Free Republic

Republicans will raise the government’s borrowing limit without threatening a default, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell guaranteed Sunday, placating the markets but potentially surrendering the party’s leverage as Congress gears up for another debt showdown. The current debt-ceiling holiday, to which Congress agreed a year ago, expires Sunday, starting the clock on debate and sending the Treasury Department scrambling to tap into its “extraordinary measures” to keep from breaching the limit. Budget analysts say Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew has about seven months of spare room, meaning a deal would have to be reached by October or November. Mr. McConnell, Kentucky...

The once-thought-to-be-dead House GOP leadership vehicle for a series of immigration bills including, presumably, an amnesty bill is roaring back to life thanks to Speaker John Boehner’s immigration adviser Becky Tallent’s efforts, several key Capitol Hill sources tell Breitbart News. Tallent is a former chief of staff to Senate “Gang of Eight” ringleader Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), the 2008 GOP presidential nominee who lost to President Barack Obama. During her time with McCain, Tallent helped craft—working with the office of the now late Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-MA)—a previous amnesty bill that failed to pass during the second term of the...

The normally-reserved Yves Smith asks whether Obama should be impeached over it. Democratic Senator Wyden – the head of the committee which is supposed to oversee it – is so furious about the lack of access that he has introduced legislation to force disclosure. Republican House Oversight Committee Chairman Darrell Issa is so upset by it that he has leaked a document on his website to show what’s going on. What is everyone so furious about? An international treaty being negotiated in secret which would not only crack down on Internet privacy much more than SOPA or ACTA, but would...

The letter to Attorney General Eric Holder and Defense Secretary Leon Panetta suggests the administration waited until Daqduq was in Iraqi custody before filing murder, terrorism and other charges. It also states the administration intentionally kept information from Capitol Hill lawmakers, who learned about the purported charges and Daqduq’s ordered release through New York Times stories. “Eight pages of charges ... appears to indicate that either the administration was purposefully withholding information from Congress or it had not done the due diligence required to file charges,” states the letter signed by Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley, the committee’s ranking GOP lawmaker,...

SAN DIEGO -- Arizona Sen. John McCain on Tuesday canceled an appearance for a Republican congressional candidate who has attacked his opponent for supporting McCain's immigration bill. McCain, R-Ariz., was scheduled to speak Wednesday at a breakfast fundraiser for Brian Bilbray, who is locked in a close runoff race with Democrat Francine Busby for the San Diego-area seat left vacant by disgraced former Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham. The event was expected to raise at least $65,000. The winner of the June 6 special election will fill the remaining seven months left in Cunningham's term. In an e-mail sent to the...