Free Republic

Democrats won an unexpected victory Tuesday when legislation to halt the Iran war cleared an initial hurdle in the Senate — a vote that strengthens their hand in the increasingly fractious debate over the conflict. Critics of the military operation took advantage of a shorthanded Republican conference — three GOP senators missed the vote — resulting in a 50-47 decision to force debate on a rebuke of President Donald Trump. War opponents gained another GOP defector in Sen. Bill Cassidy. The Louisiana Republican, who voted to convict President Donald Trump in the wake of his second impeachment over the Jan....

Pennsylvania Democratic Sen. John Fetterman's chief of staff resigned Wednesday and will have her final official day in the coming weeks, Axios reported. Cabelle St. John, who has served in the post since 2025, has worked on Fetterman's team since he first came to Washington approximately three-and-a-half years ago. Fetterman has not confirmed St. John's exit but did not deny it in a text to Axios. The news comes as Fetterman's office sees high turnover because former aides are frustrated with his continual support for Israel in its war with Iran and friendlier approach toward President Donald Trump. Fetterman is...

On May 13, shots were heard in the Senate of the Philippines. At the heart of the drama was fugitive Sen. Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa. Wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) on an arrest warrant that was unveiled on May 11, dela Rosa surfaced the same day for a crucial vote. After the melee on May 13, he again disappeared. This is the latest twist in a struggle between President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and his erstwhile allies, the Duterte family. In the days before the firefight, the Philippine legislature had been consumed with an ongoing campaign to impeach Vice...

The Senate advanced a resolution to limit President Trump's war powers in Iran on Tuesday, marking a breakthrough for Democrats after seven failed attempts. Senators approved a motion to discharge the resolution from committee in a 50 to 47 vote. Four Republicans — Sens. Susan Collins of Maine, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Rand Paul of Kentucky and Bill Cassidy of Louisiana — joined the bulk of Democrats in favor of advancing the resolution. Sen. John Fetterman of Pennsylvania was the sole Democrat to oppose. The vote marked the first time Cassidy supported advancing a war powers resolution. It came days...

Senate Majority Leader John Thune says he will continue to support Sen. John Cornyn's (R-TX) reelection campaign after President Trump threw his support behind primary challenger and Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton. Thune says, "Senator Cornyn is a principled conservative. He is a very effective senator for the state of Texas but none of us control what the president does." Thune says he still feels "very good" about Senate Republicans' position headed into the midterms and suggests it's possible Republicans even expand their majority. Thune says he learned about the Paxton endorsement like everyone else when the president posted it...

Senate Republicans on Tuesday vented their frustration and disappointment over President Trump’s decision to endorse state Attorney General Ken Paxton over Sen. John Cornyn (R) in the Texas Senate Republican primary, a move that deals a crushing blow to Cornyn’s hopes of winning the May 26 runoff. “I don’t understand. He is an ethically challenged individual,” Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) said of Paxton, who was charged with defrauding investors in a Dallas-area tech startup before he completed a pretrial diversion program. Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) said she was “supremely disappointed” in Trump’s endorsement of Paxton over Cornyn. “I don’t understand...

Sen. Thom Tillis is facing backlash from conservatives after reportedly trying to delay a major Senate vote so Sen. John Cornyn could spend more time campaigning against Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton in next week’s high-stakes Republican runoff. According to Axios, Tillis privately warned fellow Republicans he would oppose moving forward this week on a reconciliation package that includes funding for ICE and Border Patrol operations, arguing the timing could politically hurt Cornyn ahead of the May 26 runoff. Conservatives immediately blasted the move as another example of the Senate establishment putting political survival ahead of border security and President...

President Donald Trump endorsed Republican Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton Tuesday over incumbent Sen. John Cornyn ahead of the Senate runoff. Cornyn and Paxton competed in a tight matchup as they both campaigned to run against Democratic Texas Senate candidate James Talarico. Trump made endorsements for over two dozen Republican candidates across the country, but waited until early voting to make an endorsement in the Texas Senate race. “The Highly Respected Attorney General of Texas, Ken Paxton, an America First Patriot, and someone who has always been extremely loyal to me and our AMAZING MAGA MOVEMENT, is running for the...

RINO incumbent Senator John Cornyn on Tuesday signaled he will stay in the Texas Senate race after President Trump endorsed Ken Paxton.

Texas state Rep. James Talarico drew republican backlash after a photo surfaced showing him eating meat, reigniting scrutiny of his past “nonmeat” campaign tied to climate-change activism. The article notes a 2022 video in which Talarico explained his vegan stance and that his campaign had become nonmeat, with his spokesman countering the narrative in a tongue-in-cheek response. Despite the controversy, Talarico advanced to the general election in the Texas Senate race, set to face John Cornyn or Ken Paxton after defeating Jasmine Crockett in the Democratic primary. GOP figures including Cornyn, Cruz, Roy, and Gill mocked his meat-free past, and...

Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., said Democrats alienated young male voters by increasingly portraying men as "part of the problem" during a wide-ranging discussion with Rep. Dan Crenshaw, R-Texas, and Donna Brazile about masculinity, parenting and the Democratic Party's struggles with working-class men. "Well, without a doubt, though you know there's part of the Democratic Party became more and more anti-men or describing that they were part of the problem, or they have toxic traits," Fetterman said during the discussion on "Real Time with Bill Maher." "And that's why there's been such a big, big migration away from the Democratic Party...

Came in third. He's removed from power come January. BYE!

Bill Cassidy voted to convict Donald Trump in February 2021. Louisiana Republicans spent five years deciding what to do about it. On Saturday, they gave their answer. Cassidy, who has represented Louisiana in the U.S. Senate since 2015, did not finish in the top two of the Republican primary. He will not advance to the June 27 runoff. His Senate career is over. The two candidates who did advance, Trump-endorsed Rep. Julia Letlow and State Treasurer John Fleming, now face each other in a runoff that will determine which of them represents the Louisiana Republican Party against the Democratic nominee...

No Trump judges, no voter ID SAVE Act, 50 bills already passed by the house in limbo. Pardon my language, but this guy is a worthless piece of shit. He’s worse than a grifter Democrat. Fetterman has done more for the Republican platform than this weasel. Treacherous rat.

Senators unanimously voted Thursday for Republican Louisiana Sen. John Kennedy’s resolution to withhold their paychecks during government shutdowns. The Senate adopted the measure in a 99-0 voice vote, which allows senators to receive backpay only after a government shutdown ends. The resolution only impacts the Senate and would not prevent members of the House or other government workers from getting paid. The chamber voted to advance the resolution Wednesday. Republican Nebraska Sen. Pete Ricketts did not vote on the resolution. Kennedy said that if other government workers cannot get paid, then neither should the Senate. “It’s about shared sacrifice,” Kennedy...

The Senate Parliamentarian on Thursday struck down three key provisions of the Senate’s reconciliation bill Last month, the House of Representatives passed the Senate-approved package to fund the Department of Homeland Security by voice vote, ending the 75-day shutdown. ICE and Border Patrol were to be funded separately through a reconciliation package. Senate Republicans put together a $72 billion reconciliation package to fund ICE and Border Patrol. On Thursday, Democrat and Republican staffers met with Senate Parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough to go through the reconciliation package. Elizabeth MacDonough, the Obama-era Senate Parliamentarian, struck down key provisions: Main Border Patrol funding, additional...

U.S. Sen. John Cornyn is introducing new legislation that would designate a major U.S. highway as “Interstate 47,” or “Trump Interstate." Cornyn announced Monday that he introduced the I-47 Future Interstate Act, which would designate U.S. Highway 287 as a future interstate stretching from Port Arthur, Texas, to Choteau, Montana. According to Cornyn’s office, the route would also be known as “Trump Interstate.” “Texas is Trump Country, and this bill cements that legacy by designating nearly 1,800 miles of open road from Texas’ Gulf Coast to the edge of the U.S.-Canadian border as I-47 to forever be remembered as Trump...

In 2002, my classmate Graham Platner ran for student-body president of John Bapst Memorial High School in Bangor. I remember watching him in our auditorium debate his fellow candidates. He was the radical, wearing a revolutionary proletarian costume: overalls and a red armband... I don’t recall the issues they discussed, but I do remember Platner proposing collective action to overturn some school policy — saying something along the lines of, “They can’t suspend us all.” The history teacher serving as moderator interjected to remind Platner and everyone else that, yes, in fact, they could... Students elected the safe candidate, a...

The former head of the Trump administration's investigation into COVID-19's origins told Congress today that the CIA actively frustrated his work by withholding records, retaliating against agency personnel who cooperated with the investigation, and surveilling investigators' computer and phone usage and contact with whistleblowers. "These were Americans being spied upon illegally while executing duties directed by the president and under the director of National Intelligence," James Erdman III, a current CIA officer who led the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) investigation into COVID's origins, told the Senate's Homeland Security Committee today. Additionally, Erdman claimed that the CIA...

By now it looks like the SAVE Act has two chances of getting passed - slim and none. John Thune found every creative trick to engineer the GOP's usual Surender Theater to the Democrats, despite Voter ID being a bipartisan 80/20 issue. Thom Tillis shoved voters' noses in it by hosting a "Doggie Gras" on Capitol Hill, and when he got pushback simply sneered at us that he could "walk and chew gum at the same time."And Tillis now supports James Comey. Because of course he does.Democrat Lisa Murkowski, 50/50 Susan Collins (who is sadly the best we can get...