Free Republic

As Washington turns its attention to a massive $3.5 trillion reconciliation bill, every household across America should be on high alert because some Democrats want to take away the right to work. Senate Finance Chairman Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) is championing a bill to radically overhaul America's unemployment system. The legislation would model our federal system on a California law that is so unpopular and so poorly written that emergency action was required to avoid severely disrupting the state's economy.... ...To repair the economic damage done by this ill-conceived policy, California's lawmakers issued more than 50 emergency exemptions to the law....

Like cockroaches, the same bad ideas keep emerging from the Biden administration and its Democrat friends in Congress. We’ve created a crisis at the border by undoing the effective policies of the previous administration. We’ve driven up gas prices $1 a gallon – the ultimate regressive tax – by reverting to the petty and unwise policies of the Obama administration, which were designed to curb energy exploration. Now we’re back to demanding trillions to fight global warming despite the manifold and manifest failures of warmist climate modeling. Another bad idea that has returned to the stage is Democrats’ attempt to...

The latest round of stimulus payments that started going out over the weekend are open to being seized by private debt collectors -- a problem lawmakers are rushing to fix. Recipients with unpaid credit card or medical bills for which a company has obtained a judgment against the debtor could see the fresh infusion taken from their bank accounts, potentially preventing those in need from getting the emergency cash. Sen. Ron Wyden, a Democrat from Oregon, plans to introduce a fix that would shield the payments from garnishment as early this week, according to a spokeswoman. But for now, it's...

As Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., and Chairman of the Senate Finance Committee said, “We couldn’t get in the front door or the back door, so we’ll try to go in through the window.” He claimed that, “The American people elected Democrats to get things done, and they aren’t going to accept ‘process’ as an excuse for failing to [enact a $15 minimum wage].”​ The “process” that Sen. Wyden brushes aside as an “excuse” refers to a U.S. law that governs what can be included in budget reconciliation bills that bypass the Senate Filibuster and thus allow for a simple fifty-one-vote...

Democrat lawmakers on Thursday introduced a bill dubbed the “Vote at Home Act,” which seeks to “massively expand vote-at-home ballot access,” enacting automatic voter registration and providing voters with pre-paid ballot envelopes. Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) and Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.) introduced the bill (pdf), saying in a press release that the legislation is meant to “fight voter suppression.”

No group of people exploits an event like Democrats do. When there is a tragedy, you can bet there will be a Democrat standing in the rubble, the smoldering mess, or even on a pile of bodies promising they, and only they, have the solution that will prevent something like whatever it was from happening again. They never, ever let a good crisis go to waste. Their “solution” is a lie, of course, and they never address how the policies they’ve advanced in the past led to whatever the current outrage they’re attempting to exploit is. But it usually is...

Election tech company Dominion Voting Systems is rebutting assorted claims of partisan bias and voting manipulation in the 2020 election, including rumors of a secret U.S. military raid on purported servers in Germany and ownership interests and other influence in the firm by prominent Democratic families. At the same time, Dominion has confirmed reports it made a donation to the Clinton Foundation and hired a former Nancy Pelosi staffer as a lobbyist. Dominion has been at the center of a firestorm since Nov. 3, when its election management software, which is widely used across the country, led to an unofficial...

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and Senator Ron Wyden called on the FBI on Thursday NOT TO INVESTIGATE the Biden Crime Family before the election. The top Democrats say they believe an investigation into the Biden Family could “undermine the rule of law.” Mediaite reported:

WASHINGTON—Today, Rep. Omar, along with U.S. Senator Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.) and Congresswoman Deb Haaland (NM-01) and a coalition of grassroots groups; labor unions; Black, Brown and Indigenous leaders from across the country to introduce a bold plan for economic renewal known as the Agenda to Transform, Heal, and Renew by Investing in a Vibrant Economy, or THRIVE Agenda. In the Senate the resolution is led by Senator Markey, Cory A. Booker (D-N.J.), Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.), Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Tom Udall (D-N.M.), Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), Jeffrey A. Merkley (D-Ore.), and...

A bipartisan coalition of members of Congress sent a letter to NBA Commissioner Adam Silver on Wednesday “to express our deep concern” over the NBA’s statements surrounding controversy over a tweet last week by Houston Rockets general manager Daryl Morey, who expressed support for pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong. “It is outrageous that the Chinese Communist Party is using its economic power to suppress the speech of American inside the United States. It is also outrageous that the NBA has caved to Chinese government demands for contrition,” the letter reads. It was co-signed by eight members of Congress, including Republican...

Revolutions tend to devour their own, but rarely has this happened as swiftly, publicly, and predictably as it did with Portland’s overpraised “Wall of Moms.” The brainchild of a suburban Mexican-American woman named Beverly Barnum, the group was loosely organized among other moms on Facebook who were incensed that President Trump had dispatched federal officers to Portland to protect the federal courthouse that had become the main target of three-months-long protests in the city. Wearing yellow T-shirts and linking arms, the Moms created a “wall” between federal officers and Black Lives Matter protestors in July, chanting “Feds stay clear. Moms...

Two top Republican senators spearheading an investigation into the Biden family’s conflicts of interest while serving at the upper echelons of government blasted Democrats Tuesday for attempting to derail the Senate probe with fewer than 100 days until a presidential election. Congressional Democrats, desperate to shut the three-year investigation down over fears that it might damage their presidential nominee’s chance to capture the White House this fall, have launched a disinformation campaign by accusing Senate Republicans of accepting help from the Russian government, a favorite tactic. Earlier this month, Democrat leadership demanded an FBI briefing over claims of Russian intelligence...

When several men in green military fatigues and generic "police" patches sprang out of an unmarked gray minivan in front of Mark Pettibone in the early hours of Wednesday morning, his first instinct was to run.

The sweeping hack of verified Twitter accounts Wednesday night was one of the largest security lapses in the platform’s history and led to thousands of users being partially locked out for hours. But the social media giant, and its users, may have gotten off easy. Now lawmakers and top officials are mulling how to ensure Twitter is not hacked by groups with more malicious intentions and how to protect other potential cyber targets from the same fate. The conversation has taken on a particular urgency as geopolitical tensions increase during the COVID-19 pandemic with only months left until a presidential...

The Trump administration plans to release guidance as soon as this month for granting states waivers to convert Medicaid funding to block grants, according to two people familiar with the matter, paving the way for a transformation of the 55-year-old program that is likely to reignite a partisan feud. The impending release comes as a surprise after the Office of Management and Budget, which reviews regulatory actions, indicated in November that block-grant instructions had been withdrawn. Lawmakers and legal advisers speculated that the guidance may have been shelved or significantly delayed. Approving state waivers to change Medicaid funding to block...

The nation’s foremost leftist legislators are lending their voice to a new piece of legislation that is being heralded as the “first step” toward legalizing prostitution in America. The SAFE SEX Workers Study Act, introduced by Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA) and Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), would toss taxpayer money into an in-depth study on the effects of two anti-sex trafficking bills that became law last year, the Stop Enabling Sex Traffickers Act and the Allow States and Victims to Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act (SESTA/FOSTA). The bill is co-sponsored in the House by Rep. Barbara Lee of California and in...

The left is trying to steer Facebook into doing more censorship. Sen. Ron Wyden, (D-OR) proclaimed that Facebook’s CEO Mark Zuckerberg should face dire consequences for how he has chosen to run the platform. However, he also calls for more censorship of the internet as a whole. Wyden also hammered the First Amendment, saying that “A lot of people don't realize the First Amendment is what creates the biggest opportunity for hate speech.” He then noted by contrast that Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act “provides an opportunity to address hate speech without the bad guys going off to...

Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR) posted a video Saturday bragging about how he had escorted an eight-and-a-half months pregnant migrant from Mexico into the U.S. because the woman allegedly was having a difficult pregnancy. Wyden does not tell viewers that the woman is a Mexican citizen and that she brought her husband and 3-year-old son with her across the border. Apparently there are no competent maternity hospitals in Mexico.

The Senate confirmed former Army Lt. Col. Mark Esper as Secretary of Defense Tuesday, making him the first permanent Pentagon boss since James Mattis resigned last December. Esper, who served 10 years on active duty and 11 years in the National Guard and Army Reserve, was Acting Secretary before his nomination, and Patrick Shanahan had been Acting Secretary prior to that. The vote was not close, with the Senate confirming Esper by a vote of 90-8. The no votes included 2020 Democratic presidential candidates Cory Booker, Kirsten Gillibrand, Kamala Harris, Amy Klobuchar and Elizabeth Warren.

The Senate Finance Committee is reportedly considering a change to Medicare’s Part D prescription drug benefit that would undermine one of the few entitlement-program success stories.In an effort to reduce what seniors pay at the pharmacy, the committee’s top Democrat, Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon, has proposed fining drug companies if the price of their drugs rises faster than the rate of inflation.  The committee’s chairman, Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), hasn’t yet rejected the plan.Wyden’s proposal is a thinly veiled effort to impose government price controls through the back door. If it takes off, it would impede the competition that...