Free Republic

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) claimed Sunday on ABC’s “This Week” that the Republican budget was a “non-starter” and would receive opposition from every Democratic lawmaker. Host Jonathan Karl said, “Government funding runs out in less than a month now. We’ve seen over the past two years, Republicans cannot or have not been able to pass government funding without Democratic support. Some of your supporters on the outside are saying you should use as leverage, the possibility of a government shutdown to push back at some of what the Trump administration is doing right now. What will you need...

Senator Andy Kim (D-NJ) said Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press” that the Democrats are considering not helping the Trump administration fund the government. Kim said, “In a few weeks, the Republicans are going to try to figure out how they move forward, and they have, for the last two years, needed Democratic votes for every single continuing resolution, and they should not count on that this time.” Host Kristen Welker said, “Are you prepared to shut down the government?” Kim said, “You have to look at what the Trump administration is doing right now. They are trying to dismantle...

WASHINGTON — Democrats are looking to use any point of leverage they have to push Republicans into a corner and put a stop to President Donald Trump’s agenda — even if it means withholding support on legislation to keep the government funded. Although Republicans hold majorities in both the House and Senate, Democrats are eyeing ways to capitalize on their GOP counterparts’ slim margins to rein in their power as Trump and his allies issue in a number of sweeping changes to the federal government. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, the top Democrat in the lower chamber, released a 10-point...

House Speaker Mike Johnson brokered a last-minute agreement with Democrat leaders late Friday. The deal extends federal funding through March and allocates substantial disaster relief, but notably excludes President-elect Donald Trump’s demand for a debt ceiling increase, according to AP. The 118-page package maintains current government funding levels and includes $100 billion for disaster aid and $10 billion in agricultural assistance. However, it omits provisions to raise the debt ceiling, a point of contention for Trump and his allies, including billionaire Elon Musk, who had advocated for a long-term suspension of the borrowing limit. Trump reiterated his position on the...

In many ways, Speaker Johnson didn’t bail out Democrats from a tough political predicament as much as he did his own Republican members.The outline of the spending agreement House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., cut with Democratic leaders sounds bad on its face. But the underlying reasons for that agreement seem far worse.As I wrote last week, “Speaker Johnson and Republican ‘leadership’ … bailed the Democrats out of the predicament they put themselves in last May.” To which I should make an important addition: In many ways, Johnson didn’t bail out Democrats from a tough political predicament as much as he...

..it has since been reported that the fire alarm was set off by NY Representative Jamaal Bowman ... and they apparently have him on camera doing it.

The White House on Monday warned that the looming government shutdown could hurt the Biden administration’s COVID-19 mandates. Congress has until the end of September pass legislation to avert a shutdown as Republicans and Democrats have struggled to come to an agreement on a number of measures. Government shutdowns, which generally don’t last longer than a month, can cause the disruption of the federal government’s programs and services, not limited to closing down national parks and institutions, some Defense Department programs, and programs that are funded by laws rather than annual appropriations acts. As a result, some public health measures...

A newly released NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll reveals that a sizeable majority of Americans now feel like the country is headed in the wrong direction. According to the survey, “six-in-10 Americans believe the country is headed in the wrong direction, and nearly 70 percent of them have negative opinions on the state of the nation today,” NBC News reported. Some of the terms used to describe the state of the nation were “wrong track,” “disarray,” “turmoil,” “polarized,” “concerned,” “shambles” and “declining.” “Times are grim,” said Democratic pollster Peter Hart, who conducted the survey with Republican pollster Bill McInturff. “The...

Never was so much paid to so few by so many The long winter at Valley Shutdown is evidently growing more dire for federal employees. They have now missed their FIRST paycheck. Repercussions from this disaster extend all the way into Latin America. My son was browsing the Facebook page for the Swamp suburb where we live. He came across a female federal employee who was distraught because the furlough had forced her to lay off the housekeeper. Other page members were discussing whether to organize a donation drive to supply homebound feds with gift cards for gas and groceries....

White House mirror was supposed to do what the mainstream and social media are doing: show the Democrats as heroes in the border wall/government shutdown boondoggle. Instead it shows them as they really are, and it's not a pretty picture The mirror on the White House Wall was supposed to show President Donald Trump as “immoral” for wanting to protect his country’s southern border with a wall. Instead the mirror is showing how immoral Nancy Pelosi, Chuck Schumer and the high-handed, hate-ridden Democrats are. The mainstream and social media have yet to ask how wanting to protect the citizenry from...

Was Pelosi planning on undermining President Trump abroad for the next coming Democrat sabotage? Inquiring minds would sure like to know. The image of haughty House Speaker Nancy Pelosi left fuming on the tarmac after President Donald Trump ‘postponed’ her flight to Afghanistan, Belgium and Egypt provides a kind of levity that millions have been longing for. ‘Her Supreme Highness of the Flying Junket’ has been grounded until after the Government Partial Shutdown by President Donald Trump, the man she lives to hate. Like the proverbial deer caught in the headlights, everyone now knows that Pelosi has spent the lion’s...

Why would Nancy Pelosi leave the Country with other Democrats on a seven day excursion when 800,000 great people are not getting paid. Also, could somebody please explain to Nancy & her “big donors” in wine country that people working on farms (grapes) will have easy access in!

Two stories headlining the news this morning: Melania Trump Vacations Using Gov’t Plane As Trump Blocks Pelosi’s Flight - MsNBC’s Larry O’Donnell has the last word on it (he doesn’t approve). Warning: It takes him a full 18 minutes to express his disapproval. And it’s 18 minutes of your life you’ll never get back, so click the link cautiously.AP reports that high-level secret talks between US, North Korea taking place in Sweden Wouldn’t it be fun if  Melania were part of that North Korean envoy? “FLOTUS stands in for furloughed ambassador and saves the world from a nuclear armed madman.” ...

When it comes to Super Bowl LIII, air traffic controllers are flying blind. The government shutdown has already resulted in canceled planning meetings for the Feb. 3 game in Atlanta, and if the federal budget impasse continues, airport screeners and flight controllers at the busiest airport in the world will be working on game day for no pay. Dan McCabe, a National Air Traffic Controllers Association representative, told NBC News that his colleagues had been holding meetings over the past year to prepare for the surge in travelers to the area. But now the planning meetings, which included officials from...

@scottbudman #Update: San Jose says it will move forward with a plan to pay the salaries of about 500 TSA employees at @FlySJC during the government shutdown. The money would be an interest-free loan to be payed back after the government re-opens.

John Avlon is CNN's snarkiest commentator. I sincerely believe he stays up nights working on sarcastic quips designed to get him noticed. But this morning, it was an apparent ad lib that is of note. On New Day, Alisyn Camerota asked why President Trump hasn't accepted a deal that would end the partial government shutdown. Co-host John Berman, referring to a statement by Ann Coulter, offered an explanation, saying he had "a sign, a word from up above." Avlon interjected: "Whoa, whoa: directionally off!"Get the rest of the story and view the video here.

OCEAN CITY, Md.- The Dough Roller in Ocean City is offering free meals to all furloughed government employees until the end of the shutdown. The restaurant highlighted the U.S. Coast Guard, considering it is the only branch of the military that is not being paid during the partial government shutdown because it is part of the Department of Homeland Security. The company also highlights federal workers like the Federal Park Rangers in Assateague who are on furlough. Starting on January 14, 2019, local Coast Guard employees can stop at the restaurant for one free meal, per day, per ID. All...

The Daily Caller is taking the rare step of publishing this anonymous op-ed at the request of the author, a senior official in the Trump administration whose identity is known to us and whose career would be jeopardized by its disclosure. We believe publishing this essay anonymously is the only way to deliver an important perspective to our readers. We invite you to submit a question about the essay or our vetting process here. As one of the senior officials working without a paycheck, a few words of advice for the president’s next move at shuttered government agencies: lock the...

Was Alisyn Camerota having a Fox News flashback? Since leaving FNC and in 2014 joining CNN, Camerota has been a reliable voice for the liberal talking points of the day. But on today's New Day during a discussion of the partial government shutdown, she repeatedly put a share of the blame on the Democrats for their responsibility for the impasse. In particular, Camerota called out Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer for refusing Mike Pence's request for a counter-offer at the conclusion of a White House meeting yesterday. It wasn't just a one-time, passing comment by Camerota. She repeatedly rebutted defenses...

The biggest challenge we have is to remain resolute in our support for the President and to continue to press him and his administration to complete their agenda The government shutdown is finishing its second week and the new Congress gets sworn in today. I can hardly wait. As the establishment elements of both parties continue to hand-wring over the current President, I really don’t wonder what is going to happen when the Democrats take control of the House of Representatives and Nancy Pelosi becomes—again— the Speaker of the House. I fear I know just how far her caucus will...