Free Republic

The Republican Main Street Partnership has emerged as an outspoken, deep-pocketed player in pro-business GOP plans to beat back tea-party challengers next year. But the group's new super PAC has an unexpected source for its seed money: labor unions. The super PAC, called Defending Main Street, has not yet submitted a major donor disclosure to the Federal Election Commission. But documents filed by other groups show that two labor organizations, the International Union of Operating Engineers and the Laborers' International Union of North America, directed a combined $400,000 to the Republican group in September and October. Main Street says it...

Republican Rep. Charlie Dent (Pa.) said Saturday that the firing of Deputy FBI Director Andrew McCabe on Friday looked to be a "vindictive" move by the president. In an interview with CNN, Dent said that while he would wait for the inspector general's report to judge McCabe, his firing looked like retribution from the White House. "This firing looks a bit forced, a bit rushed. Candidly, it looks like retribution and a bit vindictive," Dent said. "And I think it's unfortunate. The man said he's resigning, you know, and on a Friday night before his 50th birthday he's fired to...

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%...

(CNN)The House Rules Committee has posted the language of the MacArthur amendment to the health care bill on its website. The amendment, negotiated in part by Rep. Tom MacArthur and Freedom Caucus Chairman Mark Meadows, would allow states to seek waivers to weaken several key Obamacare insurance reforms that protect those with pre-existing conditions, including the benefits insurers must cover in their policies and the ban on allowing carriers to charge more based on a person's health background.

Just think of how many weak Republican congressmen we have, that not one of them will stand up and say, “I want to be a member of the House Freedom Caucus.” .. Cocky members of the Tuesday Group claim they won’t even answer the phone if a Freedom Caucus member calls. .. The Republican Party has been trying to squander the gains in the House from the tea party since 2010. It’s like high school for the Tuesday Group, a group of liberal Republicans who seem to believe that voters picked them to agree with the Democrats more often than...

So much has been said recently about the rivalry between the House Freedom Caucus and the so-called “Tuesday Group,” a collection of largely unnamed “moderates” in the House. While the leadership of the Tuesday Group is named, and some members willingly speak to reporters about their agenda, only a few have outed themselves as part of the secretive backroom group. So who exactly belongs to this group of 40 to 50 members, and what are they trying to accomplish in Congress? .. In addition to supporting liberal Republicans during election cycles, the Tuesday Group has been playing with its branding....

The conventional wisdom—repeated by President Trump—is that the right-wing House Freedom Caucus is singlehandedly blocking Republican attempts to repeal and replace Obamacare. In fact, Freedom Caucus members have been reaching out to the larger bloc of “no” votes—GOP moderates—to find a path forward. Moderates are rebuffing them. Here’s why. Moderates hang up on hard-liners As I discussed last week, the contours of a deal exist that could satisfy the concerns of both the House Freedom Caucus and GOP pragmatists. They involve replacing the AHCA’s flat tax credit with a means-tested one that focuses on offering assistance to the working poor,...

They call themselves Main Street Republicans, moderates consigned to the back alleys of politics by their own party. But despite a severe bruising in the fall election, this minority within a minority finds itself with new avenues to explore, including working more closely with Democrats. The Republican Main Street Partnership, a leading voice of GOP moderates in Congress, lost seven of its 48 House members to Democratic challengers in the November election. Two other senior members, Rep. Sherwood Boehlert, R-N.Y., and Jim Kolbe, R-Ariz., are retiring. The group also saw Sen. Lincoln Chafee, R-R.I., one of its eight Senate members...