Free Republic

The Republican Party is launching a campaign to try to derail President Barack Obama’s nominee to the Supreme Court, teaming up with a conservative opposition research group to target vulnerable Democrats and impugn whomever Obama picks. A task force housed within the Republican National Committee will orchestrate attack ads, petitions and media outreach to bolster a strategy that Senate Republicans adopted as soon as Justice Antonin Scalia died last month: refusing to consider an Obama nominee out of hopes that the next president will be a Republican. The RNC will contract with America Rising Squared, an outside group targeting Democrats...

Backed by Gov. Bruce Rauner, top Illinois Republicans called Wednesday for a state takeover of the financially troubled Chicago Public Schools, which faces a nearly $1 billion budget deficit that could lead to thousands of teacher layoffs and a possible strike in a matter of months. Senate GOP Leader Christine Radogno called the plan a "lifeline" for CPS, though Democrats quickly shot down the idea. Radogno and House Republican Leader Jim Durkin said the legislation would give the Illinois State Board of Education control over the nation's third-largest school district. They also noted that GOP lawmakers may reveal a bankruptcy...

In a State of American Business address, U.S. Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Thomas Donohue said Thursday that the Obama administration is on a "regulatory tear" that will continue until President Barack Obama leaves the White House. [...] ... "How do we know? They've been telling us every day since the first of the year. It has unleashed a runaway EPA that has been stretching the law, and in some cases, breaking it in order to consume control over the local economic development across America," he said. ...

House Republicans said Tuesday that they will launch an election-year study of what they say has been executive overreach by President Barack Obama and other recent presidents. House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., said that his panel would vote in coming weeks on creating a task force to conduct the investigation. Goodlatte said the probe would be led by Iowa Republican Rep. Steve King, a conservative and frequent Obama critic. Goodlatte announced the examination at a time when Republicans have repeatedly accused Obama of exceeding his constitutional powers. ...

A few weeks after Congress passed critical spending legislation that fully funded Planned Parenthood and the Affordable Care Act, Republicans this week will take a symbolic stand by once again trying -- and failing -- to repeal the law. "We owe it to the American people to take our best shot at repealing Obamacare, and that's what we'll do next week," Rep. Vicky Hartzler (R-Mo.) said Saturday in the Republican radio address. ...

House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) said Monday that President Barack Obama's decision to use his executive authority to enact more gun control laws is "another attempt to divide and distract from his failed policies." "We should also better enforce the laws we have on the books now to keep guns out of the hands of violent criminals. Instead, the president is again targeting law-abiding citizens, intruding further into innocent Americans' lives. At a time when the country wants the president to lead the fight against radical Islamic terror, this is yet another attempt to divide and distract from his failed...

Jeb Bush Responds To Trump: Obama Is An ‘American, He’s A Christian’ By Sean Sullivan. September 18. MACKINAC ISLAND, Mich. -- Jeb Bush responded Friday night to Donald Trump's decision this week not to correct a questioner who said President Obama is a Muslim who is "not even an American." "Barack Obama is a talented man -- and by the way he's an American, he's a Christian -- his problem isn't the fact that he was born here or what his faith is," said Bush in a speech here. "His problem is that he's a progressive liberal who tears down...

President Barack Obama is highlighting good economic news during a period of wildly erratic stock markets to make the case the United States remains an anchor of global strength. […] Obama is warning lawmakers not to keep the economy hostage over what he describes as ideological demands. He also says Congress will eventually pass the budget, so “let’s just do it without too much drama.” …

Senate Republican leaders will use a must-pass highway bill to start another fight over the president’s health care law. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell plans to introduce an amendment to the transportation bill to fully repeal “Obamacare.” […] The Senate is rushing to complete the highway legislation before states face a cutoff of highway and transit aid one week from now. …

House Speaker John Boehner vows to do 'everything possible' to stop President Obama's newly struck Iran nuclear deal, as Congress formally begins consideration of the hard-fought pact.

Despite a legal obligation to allow Congress to review the Iran nuclear agreement for 60 days, the Obama administration will press ahead with a U.N. Security Council resolution enshrining the deal, likely within days. “We will be introducing a U.N. Security Council resolution perhaps as early as next week,” a senior administration official told reporters in a background conference call from Vienna, hours after the final agreement known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) was announced. The official said the resolution wording had already been drafted in Vienna, with the U.S. in the lead. …

It's over. After bringing us within hours of a shutdown on Friday, congressional leaders backed down and voted to fund the Department of Homeland Security through the rest of the year today. That didn't happen because they suddenly came to their senses and decided to stop playing political games. It happened because they knew they couldn't get away with it any longer. They heard the voices of hundreds of thousands of Americans who stood up to let them know we were ready to hold them accountable. They saw reasonable members of Congress standing united, and refusing to budge. And you...

Delivered to the United States Senate, Washington, DC, on Tuesday, July 17, 2007.Mr. President, I rise tonight to play my small part in this pointless political play put on by the Senate Majority Leader. It is an insult to the brave men and women in our Armed Forces and to the American taxpayers that we are here tonight for no other reason than for a publicity stunt. Instead of following the script written by "Move On" like my colleagues on the other side of the aisle, I want to be honest and frank with the American people. I hear Democrats...

RUSH: All right, my friends, (laughing) I confess, I went to bed with Barbara Boxer last night, I woke up with Hillary Clinton. (Laughing.) Yes. Yes, my friends, I tuned in to C-SPAN. I really, really tried to stay awake. I really, really tried. But this -- (laughing) -- who's the real woman between Barbara Boxer and Hillary Clinton? I don't know. (laughing). A-hem. Well, let's leave that alone. I mean, gentlemen don't tell. But this political stunt last night, this all-nighter, the Senate sleepover, Harry's hoax, was nothing more than a fundraiser. My friends, the only people in the...