Free Republic

Speaker John Boehner said Tuesday that he has appointed a “working group” of House Republicans tasked to respond to the border crisis involving the surge of unaccompanied minors trying to enter the United States illegally. (SNIP) Members of the working group include Republican Reps. John Carter of Texas, Mario Diaz-Balart of Florida, Bob Goodlatte of Virginia, Kay Granger of Texas, Michael McCaul of Texas, Steve Pearce of New Mexico and Matt Salmon of Arizona. Granger chairs the subcommittee that oversees funding for the State Department and foreign operations.

President Obama's longtime senior adviser Valerie Jarrett confessed to breaking bread this week with conservative media titan Rupert Murdoch, a new White House frenemy of sorts on immigration reform. The two dined at the posh Blue Duck Tavern on Tuesday night in Washington's Foggy Bottom, and Jarrett described the evening as “very enjoyable.” “Good policy sometimes makes strange bedfellows,” she told reporters at a breakfast hosted by the Christian Science Monitor Friday, adding that she was impressed by Murdoch's passion for passing comprehensive immigration reform. He is an immigrant himself and he understands from a business perspective how important immigration...

White House senior adviser Valerie Jarrett pulled back Friday morning from comments she made suggesting that House Speaker John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) had made a commitment to President Obama to take up immigration legislation this summer. Jarrett had told an investors conference in Las Vegas on Thursday that she believes that Boehner will allow a comprehensive immigration reform bill, or a package of bills, to come up for a vote after a series of GOP primaries this summer in order to avoid spoiling the chances of some Republican incumbents. Her comments echo the long-held beliefs of some observers of the...

Former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg says people who are criticizing Hillary Clinton over her handling of the Benghazi attacks are engaging in “cheap politics,” and that both she and Jeb Bush would be “quality” presidential choices. -snip- Bloomberg said he considers as friends both Clinton, a Democrat, and Bush, the Republican former governor of Florida. Like Clinton, Bush is pondering a run for the White House in 2016. “Jeb’s on the board of the [Bloomberg] Foundation,” the billionaire ex-mayor said. “I think he did a very good job on education in Florida. He’s good on education. He’s good...

In a statement on the Senate floor this morning, Republican leader Mitch McConnell signaled he'd vote for cloture for the immigration bill. But he also suggested the bill needs to be amended. "The Gang of Eight has done its work. Now it’s time for the Gang of 100 to do its work — for the entire Senate to have its say on this issue, and see if we can do something to improve the status quo. At the risk of stating the obvious, this bill has serious flaws," McConnell said, then suggesting he'd vote for cloture, the motion to proceed....