Free Republic

About a week ago, House Republicans passed a funding bill that aimed to block President Obama’s de facto amnesty for millions of illegal immigrants. Already, GOP leadership wants to abandon that bill and replace it with a “Plan B,” which has the unfortunate flaw of not being a plan to stop the amnesty at all.

The national marijuana legalization debate is moving into the backyard of a Republican-controlled Congress, now that the District of Columbia has voted to legalize growing, possessing and sharing small amounts of pot. Voters in Oregon and Alaska also approved legalization initiatives, joining Colorado and Washington state, where pot is already legally available. But while states out West enjoy both autonomy and distance, federal lawmakers have the power to quash any District law they don’t like. And with legalization getting a foothold on the East Coast for the first time, the District’s initiative could force Congress to make decisions affecting the...

A much subdued President Obama admitted yesterday that he took a "shellacking" in the midterm elections. Despite that meek concession, he doesn't appear to have gotten the order voters sent: Cease and desist. The Obama agenda has become a zombie, dead but continuing to walk among us.... Voters fundamentally rejected Mr. Obama's preference for government action as the solution to all of life's problems. The president pledged that he would find ways to be more effective in his job, but what the voters really want is for him to rethink his job description.

BEIJING - World capitals on Wednesday braced for a new political order in Washington, as policymakers and analysts tried to assess the impact on foreign policy of a new Republican-led U.S. House, a diminished Democratic majority in the Senate and an American president many fear has been left weakened. "It will be harder to build strategic mutual trust in the coming years," said Sun Zhe, a professor at Tsinghua University's Institute of International Studies. "China will face a tougher Congress."

Thad McCotter (R) Michigan, Chairman of the Republican Policy Committee was interviewed this AM on Fox News. Everything he said about the Democrats, Obama, national debt, Obamacare, etc. was in agreement with my hardcore conservative views of our Constitution and our Republic. But I would like to know what the rest of you think about him and the principles that he stands for!! Here is the link to the Republican Policy Committee

Most political commentators remain ambivalent about the chances of a Democratic capture of the House. Most are willing to say that they cannot capture the Senate – especially now that Lott has decided to return. It would require them to run the tables on every vulnerable and “vulnerable” incumbent Republican out there: Santorum, Dewine, Burns, Chafee, Talent. This would be at a time when incumbents are, historically speaking, as invulnerable as they have ever been, and Republicans are as invulnerable as they have been since Hoover. Most think this is impossible.But what about the House? To take the House, the...

The US Congress is on a collision course with the United Nations by threatening to cut its annual budget by tens of millions of pounds, which would disrupt its work on the ground. Henry Hyde, the Republican chairman of the house international relations committee, is circulating an 80-page draft bill suggesting cuts to UN programmes congressmen regard as inefficient or worthless. Republican senators have waged a long campaign against the UN, much of whose work they oppose on ideological grounds. Their case has been aided by recent scandals, ranging from sex abuse by UN peacekeepers in Africa to the mishandling...

THE QUESTION no longer is whether Democrats can win back the Senate, now controlled 51-49 by Republicans. The prospect of a Democratic takeover was always remote and has recently become more so. The question now is how much can President Bush, should he defeat John Kerry by 5 percentage points or more, help Republican Senate candidates, assuming there's a coattail effect. And that leads to the more important question of how many seats Republicans might pick up. As many as four or five, or none at all?The trend at the moment is favorable to Republicans, but nothing is guaranteed. Of...