Free Republic

On Tuesday’s broadcast of New York’s Power 105.1’s “The Breakfast Club,” 2024 Democratic presidential candidate Vice President Kamala Harris argued that her proposed down payment assistance for first-time homebuyers won’t “have an unintended effect, because that increases the demand for home ownership, which is going to have an impact, also, on supply.” And talked about parts of her plan to boost housing supply. Harris said, “$25,000 down payment assistance for first-time homebuyers, let me tell you why that’s not going to have an unintended effect, because that increases the demand for home ownership, which is going to have an impact,...

A group of House Democrats is calling on Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) to include humanitarian assistance in a foreign aid package that is expected to address funding for Ukraine, Israel and the Indo-Pacific. In a letter to Johnson sent Tuesday and obtained by The Hill, the Democrats asked Johnson to include $9.16 billion in global humanitarian assistance in any potential aid package, a figure slightly higher than what was included in a national security supplemental aid package the Senate passed in February. Johnson has refused to take up the Senate package. The letter was first reported by Axios. Democrats point...

There are actually more unemployed people of working age as a percentage now than the height of The Great Depression. While the '70s stagflation was bad, the country still had a vibrant middle class and the process of gutting our infrastructure was just getting started. Main Street was still alive in the 1970s and The Great Financialization of the 1980s and 90s that created record wealth inequality hadn't begun. People talk like interest rates were 20% for the entire decade. It wasn't until 1979 that interest rates climbed that high, and only stayed there for two years. The massive interest...

In theory, the federal government is the people’s servant: Our money pays for it, and our votes populate the political seats. In return, we expect the government to perform basic functions, among which are safe, reliable transportation and disaster assistance. In fact, the federal government, although happy to use its police and judicial power to take our money and willing to engage in the pretense of free and fair elections, has disengaged entirely from the American people. Nothing shows that more clearly than the Biden administration’s disinterest in the sufferings of the people in East Palestine, Ohio, where a train...

COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) – Oil-rich Norway is looking to donate 75 billion kroner ($7.3 billion) to Kyiv as part of a five-year support package that would make the Scandinavian country one of the world´s biggest donors to war-torn Ukraine, the Norwegian government said Monday. Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre said the money would be split evenly between military and humanitarian assistance over five years, broken down to 15 billion kroner ($1.5 billion) annually. The proposed aid package will be put to a vote in parlia

(WPRI/NEXSTAR) — Billions of dollars in federal aid is being made available to help Americans with their heating bills through the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP). The Biden administration said Wednesday that roughly $4.5 billion has been allocated for LIHEAP this winter, to help low-income families pay their energy or utility bills, or, in some cases, to cover the cost of weatherization or repairs. The funds will be distributed to states, territories and tribal governments this week.

The United States today committed an additional $457.5 million in civilian security assistance to enhance the efforts of Ukrainian law enforcement and criminal justice agencies to improve their operational capacity and save lives as they continue to help defend the Ukrainian people, their freedom, and their democracy

(WXYZ) — Governor Gretchen Whitmer announced Tuesday that additional assistance will continue in June to help lower the cost of groceries for eligible families. Michigan families who are eligible for assistance benefits will continue to receive at least an additional $95 monthly payment. The assistance will help approximately 1.36 million Michiganders in more than 700,000 households.

President Biden on Tuesday spoke with Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) to offer federal assistance in the aftermath of a school shooting that left 14 children dead. Biden phoned Abbott while en route back to Washington, D.C., to Asia, where he had been since Friday. Biden offered the governor “any and all assistance he needs in the wake of the horrific shooting in Uvalde, TX,” White House communications director Kate Bedingfield tweeted.

Applications will open later this month for a pilot program that will provide 5,000 Chicago households with $500 per month for up to a year. According to Mayor Lori Lightfoot, the Chicago Resilient Communities Pilot will be one of the biggest monthly-cash assistance programs in the country, with households chosen for the program receiving $500 per month for 12 months.

Here's the rundown: My mother does evaluations for Solutions for Care, helping determine how much assistance elderly and disabled people receive from state programs available in Illinois. This includes home health care workers, cleaning services, food deliveries, and transportation for medical appointments. Right now, one of her clients is not receiving the amount of food necessary, and it will be at least a month before they will receive any bump in benefits. An elderly woman is caring for her husband, who has dementia and who is physically disabled, and neither can stand for long periods of time in a grocer...

LANSING, MI -- The Big 3 have already or are preparing shut down, at least temporarily. U.S. automakers, including Michigan-based General Motors Corp, Ford and Fiat Chrysler, and their suppliers are suffering financially amid the coronavirus outbreak. Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine teamed up to write a letter to President Donald Trump and Congress asking for help, the Governor’s Office said in a statement released Friday evening.

The Chinese Communist Party has declined an offer by the United States to send a group of health experts to China, U.S. Health Secretary Alex Azar said at a press conference on Jan. 28. The United States conveyed the offer through multiple channels, including Azar speaking to a top Chinese official, but China has so far refused to allow the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) team to assist with efforts to study the 2019 Novel Coronavirus.“We do hope that the Chinese government will take us up” on the offer, Azar said. “CDC experts are standing by, ready to go to...

"This whole concept of political correctness ... it's going to destroy our nation." That was the no-nonsense response of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Secretary Ben Carson to Congresswoman Jennifer Wexton (D-Va.) earlier this week. Wexton was trying for a "gotcha" moment in a congressional hearing when she asked Dr. Carson if he would "apologize" for being quoted for expressing concern over "big, hairy men" trying to gain entry into an Alaska women's homeless shelter. I could not have said it better. On yesterday's edition of Washington Watch, Dr. Carson – or Dr. Politically Incorrect as I've called him -...

Donald J. Trump retweeted The Trump Train 🚂🇺🇸 @The_Trump_Train Nov 27 Will CNN ever ask Border Patrol agents how they felt having large rocks chucked at them by criminal illegals? Illegals can get up to $3,874 a month under Federal Assistance program. Our social security checks are on average $1200 a month. RT if you agree: If you weren't born in the United States, you should receive $0 assistance. ·

Oakland’s elected leaders said Tuesday the city’s police should provide no assistance to federal immigration agents - even if the agents are working on a case that centers on violent crime. They said so much as allowing officers to block off a street creates the perception that Oakland is anything but a sanctuary city. The new red line came after a controversial operation by officers with Homeland Security Investigations — the criminal division of Immigration and Customs Enforcement — at which Oakland police provided traffic enforcement.

President Trump approved Tuesday disaster relief for California, putting an end to speculation that the bad blood between the White House and Gov. Jerry Brown would jeopardize the state’s plea for emergency aid. The Federal Emergency Management Administration announced that the assistance would be provided “due to the emergency conditions resulting from the potential failure of the emergency spillway at Lake Oroville Dam beginning on February 7, 2017, and continuing.” Mr. Brown, a Democrat who called Mr. Trump a “fraud” during last year’s presidential campaign, made the request for federal help Friday after heavy rainstorms inundated Northern California, flooding creeks,...

If you receive government assistance in the state of Maine, Lewiston Mayor Robert Macdonald thinks the public has a right to know about it. In a Thursday column for the Twin City Times, Macdonald said a bill will be submitted during Maine’s next legislative session “asking that a Web site be created containing the names, addresses, length of time on assistance and the benefits being collected by every individual on the dole.” He added: “After all, the public has a right to know how its money is being spent.” Proposals to target welfare recipients and reform assistance programs have become...

The state employees were disciplined for lying to get money through the Disaster Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, an extension of food stamps available to poor residents who lost food or income in September 2011 after Hurricane Irene hit here as a tropical storm. While Larson said the law merits revisiting, other members of the state's congressional delegation weren't so forthcoming about their views on the state measure or the similar federal law that have left taxpayers in the dark about the conduct and punishment of state employees -- many of whom were fired but rehired after they appealed. U.S. Sens....

Ninety-two million Americans are not in the work force—they don’t have jobs and they aren’t looking for jobs. These 92 million Americans aren’t just out of work—they are resigned to being out of work as a way of life. The ballooning numbers of Americans who are resigned to long-term joblessness inspired Roger L. Simon to suggest in a bleakly humorous piece over at PJ Media that Americans are going Galt: Tell all your “Objectivist” friends and the libertarian gang at Reason magazine to break out the champagne. Americans may have skipped the movie of Atlas Shrugged, nor have many read...