Free Republic

On Monday, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) said that including a "path to citizenship" for illegal immigrants in any comprehensive immigration bill would jeopardize the likelihood of the legislation passing. “I think if instead the bill includes elements that are deeply divisive--and I would note that I don’t think there is any issue in this entire debate that is more divisive than a path to citizenship for those who are here illegally--in my view, any bill that insists upon that jeopardizes the likelihood of passing any immigration reform bill,” Cruz said at the Senate Judiciary Committee's hearing, according to CNS News....

Denver Public Schools has quietly put the rest of its controversial variable-rate bonds with swaps on the market to sell as fixed-rate debt. Five years after issuing a 30-year, $750 million school pension bond that turned into a financial quagmire for the district, DPS is selling $519.8 million in fixed-rate, refunding certificates of participation (COPs), set to price during the week of April 15, according to an announcement Friday from Fitch Ratings. ... DPS "fixed out" — or issued debt at a fixed interest rate — half of the original $750 million in debt in 2011, and paid nearly $42...

Senate votes on climate change and the Keystone XL oil pipeline laid bare divisions among Democrats — and underscored why the White House, not Congress, will be where the critical climate decisions reside in President Obama’s second term.Several votes during the freewheeling debate over a nonbinding budget plan provided a political barometer of where the chamber, including vulnerable Democrats, stand on the topics. Advocates of the proposed pipeline scored a symbolic victory Friday when 62 lawmakers voted for an amendment backing the project to bring oil from Canadian tar sands projects to Gulf Coast refineries. Seventeen Democrats supported Sen....

**SNIP** “While I do support many of the items in this proposal – for example, extending unemployment insurance, the wind production tax credit and tax cuts for most Americans – I believe they should have come in the context of a comprehensive deficit reduction package,” Bennet said. “Without a serious mechanism to reduce the debt, I cannot support this bill.” “Putting the country on a sustainable fiscal path and bringing our debt under control is incredibly important to our economy and our standing in the world and is a top priority for me,” Bennet continued. “I remain committed to continue...

WE BELIEVE it’s vital to maintain the integrity of our election system. That’s why we support laws that require photo IDs to be presented at the polling place. Carrying a photo ID has become a part of American life. You can’t cash a check, board a plane, enter a federal courthouse or even buy full-strength Sudafed over the counter without one. Yet it was disconcerting when 16 Democratic U.S. senators, including Colorado’s Michael Bennet, recently asked the Department of Justice to review new voter ID laws in six states. In a letter to Attorney General Eric Holder they claimed that...

Republicans on the House Administration Committee want to shore up voter registration rules in the wake of a Colorado study that found as many as 5,000 non-citizens in the state took part in last year’s election. Rep. Gregg Harper (R-Miss.), the panel’s chairman, called the study “a disturbing wake-up call” that should cause every state to review its safeguards to prevent illegal voting. “We simply cannot have an electoral system that allows thousands of non-citizens to violate the law and vote in our elections. We must do more to protect the integrity of our electoral processes,” Harper added. Colorado Secretary...

For an unknown reason, Michael Bennet decided it would be a good time to call Peter Boyles' show yesterday. Bennet is an appointed Dem U.S. Senator for Colorado filling the vacancy that was left when Ken Salazar joined the Obama admin. Many have commented that he sounded odd, almost high in this strange, short phone call to Boyles. Go Ken Buck!

In a rather disjointed and impromptu call, Sen. Michael Bennet finally joined the Peter Boyles program on the local morning talk radio circuit, asking to remind voters how important the election was and to get out and vote, while the host (Boyles) repeatedly asked him why he had not been available to talk on the program since his appointment to the U.S. Senate in January 2009. Via CompleteColorado.com, who grabbed the audio soundbite, the entire segment lasts less than three minutes. Boyle’s presses Bennet on his failure to appear on the show: “I actually didn’t know that ‘why now,’ just...

Big Labor is pouring money into two Democratic U.S. Senate races, attempting to secure a union pension bailout during a lame duck session of Congress. As previously reported on HUMAN EVENTS, new Federal Accounting Standards Board rules set to take effect on Dec. 15 threaten to shake up unions and the businesses entangled in multi-employer union pension plans that have been mismanaged and underfunded well before the 2008 financial upheaval. The economic downturn has only exacerbated the problem. Recent reports show hundreds of thousands of dollars in union cash pouring into races for Democratic Senate candidates Michael Bennet and Joe...

The National Football League’s political action committee—Gridiron PAC—has weighed in on the hotly contested U.S. Senate election in Nevada that pits conservative Republican challenger Sharron Angle against Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid. The PAC has given $10,000 to Reid—the maximum it can give in a single election cycle—and no money to Angle, according to Federal Election Commission data compiled by OpenSecrets.org. The NFL’s PAC also contributed to other incumbent Democratic senators facing viable challengers this year, giving $5,000 to Blanche Lincoln of Arkansas; $5,000 to Russ Feingold of Wisconsin; $5,000 to Barbara Boxer of California; $5,000 to Michael Bennet of...

Michael Bennet tries to explain why he welcomed Obama in CO during primary but not during general: Video

Organized labor is holding its nose and spending money to protect key Democrats in the Senate, hoping to create a bulwark to hold back Republicans in the House. But labor has abandoned 26 House Democrats who did not support the union agenda in the 111th Congress, leaving them to be pounded by corporate-funded third party groups. Two of the nation’s biggest labor unions, AFSCME and SEIU, have spent generously on independent expenditures to help Democratic House candidates. But Blue Dog Democrats and other Democratic centrists who did not support healthcare reform or the Employee Free Choice Act are facing a...

CNN interviews Democrat Michael Bennet and wants to know why Obama, who supported Michael Bennet in the primary and stumped for him a few months ago hasn't been back to campaign for Bennet who is in a tight race with Ken Buck. BENNET: "The personal reaction from Independent voters...might not make it helpful" (Video)

Republican Ken Buck still holds a slight lead over incumbent Democrat Michael Bennet as Colorado’s U.S. Senate race heads down to the wire. The latest Rasmussen Reports telephone survey of Likely Voters in the state finds Buck earning 48% support to Bennet’s 44%. Three percent (3%) prefer another candidate in the race, and six percent (6%) are undecided. (To see survey question wording, click here.) The race remains a Toss-Up in the Rasmussen Reports Election 2010 Senate Balance of Power rankings. Two weeks ago, the candidates were in a near tie with Buck leading 47% to 45%, the closest the...

Colorado's U.S. Senate race has clenched into a dead heat nine days before polls close, as incumbent Democrat Michael Bennet climbed to meet GOP hopeful Ken Buck's early lead, each man garnering 47 percent support among likely and actual voters, according to a Denver Post/9 News poll.

Ken Buck has a message for President Obama and the leadership of his own party: He'll make no compromises if he gets to Washington. Obama and some Republican leaders might feel pressure to work cooperatively on various major issues next year, including the deficit. If the comments by Buck, Colorado's Republican Senate nominee, are any indication, the conservatives trying to win races this fall have a different view of what their mandate will be. Buck, who is in a tight race with appointed Sen. Michael Bennet (D), said in an interview that he would be willing to work with Democrats...

Incumbent Democrat Michael Bennet and his Republican challenger Ken Buck are in a virtual tie in Colorado’s U.S. Senate race as the candidates prepare for a nationally televised debate on Sunday. The latest Rasmussen Reports telephone survey of Likely Voters in Colorado shows Buck with 47% support to Bennet’s 45%. Four percent (4%) prefer another candidate in the race, and another four percent (4%) are still undecided. (To see survey question wording, click here.) These findings move the race from Leans Republican to a Toss-Up in the Rasmussen Reports Election 2010 Senate Balance of Power rankings. This is the closest...

Colorado’s U.S. Senate race second in the nation in terms of the total spent by outside groups in support or opposition of the candidates... outside groups have spent $3.61 million in the Senate race that pits Democrat Michael Bennet against Republican Ken Buck. That total trails only the $3.65 million spent by outside groups in the Pennsylvania Senate race between Republican Pat Toomey and Democrat Joe Sestak. Among those who’ve plunked down the most money are the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, which has spent $1.67 million going after Buck; while American Crossroads, a group backed by former Bush political advisor...

Colorado Sen. Michael Bennet’s campaign said today that it dismissed a summer intern who allegedly told a person seeking to talk to the senator about pending legislation that she could secure a one-on-one meeting for a $2,400 donation. “With a donation of $2,400 or more,” Garofano allegedly wrote, activists pressing for the fuel-standards bill “can schedule a one-on-one hour long meeting with the Senator.” Hosting “an event for $5,000 or more,” the email said, would offer “a better chance to lobby Michael.” Bennet, a Democrat, was appointed to his seat last year and is now running his first-ever political campaign....

Sen. Michael Bennet (D-Colo.) said Thursday he was aware the White House had urged Andrew Romanoff not to challenge him in a primary. Bennet told The Hill he knew beforehand that White House Deputy Chief of Staff Jim Messina had reached out to Romanoff in hopes of avoiding a primary challenge to the incumbent Bennet. “Yeah, I was aware,” Bennet said. “Right.” Romanoff, a former state House speaker, attracted headlines recently by stating he was contacted by Messina last September with various job offers... The White House also contacted Pennsylvania Rep. Joe Sestak (D) in hopes of avoiding a primary...