Free Republic

U.S. Senator Ron Wyden has been working with Idaho Senator Ron Crapo on creating a digital service tax somewhat modeled after Europe. Within Europe there are different models and proposals that target different digital services such as streaming, digital products, software, advertising and collecting consumer information. This means Wyden’s proposal could end up taxing Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime and Disney+ for providing digital streaming services to customers. This would be an interesting tax question for how it applies to Amazon Prime, which is primarily a delivery discount service that offers free videos and movies as a secondary benefit to signing...

Joe Biden has been interviewed by a Special Counsel probing classified documents found at his homes... Tonight the Israeli military fighting terrorists at road junction a mile and a half inside Israel... In Gaza Hamas pushing the notion of a cease-fire and warning no talks will be held regarding hostages until... Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu calling for a National Emergency Government... The Russian military in Syria says that US coalition warplanes and drones violated Syrian airspace... In the African nation of Cameroon at least 27 dead from landslides caused by flooding... In Argentina inflation impacting sales that declined 5.1...

This better not be Israel's 9/11 because that means nothing will end up being done in its aftermath as was the case with 9/11. The enduring legacy of 9/11 was not the elimination of Wahabbi Sunni Isla in Saudi Arabia that inspired the Al Qaeda terrorists (15 of the 19 actually Saudi citizens). Neither was it a military victory over the Taliban in Afghanistan who sheltered Al Qaeda. The Taliban created and sustained by Pakistan even Bin Laden hid in Pakistan before was killed. The ultimate force behind the Taliban Pakistan was never ever dealt with and it's no wonder...

Beijing (AFP)-US Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and his delegation met with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Monday, agency pool video showed. Wang greeted Schumer and his delegation at Beijing's Diaoyutai State Guesthouse before going into a meeting. In opening remarks, the Chinese foreign minister said he hoped the visit would "help the United States to more accurately understand China"...

Meanwhile, Sens. Michael F. Bennet (D-Colo.) and Mike Crapo (R-Idaho) are negotiating on a narrower bill based on a House-passed measure that provided a pathway to citizenship for some undocumented farmworkers. The senators have not yet reached a deal but are hoping to get to one before the end of the lame-duck session this month, according to a person familiar with the negotiations who, like others in this report, spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe the situation candidly.

No senator other than her former boss, Sen. Richard Shelby, has publicly endorsed Katie Britt yet. But she is quietly getting support from at least a half-dozen of Shelby’s Republican colleagues in her bid against Donald Trump’s pick in Alabama’s open Senate race. Five Republican senators — Mike Crapo (R-Idaho), Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.), Joni Ernst (R-Iowa), Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.) and Deb Fischer (R-Neb.) — have donated to Britt’s campaign from their leadership PACs. None of them have done so yet for GOP Rep. Mo Brooks, who Trump endorsed in April to replace the retiring Shelby (R-Ala.). Sen. Tommy Tuberville...

A total of 32 House and Senate Republicans helped push Biden’s $1.2 trillion infrastructure package over the finish line, most of whom have been showered with campaign cash from the leading lobbying group behind the bill — the US Chamber of Commerce. Lawmakers run for office, grabbing donations from interest groups, then, after their election, voting for legislation supported by those special interest groups despite their constituents’ opposition. The Chamber had been lobbying for Biden’s infrastructure bill, since the start of the year. By July, Open Secrets reported the Chamber had spent more than $12 million lobbying for the bill...

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senators Rand Paul (R-KY), Angus King (I-ME), Mike Crapo (R-ID), and Mike Lee (R-UT) reintroduced the bipartisan Fifth Amendment Integrity Restoration (FAIR) Act, S. 4074, to protect property owners’ rights, defend innocent Americans, and restore the Fifth Amendment’s role in civil forfeiture proceedings. “The federal government has made it far too easy for government agencies to take and profit from the property of those who have not been convicted of a crime. The FAIR Act will uphold the Fifth Amendment and ensure government agencies no longer profit from taking American citizens’ property without due process....

May 27, 2020 The Honorable Donald J. Trump President of the United States The White House 1600 Pennsylvania Ave NW Washington, DC 20500 Dear President Trump, We write today to urge you to consider the important role non-immigrant temporary visa programs will play in aiding post-pandemic economic recovery in America. Any changes to these programs should be very narrowly tailored to prevent additional damage to the already struggling American small businesses who rely on the assistance made possible through these visas. The coronavirus pandemic has brought devastating loss of life and livelihood across our country. As we begin to reopen,...

The Senate is set to escalate a long simmering fight over President Trump's judicial nominees. Republicans are poised to confirm a pick for the influential circuit courts next week without the support of either of the nominee's home-state senators—a first for the Trump era. Eric Miller is the first appeals judge to get a vote on the Senate floor this year, and the 31st of Trump’s presidency. Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) set up an initial vote on his Ninth Circuit nomination for Monday evening. “The judicial train is running in the committee and it will soon hit the floor,”...

The Senate on Wednesday took a symbolic shot at President Trump’s trade policy amid anxiety on Capitol Hill over his tariff strategy. Senators voted 88-11 to instruct lawmakers hashing out a deal on a government funding bill to include language “providing a role for Congress” on tariffs implemented for national security reasons, known as Section 232 of the trade laws. The vote is nonbinding, meaning lawmakers don’t have to add trade language into the funding bill. But the vote margin, with more senators supporting it than the amount needed to override a veto, underscores the depth of concern on Capitol...

The 60 Plus Association today released TV and radio advertisements in seven states targeting Senate Banking Committee Members who are sponsoring recently introduced legislation that will allow the government to take over the mortgage industry in an action 'disturbingly similar' to Obamacare. 60 Plus targeted three Democrat and four Republican U.S. Senators supporting this government take-over, including Joe Manchin (D-WV), Mark Warner (D-VA), Kay Hagan (D-NC), Mike Crapo (R-ID), Dean Heller (R-NV), Mark Kirk (R-IL), and Jerry Moran (R-KS).

Controversial housing finance reform legislation making its way through the Senate Banking Committee was co-written by a former mortgage trader for Countrywide Financial and Wachovia, two of the subprime mortgage behemoths at the center of the housing market crash in 2007.Michael Bright, the senior financial adviser to Sen. Bob Corker (R., Tenn.), worked as a trader and member of the loan-pricing desk at Countrywide Financial from 2002 to 2006, and as a senior trader for Wachovia from 2006 to 2008.Bright joined Corker’s office in 2010, and has been a key figure in crafting the Corker-Warner housing reform bill and the...

Even worse, the U.S. Senate is poised give us Fannie–Freddie 2.0 in the new housing reform bill that Senators Tim Johnson (D., S.D.) and Mike Crapo (R., Idaho) have released. The Johnson-Crapo bill would wind down the government-sponsored enterprises (GSEs) Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, but would also replace them with a new government agency that expands the federal government’s grip on the housing market. If the Johnson-Crapo housing bill is adopted, the federal government will have effectively taken over the U.S. mortgage market.

Eighty-five of 100 U.S. senators voted to renew the president’s power to indefinitely detain Americans, denying them of their fundamental right to due process.On December 19, by a vote of 84-15 (Senator Bill Nelson, Democrat of Florida, did not vote), the Senate sent the Fiscal Year 2014 version of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) to President Obama’s desk. Although an overwhelming majority of Republicans and Democrats signed off on the evisceration of the Bill of Rights, a small coalition of Independents, Republicans, and Democrats refused to accede to such a devastation deprivation of rights. A list of the lawmakers...

Nashville, TN – Today, South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham introduced the Pain Capable Unborn Child Protection Act. The legislation currently has 33 cosponsors – but Senator Alexander is not one of them. Conservative Senate candidate Joe Carr called on Senator Alexander to change his stance and add himself as a co-sponsor. “I’m strongly pro-life and believe it’s imperative the Senate pass this important piece of legislation. When Senator Graham announced his co-sponsors and Senator Alexander’s name was missing, I was disappointed. I am hoping Senator Alexander will change his stance and add himself as a co-sponsor. This legislation is too...

Republican Sens. Tom Coburn and Mike Crapo, who sit on President Obama's deficit-reduction commission, will vote in favor of the commission's plan, according to sources. They will join Sens. Kent Conrad (D) and Judd Gregg (R), who said yesterday they'd also support the package. Fourteen of the commission's 18 members need to vote yes for the plan to move to Congress. The vote is expected to take place tomorrow. Both senators are voting members of the panel. "I'm scared to death at the potential that could unwind this country," said Coburn, one of the Senate's most fiscal conservative members. Crapo...

WASHINGTON -- After Congress recessed for Thanksgiving with urgent unfinished business that included facilitating income tax refunds and providing veterans benefits, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid left on an eight-day government-financed trip through Latin America. Reid was scheduled to leave the Sunday after Thanksgiving and return the following Sunday. His itinerary included Mexico, Brazil, Colombia, Guatemala and Paraguay. His staff told this column Reid made the trip because of "stagnant" U.S. policy in Latin America under the Bush administration. Although congressional recesses supposedly are "home work periods" enabling lawmakers to deal with constituents, many travel abroad on "codels" (congressional delegations)....

A strategy on border securityBy Mike CrapoIn May, Secretary of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff stated, "The issue of securing the border is a homeland security issue, it's an immigration issue and it's also a humanitarian issue." He is absolutely correct: discussions about securing our 5,500-mile Canadian border, 1,900-mile Mexican border and 95,000 miles of shoreline are only meaningful in the context of defense, immigration and respect for human life. As the Homeland Security Appropriations bill goes to conference, Congress is developing a comprehensive strengthening of our borders as a major component of this legislation. Border security requires tight controls...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid suggested on Tuesday that four of his Republican colleagues be considered by President Bush if a vacancy occurs on the U.S. Supreme Court. Seeking a possible consensus nominee, Reid recommended Republican Sens. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, Mel Martinez of Florida, Mike DeWine of Ohio and Mike Crapo of Idaho. Reid described them all as bright and able lawyers who would be strong additions to the nation's highest court. "We have had approximately 10 members of the Supreme Court that came from the United States Senate over the years," Reid told...