Free Republic

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - In a shift some Republicans hope will strengthen their hand in the fight over the U.S. debt limit, some of the party's leaders in the House of Representatives are playing down demands to weaken "Obamacare" and focusing instead on calls to rein in deficits. The emphasis on tackling long-term debt and deficits was evident in opinion pieces published on Wednesday by two of the most prominent House Republicans, Majority Leader Eric Cantor and Paul Ryan, the chairman of the House Budget Committee and a former vice presidential candidate. Ryan's piece in the Wall Street Journal failed to...

Conservatives need to push the debt ceiling fight off the front burner to after Christmas. Republican Leaders are begging us to merge the continuing resolution fight and debt ceiling fight. They covet this with all their mind and heart. They do not want a stand alone fight on Obamacare. They want to conflate it with the debt ceiling so they can do a grand bargain and leave Obamacare alone. Consider Rep. Paul Ryan’s op-ed in the Wall Street Journal. He wants a grand bargain and not once mentions Obamacare. Not once. Friends, as I noted the other day, we lose...

UPDATED The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is preparing to make campaign donations to Republicans that vote to end the government shutdown and raise the debt ceiling, putting it at loggerheads with the Tea Party. That is significant, because The Chamber provides a financial counter balance to House incumbents that could face a primary challenger if they support a “clean” continuing resolution to fund the operation of the U.S. government or to raise the sovereign debt that can be issued by the United States Treasury to avoid a default. The shutdown crisis began last week over an attempt to nullify the...

The Feral Federal Government wastes tons of money. It certainly is grand that we will always have plenty to spare. U.S.S Barack Obama, our newest aircraft carrierHere's a link to an article by Jonathan Turley about recent wastes involving the Pentagon, produced by some pleasing congressional bipartisanship. He notes, [T]he Pentagon continues to spend wildly on items and them toss them out. We recently saw how [it] prefers to deliver bags of money to Karzai, buy Russian aircraft that Afghans can’t fly or maintain, or build huge buildings to be then torn down unused. Of course, no one is ever fired for constructing...

Republicans are winning the shutdown fight, and Democrats know it. People turning on the news this week came away with the knowledge that it was about Obamacare and kept hearing that Democrats wouldn’t negotiate. They also learned that for some reason the President didn’t want Word War II veterans to tour their own memorial, and Harry Reid won’t turn the funding on for cancer clinical trials at the NIH. Oh, and the rollout for Obamacare is one big glitch. Late yesterday came word that the Amber Alert system has been shut down, but Barack Obama’s federally funded golf course remains...

Dear Ms. xxxx: Thank you for contacting me regarding the Continuing Resolution (CR) and defunding of Obamacare. I know how passionately Texans feel about this issue, and I appreciate the benefit of your comments. All Americans should be exempt from the onerous and costly provisions of Obamacare and the best way to do this is to repeal and defund the law in its entirety. Texans continue to share with me real-life examples of how this law is hurting businesses, killing jobs, and burdening individuals with costlier premiums. All Americans should receive relief from this law, so I was pleased when...

There are now reportedly a total of 18 House Republicans ready to throw in the towel in the current battle over Obamacare in order to end the first government shutdown in 17 years. As TheBlaze reported on Tuesday, Democrats needs just 17 GOP lawmakers to defect from the majority of Republicans in the House to pass a “clean” continuing resolution that fully funds both Obamacare and the federal government.

Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), appearing on MSNBC’s “Daily Rundown,” suggested that Democrats aren’t negotiating with Republicans out of principle — and out of worry that any capitulation would only embolden the cast-iron conservative wing of the party.

Cracks are starting to emerge among House Republicans on their government funding strategy. A handful of Republicans in the lower chamber on Tuesday embraced a “clean” continuing resolution (CR): Reps. Pat Meehan (Pa.), Jon Runyan (N.J.), Scott Rigell (Va.), Mike Fitzpatrick (Pa.) and Frank Wolf (Va.). They joined Rep. Charlie Dent (R-Pa.) and GOP New York Reps. Pete King and Michael Grimm, who endorsed a clean CR earlier this week. A "clean" bill would not include provisions to delay or defund ObamaCare, and is supported by the White House and Senate Democrats. In a Tweet, Meehan stated, “I came to...

The last version of the continuing resolution that House Speaker John Boehner (R.-Ohio) pushed through the Republican-controlled House of Representatives on Monday—and that the Democrat-controlled Senate summarily rejected—surrendered a position that House Republicans had taken in the previous CR that protected Americans from being forced by an Obamacare regulation to act against their moral or religious convictions. The Obamacare regulation in question effectively prohibits American Catholics from freely practicing their faith in the way they live their daily lives. Indeed, the Catholic bishops of the United States have unanimously declared this regulation an “unjust and illegal mandate” and “a violation...

Fedzilla is shut down-post your "Buh Bye's" here: Buh Bye NEA!!!! Buh Bye funding of Planned Parent hood Buh Bye talk of raising the debt ceiling, since they only spend whatever amount of Tax we send to DC

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (Democrat) has obstructed and prevented the House of Representatives efforts to submit a budget as required by Federal Law. That's right folks, Harry Reid (D) is breaking a Federal Law that the Senate had passed. Does he really lead the Senate or does he just have his own agenda to break the system. President Obama sent a budget to the Congress that received NO VOTES! Not even Harry Reid would vote for Obama's budget. What is our Debt, by the way? The US national debt has remained the same since 5/28/2013 at $16.699396 trillion. Continuing...

According to Special Report, a cadre of Quislings in the House are planning a revolt against not only the conservative majority, but the leadership as well. No doubt led by Peter King who recently insinuated he was not going to continue playing 'Cruz' game', this group will vote with the rats to block our next volley to the senate, the hardest one yet for them to reject. We cannot allow this. If you are a Freeper and think your rep might be involved in this treachery, melt the phone lines and fill the inboxes. No insurrection can be afforded at...

Just heard, just announced. GOP House to the rescue, will send a final CR to Senate to avoid government shutdown.

For almost three years, the story in the House has been about Speaker John Boehner’s restive right flank causing him problems. But Republican moderates have apparently had enough. In what is by far their boldest stand since the GOP took control of the House in 2010, a group of them are threatening to bring down a vote on the rule for the government-funding bill scheduled for 6:30 p.m. New York representative Peter King is leading the charge, and his fellow New Yorker Michael Grimm is close behind him. The group told leadership on Saturday they have 25 members who are...

I’m surprised they’d even offer. A little while ago, I tweeted out a question: Since there are surely more than 30 Republicans who’d vote for Reid’s clean CR, why doesn’t Pelosi bring a discharge petition forcing Boehner to hold a vote on it? That’s an unorthodox procedure, granted, but this is an unusual situation. When people inevitably complain that the minority caucus has usurped the power of the majority in the House, Pelosi could simply say that that’s what Republicans were trying to do in the Senate. Boehner would probably welcome it, frankly, since the result would be to avoid...

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi missed Saturday night’s votes on legislation to continue funding the government because she was out of town celebrating her 50th wedding anniversary, according to news reports. “Speaker Boehner has told me he has the votes for his proposals on his side of the aisle and that he will not need our help,” Pelosi wrote in a letter to colleagues. “I have been in contact with our leadership team and members, and we appreciate the united front from members as we proceed.”Pelosi’s wedding anniversary, however was three weeks ago, on Sept. 7, according to at least...

Headline at Drudge Report "DELAY OBAMACARE A YEAR OR WE WILL SHUT IT DOWN - BOEHNER MAKES MOVE"

House Republicans on Saturday pushed the government to the edge of a partial shutdown next week, insisting that President Barack Obama’s health care law be delayed a year in defiance of White House and the Democratic-controlled Senate. They rejected a Senate bill passed Friday that would keep the government operating another 45 days and make no changes to the health law. Instead, House Republicans prepared to pass their own version Saturday and throw the issue back to the Senate, which is not scheduled to return until Monday afternoon, 10 hours before the shutdown deadline. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev.,...

It’s the House’s prerogative to supply funds, or not, for Obamacare.Republican leaders are right: There was a flaw in Ted Cruz’s plan to defund Obamacare: He took Republican leaders seriously. Senator Cruz, along with Senator Mike Lee and House conservatives, devised a strategy to forestall the unpopular socialized-medicine scheme that Democrats unilaterally rammed through Congress in 2010. They would starve it of funds, not unlike the way Democrats and Republicans have slashed funds for fence construction along the Mexican border, even though the fence has been the law of the land for seven years. The Obamacare defunding strategy, though, depended...