Free Republic

WASHINGTON — Many Republican lawmakers lie low when they have differences with President Trump. Sen. Rand Paul has taken the opposite approach. “Congress needs to grow a spine, and Congress needs to stand up for its prerogatives,” the Kentucky Republican told reporters, complaining that Trump relied on a national-emergency law to impose tariffs that Paul believes should be controlled by lawmakers. His comments came just days after he was one of only two GOP senators to vote against the party’s budget framework that is key to Trump’s tax cuts, saying it didn’t do enough to reduce the deficit. The libertarian...

If you think eggs are expensive, just wait until the new tariffs hit cars. Goldman Sachs estimates tariffs on imported vehicles could raise prices by $5,000 to $15,000. That’s because tariffs are taxes on foreign imports that are paid by American consumers. These tariffs apply to almost every conceivable product. As a result, energy will be more expensive, and gas prices in some parts of the country could see as much as a 70-cent increase in the cost per gallon. According to the National Association of Home Builders, the building of a single-family home could become up to $10,000 more...

A bipartisan pair of senators is warning the White House that recent US strikes on the Houthis in Yemen risk “emboldening” the Iranian-backed group and flouted the law regarding congressional oversight of military operations. The letter from Sens. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., and Rand Paul, R-Ky., shared first with Semafor, concerns the strikes that have made headlines recently.... “Neither the U.S. strikes since October 2023 ordered by President Joe Biden, nor the previous years-long campaign against the Houthis conducted by Saudi Arabia were successful in establishing deterrence against the Houthis,” Merkley and Paul wrote in the letter sent to President Donald...