Free Republic

Political writer Peter Schweizer’s latest book reportedly accuses 20 current and former GOP members of having essentially sold out to China. Released late last month, “Red-Handed: How American Elites Get Rich Helping China Win” has attracted attention thus far mainly for its bombshells about President Joe Biden and his extremely wealthy family. But also contained within the book is a treasure trove of bombshells about elected Republicans, ranging from current Republican Senate leader Mitch McConnell to former President George H.W. Bush. Regarding McConnell, Schweizer reportedly writes that the Senate leader and his wife both “enjoy some of the deepest and...

U.S. Rep. Charles Boustany announced today he will seek the Senate seat that failed gubernatorial candidate David Vitter will leave open next fall. Boustany, a Republican, represents Acadiana and Morgan City. He will formally announce his candidacy at an event in Lafayette at a later date.

Following his defeat to Democrat John Bel Edwards in Saturday's Louisiana gubernatorial election, GOP Sen. David Vitter announced that he will retire from the Senate next year, ensuring another busy year of campaigning in a state with no shortage of ambitious politicians. Vitter's exit will set up an open-seat race in 2016, and the Republican side of the field is chock-full of potential candidates: GOP Reps. Charles Boustany and John Fleming, state Treasurer John Kennedy, retired Air Force Col. Rob Maness and Public Service Commissioner Scott Angelle could all make bids. The Democratic picture is less clear: New Orleans Mayor...

In a sign of the internal backlash against the right wing of the House Republican Conference, Louisiana Republican Charles Boustany questioned the political allegiances and motivations of his tea party-aligned colleagues and said they had put the GOP majority at risk in the current shutdown fight. "There are members with a different agenda," Boustany said Wednesday in an interview in his office. "And I'm not sure they're Republicans and I'm not sure they're conservative."

A key House GOP lawmaker says the Internal Revenue Service continued to target conservative political groups even after approving their applications for tax exempt status. … Rep. Charles Boustany of Louisiana said Wednesday that conservative groups were also subjected to special scrutiny even after their applications were approved. …

A Republican congressman claimed Thursday that the scandal-besieged General Services Administration might be caught up in more questionable behavior -- possibly seeking "kickbacks" from contractors who work on energy-efficient buildings. Rep. Charles Boustany's questions revolve around an obscure tax deduction for companies that work on energy-efficient buildings. He said documentation shows the GSA might have been trying to demand a 19 percent kickback -- from the deduction itself -- for companies that do this work. If that's the case, Boustany expressed concern about where that money was going -- considering the hundreds of thousands of dollars GSA has spent over...

Tea party lawmakers are being targeted for elimination by their own party, as old-guard Republicans use the Census-mandated redistricting process to erase seats won by last year’s upstarts, the National Journal reports. House freshmen from several GOP-majority states are in danger of losing out in a political realignment that rewards more connected veteran representatives. It may be cold comfort to tea partyers that the hostile redistricting process proves their point: They really don’t belong to the political establishment.

WASHINGTON – AARP lobbied for the new health care law and now it stands to profit, Republican lawmakers charged Wednesday as they called for the IRS to investigate whether the powerful interest group representing older Americans should be stripped of its federal tax exemption. Three veteran GOP representatives released a report that estimates the seniors lobby could make an additional $1 billion over 10 years on health insurance plans whose sales are expected to pick up under the new law. They also questioned seven-figure compensation for some AARP executives. "Based on the available evidence, substantial questions remain about whether AARP...

Can't link to Lafayette's own Gannett rag (and arguably the worst newspaper on the planet), the Daily Advertiser, but what this basically boils down to is that one of the few House seats the Democrats had a shot at next year has been taken out of play, further slimming their chances of taking over that chamber. John, the 7th's former congressman, was the only candidate who stood a chance of upsetting the district's current GOP congressman, Charles Boustany. Tough luck, Dems.

Third runner-up endorses Boustany for Congress By PATRICK COURREGES pcourreges@theadvocate.com Acadiana bureau LAFAYETTE -- The last holdout among candidates who finished out of the runoff in the Nov. 2 election for Louisiana's 7th Congressional District seat announced his intentions Friday. David Thibodaux, a Lafayette Republican who finished fourth in the initial race with 10 percent of the vote, announced his endorsement of fellow Lafayette Republican Charles Boustany Jr. who is running against state Sen. Willie Mount, D-Lake Charles on Dec. 4. "For whatever it's worth, whatever I can bring to the table, it's yours, my friend," Thibodaux told Boustany at...

Jindal backs Lafayette Republican Surgeon Boustany in 7th District runoff By PATRICK COURREGES pcourreges@theadvocate.com Acadiana bureau Bobby Jindal, Louisiana's newest Republican congressman-elect, said Friday in Lake Charles he is supporting 7th Congressional District Republican candidate Charles Boustany Jr.'s bid to join the state's delegation. Jindal handily won election to Louisiana's 1st District seat in his first run for the post Nov. 2, and spoke in favor of Boustany, a retired heart surgeon from Lafayette, at a Lake Charles Republican Roundtable luncheon. "I'm proud to call Bobby a friend and hope to call him a colleague," Boustany said. U.S. Sen.-elect David...

Boustany driven to enter race Frustration in dealing with issues was spark By PATRICK COURREGES pcourreges@theadvocate.com Acadiana bureau LAFAYETTE -- Retired heart surgeon Charles Boustany Jr. seems to be getting taken seriously in his first run for public office. The Lafayette Republican's candidacy in the Nov. 2 election for Louisiana's open 7th Congressional District seat has gotten the open backing of major figures in the national Republican Party -- including Vice President Dick Cheney -- hundreds of thousands of dollars in campaign money and the targeted opposition of national Democrats. A year ago, Boustany, 48, was still a practicing heart...

<p>LAFAYETTE — Cardiologist Charles Boustany Jr. is running for Congress.</p> <p>Boustany, 47, is a Republican running on a platform to bring jobs, health care and better education to the district and the state.</p> <p>“Obviously, stemming the tide of out-migration is extremely important, and I think a congressman can help the efforts of the governor in terms of trying to bring jobs to the state,” he said.</p>