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President Trump had supporters waiting in the wings to fight for him and for the American people. Now, the swamp has gotten exactly what it wanted.There is no way to sugarcoat it. The Washington establishment — and the big-spending congressional appropriators, lobbyists, and bureaucrats who comprise it — jammed through a massive “omnibus” spending package and combo COVID-19 relief bill with a price tag of more than $2.3 trillion.President Trump was correct to initially balk at the absurd spending but did so despite the fact his team negotiated much of it while demanding additional direct payments to Americans. Unfortunately, notwithstanding...

WASHINGTON — Top Capitol Hill negotiators sealed a deal on a $900 billion COVID-19 economic relief package, finally delivering long-overdue help to businesses and individuals and providing money to deliver vaccines to a nation eager for them. “More help is on the way,” said Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., in announcing the agreement for a relief bill that would total almost $900 billion. “Moments ago, in consultation with our committees, the four leaders of the Senate and House finalized an agreement for another major rescue package for the American people.”

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If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again—or just hide your idea in a giant piece of legislation, where you hope it won’t get noticed. The National Popular Vote campaign hopes that Minnesota voters won’t see its sneaky maneuver until it’s too late. Perhaps National Popular Vote supporters feel desperate. They’ve been trying to get their controversial interstate compact approved in Minnesota since 2009, but the legislation always flounders. This year, National Popular Vote is trying something new in Minnesota. Its compact has been introduced as standalone legislation, just as it normally is. Meanwhile, the compact also has been...

<p>2:30 p.m.</p> <p>President Donald Trump says he will sign a spending bill to avert a looming government shutdown set to begin Monday.</p> <p>Speaking at the United Nations, Trump told reporters Wednesday, “We’re going to keep the government open.”</p> <p>Trump’s remarks came at the House was set to vote later Wednesday on a bill that funds the military and many civilian agencies for the next year and provides a short-term fix to keep the government open through Dec. 7.</p>

Republicans have had a rough week, mostly of their own making, and on Wednesday they added to their self-punishment with a spending fiasco in the Senate. Two GOP Senators blocked the Trump Administration’s rescissions package that would claw back $15 billion, much of which wasn’t even likely to be spent under current policy. A Senate procedural vote to move the rescissions package failed 48-50 after defections from Susan Collins of Maine and Richard Burr of North Carolina. From what we’ve heard Ms. Collins wanted to keep the money on ice so if it isn’t spent as part of its current...

"The good thing about the caravan. People are watching. They are coming in from Honduras. They are coming in from other places. They are taking this long trek up Mexico. We want Mexico to help us and we have to demand it. But Mexico is going to help us. But there are hundreds of people out of 2,000. Our laws are so corrupt and stupid, I call them the dumbest immigration laws on Earth. If a person puts their foot over the line, we have to take them into our country. We have to register them. We then have to...

We have to have borders, and we have to have them fast, and we need security, we need the wall – we’re going to have it all…and if we don’t get border security, we’ll have no choice: We’ll close down the country.

President Donald Trump told supporters at a speech on Saturday that if Congress did not meet his funding demands for border security, he may support a government shutdown this fall. Trump was speaking in Washington Township, Michigan, at the same time that the White House correspondents' dinner was taking place back in Washington, DC, with some lawmakers and current and former members of his administration in attendance. During his remarks, he alluded to the appropriations deadline at the end of September. "We have to have borders, and we have to have them fast," he said. "And we need security. We...

“I will never sign another bill like this again,” President Trump said after signing last month’s 2,232-page, $1.3 trillion omnibus spending bill. President Trump is right. The omnibus bill Congress passed this March betrayed everything for which conservatives stand.Not only did it bust the spending caps conservatives worked so hard to secure in 2011 by more than $250 billion, but it also failed to build the border wall President Trump promised during his campaign. The bill also included language limiting the ability of federal law enforcement officers to enforce our nation’s immigration laws. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi identified...

As Republicans run into a buzz saw of conservative criticism over a deficit-expanding new budget, GOP leaders and the White House are looking for ways to undo the damage by allowing President Donald Trump to rescind some of the spending he signed into law just 10 days ago. Rolling back the funds would be a highly unusual move and could put some lawmakers in the potentially uncomfortable position of having to vote for specific spending opposed by a president from their party. But it would also offer Republicans a way to save face amid the backlash over the bill that...

Anyone thinking President Donald Trump “won” the omnibus bill battle only had to watch his news conference as he prepared to sign it. This was the most resigned and deflated Mr. Trump we’ve seen in more than two years. Deflated, maybe. Not defeated. In a scene straight out of a boxing movie, Mr. Trump got tagged, wiped the blood off his mouth, then grimly waded in. The haymakers are coming: The Democrats just don’t realize it yet. Any defections from Mr. Trump’s base at present would return immediately with the next significant victory. In the past few months, despite hoopla...

It seems not have occurred to the viewers of CNN, to Anderson Cooper and to the endless guest commentators who form the anti-Trump media that, if they are successful in paralyzing this presidency via some form of legal jeopardy, their own lives could be imperiled. They appear utterly convinced that Trump must be stopped for a myriad of reasons but especially before he can order a preemptive strike on North Korea. Yet it seems that their abject hatred for Trump has blinded them from seeing that we are rapidly moving toward a new Cuban Missile crisis where, in addition...

Some weeks, there are just so many things happening that it’s hard to pick one focus for a column. Today’s American crisis mosaic has so many facets that the whole is far worse than any of the parts. Here are six concerns that deserve our attention: 1. The proliferation of sanctuary states and cities that protect undocumented aliens must be addressed. By refusing to help ICE deport undocumented aliens who have committed crimes, they put American citizens and immigrants in danger. The US Supreme Court has already ruled that federal immigration laws supersede state laws in Arizona. Thankfully, California's...

If the Blue Wave becomes a reality in November and the Republicans get massacred in the mid-terms, the reason for this will be Trump signing the gargantuan 1.3 billion dollars omnibus spending bill last Friday. By signing that piece of legislation, the POTUS made his biggest mistake in his young presidency. Cue Homer Simpson voice: “his biggest mistake, so far”! Besides the depressing fact that the GOP spending package will create a huge deficit in 2018 (almost a trillion dollars), next year it will add another trillion to US national debt, which means that we keep on spending money like...

RUSH: I want to share with you a piece I found here in the failing U.S. News & World Report. I didn’t even know that U.S. News was still around. I don’t think it is as a magazine. But it’s there, because I found something on a website claiming to be U.S. News. And the headline is: Building a Wall in the Dark.” The subhead: “Congress is using budget shenanigans to funnel Pentagon money to President Trump’s border wall.” And the writer here is Ryan Alexander, opinion contributor. Now, this is dated back in July of 2017. It’s not about...

If another continuing resolution to fund the government is passed Thursday without an immigration deal, Democrats will learn a hard lesson from history: If you’re in Congress and planning to shut down the government to score political or policy points, you might want to think again.The idea that every shutdown has political “winners” and “losers” is an oversimplification; historically, the compromises that emerge from these standoffs have often allowed people on both sides to point at something that they could claim as at least a small victory. That said, the side that has consistently gotten the shorter end of the...

The fact that the 2,232-page bill was jammed down legislators’ throats with literally no time to read it shows how little has changed in Washington even after the Tea Party. But the omnibus is not a disaster. In fact, Republicans scored many important wins. One is the fact that the bill provides massive new spending for defense — “the largest year-to-year increase in base funding for the Department of Defense in 15 years,” according to the bill’s authors. That funding was badly needed — and will not easily be reversed. Military.com summarizes the highlights: The Navy gets 14 new ships,...

No, Trump hasn’t betrayed his supporters. Conservatives from sea to shining sea are screaming “betrayal” because the GOP passed and the President signed the massive omnibus spending bill. The poster child for this hysterical overreaction is Ann Coulter, who furiously tweeted that it would get Trump impeached and cause the Republicans to get wiped out in the upcoming midterms. Coulter hasn’t sounded this crazy since 2012, when she endorsed Mitt Romney for President. It is, of course, true that the bill is deeply flawed. To understand why it passed and why Trump signed it, conservatives should refer to this excerpt...

Remember the Kobayashi Maru scene in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan? Sometimes, you end up with no good options. Donald Trump just had that happen to him with the omnibus abomination, though don’t be fooled by the passive voice – he deserves some blame for letting it come to this. The absolutely essential military spending was wrapped in a fat suit of glistening, rancid pork, and the congressional rats had already abandoned ship and fled out of town when it was dumped on his desk. So he had a stark choice. Trump could sign it, and enrage his...