Free Republic

Rep. Dave Brat (R-Va.), a member of the conservative House Freedom Caucus, says he came to Washington to cut spending, not add to the deficits and debt that will crush future generations. He spoke on Thursday, one day after House leaders, working with the White House, produced a $1.1 trillion spending bill. And Brat warned of worse to come. ...

GOP presidential candidate Sen. Ted Cruz speaks with the media before addressing the Family Foundation of Virginia's 30th annual gala at the Greater Richmond Convention Center Saturday, November 14, 2015. (Alexa Welch Edlund) Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, in Richmond to boost his presidential bid in the commonwealth, said Saturday that the terrorist attacks in Paris underscore the threat the Islamic State poses to the United States."I want to express solidarity with the people of France, with the people of Paris - all across America, Americans are lifting them up in our prayers, we are standing with our friends and...

Conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt on Sunday slammed Rep. Dave Brat (R-Va.) and the House Freedom Caucus for "holding the House hostage" and blocking Republicans from electing a successor to outgoing Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio), who wants to resign at the end of the month. Hewitt said on NBC's "Meet The Press" that he hopes Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) — who has said he doesn't want to be Speaker — will change his mind. Hewitt then criticized Brat, who was on the roundtable, and the conservative House Freedom Caucus for giving Ryan a tepid response. "There's like 15 of you...

Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” Reps. Rep. Charlie Dent (R-PA) and Rep. Dave Brat (R-VA) battled over the divide between the moderates and Freedom Caucus conservatives in Congress deciding who will be the next Speaker of the House.

House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) appeared on one Sunday show — CBS’ “Face the Nation” — after his Friday surprise announcement that he’d be resigning from Congress in about a month.And Boehner used the opportunity to make another firm announcement: There will be no government shutdown this week, despite the efforts of some conservatives to block Planned Parenthood funding. “The Senate is expected to pass a continuing resolution [this] week. The House will take up the Senate bill. We will also take up a select committee to investigate these horrific videos that we have seen from abortion clinics in several...

The race has come down to preferred establishment candidate, Kevin McCarthy vs. Raul Labrador. (SNIP) On Wednesday, McCarthy assured Chamber of Commerce lobbyists that under his leadership, it would be business as usual… (SNIP) La Raza’s Labrador Retriever pledged to make amnesty the GOP’s #1 priority in 2015… Immigration reform should be “one of the first things” Republicans take up. Before coming to Congress, Labrador ran a website called rapidimmigration.com, with “easy to understand advice for illegal immigrants seeking amnesty”…

Ooouuuch. My sides are still aching after last week's comical announcement by GOP presidential candidate Jeb Bush that he had snagged the coveted endorsement of notorious electoral reject Eric Cantor, the former House majority leader kicked to the curb by disgusted voters in Virginia's 2014 primary election. Newsflash to GOP elites: Getting Cantor's support is not like landing a prized marlin. It's like hooking one of those hideous bottom-feeding blobfish named the world's ugliest creature. Inside the Beltway, The Washington Post reported, "Cantor remains well-liked and respected in the Virginia business community and among the Republican donor class in the...

Trying to get the GOP base on your side? Master stroke from Jeb! here. Cantor was courted intensely by other candidates. Cantor retains a strong political network in Virginia, a key primary and swing state. And he has enviable connections among Jewish business leaders who can be key supporters and donors. “This is a big deal for Eric, and a big deal for Jeb,” said a top Republican involved in the negotiations. A Cantor source said: “They have known each other for a long time, speak regularly and have great mutual respect for one another. Eric believes he is the...

Rejected GOP leader Eric Cantor will endorse Jeb Bush and become the co-chair of Bush’s presidential campaign in Virginia, according to Politico.

POLITICO ‏@politico 12m12 minutes ago #Breaking: Eric Cantor, former House majority leader, will endorse Jeb Bush on Thursday http://politi.co/1KaycCU

Republican Eric Cantor on Saturday addressed the inaugural gathering of a group formed after grass-roots activists helped Dave Brat topple the former majority leader in last summer’s GOP primary. The day-long meeting of the Virginia Conservative Network featured a who’s who of establishment Republicans in the mold of Cantor, many of whom are frustrated with the party’s loss of all five statewide offices in recent years. According to organizers, Cantor gave an invitation-only crowd of more than 100 people tips on how to frame their message to voters as Republicans prepare to defend their slim majority in the state Senate...

LIKE so many others, I was stunned by Speaker John A. Boehner’s announcement on Friday that he would step down at the end of October. For nearly six years — first as Republican whip and then as majority leader — I met with John on a daily, sometimes hourly, basis as we worked to lead the House Republican Conference. (SNIP) We are in the midst of a campaign to elect the next president. After two terms of President Obama, an economy that is growing too slowly and a retrenchment of American power abroad, the conservative to-do list for the next...

Grassroots voters in 2014 apparently foiled a secret plan by House Speaker Rep. John Boehner to give his top job to the party’s House Majority Leader, Rep. Eric Cantor, who is a close ally of the GOP’s establishment wing. The plan suddenly collapsed last June after Cantor’s constituents in Virginia’s 7th district rejected him in favor of his primary challenger, economics professor Rep. Dave Brat. Brat won by blasting Cantor for mimicking Senator Sen. Marco Rubio’s effort to pass the mass-amnesty bill that would further raise high immigration levels. “The Speaker’s plan was to serve only through the end of...

I'm watching this unfold and womdering why in the wide, wide, world of sports should conservatives settle for some sort of meh speaker? Or someone like McCarthy who will probably be even worse than the blubbering cheetoh. Here are some quick points: -Dave Brat has a 100% CR rating. One of two reps in the house. -he's in about the safest district imaginable. -his district is less than a two hour drive from the beltway. -he's the consummate outsider. -Very high schadenfreude potential.

Twenty-five Republicans rebelled against John Boehner (R-Ohio), who won a third term as Speaker on Tuesday. The 25 Republicans, including three freshmen, didn't coalesce around a single alternative candidate. Rep. Daniel Webster (R-Fla.), whose nomination for Speaker became public just minutes before the vote, attracted the most votes at 12. Meanwhile, the other two long-shot candidates, Reps. Louie Gohmert (R-Texas) and Ted Yoho (R-Fla.) only received three and two votes each. Additionally, freshman Rep. Brian Babin (R-Texas) voted "present" rather than voting for anyone. And two Republican lawmakers voted for people who aren't even members of the House: Rep. Gary...

Rep. Dave Brat (R-VA) gave his own Republican congressional leadership a failing grade for not going “all in” to solve the nation’s fiscal problems and for not fighting President Obama’s executive overreach. “I’d give them all F’s. Fail. We did not fight. We didn’t win. My district sent me up here to score some points,” Brat said Friday after C-SPAN Washington Journal host Peter Slen asked the Tea Party-backed freshman congressman what he thought about House Speaker John Boehner’s leadership over the past year. Brat noted the Republican-controlled Congress’ failure to defund Planned Parenthood in the wake of graphic undercover...

For those who say JD can’t win and no one can beat John Boehner – I can only say this: Go to New York, head on over to K Street (Wall Street) and find former House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, where he’s working some cushy, high-paid, influence peddling job now, since getting his arse handed to him by “he can’t win” Dave Brat. Walk up to Cantor and tell him JD Winteregg cannot beat John Boehner: Then, I want you to take out your iPhone and take a pic of Eric Cantor’s face right after you tell him Winteregg can’t...

More than 350,000 refugees in the United States are on food stamps, according the Congressional Research Service (CRS). In a memo to the Senate Judiciary Committee released Thursday but dated April 14, CRS offers data on Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) — or food stamps — and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) use among refugees. It also provided refugee benefit usage statistics for medical assistance, cash assistance and public housing. In Fiscal Year 2013, there were about 353,000 refugees on SNAP. As of December 2014, 55,000 refugees, asylees, and other similar populations receiving payments from SSI, the memo reveals.

RICHMOND — Less than a year after Eric Cantor’s shocking defeat to a tea party challenger, House Speaker William J. Howell is taking nothing for granted in his first serious primary challenge in nearly three decades. The latest sign that Howell (R-Stafford) learned from the mistakes of the former majority leader of the U.S. House of Representatives came Wednesday, when the state lawmaker launched a Web site titled “We Know Bill.” It includes dozens of vignettes, complete with photos and fawning quotes, from retirees, busi­ness­peo­ple and activists talking about why they support Howell over his challenger, Susan Stimpson. The approach...

The cromnibus had an unlikely savior Thursday afternoon in the form of a lame-duck lawmaker who used to raise reindeer. Rep. Kerry Bentivolio (R-Mich.), who lost his primary earlier this year, was originally among the conservative Republicans who voted against the rule. Without the help of Democrats, Republicans could only lose 17 of their own to pass the rule, which sets up floor debate for the underlying "cromnibus" spending bill. Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) intervened once there were 18 Republican defectors — and not a single Democrat voting "yes." Many Democrats will vote against the government spending measure because they...