Free Republic

... [W]e have come together to put forward proposals that address legitimate concerns among Democrats and Republicans and the other constituencies with stakes in this legislation. We’re looking for a new beginning, informed by the work of our colleagues and legislation that is already before Congress. First, we agree that climate change is real and threatens our economy and national security. That is why we are advocating aggressive reductions in our emissions of the carbon gases that cause climate change. We will minimize the impact on major emitters through a market-based system that will provide both flexibility and time for...

Before the Senate takes its summer break, a handful of Senators are taking a chance to trash the climate bill. A group of moderate Senators wrote a letter to Barack Obama telling him that they cannot support the climate bill unless it's further weakend ease the burden of cap and trade policies. Seperately, John McCain ripped the bill while talking to Stephen Moore at the Wall Street Journal. . . . . . Over at the Wall Street Journal, John McCain takes a harder stance, saying, "this 1,400-page bill is a farce. They bought every industry off—steel mills, agriculture, utilities...I...

On Sunday’s CBS 60 Minutes, commentator Andy Rooney read from some viewer letters: "It's always fun to read the letters people send, I get a lot of them, although, to be honest, if I took all the letters seriously I wouldn't ever say anything again. I get quite a few bad letters and, of course, I pay least attention to those. I don't want you to see me cry." Some of those "bad letters" came from viewers who criticized Rooney’s and the media’s pro-Obama bias: "Thomas Overley writes from Oceanside, California. He's mad because he thinks I like President Obama....

The 79-19 roll call by which the Senate voted Thursday to triple the size of the AmeriCorps and broadly expand incentives for students and seniors to give back to their communities. On this vote, a "yes" vote was a vote to pass the bill. Voting "yes" were 55 Democrats and 22 Republicans and 2 independents. Voting "no" were 0 Democrats and 19 Republicans.

Bush: Obama Is Doing Just Fine You probably wouldn’t expect former President George W. Bush, in his first speech since leaving office, to praise his successor. But that’s exactly what he did Tuesday. In a folksy address to 1,400 people in Canada, he expressed confidence in President Obama’s ability to mend the economy and financial system, Jason Enns, a financial advisor who attended the speech, told Bloomberg. Media weren’t allowed at the event. “He told us: ‘Wall Street had a big party and now we’re dealing with their hangover,’” Enns says. Enns said Bush told the audience that he expects...

Getting two standing ovations at his first speech since leaving office, former President George W. Bush said that if President Obama wants help, “he can pick up the phone and call.” Otherwise, Bush said: “He deserves my silence.” “There's plenty of critics in the arena,” Bush told a crowd in Calgary, Canada. “I think it's time for the ex-president to tap dance off the stage and let the current president have a go at solving the world's problems. If he wants my help and I agree with him, I'll give it.” This stands in sharp contrast with former Vice President...

WASHINGTON, March 17 (Reuters) - Senator John McCain still has questions about the Obama administration's choice of veteran diplomat Chris Hill to be U.S. ambassador to Iraq after meeting with him on Tuesday, McCain's office said. The Senate Foreign Relations Committee plans on March 25 to hold a hearing on Hill's nomination, amid suggestions by some Republican senators that he lacks sufficient Middle East experience and had mismanaged delicate negotiations with North Korea. "Senator McCain and Ambassador Hill had a productive meeting but questions still remain," said McCain's spokeswoman, Brooke Buchanan, who did not describe the questions.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Veteran diplomat Christopher Hill on Tuesday won the support of Republican Sen. Richard Lugar to become the next U.S. ambassador to Iraq, even as other GOP senators bluntly urged President Barack Obama to withdraw the nomination. Lugar's backing is considered crucial to Hill's nomination because it would provide other moderate GOP senators political cover to vote for him. Indiana's Lugar is the top Republican on the Foreign Relations Committee and widely respected on foreign policy matters. A confirmation hearing was planned for March 25.

Sacramento, CA (AP) -- Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger intends to join President Barack Obama when he visits California this week. Schwarzenegger spokesman Aaron McLear says the Republican governor will appear with the president during his two-day visit to Southern California.

Pollgasm: Joint Session Reaction CNN poll:The numbers: 68% of viewers said they had a positive reaction, compared to 24% negative. And an astonishing 85% said the speech made them feel more optimistic about the direction the country is headed in (though granted, feeling more optimistic than before might be a low bar), and only 11% said it made them more negative. And 82% of speech-watchers say they support Obama's economic plans as outlined in the speech, with only 17% against. The positive reaction numbers, as CNN warns, are fairly typical of initial joint session speeches. But the economic numbers?...

How Maine's GOP Senators Are Key to Obama's Agenda Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe Collins: The courtship of Senator Olympia Snowe started in December with a phone call from Joe Biden. The Vice President-elect made sure Snowe had his home telephone number in Delaware so she would know how to reach him on weekends. In the weeks that followed, the two traded memos back and forth about how an economic stimulus package should work. "I had an infinite number of ideas, because they had been stored up," says Snowe, a Maine Republican who never got that kind of treatment when...

Here is video of Sen. John McCain yesterday, telling Fox News' Chris Wallace that he views himself as the "loyal opposition" to President Barack Obama. McCain said he will continue to stand firm for the principles he ran his Presidential Campaign on. . . . . . . (watch video)

Dispirited Senate Republicans enabled Hillary Clinton to be confirmed to be Secretary of State by a vote of 94-2. Even conservative stalwart Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), who had held up her confirmation because of the major conflict of interest posed by Bill Clinton’s foundation accepting millions in donations from foreign nations and interests, voted for Clinton. Cornyn’s vote came after Sen. John McCain (RINO-Az) went to the Senate floor to call Cornyn’s objections “gratuitous.” This week, Senate conservatives have another challenge to face: the confirmation of the radically-liberal Eric Holder to be Attorney General. It will be paralleled by votes...

WASHINGTON (AP) — Sen. John McCain said Sunday the confirmation of President Barack Obama's choice for deputy defense secretary should move forward despite concerns about the nominee's role as a former defense lobbyist. The Obama administration considers William J. Lynn, Obama's pick for the No. 2 job at the Pentagon, to be an exception from its own ban on hiring lobbyists. As a lobbyist for Raytheon, one of the military's top contractors, Lynn worked on matters with far reach across the Pentagon. White House press secretary Robert Gibbs has said that even the toughest rules require "reasonable exceptions" for "uniquely...

WASHINGTON – One of President Barack Obama's top economic advisers says the nation can afford to spend hundreds of billions of dollars in an attempt to jump-start a weak economy. But Larry Summers warns that fiscal discipline will be necessary once the economy recovers. He says the government must spend money now to revive an economy that shed more than 2 million jobs last year.

WASHINGTON (CNN) — Sen. John McCain, who faced a long, bruising campaign against President Obama, has taken on a new role in the Obama administration: "Loyal opposition." McCain defined his role as, "[To] help and work together where I can, and stand up for the principles and the party and the philosophy that I campaigned on and have stood for for many years," to Chris Wallace on Fox News Sunday. McCain, who has long championed bipartisanship in Washington, said while it's important for Americans to come together, it doesn't mean "that as the loyal opposition that I or my party...

GOP Sen. John McCain is positioning himself to be one of President Barack Obama’s strongest supporters, effectively giving Democrats the votes they need to override any GOP attempt to block the new administration’s legislative agenda. Obama heaped warm praise on his GOP rival during a dinner held in McCain’s honor the day before the inauguration, calling him a hero. Insiders duly noted McCain was granted a prime spot on the dais at the inauguration, sandwiched in a seat between White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel and Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. The day after the inauguration, Obama and...

Washington It was like "The Canterbury Tales." That's what it was like last Saturday, in LaGuardia Airport, on the shuttle to Washington packed full of people going to the inauguration of President Obama. A handsome, affluent black woman in first class—fur hat, chic silver jewelry—laughed on a cell phone as a businessman—tall, black, middle aged—hurried down the aisle in black overcoat and Burberry scarf. A young man in slouchy jeans and dark watchman's cap, iPod buds in place, nodded, in coach, to the tune in his head. Two young white men in beige cowboy hats and grey fleece jackets came...

BY SHAILAGH MURRAYThe Washington Post WASHINGTON - A joke made its way around the Capitol Thursday: How do you know the 2008 election is really over? Because John McCain is causing trouble for Republicans again. Two and a half months removed from his defeat in the race for the presidency, colleagues say, McCain bears more resemblance to the unpredictable and frequently bipartisan colleague they have served with for decades then the man who ran an often scathing campaign against Barack Obama. In some instances, he's even carrying water for his former rival. . . . . . Sen. Lindsey Graham,...