control advocates. But Republicans have already threatened to filibuster the bill, and it is unlikely to pass in its current form. If there is no deal and a filibuster is surmounted, votes could start as early as Thursday.

Roll Call noted yesterday that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is between a rock and a hard place when it comes to bringing up the gun control legislation reported out of the Senate Judiciary Committee. If he doesn't bring it up, he sidelines one of Obama's legacy building proposals. But if he allows it to come to the floor without a significant show of bipartisan support, at least on the so-called "universal background check" piece, he risks putting his more vulnerable members who are up for re-election in 2014 in a tough spot. The trouble for Reid is the new...

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has the tools he needs to overcome any initial filibuster of a firearms background check bill, but he may not be inclined to use them. Indeed, the Nevada Democrat is biding his time, even as President Barack Obama embarks on an aggressive new push for votes on a variety of gun-related measures, including background checks and a new prohibition on assault weapons. The trouble for Reid is the new process — established in January through modest filibuster rules changes — may have a fatal flaw in practice when the Nevada Democrat actually wants the bill...

As Senate Democrats struggle to build support for new gun control legislation, the American Civil Liberties Union now says it’s among those who have “serious concerns” about the bill. Those concerns have the capacity to prove a major setback to Sen. Harry Reid’s current gun bill, which includes language from earlier bills introduced by Sens. Chuck Schumer and Barbara Boxer. In an exclusive interview with The Daily Caller, a top lobbyist for the ACLU announced that the group thinks Reid’s current gun bill could threaten both privacy rights and civil liberties. The inclusion of universal background checks — the poll-tested...

It was, Senator Harry Reid of Nevada ebulliently proclaimed, a “happy day for me” as he stood with Wayne LaPierre, the head of the National Rifle Association, in 2010 at a new shooting range in Las Vegas made possible by federal money secured by Mr. Reid. “People who criticize this probably would criticize baseball,” Mr. Reid said before firing off a few rounds. These days, Mr. Reid, the Senate majority leader, is far more likely to meet with Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg of New York, an outspoken advocate of stricter gun control, than with Mr. LaPierre as he prepares to...

Since Senator Dianne Feinstein’s (D-CA) massive gun control bill is going down in flames due to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s (D-NV) decision to stop it in its tracks, that didn’t mean that the gun grab was over. In fact, that seems to have been all political theater. The real threat comes in Harry Reid’s own S 649 bill, or as its innocuous title is referred to as Safe Communities, Safe Schools Act of 2013. It’s anything but safe for communities, schools or freedom and has sweeping legislation that has the potential to destroy gun ownership in America. Because of...

We now know a lot more about what's going to happen with gun control legislation than we did a few days ago. First, the number of the bill we are fighting is S. 649. Harry Reid introduced it on Thursday and brought it directly onto the Senate calendar. This means the bill can now come up at any time — probably soon after the Easter recess is over. Second, the bill is a lot worse than even we anticipated. We expected it to contain the Veterans Gun Ban, which would mean that you would sell, gift, or raffle a gun...

Polite, gentle Republicans are wearisome. In the face of the America-destroying policies of this enemy-within horde of criminal thugs under the crook-in-chief, Barack Obama (or whatever his name is), I would think the Republicans would be brave enough—at least for America’s sake—to leave their mealy mouths at the door and tell it like it is. But, with very few exceptions, they continue to pussy-foot around the outrageous actions and brazen lies of the oligarchy of communist Democrats ruling our nation. We are sick of watching the “opposition” Republicans stand meekly by and let the Democrats get away with lie after...

Just hours after an explosion killed seven Marines in his home state, Nevada Sen. Harry Reid used the fatal training accident as an opportunity to talk about the potential impact of the sequester on military readiness. The Senate Democratic leader initially took to the floor Tuesday to mourn the deaths of the seven Marines, killed during a training exercise at Hawthorne Army Depot in Nevada. “My thoughts are with those who are injured and of course the families of those who lost loved ones,” Reid said. But then, after explaining that the Marines were at the depot for training, Reid...

The Senate Budget Committee is expected to mark up its budget blueprint the week of March 11, ahead of the arrival of President Obama's plan to Capitol Hill. So far, specific dates have not been announced, but if the panel marks up a resolution that week it would be on track toward Senate approval before lawmakers leave town for a two-week Easter recess on March 22, according to a Senate aide. Senate Budget Chairwoman Patty Murray (D-Wash.) has vowed to mark up a budget resolution, which would be the first budget markup in four years for the panel. On Thursday,...

The Senate majority leader said, “It's significant that 150 years after President Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation, we are still considering in film, in photo, in art, and activism how to eradicate slavery's unsavory successors.” Reid was speaking at a ceremony unveiling Rosa Parks' statue in the Capitol...

If a ban can't pass the Senate, it certainly won't pass in the House. Consider the assault weapons ban a dead issue, while the ammunition limit is alive and well. Wall Street Journal: Senate Democratic leaders expect a gun bill to move to the Senate floor that includes most of the proposals backed by President Barack Obama, with the notable exception of a ban on military-style, semiautomatic weapons, a top aide to Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada said.The bill would likely seek to limit the capacity of ammunition magazines; expand background checks to include sales at gun shows and...

Harry Reid: ‘I’ve Got Lots of Guns’ February 4, 2013 By Matt Cover (CNSNews.com) – Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) told ABC’s “This Week” “I’ve got lots of guns,” when asked his views on the Second Amendment and efforts by some of his Democratic colleagues to enact stricter gun control measures. “I've got lots of guns,” Reid told host George Stephanopoulos in an interview Sunday. “I had guns from the time I was a little boy. I don't hunt anymore, but I did.” Reid said he now keeps his guns “for sentimental reasons.” The top Senate Democrat also noted...