Free Republic

A top House Republican lawmaker is preparing to circumvent Speaker Mike Johnson, R– La., to force a vote on a bill related to Ukraine aid and U.S. border security. Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick, R-Pa., co-chair of the bipartisan Problem Solvers Caucus, said that he was preparing the legislative maneuver as a fail-safe in the event Johnson does not bring a Ukraine aid bill to the floor. "It’s existential, it’s time-sensitive. Whether it’s our [bill] or somebody else’s, we’ve just got to get the money out the door," Fitzpatrick told reporters on Thursday morning.

@RepMattGaetz @SenMullin is trying to encourage Republicans to sign a DISCHARGE PETITION with Democrats to force the Senate’s “Ukraine First” bill forward! He didn’t have the guts to vote for it in the Senate but wants the House to pass it. I will stand with @SpeakerJohnson to STOP this terrible unpaid-for $95 billion aid bill.

Lawmakers could force the supplemental to the floor through a discharge petition, which requires support from a majority of the chamber — meaning bipartisan participation. Democrats have a “ripe” discharge from last year’s debt limit showdown that already has 213 signatures. Five more would be a majority of the chamber. Some progressive lawmakers, though, are likely to remove their names from the petition if it is used to move the foreign aid package in protest of the inclusion of aid for Israel without conditions. That would mean more Republican signatures are needed — a heavy lift since signing a discharge...

Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.), a member of the Judiciary Committee, said Republicans shouldn’t have let Democrats confirm so many Biden nominees to the federal courts when the Senate was evenly split during Biden’s first two years in office. “The truth is the leadership squandered a 50-50 Senate. They could have at the committee level made a major push to vote together and to stop at least the circuit court nominees. Every single one of them would have required a discharge petition. We didn’t do that,” Hawley told The Hill. “There was no concerted effort made whatsoever,” he added. “Say what...

Fourteen of the 23 GOP members who signed the cheap-labor Discharge Petition amnesty in June will be gone from Congress in January. The group’s wipeout came after they worked with House Speaker Paul Ryan to block the pro-American, compromise immigration reform bill prepared by Virginia Rep. Bob Goodlatte, the chairman of the House judiciary committee.

Fox News host Laura Ingraham fired off a warning shot to President Trump Monday evening about an effort in the House to push through mass amnesty all supported by Speaker Paul Ryan. Paul Ryan is on his way out so he’s on a kamikaze mission to push through mass amnesty. Laura Ingraham warned the President Monday. Ingraham tweeted: Warning to @realDonaldTrump: An effort is underway by liberal Repubs (+Dems) on a mass amnesty in the House thru a “discharge petition,” supported by @SpeakerRyan. Total travesty & mid-term turn-out killer. Warning to @realDonaldTrump: An effort is underway by liberal Repubs (+Dems)...

Rep. Tom Garret (R-VA), along with a dozen Freedom Caucus members, announced his intent to file a discharge petition that would put a clean repeal of Obamacare before the House. The House Freedom Caucus repeatedly argued that the best path to repealing Obamacare revolves around a simple repeal of Obamacare and then replacing the Affordable Care Act with a free-market alternative. Congress passed a clean repeal bill of Obamacare in 2015 only to have it vetoed by President Obama. Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH), a former chairman of the Freedom Caucus, reintroduced the same legislation in 2017. However, Congress has not...

If Republicans aren’t already divided enough, several dozen party members have signed a petition that will force the House to vote on whether to revive a controversial government-run bank that helps big American companies sell goods overseas. Some 41 Republicans signed a so-called discharge petition in an effort to fully reopen the Export-Import Bank. They joined ranks with nearly all Democrats to meet the 218-vote threshold required to allow a bill to reach the House floor.

House Democrats will reportedly try to force the GOP's hand on comprehensive immigration reform legislation by unveiling a discharge petition on the House floor Wednesday for the Democrats' comprehensive immigration reform bill that would grant amnesty and reduce the wages of American workers. The Huffington Post cites a "senior Democratic aide" who said that "House Democrats will sign the petition on the floor after it is unveiled." Democratic aides told CNN that lawmakers will first "gather on the east steps of the U.S. Capitol to announce the petition and then walk en masse into the House chamber to file it."Though...

House Democrats said Thursday they’ll soon launch an official petition drive to try to force Republicans to vote on Democrats’ immigration bill — but said even before that, they’ll try to force a vote on a minimum wage increase. Emerging from a day of meetings at their policy retreat in Maryland, Democratic leaders said the minimum wage will come first because it’s the most central to their efforts to try to paint Republicans into a corner on income inequality. But, under fire from immigrant-rights advocates, Democrats said immigration will come soon after that. The petition drives, known as “discharge petitions,”...

Rep. Peter King (N.Y.) would support a discharge petition on a "clean" spending bill if GOP leaders don't bring it to the floor soon, the centrist Republican vowed this week. King has long-pushed Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) to take up the Senate-passed continuing resolution (CR) to reopen the government. But he has refused to buck leadership further by endorsing the Democrats' discharge petition, which would force a floor vote on the bill. Until Friday. "If we have to do a discharge petition, ultimately, we will, but this is going to come [to the floor]," King said in an interview with...

House Democratic leaders believe they have hit on a new way to potentially force House Republican leaders into allowing a vote on a “clean CR” funding the government without any defunding of Obamacare attached. At last count, as many as two dozen House Republicans appear prepared to vote for a clean CR. With Democrats included, that means a majority of the House of Representatives would vote right now to reopen the government. But the House GOP leadership won’t allow such a vote. Dems have hit on a way to use a “discharge petition,” which forces a House vote if a...

To protect free speech from the political whims of a few unelected bureaucrats in Washington, the Fairness Doctrine needs to be wiped off the books. These Members of Congress are hypocritical because they voted for a one-year ban on the so-called Fairness Doctrine but have thus far refused to sign on to the Discharge Petition in support of a permanent ban. If someone is going to support freedom of speech for one year they should support it permanently

The National Rifle Association is putting the election-year squeeze on conservative Democrats, demanding that they buck their leadership to support a bill to erase more of the District of Columbia’s gun laws. Democratic gun rights supporters will risk losing their A-plus rating if they don’t sign a discharge petition to be filed Wednesday bringing the gun-rights bill directly to the floor. It will be the first time in more than 20 years that the NRA has “scored” a discharge petition in determining the grades it gives lawmakers before the November election, said spokesman Andrew Arulanandam. “We’re making this a priority....

First Amendment At Risk by: Emily Ham, June 27, 2008 For many congressional representatives, this year Fourth of July is not only a day to observe the freedoms Americans hold dear, its also the deadline to sign a petition that could be the dividing line between broadcast freedoms and a form of governmental censorship and control. At a press conference held on June 11 (Radio Independence Day), members of Congress, the press and organizations throughout Washington D.C. gathered on the steps of the Cannon Senate Building to ask Congress members to stand up for broadcasters’ rights. Speakers beseeched the House...

The November election in California's Congressional District 11, which includes Lodi, will be a hard-fought contest between incumbent Democrat Jerry McNerney and Republican challenger Dean Andal.In 2006, McNerney unseated Richard Pombo, who suffered from allegations of fundraising improprieties, nepotism and the general electoral mood to throw out Republicans.As voters head for the polls this fall, most are concerned with ending "business as usual" in Washington, D.C. With Congressional approval ratings hovering around 20 percent, many representatives are on their way out unless they can convince their constituents that they are serious about reform.House Speaker Nancy Pelosi offers a striking example...