Free Republic

While Nancy Pelosi hopes to pass the so-called “Build Back Better” bill tonight in the House, some bad news came down the line from the CBO.Previous commitments were made by some “moderate” Democrats to vote for the bill only if the budget score came back deficit-neutral. But the preliminary numbers are out, and it looks like the CBO has completely debunked the White House’s “it costs zero dollars” talking point.At first, Democrats were cheering on social media after seeing the following post from the CBO.CBO estimates that the funding for tax enforcement activities provided by H.R. 5376, the Build Back...

Key Senate Republicans are pushing back against President Donald Trump’s threat to impose new tariffs on Mexico to stem the flow of migrants, though it’s unclear whether lawmakers will take action. The president’s announcement Thursday surprised many Republicans who hoped to focus on passing a new trade deal with Mexico and Canada known as the USMCA. That deal now faces fresh peril, a number of GOP senators said Friday.

Senate Democrats vented their frustrations over the faulty rollout of the Affordable Care Act in a meeting Thursday with White House chief of staff Denis McDonough and other senior officials. “There’s a lot of frustration, everywhere,” Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) said after the meeting. McDonough tried to assure angry senators he is personally taking charge of the disparate federal offices in charge of implementing the massive law, which has been plagued by technical errors. “He gave us the impression that he’s taking charge of the different elements and cracking the whip. He said to let him know if we had...

House Republicans were furious with Senate Republicans and President Obama on Saturday for trying to cut a debt ceiling deal that leaves them out in the cold. Members emerged from a conference meeting saying Obama had double-crossed them by breaking off talks in order to shop for a better deal from the Senate GOP. “Clearly the president can't be trusted,” said Rep. Aaron Schock (R-Ill.). “It is up to Senate Republicans to grow a backbone and stand with House Republicans like they said they were going to do.”

The White House and the Senate are working to squeeze House Republicans into accepting a bipartisan compromise from the upper chamber to reopen the government and raise the debt ceiling. Any emerging deal, however, will leave ObamaCare largely intact, angering conservatives who have demanded defunding or delaying President Obama’s signature achievement. House Republicans are fuming over the prospect that Senate Democrats and Republicans are working on a plan to jam them with a last-minute deal they would have to accept or risk triggering a federal default. “They are trying to jam us with the Senate and we are not going...