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Prospects for a bipartisan deal on gun control legislation have dimmed significantly as President Trump and Democratic leaders appear to be far apart on the key issue of expanding background checks. Republicans expect Trump to put forward a proposal addressing gun violence later this week, but Democrats predict it is likely to fall far short of what is needed and that they may not vote for it. Democrats are pressing Trump to agree to a gun control bill already approved by the House, but the president has yet to even signal support for a scaled-down background check bill sponsored by...

Lawmakers are returning to Congress on Monday following a racist series of tweets from President Donald Trump aimed at four Democratic lawmakers, and Republican leaders as well as rank-and-file members are feeling the pressure to weigh in on the President's comments. But many leaders in the party are so far not weighing in publicly -- including Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. "If he issues a statement on this we'll be sure to forward," said McConnell spokesman David Popp in response to a question from CNN. While many Republican leaders in Congress have thus far not spoken out, some GOP members...

Senate PASSES resolution to terminate President Trump's emergency declaration at the border, 59-41, sending it to Trump's desk for him to veto (as he has threatened to do). 12 GOP YES VOTES: Alexander Blunt Collins Lee Moran Murkowski Paul Portman Romney Rubio Toomey Wicker

There are Trillions At Stake.   There is no upper limit to what congress is willing to do to stop President Trump from turning off the lobbyist funding.  Without influence in DC there can be no affluence in DC.  That’s why McConnell cancelled the recess. If the president continues to remain focused exclusively on what is in the U.S. best interests, he must be stopped.  Politicians in DC cannot just sit-by and allow the U.S. economy to be based on the interests of Americans; it would mean the destruction of years of central planning by DC Lobbyists, multinational banks, Wall Street and...

President Donald Trump embraced Sen. Joe Manchin’s (D-WV) gun control bill but rejected Rep. Steve Scalise’s (R-LA) push for national reciprocity during a bipartisan meeting with lawmakers Wednesday afternoon. After listening to Sen Chris Murphy (D-CT), Trump looked at toward the end of the table and asked Sens. Pat Toomey (R-PA) and Joe Manchin (D-WV) to detail their gun control bill. The Manchin/Toomey gun control bill is the same universal background check legislation supported by Barack Obama in the wake of the heinous attack on Sandy Hook Elementary School. It the very bill that was defeated in the Democrat-controlled...

Is impeachment an option for Pennsylvania state supreme court justices after their decision to redraw the state's congressional map? It at least deserves a "conversation," Sen. Pat Toomey (R-PA) suggested Wednesday.

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Republican leaders of the Pennsylvania Legislature on Friday produced a new proposed map of the state's congressional districts, three weeks after the state Supreme Court declared the former map unconstitutional. The proposal drafted by House Speaker Mike Turzai and Senate President Pro Tempore Joe Scarnati would make widespread changes, eliminating dozens of municipal and county divisions while keeping nearly 70 percent of residents in their old districts. They forwarded the map and other materials to Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf, who has until Thursday to tell the justices if he supports it. If not, the court has...

President Trump offered some kind words for Rep. Lou Barletta, R-Pa., and his bid to unseat Sen. Bob Casey, D-Pa., in 2018, saying that the Republican congressman is "going to win big" in the race. Trump made the remarks while opening up an event in Harrisburg, Pa., early Wednesday evening on tax reform.

Rep. Lou Barletta (R-PA) called out Senate Democrats following a government shutdown led by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and members of the Republican establishment, saying the Democratic Party put the interests of illegal aliens ahead of American citizens. On Friday evening, Senate Democrats, including Schumer and Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL), along with well as Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) and Sen. Jeff Flake (R-AZ), voted against a spending bill to prevent a government shutdown because it did not include amnesty for at least 3.5 million illegal aliens and their illegal alien parents. Barletta quickly responded to the decision to...

Congressman Lou Barletta, R-Penn., is now the eighth federal lawmaker to have endorsed Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump, claiming he and the billionaire have overcome similar obstacles. "He caught my attention immediately when he highlighted illegal immigration and the open Southern border," Barletta said in an interview Tuesday with the Washington Post. "The fact that he didn't back down, well, he was criticized the same way I was as mayor. It was reminiscent of what I went through." He continued, "I've been called names, a racist and a bigot. I fought my case all the way to the Supreme Court....

U.S. Rep. Lou Barletta, R-11th, has become the second member of Pennsylvania's GOP Congressional delegation to endorse billionaire Donald Trump's presidential candidacy. Trump has already received the endorsement of U.S. Rep. Tom Marino, R-10th, whose district borders Barletta's. This is the full text of the statement the Hazleton Republican released this afternoon: "Like millions of Americans, I want our next president to be a leader who fights for the American people and gets things done, not a politician who tries to say all the right things but will never be able to deliver on more broken promises. "Throughout his campaign,...

Sen. Pat Toomey (R-PA) endorsed Rep. Lou Barletta (R-PA) in a video on Tuesday to challenge Sen. Bob Casey (D-PA) in the 2018 midterm election. In a video endorsing Barletta, Sen. Toomey called Barletta a “trusted conservative and a relentless fighter for hardworking Pennsylvanians.” “No one in the House of Representatives has been more committed to fighting to protect our borders or to ending dangerous sanctuary city policies than Lou Barletta,” Toomey declared. “When we recently needed an ally in the House to pass the most sweeping tax reforms in a generation, Lou was there every step of the way,”...

<p>HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) - Republican U.S. Rep. Lou Barletta of Pennsylvania, a crusader against illegal immigration, is telling GOP officials and activists that he's decided to run for the U.S. Senate seat now held by Democrat Bob Casey.</p> <p>A person familiar with the discussions tells The Associated Press that Barletta began telling party officials of his decision last week. The person spoke on condition of anonymity Monday because Barletta has not yet made his plans public.</p>

HAZLETON — Congressman Lou Barletta, a Republican from Hazleton, officially announced this morning he will challenge Democrat Bob Casey for a U.S. Senate seat next year. Barletta made the announcement this morning in a campaign video. Barletta has been a U.S. Representative for the 11th district since 2011, last winning re-election in 2016. He was one of the first Pennsylvania lawmakers to support Donald Trump's candidacy for president and he served as Pennsylvania Campaign Co-Chair and was named to the Executive Committee of President Trump’s Transition Team. "I don’t see running for the Senate to represent Pennsylvania as an opportunity....

The GOP tax plan was passed through the Senate Friday night in a 51-49 vote. There are a number of things included in the last-minute text, including a provision by Sen. Gardner of Colorado that exempts Kombucha, a fermented tea drink, from alcoholic taxes and regulations. Why it matters: These are small examples of what got slipped in the bill last-minute as the Senate vote neared, and reveals some of the senators' pet projects back in their home states. Odd amendments included in the tax plan: Sen. Orrin Hatch Prohibit things like cash and gift cards to be given as...

Philadelphia Democratic Mayor Jim Kenney said “so what” if a “clean” DREAM Act gives DREAMers the opportunity to provide their undocumented immediate relatives with a path to U.S. citizenship. ---SNIP--- Kenney said Rep. Pat Meehan (R-Pa.) and Sen. Pat Toomey (R-Pa.) should vote for a clean DREAM Act as Irish-Americans. When President Obama’s Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals was rescinded in September, Toomey said, "Congress needs to pass legislation to accommodate these young people while simultaneously addressing the other challenges within our deeply broken immigration system, including stopping dangerous sanctuary cities, strengthening border security, and cracking down on companies that...

Last Thursday night Senator Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania held a town hall event in the city of Bethlehem which was broadcast live. Part way through a representative from Indivisible called the event a “fake town hall” and asked when he would be holding a more open forum. Toomey disputed the characterization but added, “let’s be candid, there are some people that don’t want to have a constructive conversation.”As if to prove his point, a short time later a man named Simon Radecki used his time at the microphone to ask if Toomey had heard the “news” that his daughter...

Skip to 16:20 of the clip below for the key bit, which WaPo aptly describes as “remarkable.” This explanation, that Senate Republicans were simply caught off-guard by Trump’s victory, would be more tolerable if not for the fact that (1) they had seven years to reach a rough consensus of what Republican health-care reform should look like, (2) the panicked solution they appear to be settling on is basically ObamaCare minus lots of Medicaid spending, and (3) a serious, capable political party should always plan for the not-very-unlikely contingency that it might win. As surprising as Trump’s victory was,...

Title: Rep. Black Slams California Judge Ruling Blocking Trump Administration’s Crack Down on Sanctuary Cities Washington, D.C. – Congressman Diane Black (R-TN-06), a member of the House Border Security Caucus and author of the Stop Dangerous Sanctuary Cities Act, responded to California Judge William Orrick’s ruling to block the Trump Administration’s actions to enforce common-sense immigration policy and withhold federal funds from sanctuary cities. Black released the following statement: “Yesterday’s ruling by one activist California judge will not stop the Trump Administration’s efforts to restrict funding from sanctuary cities that defy federal law.  In fact, the ruling confirms that the Justice...