Free Republic

The “No Tax on Tips Act” passed in the Senate after a unanimous vote. At last, the Senate can agree upon one item. The legislation permits a tax deduction worth up to $25,000 for tips for workers earning under $160,000 as of 2025, with the figure expected to increase over the years along with inflation. The bill comes with a major caveat. The measure only applies to cash tips. It is well-known that service workers often underreport or fail to report their cash earnings. There is a high probability that this measure is to ensure that workers properly report their...

While tariffs make wars more likely, embargoes make wars difficult to avoid. Senator Lindsey Graham’s Sanctioning Russia Act calls for 500% tariffs on dozens of countries and essentially amounts to an embargo.If this bill were to pass, it would cause an economic calamity on a scale never before seen in our country.In its insistence that Moscow be a permanent enemy of the United States, the foreign policy establishment is pushing to impose more punitive measures on Russia should they refuse to negotiate a peace deal with Ukraine. The Sanctioning Russia Act seeks to inflict a series of additional sanctions and...

Friday, in a clip that aired on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) said President Donald Trump’s so-called “Big Beautiful Big” was unacceptable in its current form, as passed by the House of Representatives. Johnson told a reporter on Capitol Hill, “I couldn’t care less if he’s upset. I’m concerned about my children, my grandchildren, and the fact that we are stealing from them. We are stealing from our children and grandchildren. $37 trillion in debt, and we’re going to add to it as Republicans? That is unacceptable.” He added, “And that’s why there’s no way I’m going to...

As President Donald Trump attempts to muscle his GOP agenda through a narrow House majority, Rep. Chip Roy is perhaps the most important holdout to win over. He may also be the toughest. Speaker Mike Johnson and his team have been confident they can pass Trump’s massive reconciliation bill, because they don’t believe any Republican will want to stand in the way and face Trump’s wrath. But Roy, the unapologetic fiscal hawk, is the rare GOP lawmaker willing to publicly challenge the president. He has already survived multiple calls by his own party to oust him — including from Trump...

Congressional Republicans are the absolute worst, for many reasons, but this time, it has to do with the “big” and “beautiful” tax bill that’s working its way toward Donald Trump’s desk—Republicans, despite holding both houses, as well as the Oval Office, are set to retain hundreds of billions of dollars in Green New Deal provisions, if they get their way.##According to Michel and Loucks, “conservative estimates” of the costs of the Green New Deal subsidies, provided by “government scorekeepers,” come with an $852 billion price tag for taxpayers—but that’s just between 2026 and 2035. As they note, “That’s up dramatically...

President Donald Trump today on Capitol Hill expressed frustration over Republican holdouts for his "One Big, Beautiful Bill." One Republican in particular found himself in Trump's cross hairs: Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., who has criticized the bill. Trump laid into him saying, "I don't think Thomas Massie understands government. I think he's a grandstander, frankly. He'll probably vote [no] - we don't even talk to him much. I think he should be voted out of office. I just don't think he understands government." "If you ask him a couple of questions, he never gives you an answer... he just says:...

Former Vice President Mike Pence said Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press” that President Donald Trump should not accept a jet from Qatar to use as the next Air Force One. Pence said, “First, we’ve got to remember who Qatar is. We’ve got a military base there. I have members of our immediate family that have deployed to the region. But Qatar has a long history of playing both sides. They support Hamas. They supported Al Qaeda. Qatar has actually financed pro-Hamas protests on American campuses across the United States.” Host Kristen Welker said, “So you are saying President Trump...

WASHINGTON — A key House Republican holdout on President Trump’s “big, beautiful bill” to provide tax cuts, border security, defense spending and green energy clawbacks is still calling for deeper spending cuts to chip away at the national debt — as the legislation heads for a critical vote Sunday. Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas), one of several GOPers who tanked the bill in the House Budget Committee on Friday, says he and other fiscal hawks are still hoping for hundreds of billions dollars more in savings to help reduce the nation’s $36 trillion debt. The Texas Republican huddled with White House...

Texas Senator John Cornyn is facing stiff competition from Challenger Ken Paxton, who currently serves as the Attorney General of Texas. Many have criticized Cornyn for being a RINO, or a Republican in name only, and it seems that the public agrees, as Paxton has started to pull ahead in the polls. For context, even in deep red states like Texas, Republican lawmakers will compromise on their conservative principles to get ahead. Often derogatorily referred to as RINOs, these legislators see more in common with the DC sDCmp than their constituents at home. In any case, Punchbowl News reports that...

Catturd ™ @catturd2 If you want to know who the corrupt thieves are in the Republican Senate who are in on the money laundering scam that DOGE has uncovered ... they're not hard to find. 5:53 AM · May 14, 2025

Treacherous Republicans like Brian Kemp and Chris Sununu have decided to put their own personal whims ahead of saving the country and not run in 2026. The seat he has his rear end planted in is now more important than ever. He has so alienated conservative voters that it’s not clear that they will show up in the general. He’s not a charismatic man. He reminds everybody of that guy who wants to be president of your HOA.

Term-limited Gov. Mike DeWine (R-OH) is reportedly moving to block the Ohio Republican Party from endorsing Vivek Ramaswamy’s bid to succeed him. DeWine and his advisers hope to prevent the state party from endorsing Ramaswamy to replace DeWine in the governor’s mansion in Columbus. President Donald Trump endorsed Ramaswamy on the night he announced his campaign to govern the Buckeye State. The move pits DeWine sharply against Trump and Vice President JD Vance, NBC noted: The moves place DeWine sharply at odds with Trump and Vice President JD Vance, an Ohioan who has directed his political team to steer Ramaswamy’s...

Senator Thom Tillis, a senior Republican from North Carolina on key Senate committees (Banking, Finance, Judiciary), is implicated in a pattern of undisclosed real estate dealings suggesting potential fraud and tax evasion. From 2007-2016, Tillis used TRT Holdings, LLC to conduct $0 property transfers, including XXXX Enslow Place (sold for $55,000 in 2013, undisclosed) and a trailer park, transferred twice (2011 for $250,000, 2016 for $750,000) to Tillis-linked entities without disclosure. These actions violate the Ethics in Government Act, requiring disclosure of assets over $1,000 and income over $200, and may involve fraudulent conveyance, false representation, and tax evasion—crimes with...

Senator James Lankford (R-OK) said Tuesday on CNN’s “The Arena” that someone being deported for illegally being in the United States should get due process “before they’re removed from the country.” Host Kasie Hunt said, “President Trump sat down for an extensive interview with Kristen Welker at ‘Meet the Press’ over the weekend. She asked him whether he would uphold the Constitution in providing due process to people who are deported and his answer was not yes. Are you confident that President Trump will uphold the Constitution?” Lankford said, “I am. I think his answer was, I’ve got good attorneys...

A Republican poll obtained exclusively by the Houston Chronicle show Cornyn is down against Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton among likely GOP primary voters by 17 percentage points. A Democratic poll shows him down more than 20 percentage points. State Sen. Paul Bettencourt, R-Houston, said it’s time for someone to have a serious talk with Cornyn about whether he really wants to go through with another campaign that could quickly turn negative and costly. “If I was an incumbent senator with these types of polling numbers, I probably wouldn’t run because you can’t win,” Bettencourt said. Cornyn has said he's...

WASHINGTON — Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., said he wouldn't support Ed Martin, President Donald Trump's nominee for U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, likely blocking the path to confirmation for the “Stop the Steal” organizer who had closely aligned himself with Jan. 6 defendants. “I’ve indicated to the White House I wouldn’t support his nomination,” Tillis said Tuesday after meeting with Martin on Monday night. Tillis is a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, which is overseeing Martin's nomination. The panel has 12 Republicans and 10 Democrats, meaning if all other members aside from Tillis voted along party lines,...

Sunday on ABC’s “This Week,” former Gov. Chris Christie (R-NJ) said President Donald Trump’s tariffs caused the world to see the United States as an “unreliable partner.” Host George Stephanopoulos said, “I think you identified the tariffs as the number one issue. Liberation Day is probably the most consequential day of the first 100 days. Is there an exit strategy for Donald Trump on this? He asked, “Can he make this sort of series of deals that limit the damage?”

With four hats, including national security adviser, the former Trump rival is defying predictions he’d be a weak player. Marco Rubio is doing big things under President Donald Trump — way more than nearly anyone expected. The secretary of State was once thought of as one of the weakest players in the Trump orbit, a man who wouldn’t last long in the Cabinet because he faced many internal rivals and had major policy differences with Trump and the MAGA base. But Rubio has deftly earned the president’s trust, enough so that Trump this week gave him another powerful job as...

Former Illinois Gov. George Ryan, disgraced by a corruption scandal that landed him in prison yet heralded by some for clearing the state’s death row, has died. He was 91. Kankakee County Coroner Robert Gessner, a family friend, said Ryan died Friday afternoon at his home in Kankakee, where he was receiving hospice care. Ryan started out a small-town pharmacist but wound up running one of the country’s largest states. Along the way, the tough-on-crime Republican experienced a conversion on the death penalty and won international praise by halting executions as governor and, eventually, emptying death row.

Julie Kelly 🇺🇸 @julie_kelly2 Just a reminder that @SenThomTillis voted to confirm both Merrick Garland and Lisa Monaco to lead Biden's DOJ. Now he wants to sink the confirmation of acting DC US attorney Ed Martin, who is investigating corruption at that office under Garland/Monaco leadership. 7:56 AM · May 1, 2025