Free Republic

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...

U.S. Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., on Wednesday cast the deciding vote against the latest effort to limit President Donald Trump’s ability to attack Iran — the seventh such time he’s broken with his party since the war began but the first time that Republican deflections made his vote decisive. The war powers resolution failed 49 to 50 as the Pennsylvanian was the only Democrat to vote with Republicans who control the Senate. Three Republicans — U.S. Sens. Rand Paul, of Kentucky; Susan Collins, of Maine; and Lisa Murkowski, of Alaska — voted with Democrats. The vote comes less than a...

The World War II slogan (that’s a two, not an eleven, Ilhan) “loose lips sink ships” reminded Americans that careless talk could provide our enemies with vital intelligence. Here we are, nearly a century later, and the principle still applies. Recent events involving Senator Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.) and Defense secretary Pete Hegseth illustrate how public disclosures about military capabilities can still compromise our national security.AdvertisementSenator Kelly appeared Sunday on CBS’s Face the Nation. Drawing from a classified Pentagon briefing on U.S. weapons stockpiles that were depleted during operations against Iran, Senator Kelly detailed the strains on specific munitions: Tomahawk missiles,...

Republicans’ support for President Donald Trump's war on Iran fractured on Wednesday. Senate Democrats have tried to splinter off Republicans from their near-unified backing of Operation Epic Fury for months with a campaign of attrition, putting war powers resolution after war powers resolution on the floor ever since fighting began. And after two months of trying, they finally got some in the GOP to flip on Trump with Sen. Jeff Merkley's, D-Ore., latest attempt. Still, it wasn’t enough to terminate ongoing operations in the Middle East. Sens. Susan Collins, R-Maine, Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, and Rand Paul, R-Ky., who has consistently...

"Yes, the Vice President, acting as the President of the Senate, has the constitutional authority to influence filibuster rules, primarily by making rulings that allow the Senate to change procedures with a simple majority rather than the typical 60-vote threshold. This authority is exercised by interpreting or challenging existing rules as unconstitutional, a power used historically to eliminate filibusters for executive and judicial nominees."

Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche on Tuesday indicated that the Department of Justice would subpoena reporters as part of its probe into leaks of classified materials. The FBI, this month, opened a probe into Senate Democrats over the possible leak of classified materials related to Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard's confirmation hearings. At issue was the leak of an intercept from the National Security Agency (NSA) concerning Gabbard. More recently, Trump has reportedly complained of rampant leaks related to the ongoing Iran war, The Hill reported. Blanche, on Tuesday, indicated that the DOJ probe would use compulsory authority to...

The critical 2026 Nebraska Senate race, which could help tip the balance of power in Washington, has become consumed by accusations that candidates are misrepresenting their party affiliations to rig the odds in their favor. In November, Sen. Pete Ricketts, R-Neb., who is finishing the term of retired Republican Sen. Ben Sasse, will seek a six-year term in the Senate. The race’s outcome is rated “likely Republican” by Cook Political Report. But Ricketts’ most serious competition likely will not be from the Democratic Party. Instead, prominent Nebraska Democrats are backing independent candidate Dan Osborn, a former union leader, for the...

US Senator Rand Paul has said he introduced a constitutional amendment aimed at ending automatic birthright citizenship for children born in the US to undocumented immigrants. "I introduced a constitutional amendment to end birthright citizenship," Paul said on X on Monday. "The 14th Amendment was never meant to reward illegal entry." The Kentucky lawmaker drew a distinction between legal and illegal immigration, arguing that lawful immigration historically strengthened the US, while illegal immigration is being used to obtain citizenship benefits. "Legal immigration built this country. Illegal immigration is being used to game the system. Only children of legal residents should...

Days before Donald Trump is scheduled to visit mainland China, a group of mostly Democrat senators reportedly is urging the president to move ahead with a long-delayed $14 billion weapons package for Taiwan.The bipartisan group pressed Trump in a Friday letter to formally notify Congress of the major arms sale ahead of his summit this week with Chinese President Xi Jinping, warning that U.S. support for Taiwan "is not up for negotiation," The New York Times reported. The senators argued Taiwan has already demonstrated its commitment to self-defense after lawmakers in Taipei approved a massive $25 billion special defense budget...

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Sunday accused Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.) of divulging classified information during an interview on CBS’s “Face the Nation.” “‘Captain’ Mark Kelly strikes again,” Hegseth wrote in response to a post by “Face the Nation” host Margaret Brennan on the social platform X detailing what Kelly told her about U.S. stockpiles, which Kelly said the U.S. war with Iran has reduced. “Now he’s blabbing on TV (falsely & dumbly) about a *CLASSIFIED* Pentagon briefing he received. Did he violate his oath…again?” Hegseth wrote. The Defense secretary added that the Pentagon’s legal counsel “will review” the Democratic...

Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (N.Y.) is rallying fellow Democrats in a new “Dear Colleague” letter for a battle royale on the Senate floor over $1 billion in proposed funding for President Trump’s 90,000-square-foot White House ballroom that’s tucked into a $72 billion Republican-drafted budget reconciliation package. Schumer is planning to turn the Senate floor debate and marathon voting session on the reconciliation bill into a referendum on lowering costs and scrapping the earmark for the ballroom. “At a time when Americans can’t make ends meet, Republicans say ‘Let them eat cake’ — and then hand Trump a billion dollars...

Sen. John Cornyn reposted content from the X account “Republicans against Trump” on Friday, sharing a post featuring his criticism of Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton as the two Republicans are in a Senate primary battle. Cornyn's repost included a message from the anti-Trump account quoting his remarks about Paxton. “I will be direct with Texas voters: Ken Paxton is unfit for this office,” the post stated. The message criticized Paxton, saying, “By every standard that matters, Crooked Ken has failed the character test. The corruption. The legal baggage. The years of self-serving distractions while Texas needed serious leadership.” The...

The FBI has opened an investigation into possible leaks of classified information by Democrats or their staffs on the Senate Intelligence Committee, spurred in part by a criminal referral from the National Security Agency concerning the release of one of its overseas intercepts, sources told Just the News. The NSA made the referral last summer concerning reports, including one in The New York Times, earlier that year during Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard’s confirmation process that quoted information from an intercept of two Hezbollah terrorist figures who claimed Gabbard, during a 2017 trip to Syria, had met with the...

Former Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper holds a 9-point lead over Republican Michael Whatley in North Carolina’s open US Senate race, according to a new poll commissioned by the elections-integrity group RightCount and released earlier this month. The survey, conducted by Opinion Diagnostics, found 50% of registered North Carolina voters supporting Cooper, compared to 41% for Whatley, with 8% undecided. An earlier poll commissioned by Healthier United and conducted March 8-9 — days after both candidates clinched their party nominations — showed a wider 18-point Cooper lead. A March 13-14 survey from Public Policy Polling, a Democratic-aligned firm, found the race...

Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., criticized the Democratic Party’s shift toward socialism and progressive policies during an appearance on ‘Real Time with Bill Maher.’