Free Republic

NANTUCKET, Mass. (AP) — President Joe Biden announced Wednesday that he is nominating Shalanda Young to lead the White House budget office and Nani Coloretti to serve as Young’s deputy. If confirmed by the Senate, Young would be the first Black woman to lead the Office of Management and Budget while Coloretti, who is Filipino American, would become one of the highest-ranking Asian Americans in the Biden administration. It would be the first time that two women of color will lead the agency, which helps the president develop an annual budget and monitors how tax dollars are spent. Young has...

WASHINGTON — The Taliban takeover of Afghanistan has given new urgency to Vice President Kamala Harris’ tour of southeast Asia, where she will attempt to reassure allies of American resolve following the chaotic end of a two-decade war. The trip, which begins Friday and includes stops in Singapore and Vietnam, will provide a forum for Harris to assert herself more directly in foreign affairs. She will have opportunities to affirm what she and President Joe Biden view as core American values, including human rights. That’s especially important given concerns about the future for women and girls in Afghanistan with the...

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden said Monday that his infrastructure and families agenda must be passed to sustain the economic momentum of his first six months in office, aiming to set the tone for a crucial week of congressional negotiations on the two bills. But a Wednesday deadline set by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer on the bipartisan infrastructure bill was in doubt as Republicans signaled they would likely oppose a procedural vote, for now, while details are still being worked out. Senators are wrangling over how to pay for the new spending in the $1 trillion package of...

The anniversary of George Floyd’s death was supposed to be a milestone moment, a time to mark passage of legislation to “root out systemic racism” in the criminal justice system, in the words of President Joe Biden. Instead, Floyd’s family visited Washington on Tuesday to mourn with Biden and prod Congress to act as they commemorate the loss of their brother, father and son one year ago. […] George Floyd’s death sparked a global reckoning over racism and growing calls for police reform, but a legislative response has been elusive. Still, congressional negotiators remain optimistic about the prospects for a...

LITITZ, Pa. - President Donald Trump embarked Monday on a final-week charge through nearly a dozen states ahead of the election, overlooking a surge of coronavirus cases in the U.S. and a fresh outbreak in his own White House. His Democratic rival, Joe Biden, is holding far fewer events in an effort to demonstrate that he’s taking the worsening pandemic seriously. The final days of the campaign are crystalizing the starkly different approaches Trump and Biden have taken to address the worst public health crisis in a century - with risks for each candidate. “It’s a choice between a Trump...

Cindy McCain is going to bat for Joe Biden, lending her voice to a video set to air during Tuesday night’s Democratic National Convention programming focused on Biden’s close friendship with her late husband, Republican Sen. John McCain of Arizona.

Increasingly alarmed that Bernie Sanders could become their party’s presidential nominee, establishment-minded Democrats are warning primary voters that the self-described democratic socialist would struggle to defeat President Donald Trump and hurt the party’s chances in premier House, Senate and governors’ races. The urgent warnings come as Sanders shows new signs of strength on the ground in the first two states on the presidential primary calendar, Iowa and New Hampshire, backed by a dominant fundraising operation. The Vermont senator has largely escaped close scrutiny over the last year as his rivals doubted the quirky 78-year-old’s ability to win the nomination. But...

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Democrat Pete Buttigieg, who hopes to become the first openly gay presidential nominee from a major political party, said at an LGBTQ event Saturday that activists must band together to deny President Donald Trump a second term. "We've got a lot to worry about, a lot to fight for, but we have the means to do it," he said. The mayor of South Bend, Indiana, stressed the need for people to vote and to become involved in politics. Speaking before an audience gathered for Des Moines LGBTQ pride festivities in front of the Iowa statehouse,...

Donald Trump is getting some national security advice from Florida Rep. Jeff Miller, a major coup for the candidate and one that could give him some needed gravitas on an issue he’s had problems with in the past. A Trump campaign source confirmed to NBC News that Miller attended Trump’s meeting with national security advisers on Capitol Hill this Thursday. The Florida Republican, who’s retiring this year, is seen sitting at the front of a photo Trump sent out on Twitter after the meeting. It’s unclear whether Miller is officially advising Trump or only attended the one meeting. Miller serves...

The emergence of super PACs and their ability to raise and spend unlimited amounts of money on political campaigns has raised legal questions as to how campaigns and candidates are allowed to communicate or coordinate with them since the Citizens United decision in 2010. In the past six years, those limits have been tested in various ways. But in the current presidential campaign, the lines are being blurred even more and no candidate is testing the legal limits more visibly or blatantly than Carly Fiorina, whose performance in Wednesday night's Republican debate has thrust her candidacy into the spotlight. -snip-...

Washington (CNN)The heavy flooding that's overwhelmed Texas and killed more than 30 people has put Sen. Ted Cruz in a bind on climate change.The Republican presidential contender has held two press conferences over the past two days to address the flooding and the government's response. At each one, he was asked about the impact of climate change on natural disasters like the Texas flooding, and at each one, he dodged the question."In a time of tragedy, I think it's wrong to try to politicize a natural disaster -- and so there's plenty of time to talk about other issues," he...

House Speaker John Boehner's not waiting until New Year's Day for a hangover -- his headache is already here. Back-to-back House Republican dramas in the final week of the year are the latest indication that many of the issues the GOP hoped to leave behind when they take full control of Congress next week — an unruly base and scandal-prone members — will continue to dog them in the new year, and might even kick off 2015 with an attempted coup on the Speakership. Though Boehner was successfully able to convince Rep. Michael Grimm to resign on Monday after pleading...