Free Republic

Former Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama publicly condemned the Trump administration's dismantling of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), joining legendary singer Bono in an emotional farewell via videoconference to the shuttered aid service. Obama, a Democrat, called the decision "a colossal mistake," while the Republican Bush denounced the cuts to his signature HIV/AIDS relief program, asking, "Is it in our national interests that 25 million people who would have died now live? I think it is, and so do you." Bono, appearing as a surprise guest, fought back tears as he honored the agency's workers, calling...

The Senate has advanced President Trump’s Big, Beautiful Bill to a full debate despite two GOP defections after hours of drama. The final tally was 51-49. Rand Paul of Kentucky and Thom Tillis of North Carolina were the two Republican nays. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin initially voted no but switched to yes. Vice President JD Vance arrived at the Capitol earlier to potentially cast a tie-breaking vote. WATCH Vice President Vance enters the Capitol as he prepares to break a potential tie on the first procedural hurdle on the GOP reconciliation bill pic.twitter.com/d2ATm6dP6m — Max Cohen (@maxpcohen) June 29, 2025...

President Trump sending U.S. troops to bomb Iran without the consent of Congress is a blatant violation of our Constitution.

Rep. Carlos Giménez plans to tour Florida facilities holding immigration detainees following a Miami Herald investigation into harsh conditions and use of force at the Federal Detention Center in Miami. The federal lawmaker said that he first learned about the reported conditions at FDC Miami when a journalist from the Washington Journal’s C-Span program asked him about the Herald story this morning. “I will be investigating those conditions,” said the Miami Republican during an interview on Capitol Hill. “Right now is the first I’ve heard of it.” The Federal Detention Center in downtown Miami has been housing detainees in civil...

Republican senators came out firing during Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s hearing on Wednesday before the Senate Appropriations subcommittee on armed forces. Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) immediately pressed Hegseth over the Russia-Ukraine war, with Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) driving home the point later in the hearing; Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), the top Senate appropriator, scolded the Pentagon’s delays with budget information; and Sen. Lisa Murkowski closed out the hearing by questioning the administration’s focus on Greenland in its Arctic strategy. McConnell, one of three Republicans who opposed Hegseth’s confirmation, gaveled in the hearing by calling out the Trump administration for what...

But the lawmaker didn’t say whether he would vote against the rescissions package. A top House Republican appropriator opposes the Trump administration’s plans to claw back funding for public media — a potential problem for GOP leaders who need near-unity within their party to pass the White House’s request that Congress revoke billions of dollars it has already approved. Rep. Mark Amodei of Nevada, who leads the subcommittee with jurisdiction over the Department of Homeland Security, on Monday joined with Rep. Dan Goldman (D-N.Y.) to urge the administration to reconsider its proposal to cut $1.1 billion from the Corporation for...

@RepThomasMassie Massie plan: Throw the big beautiful bill in the trash. Start over… skinny! Extend 2017 tax cuts End Green New Deal cold turkey No bloat for military industrial complex No SALT No pork Realistic border funding Serious Medicaid reform $1 spending cuts for $1 new tax cuts

If you have walked the deep political weeds with us, you will likely remember the warnings. Thomas Massie, Chip Roy, Rand Paul and other fellow republican travelers will join with Elon Musk and the alligator emoji network to oppose President Trump as soon as they can get back into the minority.There is an intention behind this alignment of interests, which includes the Tech Bros (and Sea Island), that ends with a Vance-DeSantis promoted effort in 2028. The only thing standing in their way is MAGA. As a result, MAGA must be fractured.The money center behind the strategy is working on...

@RepThomasMassie I’d love to stand here and tell the American people “we can cut your taxes and increase spending and everything will be fine.” But I can’t because I’m here to deliver a dose of reality about the ticking debt bomb known as the “Big Beautiful Bill.”

@krassenstein BREAKING: Ron Johnson reportedly has enough votes to block Trump’s “big beautiful bill” including Mitch McConnell & Lindsey Graham. Republicans are in disarray.

Senator Ron Johnson (R-WI) said Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union” that there were “enough” Republican senators who would not vote for the so-called “big, beautiful” spending bill without significant changes. Host Jake Tapper said, “How determined are you to be that guy if it actually means telling President Trump you are going to vote against the bill and you’re going to try to get other Republican senators to join you, unless there are major, major changes?” Johnson said, “Well, in 2010, I sprang out of the Tea Party movement and as I did parades I would shout, this...

After a marathon overnight session, House Republicans passed their multi-trillion-dollar tax breaks package, dubbed the "One Big Beautiful Bill." The bill passed the chamber by a single vote, 215-214, with Democrats unanimously opposing and only two Republicans voting against, one of which represents Kentucky. As expected, Kentucky Rep. Thomas Massie, of Kentucky's 4th District, which includes a lot of area just east of Louisville, was one of the two who broke from party. When Massie began holding out, President Donald Trump lashed out about him, saying, "he doesn't understand government," and other various insults. Read more here. Ohio Rep. Warren...

Americans lambasted President George H. W. Bush for infamously vowing on stage at the 1988 Republican National Convention not to raise taxes on Americans, then supporting a tax hike as president two years later. History could repeat itself as President Donald Trump this week signaled his support for congressional Republicans raising taxes to accomplish the ambitious goals of his "big, beautiful bill," according to experts. "My opponent won't rule out raising taxes, but I will. And the Congress will push me to raise taxes, and I'll say no. And they'll push and I'll say no. And they'll push again, and...

The House Ways and Means Committee will soon release the GOP’s first draft of the party’s tax proposals, and the irony is that the bill may be getting worse even as a good bill becomes more urgent. President Trump has pitched a tax-rate increase that even Democrats failed to pass, and parochial demands are shrinking the pro-growth value of the bill. Republicans seem to have forgotten the principles of sound tax policy, even the lessons of the successful 2017 reform. Most of the 26 GOP Members of Ways and Means weren’t in Congress in 2017. The intellectual capital of previous...

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 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...

Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC) is flipping off Donald Trump, announcing Tuesday he will oppose the president’s nominee for the crucial U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia just hours after Trump called for Senators to support him. Tillis’s decision, first reported by Breitbart News nine hours before Tillis’s confirmation, could sound the death knell for Trump’s nominee, Ed Martin, who has been serving in the office on an interim basis. Breitbart News reported Monday that Tillis withholding his supporting was the critical impediment to Martin’s nomination being advanced before the Senate Judiciary Committee. Without Tillis’s support, Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-IO)...

No one wants to be the person who could nuke a Trump nomination. Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC) has earned that (dis)honor, going public with his decision to vote against Ed Martin, President Trump’s nominee for U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia. The reason is that Martin voiced support for the January 6 political prisoners (via CNBC): "A key Republican senator on Tuesday said he would not support the controversial nomination of Ed Martin, President Donald Trump’s pick to be the U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia, dealing a potentially fatal blow to Martin’s chances of winning Senate confirmation....

Former National Security Advisor John Bolton said Monday on MSNBC’s “Ana Cabrera Reports” that if President Donald Trump attempted to take control of Greenland with military force, it “would provoke an impeachment crisis almost immediately.” On NBC’s “Meet the Press,” Trump downplayed the likelihood but did not completely rule it out. He said, “I don’t say I’m going to do it, but I don’t rule out anything. No, not there, you need that. We need Greenland very badly. Greenland is a very small amount of people which will take care of and will cherish them and all of that, but...

The Democrat and RINO effort to blow up Trump’s global tariffs suffered an embarrassing failure in the Senate this evening after two senators failed to vote. As The Gateway Pundit reported, Senator Rand Paul (RINO-KY) had sponsored a resolution that would have terminated ALL of Trump’s tariffs, including those on America’s top adversary, China. The vote deadlocked 49-49, meaning it failed by one vote. But there were three Republicans who voted to stab Trump in the back and end the global tariffs: Rand Paul of Kentucky Susan Collins of Maine Lisa Murkowski of Alaska Senators Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) and Senator...