Free Republic

On this week’s broadcast of “CBS Sunday Morning,” former President Bill Clinton rejected claims of President Joe Biden’s cognitive decline. Reporter Tracy Smith asked, “Speaking of aging there is there is this book that came out talking about Joe Biden and the people around him seeing that he had cognitive and physical decline. Did you ever have a moment with him where you thought maybe he was unfit to run for president?” Clinton said, “No.” Smith repeated, “No.” Clinton continued, “I thought he was a good president. The only concern I thought he had to deal with was, could anybody...

Former GOP presidential primary candidate Chris Christie balked at endorsing current candidate Nikki Haley in a Tuesday interview on ABC’s “Good Morning America.” “Look, imagine the position I’d be in if I endorsed someone who then turned around and endorsed Donald Trump,” Christie told ABC’s George Stephanopoulos. “I’m not gonna be put in that spot again, George. I made a decision in 2016, the only time in my political career, where I endorsed someone purely for political reasons, even though I had some misgivings.” “And that’s when I endorsed Donald Trump,” Christie continued. “And it was the biggest mistake I’ve...

President Joe Biden balked on Tuesday when asked by reporters if he would visit the victims and families of those affected in a school shooting in Michigan. “I don’t know that I’m able to do that,” Biden replied when asked by reporters about whether he would visit the victims. “I don’t even have the detail of who the families are.”

MOSCOW -- Russia is not ready to agree to a proposed new round of arms control talks that were to begin after a deal is reached on extending the START 1 nuclear treaty, a U.S. nuclear expert said Tuesday. The comments by former U.S. diplomat Richard Burt came after discussions in Moscow between Russian foreign ministry officials and representatives of Global Zero, a nongovernment nuclear disarmament group that includes more than 200 political leaders and military officials from around the world. "I think it's fair to say they're not ready to commit to a new

WASHINGTON (AFP) – A battle over the US government's financial rescue package heated up in Congress Tuesday, with top finance officials urging its swift passage and lawmakers digging in their heels. Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke and Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, in their first testimony to Congress after the 700-billion-dollar bailout was proposed just days ago, argued that lawmakers should pass the emergency measure quickly or put the entire US economy at risk. Bernanke told lawmakers that despite unprecedented steps already taken by the Republican administration to confront the crisis, global financial markets "remain under extraordinary stress." --snip-- Paulson, echoing...

WASHINGTON - President Bush is giving an obscure White House office new powers this month over a wide range of regulations affecting health, worker safety and the environment. Calling it a power grab, Democrats running Congress are intent on stopping him. Bush's order would require regulators to show that private markets had failed to address a targeted problem before they went after it themselves. The House voted last week to prohibit the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs from spending federal money on the order. Officially known as Executive Order 13422, Bush signed the directive in January and it is...

House Republican appropriators remained unwilling yesterday to publicly endorse their leadership’s resolution requiring disclosure of earmark sponsors, setting up a possible rebellion by committee members that could bring down the resolution. Appropriations Chairman Jerry Lewis (R-Calif.) huddled with his panel yesterday afternoon but emerged with no firm panel-wide plan to oppose the earmark-reform resolution. Many GOP appropriators believe the resolution singles out their committee’s product while applying a narrow definition of tax and authorizing earmarks. “We are attempting to communicate with leadership that this committee feels very strongly that earmark reform is a priority, but it should apply to everybody,”...

WASHINGTON - House Judiciary Committee Chairman James Sensenbrenner threatened Thursday to block passage of legislation renewing the anti-terror Patriot Act, Republican officials disclosed. The Senate passed a six-month extension Wednesday night, and House approval is required by Dec. 31 to keep in place the enhanced law enforcement powers first enacted in the wake of the Sept. 11 terror attacks. Sensenbrenner's spokesman declined comment. The Senate action effectively sidetracked a comprehensive House-Senate compromise that would have extended most of the existing law indefinitely, making several changes in the meantime. It was blocked by a Democrat-led filibuster in the Senate, in which...

Even as the California Senate sent a $105 billion budget to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Thursday, the Republican governor faced resistance from members of his own party who complained that his first spending plan saddles the state with too much debt. As in the Assembly the day before, final approval of the budget was delayed for hours while leaders of both parties scrambled for enough votes for a plan they and the governor had agreed upon Monday. "I think it is safe to say that borrowing by this state is now completely out of control," said Sen. Tom McClintock, R-Simi...

The California Assembly has taken a contradictory position on reopening the prison guard contract. On the one hand, the Assembly is counting $300 million in reductions to that contract to fund everything from K-12 education to transportation, health care, public assistance for the poor and disabled, higher education and natural resources. On the other hand, the Democratic majority is expecting the governor to find those savings by negotiating an informal deal with the prison guard union on his own - with no help from the Legislature. And if the governor is unable to reach an informal deal by June 30?...

<p>WASHINGTON – President George W. Bush asked the Senate's Republican leader to try to push a $373 billion spending package through the chamber by mid-December but was rebuffed, congressional and administration aides said Friday.</p> <p>The president's unusual personal appeal underlined his desire to win enactment of the overdue legislation, which carries big increases for battling the AIDS epidemic in Africa and for other high- profile White House initiatives. The measure would finance most federal agencies through the budget year that started Oct. 1.</p>