Free Republic

The seemingly wonky legislative language in that relevant section reads: None of the funds appropriated in this Act shall be expended or obligated by the Commissioner of Social Security, for purposes of administering Social Security benefit payments under title II of the Social Security Act, to process any claim for credit for a quarter of coverage based on work performed under a social security account number that is not the claimant’s number and the performance of such work under such number has formed the basis for a conviction of the claimant of a violation of section 208(a)(6) or (7) of...

Fellow Conservative: The text of the 1,603-page, $1.1 trillion omnibus spending bill was released yesterday after House and Senate leaders wrote it behind closed doors. Instead of fighting for a provision that defunds the president's unlawful amnesty, Republican leaders fought for other riders. For example, they airdropped a political earmark into the bill that increases the amount the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) can collect from individual donors from $32,400 per year to $324,000 – a tenfold increase. Since the NRSC takes sides in primaries, the new donation limit will help the DC establishment do more to support liberal incumbents....

<p>Liberal Democrats and conservative Republicans alike threw a wrench Wednesday into congressional leaders’ hopes of quickly passing a newly struck budget deal, with House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi demanding that certain provisions be stripped.</p> <p>The California Democrat had been coy for days over whether she would support the plan being hammered out in closed-door negotiations to fund the government past a Thursday-at-midnight deadline.</p>

In addition to Rules Committee chairman Rep. Pete Sessions (R-TX), who is getting set to have his committee mark up the President Barack Obama executive amnesty-backing omnibus spending package Speaker John Boehner introduced late Tuesday, there are eight additional Republicans on the committee who will officially enable the bill on Wednesday afternoon. Those Republicans on the Rules Committee—who will provide the procedural cover Boehner needs to get the Obama executive amnesty backing bill onto the House floor—are: Reps. Virginia Foxx (R-NC), Rob Bishop (R-UT), Tom Cole (R-OK), Rob Woodall (R-GA), Richard Nugent (R-FL), Daniel Webster (R-FL), Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL) and...

In 2009, then-Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) rammed through a half-trillion dollar omnibus bill without affording members the requisite time to read through it. At the time, John Boehner led the chorus of complaints against her lack of transparency. As Democrats shoved through the massive Obamacare behemoth in 2010, Pelosi famously said, “we have to pass the [health care] bill so that you can find out what’s in it.” Republicans mocked her mercilessly for that cloddish comment and made transparency the clarion call for their campaign to win back the House. They promised an open process by introducing bills with ample...

House speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) on Wednesday defended the $1 trillion spending bill as a bipartisan bill that's needed to keep the government open after Thursday, even as it came under attack from both Republican and Democrats. ...

House Rules Committee ranking Democratic member Rep. Louise Slaughter (D-NY) admitted at the opening of the House Rules Committee hearing on Speaker John Boehner’s 1,603-page omnibus spending bill that nobody had actually read the bill before the hearing. “There’s some things I think I really have to say about this, mostly process, 1,600 pages right here” Slaughter said as she gestured toward the bill. “Released in the middle of the night. Not one member of the committee has been able to read all the way through it or anything of it, I suppose. No opportunity for public input. No hearings....

Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) spoke to reporters today before the House votes on the trillion dollar Omnibus bill that funds amnesty and Obamacare.Boehner said if the House does not vote for the bill today then members will be here “until Christmas.” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q0fVjojnNB4 Then stay til Christmas.Several House Republicans have said they won’t vote for a spending bill that funds Obama’s executive amnesty plan.

Republican Reps. Justin Amash (R-MI), Michele Bachmann (R-MN), Dave Brat (R-VA), Mo Brooks (R-AL), Paul Broun (R-GA), Louie Gohmert (R-TX), Paul Gosar (R-AZ), Tim Huelskamp (R-KS), Walter Jones (R-NC), Jim Jordan (R-OH), Steve King (R-IA), Raul Labrador (R-ID), Tom Massie (R-KY), Bill Posey (R-FL), Matt Salmon (R-AZ) and Steve Stockman (R-TX) held the line and voted no. Rep. Kerry Bentivolio (R-MI) switched his vote from nay to yay at the last minute. If the numbers that are being reported—50 to 60, maybe more—of Republicans hold on against the final passage of the bill later in the day, and all the...

The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) on Thursday held a conference call with government agencies and departments to prepare them for a possible shutdown, as the House struggles to pass a funding bill. "Congress is taking a series of actions today on legislation that would prevent a lapse in appropriations and allow for continued Government operations. We continue to believe that time remains for Congress to pass full-year appropriations for FY 2015, and prevent a government shutdown," an OMB official said in a statement. "However, out of an abundance of caution, we are working with agencies and taking steps...

I am reliably informed that Speaker Boehner is energetically working with the Obama White House to entice Democrats to come aboard the CRomnibus — and is deaf to conservative Republicans who are pushing for a very short term CR with a mechanism for denying funding for President Obama’s lawless unilateral amnesty for illegal aliens. We’ll see what happens, but the Speaker evidently thinks he can get over the goal line by teaming up with Dems.

Jim Moran came out of the RAT caucus and said they are saying they need 80 RATs to crossover. Doesn't think more than 50 - 60 will crossover. House coming back at 9 pm to vote

The House will take one last shot Thursday night at passing a $1.1 trillion government-funding bill that has set off a feud between House Democrats and the White House. If the bill fails, the House will move to a three-month government-funding measure as a fallback. A vote on the smaller measure could take place later on Thursday night. Outraged House Democrats have been left unswayed by a last-ditch White House lobbying push, and dozens say they would vote against larger spending measure. Emerging from a closed-door meeting in the Capitol with White House Chief of Staff Denis McDonough, a slew...

IT Passed

The House on Thursday approved a $1.1 trillion bill funding most of the government through September despite an outcry from Democrats and significant defections in both parties. By a vote of 219-206, the House sent the bill to the Senate, where a similar debate may break out between liberal Democrats and the White House. The vote split Democratic leaders, with House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) opposing the bill and criticizing the White House, but Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) backing it. Fifty-seven Democrats voted for the bill, while 139 opposed it. The House also voted by unanimous consent on...

The House narrowly approved a vital spending bill Thursday night despite deep misgivings among liberals and conservatives alike, sending the measure to the Senate as a funding deadline looms. The bill passed on a 219-206 vote, following an intense lobbying effort by House Republican leaders and the White House. Current government funding technically runs out at midnight Thursday, and lawmakers still are expected to move a stopgap measure to buy time as the Senate considers the main $1.1 trillion spending package. That debate could last through the weekend and potentially into Monday. Passage in the House followed hours of urgent...

In a lengthy interview on Friday afternoon, Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-TX) exposed how House Speaker John Boehner, Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy and Majority Whip Steve Scalise strengthened President Barack Obama’s executive amnesty with procedural trickery former Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Obamacare architect Jonathan Gruber would envy—and they did it all in the name of pushing a bill that they told Republicans would block Obama’s executive amnesty. What’s more is that a series of interviews and recent developments indicate that Boehner’s gambit here is placing several of his top lieutenants—including at least two committee chairmen—at political risk of serious primary challenges...

The circling of wagons against former House Speaker Newt Gingrich has been quite a spectacle. Establishment dinosaurs like former Sen. Bob Dole, the Reaganite grande dame Peggy Noonan, the moderate agoniste David Frum, the reclusive Web guerrilla Matt Drudge, even the flame-throwing Ann Coulter—rarely do you see such a diverse array of establishment and movement conservatives in such united opposition to someone who's at least nominally conservative. Myself, I'd rather see former Gov. Mitt Romney crushed under those wagon wheels. And so, apparently, does former Gov. Sarah Palin. In an interview with Fox News Business Network, Palin opined: "Look at...