Free Republic

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) is a shady operator. From changing the Senate rules which allowed him to increase the tax-raising power of the Senate Democratic majority, ties to shady lobbyists, and numerous scandals in Nevada, it is little wonder how a guy on a relatively modest public servant salary has become obscenely wealthy. Now, Reid has been linked to a new massive bribery case that had two state attorneys general arrested already. Utah prosecutors on Tuesday filed criminal charges against two former state attorneys general in a court filing that makes tantalizing references to a possible pay-to-play influence...

Transcript of Mark Levin, 6/10/2014 You know what I've heard? On good authority, that Mitt Romney and Orrin Hatch want one of Mitt Romney's sons to go after Mike Lee in the Republican fight -- should there be one -- because they want to get rid of Mike Lee. Who are the purists, exactly? Who are the "Big Tent" guys, exactly? Now let me tell you what I'm gonna do if these fools pull that. Listen to me, Orrin, I'm talkin' to you. I'm going to go into your state and expose you. For your lies on this show. I'm...

Utah Sen. Orrin Hatch conceded Wednesday it’s only a matter of time before gay marriage is legal across the country, even though he doesn’t think that’s the right way to go. Hatch said people who can’t see what’s happening aren’t living in the real world. He made the remarks during an appearance on KSL-Radio’s Doug Wright Show. […] Hatch also questioned whether judges should be able to tell states how to handle an important matter like marriage. He said he believes nobody should suffer discrimination, and said religious people should try to understand other people’s beliefs. …

Frustrated with President Barack Obama’s reaction to Russian action in Ukraine, a group of Republican senators said Wednesday they will introduce legislation outlining a more muscular response. “What we’ve seen from the administration is a lot of rhetoric,” Sen. Bob Corker of Tennessee, the top Republican on the Foreign Relations Committee, said on the Senate floor Wednesday morning. The White House has been dealing “with the situation after something bad has already occurred,” he said. Earlier this week, violence flared up in another area of Ukraine that hugs the Russian border, as the new government in Kiev criticized local police...

The conservative group Club for Growth has changed gears and is supporting establishment GOP candidates in primaries. Launched a decade before the tea party made life difficult for moderate Republicans, the club quickly rose to the political forefront while supporting challengers to incumbent Republicans who it felt were not conservative enough, according to the National Journal. In 2012, the fiscally conservative organization backed tea party candidate Richard Mourdock’s challenge to Indiana Sen. Richard Lugar and vilified veteran Utah Sen. Orrin Hatch for his voting record. The group also targeted 10 moderate House Republicans. But the political action committee has suddenly...

“First of all, he’s a Texas meat-eating cowboy, I’m a Jersey boy, vegetarian, so choosing the restaurant alone,” Booker joked Thursday when asked about the meeting on “Good Day New York” on the local Fox affiliate.Booker and the Texas Republican were spotted dining together at Capitol Hill restaurant Bistro Bis last week.(Also on POLITICO: Booker shuns spotlight)“We went to a place close to the Capitol and we sat, what was going to probably be an hour meeting, we sat for three hours,” Booker said. “He and I sat for three hours looking for common ground. We found some good areas...

Recently the New York Times reported on the Senior Senator of Kansas, Pat Roberts, who has been in Washington for 47 years in both the House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate. The article in question alleged that Senator Roberts does not live in Kansas, the Senator released a statement that did not contend that point but mentioned how he had visited every county in Kansas and during that time lived with friends and donor while paying them for the use of their homes. In other words he doesn’t live in Kansas. Richard Lugar the recently retired Senior Senator of...

The introduction of an Obamacare replacement plan by Republican senators Richard Burr (N.C.), Tom Coburn (Okla.), and Orrin Hatch (Utah) has given Obamacare’s apologists — who admittedly have had very tough duty over the past four years — a rare opportunity to get out of their defensive crouches and go on the attack. Not surprisingly, fast out of the gate has been Ezekiel Emanuel, who has a piece up at the New York Times website claiming that the fatal flaw of the Republican senators’ plan is that it would raise taxes on millions of American households. There are a couple...

Yesterday, three Republican Senators—Tom Coburn (Okla.), Richard Burr (N.C.), and Orrin Hatch (Utah)—put forward a plan to “repeal and replace” the Affordable Care Act, otherwise known as Obamacare. They call it the Patient CARE Act, and my colleague Avik Roy says it is “the most credible plan yet” offered by the GOP. Except the Coburn-Burr-Hatch plan (read it here) amounts, among other things, to a big tax increase. The main way that it remains budget neutral is by making employer-provided health insurance plans, which are currently not taxed, partially taxable as income. In fact, this income replaces income that, under...

John McCain voted yea WASHINGTON, D.C., November 7, 2013 (LifeSiteNews.com) – This afternoon the Senate approved a bill that could force business owners who adhere to traditional values to hire homosexuals, bisexuals, and those who do not dress in accordance with their biological sex or face litigation. The Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) passed following a bipartisan 64-32 vote. Supporters say it would forbid “workplace discrimination” against homosexuals and transgender employees and job-seekers. But critics say, like the HHS mandate, its religious exemption is unduly narrow and would force employers – including Christian schools and nurseries – to violate their consciences....

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...

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and New Mexico Gov. Susana Martinez would make a “great” 2016 Republican presidential ticket, longtime Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, told reporters Wednesday. The endorsement of Martinez as a vice presidential nominee with Christie came after Martinez joined the New Jersey governor this week to help him campaign into the homestretch of his successful gubernatorial re-election bid. “Let’s face it: Susana Martinez has a lot of qualities that would help a lot of people to understand that the Republican Party is a broad base party,” Hatch said.

At 8:45 a.m. EST, Hatch was being interviewed on Fox & Friends and was asked about the loss of Cuccinelli to Clinton clone McAuliffe. His response was "Cuccinelli would have won if two Senators had not shut down the government." Outrageous! It is unclear whether one of the two he was referring to was his fellow Republican senator from Utah, Mike Lee. The other, of course, was Ted Cruz of Texas.

The Obama administration has found a way to give unions relief from an Obamacare tax nearly three weeks after Republicans rejected a Democratic push to include the labor carve-out in the latest budget deal.The Department of Health and Human Services quietly released a final rule last week that includes an intention to exempt some union insurance plans from a substantial new tax known as the reinsurance fee.As part of Obamacare, the tax was supposed to be levied against all insurance plans to share the risk for insurers taking on the sickest patients next year.But unions, which were among the strongest...

Tuesday, 79-year old Senator Orrin Hatch (R-UT), now serving his seventh term in the Senate, signaled that he and other members of the Republican establishment are likely to encourage a primary challenge to first term Senator Mike Lee (R-UT). Lee upset former Senator Robert Bennett (R-UT) in the 2010 Utah Republican primary convention in the Tea Party's first major primary win over a Republican establishment politician. Hatch told the Deseret News and KSL NewsRadio that "[i]t's time now... for Lee and other tea party Republicans to be 'rehabilitated' for refusing to pass a budget bill needed to keep the government...

After calling Obamacare a “dog bill” and insisting that some good did come out of the shutdown showdown, Hatch was blunt when asked about the influence of outside conservative groups and the Heritage Foundation in particular. “Heritage used to be the conservative organization helping Republicans and helping conservatives and helping us to be able to have the best intellectual conservative ideas,” Hatch said. “There’s some real question in the minds of many Republicans now … is Heritage going to go so political that it really doesn’t amount to anything anymore…. Right now I think it’s in danger of losing its...

To fully understand the state of play in the Republican party, look no further than Sens. Mike Enzi (WY) and Pat Roberts (KS). Both are reliable, mainstream conservatives, yet neither have a record of seeking a fight or standing on principle. Think Orrin Hatch, without the tab-collars. Both, however, stood with Ted Cruz in the fight over ObamaCare. Not coincidentally, both face serious primary challengers. Sen. Mike Enzi is being challenged by Liz Cheney, who criticizes his "go-along-to-get-along" approach to government. Sen. Pat Roberts, who helped guide HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius through the nomination process, is being challenged by doctor,...

After last evening's vote to reopen the government and raise the debt ceiling, groups on the right were already criticizing Republicans who voted for the bipartisan compromise as traitors and threatening to work against their re-election. But longtime GOP Sen. Orrin Hatch said on MSNBC's "Daily Rundown" Thursday that those groups -- particularly a surging and newly controversial Heritage Action -- were risking their credibility by attacking Republicans and fueling primary challengers. -snip- Hatch, who himself survived a primary challenge from the right in 2012, had both empathy and praise for Minority Leader Mitch McConnell in leading the deal, possibly...

Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) said Sunday that the Justice Department had a tough choice in deciding whether to bring federal civil rights charges against George Zimmerman. A former prosecutor, Klobuchar said that the department would need to wait until their investigation collected all the evidence they could. “I know that investigation’s going on. As a former prosecutor, I know you wait until you see all the evidence,” Klobuchar said on ABC’s “This Week.” “They’re going to have to make that decision. It’ll be a tough one.” (snip) On “This Week,” Rep. Karen Bass (D-Calif.) called the verdict “devastating.” “I just...

That's what some defeated House candidates from 2012 are hoping, at least. Several failed candidates who ran strong campaigns, but fell just short last year, are back for a rematch this election cycle. Whether they can use lessons learned in their losing campaign to change next year's results will go a long way in determining which party gains seats in the House.