Free Republic

Former GOP Rep. Ryan Costello (Pa.) is signing on to work for a group pushing a business-backed proposal to fight climate change with a carbon tax. Costello, less than a week out of the House, announced Monday in a Wall Street Journal opinion piece that he’s the new managing director of Americans for Carbon Dividends. The group is the advocacy affiliate of the Climate Leadership Council, pushing a plan by former GOP Secretaries of State James Baker and George Shultz to tax carbon dioxide emissions and return the money to individuals and families on a quarterly basis. “I understand the...

Rep. Ryan Costello (R-Pa.) said that he is leaving Congress in part because all he is ever asked about is President Trump, according to CNN. "No matter what I say or do, I feel all I do is answer questions about Donald Trump rather than health insurance or tax policy," Costello told CNN. Costello announced in March that he would not run for reelection, blaming the partisan political environment, including the actions of Trump. "I feel, increasingly, that if you're a member of Congress, they assume that you're not good," Costello told CNN. "They assume that you're not telling the...

Few Republicans in Washington are willing to go head-to-head with President Trump, but there is one band of GOP members willing to stand up to the leader of their own party: lawmakers who have announced their retirements. While it’s not uncommon for members to feel far more liberated on their way out the door, it has taken on a whole new meaning in the Trump era, where lawmakers are confronted daily by a never-ending stream of White House controversies. The GOP’s retirement caucus has provided some of the most biting commentary on the president in recent months, with Rep. Ryan...

Pennsylvania Republican Rep. Ryan Costello will not seek reelection in 2018 as he faces a difficult midterm race in a district with a growing Democratic voter base, according to City & State Pennsylvania. Despite having filed this week to run in the Republican primary in May, Costello told state and local GOP officials that he plans to drop out in the weeks beforehand, the anonymous sources said.