Free Republic

Just days after launching a new political action committee, former Democratic Vice President Joe Biden will join Republican officials and donors at a weekend retreat hosted by former GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney. Biden will be interviewed by Romney during a Friday evening event in Park City, Utah, at the invitation-only summit, according to a Biden spokesman and participants briefed on the schedule. The speaker lineup for what is traditionally a gathering of Romney allies is packed with high-profile Republicans, among them House Speaker Paul Ryan and Sens. Lindsey Graham and John McCain. Ryan was Romney’s running mate in 2012....

Even members of his own party were quick to declare President Donald Trump’s budget plan dead on arrival in Congress last month. And in fact, lawmakers are facing a burst of overdue budget-related work this summer. Most of what’s on the budget agenda probably won’t bear much resemblance to Trump’s spending plan, which promised deep spending cuts on domestic programs, rapid economic growth, and a balanced federal ledger in a decade. Instead, they’re confronting an increase in the government’s borrowing cap, serious problems in advancing annual spending bills, and a smaller set of curbs on domestic benefit programs. […] Atop...

Every morning I wake up before 5am Eastern and switch on the TV to watch the early version of ″Fox & Friends″. Aside from enjoying my breakfast with the lovely Heather Childress, I learn what the ′Big News′ item is for the day ahead. The big topic this morning was a Midnight tweet on Twitter by President Donald Trump. The story is that he allegedly misspelled the word ′coverage′ when he wrote ′covfefe′ instead in a tweet about the negative press. As a Shaolin Master Abbott of the Temple of Trump Fu, I saw the true purpose of the...

Pennsylvania State Rep. Jamie Santora (R-163) is pushing a ban on private gun sales nearly identical to the ones Michael Bloomberg-funded Moms Demand Action pushed in Washington state, Maine, and Nevada. Santora’s bill would bar the private sales that Americans have enjoyed since the Second Amendment was ratified in 1791 and would require that every sale be processed in front of an agent of the government via a background check. This means that law-abiding Pennsylvanians selling a gun to a fellow hunter, lifelong co-worker, or childhood friend would have to seek out a Federal Firearms License (FFL) holder and the...

The Arizona pair — especially McCain — has continued to be top Republicans critics of Trump in the White House’s current battles over the firing of FBI Director Jim Comey and ties with Russia. Flake and McCain are top Republican backers of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and other free trade deals. Trump is reworking NAFTA with Mexico and Canada. Those are Arizona’s top two trading partners. McCain told Fox News Sunday he’s “almost speechless” over Trump reportedly calling Comey a “nut job” to Russia’s foreign minister and ambassador. McCain and U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., are also...

Prior to the start of the legislative session in January, Republican Senate President Kevin Grantham said restructuring a hospital fee to raise money for state services was off the table. Republicans prior to the session also pushed a familiar narrative of using existing tax revenue and fighting against any tax increases. But then came bills backed by prominent high-profile Republicans aimed at a tax increase for roads and a restructuring of the Hospital Provider Fee. While the $3.5 billion transportation proposal never gained enough GOP support to send the issue to voters, historic progress was made on the Hospital Provider...

Friday, May 12, 2017 IL GOP Senator Brady serves as coal-mine canary with his proposed "Grand Bargain 2.0" SPRINGFIELD - Republican state Senator Bill Brady - once the favorite of social conservatives when he ran twice for Illinois governor in 2010 and again in 2014 - has now willingly stepped in as a tax-hike canary in the Illinois Republican coal mine by making a daring call for tax hikes in the governor's newest "grand bargain" budget proposal. And it's not just one tax hike the Bloomington senator wants Illinoisans to inhale along with him, it's two or maybe three new...

Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., shared high praise for his Republican colleague Sen. John McCain, who is in his "finest hour" because of his willingness to speak out against President Trump. During an interview Friday on HBO's "Real Time," Schiff, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, was asked by host Bill Maher to react to the latest wave of town halls in which Republicans have faced fierce backlash over the Obamacare repeal and Trump's firing of FBI Director James Comey.

"... Conservatives looked at that and said that’s the main reason people hate Obamacare, we’ve got to deal with that. The problem, though, that we had is that we have a critical mass of members who, even though they campaigned on repealing Obamacare, did not want to roll back the architecture of Obamacare, so we were kind of at a standstill,” he explained. “And then, with the work of people like Mark Meadows and Tom McArthur from New Jersey, what we were able to do is say, ‘Let’s at least give the states the ability to opt out of the...

In case that wasn’t perfectly clear, CQ Roll Call’s April “Capitol Insiders Survey” found that large majorities of Republican staffers on Capitol Hill believe the Freedom Caucus is a “negative force” in the Republican Party. The results are not surprising, but are illustrative of the hostility to true conservatism in the swamp. Survey: Republicans see harm from Freedom Caucus https://t.co/qxs7R7xtGu pic.twitter.com/J1KTKQYow6 — Roll Call (@rollcall) May 4, 2017 Of the 100 self-identified Republicans who responded to the email poll, 71 percent had a negative view of the Freedom Caucus; 22 percent of the GOP respondents had a positive view, while...

Congratulations! The GOP holds the House, the Senate, and the White House, and, in addition to not abiding by the Constitution and repealing all of the so-called “Affordable Care Act,” they are set to pass a budget that not only hands the Dems pretty much everything they want, it also funds so many obviously crazy things that it would be virtually impossible to defend. Take a deep breath, and let’s dive into the swamp! The GOP budget does not cut taxpayer funding for Planned Parenthood, which comprises 40% of that organization’s income. Rather than mention that there’s nothing in the Constitution that...

So much has been said recently about the rivalry between the House Freedom Caucus and a group called “The Tuesday Group,” a group of largely unnamed so-called “moderates” in the House. The leadership of the Tuesday Group is named, and some members willingly speak to reporters about their agenda. The group boasts of a membership of somewhere between 40 and 50 members, but only a few have outed themselves as part of the secretive backroom group. The most vocal member is one of the co-chairs named Charlie Dent, a Pennsylvanian Republican whose liberty score reveals that he votes liberal 72%...

It is time for Trump to summon from the four corners of the republic for his supporters to converge on DC and shut down the government until the lyin republicans relent.

At first RINOs complained that they could not accomplish anything unless they had control of the House, then the next excuse was that they needed control of the Senate, then the next excuse was that they needed control of the Presidency, then there excuse was that we can't risk shutting down the government, then the next excuse will be that the Democrats will retake over everything, including the Congressional restroom....br>GET SOME BALLS, YOU COWARDLY BASTARDS

The RINOs score yet another victory The newly agreed upon $1 trillion-plus spending package that will keep the federal government operating through Sept. 30 contains no funding for President Trump’s desperately needed border wall or crackdown on lawless sanctuary cities that let MS-13 gang members run wild. This is because House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wisc.) has no interest whatsoever in ending the open-borders free-for-all that has been the status quo for decades. Ryan supports the lawlessness. He profits from it. He may as well cross the aisle and become a Democrat.

All of you FReepers and conservatives out there listening to smug media reports about Schumer and the Dems popping champagne corks over the Continuing Resolution (CR) need to remember who you are dealing with again. As Rush likes to say, do not doubt me. Trump is the Jason Vorhees of business, and now politics. He didn't get to the pinnacle of success by selling himself and his supporters out for short-term gain as so many politicians do. Rather, this is what in military terms is called a tactical retreat. In a tactical retreat, you cut your losses and regroup. This...

"We're going to go when we have the votes," Speaker Paul Ryan said Thursday when asked when the House will pass a bill to repeal and replace Obamacare. Lawmakers will not be constrained by any "artificial deadline," Ryan declared. On March 24, when the Speaker pulled the GOP Obamacare bill before what would have been a sure defeat, he said, "We're going to be living with Obamacare for the foreseeable future." But why? Republicans have 238 seats in the House. Repealing Obamacare will require 217 votes. Even with unanimous Democratic opposition, Republicans could lose 21 votes and still prevail on...

It took weeks of debunking, exposing, and analyzing to cut through the grease of what many of us have known all along: Republicans love Obamacare, at least the core elements that destroyed insurance in America. They just enjoyed using Obamacare as a talking point for elections while in the opposition. This revelation should serve as a teachable moment, demonstrating to conservative voters once and for all that Republicans don’t share our values on almost any issue, let alone health care. The entire GOP is a massive scam PAC designed to use conservative issues as a flag to raise money, accrue...

U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell on Tuesday said he would not back slashing State Department funding as the Trump administration is expected to propose, adding that deep cuts would not pass the legislative chamber. Speaking to reporters, McConnell also said Republicans, who control both the Senate and the House of Representatives, are still not in agreement on a healthcare plan to replace Obamacare.

WASHINGTON—Mike Flynn, President Donald Trump’s former national security adviser, has told the Federal Bureau of Investigation and congressional officials investigating the Trump campaign’s potential ties to Russia that he is willing to be interviewed in exchange for a grant of immunity from prosecution, according to officials with knowledge of the matter. As an adviser to Mr. Trump’s presidential campaign, and later one of Mr. Trump’s top aides in the White House, Mr. Flynn was privy to some of the most sensitive foreign-policy deliberations of the new administration and was directly involved in discussions about the possible lifting of sanctions on...