Free Republic

U.S. growth accelerated in the third quarter as consumers and businesses ramped up spending, a report that shows the economy remained resilient in the face of strong headwinds. Gross domestic product in the July-through-September period expanded at a 2.5% annual rate, the government said Thursday. That’s nearly double the 1.3% rate of growth in the second quarter and much faster than the first quarter’s tepid increase of 0.4%.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Obama administration on Monday sued to block enforcement of Alabama's new immigration law, widely considered to be the toughest measure in the United States to try to crack down on illegal immigrants. The law, known as H.B. 56, was signed by Republican Governor Robert Bentley in June and is due to take effect on September 1. Civil rights groups brought a separate lawsuit challenging the law about a month ago.

Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) repeatedly criticized Democrats last year for voting on legislation that members didn’t have time to read. "Read the Bill" language was even included in the GOP's Pledge to America to ensure lawmakers would have adequate notice to review legislation. "Neither members of Congress or the public were given time to read the trillion-dollar stimulus before it passed. Nobody read the cap-and-trade bill. Nobody read the budget. And yet Democrats approved them anyway," Boehner said in a video last year. “Every major bill should be posted online and publicly available for at least 72 hours."

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Racing the clock to avoid a government default, President Barack Obama and Republican congressional leaders reached historic agreement Sunday night on a compromise to permit vital U.S. borrowing by the Treasury in exchange for more than $2 trillion in long-term spending cuts.

Washington, D.C. – Nevada Senator Harry Reid made the following remarks today on the Senate floor regarding the only viable debt ceiling compromise to avert a default. Below are his remarks as prepared for delivery:Republicans leaders in the House of Representatives wasted this week pursuing a right-wing proposal they knew from the start could not pass the Senate.From the very beginning the Speaker’s Band-Aid approach was fatally flawed – it would have put us back in this incredible position, fighting the clock to prevent financial collapse, in just a few weeks.It was a concession to Tea Party extremists, yet it...

Democrats' debt-ceiling bill failed to clear a key Senate hurdle Sunday afternoon, putting the onus on bipartisan negotiators to come up with an alternative plan with just two days to go until the Treasury runs out of ways to pay all of America's bills. The vote on Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's plan was expected to fail. Sixty votes were required to advance the proposal, and it fell far short in a 50-49 roll call. The focus now turns almost exclusively to the latest round of talks being conducted among White House officials and Senate leaders. After disagreeing about the...

A taxing development surfaced on Wednesday. White House economic advisor Paul Volcker is calling for a new national sales tax -- a value added tax or "vat" -- to help close the deficit. But as CBS 2 HD found out area residents are saying "vat chance." Talk about starting a tax revolt. Volcker's call for a new national sales tax -- on top of the state and local sales taxes we pay now -- got a loud Bronx cheer from just about everyone. "That's crazy. That really is crazy. Why would need any more taxes than we already have?" said...

After rejecting a GOP bill passed by the House, Senate Democrats pursue their own plan to avert a government default in a messy legislative showdown. Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid announced late Saturday that negotiations with Minroity Leader Mitch McConnell and the White House had made enough progress that he would delay consideration of his own legislation to avert the debt crisis. Rather than a 1 a.m. Sunday vote, Reid said he would give the negotiators room to maneuver and set a 1 p.m. Sunday vote on his bill -- which McConnell has already assured would be defeated. A...

What President Barack Hussein Obama’s press secretary, Jay Carney, by how he is talking, it sure sounds like the Obama White House and the Democrats are getting desperate. It is a sure sign that the Democrats with President Obama are on “the ropes”. The is should come as no surprise because it is a sign that the American people are starting to scream out to the White House, Senate, and House that ENOUGH is ENOUGH. What start with many tea party movement protests going back to early 2009, has come to this late week and the efforts to resolve the...

Miles from Washington, President Obama on Wednesday tried to persuade people that they should care about keeping the government open — because if it shuts down, they won’t be able to walk around national parks. Obama told clean energy workers in Pennsylvania that some of them are probably thinking, “What do I care?” They should care, he said, because a shutdown would stall small-business loans and mortgage work. And, if any of them wanted to vacation at Yellowstone National Park, “you're out of luck,” Obama said. “You may have to figure out if you can get your money back,” he...