Free Republic

Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) acknowledged on Wednesday that he is “more popular” among Republicans, but said he nonetheless finds this “confusing.” On Monday, Fetterman was the lone Democrat to vote to confirm Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-OK) as Secretary of Homeland Security. As a member of the Homeland Security Committee, Fetterman had voted to advance Mullin’s nomination out of the committee, which turned out to be the deciding vote because committee Chair Rand Paul (R-KY) voted against Mullin. Fetterman has sided with Republicans and President Donald Trump in some other notable votes. Early this month, he was the only Democratic senator...

Senators approved a compromise measure early Friday to fund most of the Department of Homeland Security through the end of September, taking a major step toward ending the 42-day partial shutdown that has seen hundreds of airport security workers quit after missing paychecks and snarled travel nationwide. The agreement, passed by voice vote before senators departed Washington for a two-week recess for Easter and Passover, will be considered by the House later Friday morning. The last-ditch deal does not include any of the demands Democrats have placed on Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) — including that agents be barred from...

The Senate has approved a deal to fund TSA and most DHS agencies - but not ICE - ending a 42-day shutdown that has thrown America's airports into chaos. The bill, passed unanimously without a roll call, now goes to the House, which is expected to take it up Friday. Republican Senate Majority Leader John Thune admitted the bill was 'not the way to fund the Department. But, we were out of time.' 'The Dems wanted reforms,' Thune said. 'We tried to work with them on reforms. They ended up getting no reforms but, you know, we're going to have...

Wellness influencer Dr. Casey Means' nomination to be U.S. surgeon general is stalled a month after senators of both major political parties grilled her on vaccines and other health topics during a tense confirmation hearing, deepening doubts about her ability to secure the votes she needs for the role. The nomination has languished despite ongoing efforts from the White House and Make America Healthy Again activists to convince lawmakers to carry it forward, revealing how intractable rifts over health policy can be even when Congress has shown deference to President Donald Trump's agenda. Means, a 38-year-old Stanford-educated physician who became...

Six American soldiers who lost their lives over western Iraq while supporting a mission are being remembered and honored by the U.S. Senate. The lawmakers passed a resolution recognizing their bravery, service, and ultimate sacrifice. The resolution, introduced by U.S. Senator Katie Britt (R-Ala.) and co-sponsored by Senators Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.), Todd Young (R-Ind.), Jim Banks (R-Ind.), Bernie Moreno (R-Ohio), Jon Husted (R-Ohio), and Tim Sheehy (R-Mont.), passed unanimously. It honors Major Alex Klinner of Auburn, Alabama; Major Ariana G. Savino of Covington, Washington; Technical Sergeant Ashley B. Pruitt of Bardstown, Kentucky; Captain Seth R. Koval of Mooresville, Indiana; Captain...

(The following are transcribed highlights of a sermon given by Texas US Senate candidate James Talarico at the St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church in Austin, TX on 10/22/2023:) There is a cancer on our religion. Until we confess the sin that is Christian Nationalism and exercise it from our churches, our religion can do a lot more damage than a six-pack of Lone Star. There is nothing Christian about Christian Nationalism. It is the worship of power, social power, economic power, political power in the name of Christ, economic power, political power in the name of Christ. They've turned this humble...

A North Austin church attended by Texas state Rep. James Talarico (D-TX) is drawing increased attention amid his U.S. Senate campaign, with church leadership citing both heightened visibility and security concerns. St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church, where Talarico has been a member since childhood, has recently hosted and is continuing to promote a series of events that include political organizing and activist training sessions. Pastor Jim Rigby told congregants in a Facebook post that the attention surrounding Talarico’s campaign has led to an increase in both positive engagement and “hostile press” and negative communications. “Because we have also received some hostile...

WASHINGTON — Security lines at the world’s busiest airport stretched for five hours on Sunday as the TSA crisis escalated over the weekend. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy predicted that massive waits at airports across the country are about to “get much worse” due to the partial shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security. Lines stretched around the building at Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport on Monday. And TSA agents told travelers that the wait for some areas at the airport — which handled 106 million travelers last year — was five hours, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Nearly 400 TSA workers...

The Senate voted Monday to confirm Markwayne Mullin to lead the Department of Homeland Security as the shutdown of the sprawling agency dragged into its sixth week with no end in sight. The vote to confirm Mullin, a Republican senator from Oklahoma, as the head of DHS was 54-45, with Sens. John Fetterman, D-Pa., and Martin Heinrich, D-N.M., supporting his confirmation. Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., the chairman of the panel overseeing DHS, voted against Mullin on Monday after he clashed with him at his hearing last week and questioned whether a man with “anger issues” could be trusted to set...

🚨 BREAKING: Markwayne Mullin has been CONFIRMED by the US Senate as President Trump's DHS Secretary Congratulations, Sec. Mullin! DHS is in GREAT hands! Deportations continue full throttle 🔥 Now Democrats should IMMEDIATELY fund DHS or we should nuke the filibuster!

Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt is expected to appoint Alan Armstrong, chairman of Williams Companies, to the U.S. Senate seat currently held by Sen. Markwayne Mullin, according to sources familiar with the process. The move comes as Mullin advances in the confirmation process to replace Kristi Noem as Department of Homeland Security under President Donald Trump. On Thursday, The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee advanced Sen. Mullin’s nomination in an 8 to 7 vote, setting up a vote before the full chamber as early as this week. If appointed, Armstrong would serve until the next election, when Oklahoma voters...

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) isn't in a good place right now. He's ticked off the people in his party on the left who believe he has been ineffective and should retire. They likely will try to primary him, but that isn't coming until 2028. Meanwhile, they're fuming at him, and even if he wins, they may not re-elect him as leader. On the other hand, he appears to be trying to appease the left by pulling bad moves like blocking funding for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) right as we are in the middle of a battle...

I’ve been admittedly skeptical that the current effort to pass the SAVE America Act will succeed. I want it to pass. Desperately. And from where I sit, there’s no reason why it shouldn’t pass. But we all know why something so popular and commonsense can’t get to President Donald Trump’s desk for his signature. Democrats in Congress don’t want election integrity and are fighting against it like their power is on the line. Despite my skepticism, Senator Mike Lee (R-Utah), the lead sponsor of the bill, is confident the SAVE America Act is going to pass — and after just...

Businessman Mark Lynch is surging against longtime incumbent Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) ahead of the May primary in South Carolina, a new poll provided exclusively to Breitbart News ahead of its public release shows. On an initial ballot, Graham is well under 50 percent down at just 41 percent while Lynch has moved up to 21 percent. A third candidate, Paul Dans, is at 11 percent and 22 percent are unsure. “Lindsey Graham is in real trouble in this solidly pro-Trump primary,” the polling memo states. “When South Carolina Republican voters learn the candidates’ records, they shift sharply to conservative...

@ShadowofEzra Lindsey Graham goes full psychopath and has a message for his "haters," saying there’s nothing they can do about him telling President Trump to go to war with Iran. He says you better get used to it by drinking water and staying hydrated. “There’s nothing you can say or do that's going to change my mind.”

Dear Leader Thune, From 1776 to today, the total number of Americans is estimated to have been around 600 million. That’s about twice what the population is today. One wonders how many historical figures most Americans can name. There are, of course, the obvious ones like George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Thomas Edison, Henry Ford, and MLK, who are probably at the top of the list for most Americans. They were all known for having done great things. Most of the rest no one remembers. According to Grok “The average American can likely freely name 10–30 historical figures without much prompting—mostly...

@Bannons_WarRoom STEVE BANNON: Ken Paxton, now two polls in Texas. Ken Paxton's up 16 against Cornyn and one 18 against Cornyn the other. As I predicted that there's just no way the more Cornyn puts out this money for these negative ads trying to destroy Ken Paxton. The more the grassroots base, the MAGA base turns against him.

WASHINGTON — The Senate failed to fund the Department of Homeland Security on Friday, as airline passengers fought through lengthy lines and a growing number of Transportation Security Administration employees began calling out sick. Only 84 senators showed up for the fifth attempted vote to reopen DHS, which failed to clear a 60-vote threshold or even a simple majority — and fell largely along party lines. Forty-six Republicans and Democratic Sen. John Fetterman of Pennsylvania voted to fund DHS, while 37 Democrats led by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) opposed its reopening in protest of President Trump’s immigration agenda....

Democrats have kept the Department of Homeland Security shuttered since mid-February because they were outraged that two Americans were killed by ICE agents while interfering with their work. Since then, terrorists have claimed four American lives – a number that could have been significantly higher had fortune not prevailed. So, where are the protests over these deaths? “What’s happening in Minnesota is appalling — and unacceptable in any American city,” is how Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer justified his party’s decision to force the DHS closure. Democrats are insisting on a raft of ICE “reforms,” but their goal is simply...

The 60-vote threshold stops bad bills, but it also makes it impossible for the GOP to pass good ones. I’ll admit that the 60-vote cloture threshold has prevented many bad bills from becoming law, and that without it bad bills would become law more easily. But it also prevents good bills from getting passed. Before 1917, when senators established the cloture vote in Senate Rule 22, there was no formal way of ending debate (a filibuster) in the Senate. Because unlimited debate was the tradition of the Senate, cloture was invoked only five times in the first approximately 50 years...