Free Republic

The Feb. 13 special election in New York’s 3rd congressional district matters. Special elections can set the tone for a general election, create momentum for the winning party and provide an opportunity to test messages and ideas on actual voters. They also test voter enthusiasm and a party’s ability to get out the vote in a low-turnout situation. It matters especially for Republicans, as it could bolster their razor-thin majority in Congress. This is a fair fight to replace George Santos, and both parties have put forward formidable candidates. On the Republican side, Mazi Melesa Pilip is a state representative...

Democratic Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi said Wednesday she did not believe that Democrats’ major losses in the 2010 elections were because of Democratic votes for Obamacare, blaming them instead on TARP. In 2010, Republicans picked up 63 House seats, gaining the majority and taking control of the House. The losses are usually blamed on the vote for the unpopular Affordable Care Act, which was signed into law earlier that year. Pelosi argued at a press conference Wednesday that she did not believe that to be the case. “I don’t even buy into the idea that we lost the election because...

Dearest FReeper-Patriots-FRiends, Hey Y'all The GOP House must KILL the Senate’s Immigration BILL, and the time for us to act is now. Today, tomorrow, this coming week! Like Rush said on Wednesday, Free Republic was the Tea Party before there was a Tea Party”. The House is the last stop between Amnesty and saving our Republic. We have been told that the House Leadership will meet on or about July 10, 2013 to decide on how they’re going to deal with the “Senate’s Immigration Reform Bill.” They are caught between big money interests and the will of the people,...

GOP Sen. Scott Brown (Mass.) said Monday he won't support Rep. Paul Ryan's (R-Wis.) budget when it comes up for a vote in the Senate. Brown, a centrist who is running for reelection in 2012, said that Ryan's plan helped jumpstart a necessary debate, but that Ryan's Medicare reforms go too far. "While I applaud Ryan for getting the conversation started, I cannot support his specific plan — and therefore will vote 'no' on his budget," he wrote in a Politico op-ed. "Our country is on an unsustainable fiscal path," he added. "But I do not think it requires us...

After the Democrats' shellacking at the polls in November, liberal pundits began evoking the Republican Congress that took power after a similar electoral defeat during President Harry Truman's first term. The "do nothing" Congress lasted just two years; in 1948, the Republicans ceded control of the Hill, and Truman was narrowly re-elected president. President Obama would like to replay this script and will take every opportunity to tag the incoming House Republican majority as obstructionist, irresponsible and out of touch. Yet in some respects, the 80th Congress set an example from which the 112th Congress could benefit. Republicans took control...

While Republican leaders spent the last three weeks preparing an agenda for their Jan. 5 takeover of the House, a separate group of about two dozen GOP lawmakers have been scrutinizing the day-to-day operation of the House and are planning potentially significant changes aimed at cutting costs and improving efficiency, including a longer work week. The House Republican transition team, headed by Rep. Greg Walden, R-Ore., held a conference call Tuesday to discuss the potential changes and review responses to a survey, sent to all members earlier this month, that asked lawmakers and staff to rate their satisfaction with everything...

The immediate threat has been smashed by our victories all across the country. We can begin the breath free again. Barack Obama’s Chicago mob which has been destroying our todays and killing our children’s tomorrows, has been put flat on its back. They had us down but they haven’t dented the true spirit of Americanism. Our government was kidnapped but we were not lobotomized. By Friday, just three days from now the spirit of America and its willingness to fight will shine through. America’s pent up “Can do” spirit, will burst forth and we will be on our way to...

House Republicans have produced a draft proposal of their own. It's much shorter and focuses on bringing down costs rather than extending coverage to nearly all Americans.

Welcome to Sanity Island This morning, President Bush Congratulated General Petraeus on Senate Confirmation and talked about the way forward in Iraq. The text of the President's remarks and those of General Petraeus can be found here. President Bush, right, meets with Gen. David H. Petraeus, the incoming Commander of Multi-National Force, Friday, Jan. 26, 2007 in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert) At Noon, President Bush addressed Republican members of the House of Representatives at the Hyatt Regency in Cambridge, MD, where he told them in part, "I also appreciate your understanding that...

Congress may be surprised when its public hearings on immigration energize all of us moderate Americans The immigration bills passed by the House and Senate in recent months could hardly be more different. The House package is harsh, punitive and focused exclusively on tougher enforcement. The Senate bill balances toughness with pragmatism by including provisions to admit the workers we need to keep our economy growing and deal with the estimated 12 million illegal immigrants already in the country. The prospect of reconciling the two bills has always looked difficult – the legislative equivalent of marrying a giraffe and a...

National Republicans may pay a huge price for not doing more to oppose Hillary Clinton's Senate reelection bid this year. In fact, it may cost them control of the House. Bloomberg News reports that the former first lady, along with Democratic gubernatorial candidate Eliot Spitzer, now lead their opponents by such wide margins that their coattails could help Democrats "pick up as many as six New York congressional seats - more than one-third of the 15 they need nationally to gain a House majority." Lee Miringoff, director of the Institute for Public Opinion at Marist College in Poughkeepsie, agrees that...

WASHINGTON (AP) - Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's push to redraw political district lines is running into skepticism from California House members, including from some fellow Republicans who fear the party risks losing seats. "From a realistic standpoint, it looks like we can lose more than we gain," Marysville Republican Rep. Wally Herger said Wednesday, a day after the state's GOP House delegation met on the issue. "My sense is the majority were probably against it, but I think everybody has their ears open ... and wants to do what's best for the state." As part of the reform plan he unveiled...