Free Republic

Sen. Rand Paul just passed a Bill in the US Senate by Unanimous Consent to stop stimulus checks going to dead people. Several senators such as Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA) and Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR) expressed confusion as to whether the Bill had passed and apparently after several inquiries the chair confirmed that it had indeed passed. Click excerpt link for Video! >>>

Edward Markey appears headed for a bruising defeat unless he can turn around his struggling campaign in the next two months — a difficult ask for a 73-year-old incumbent running against a well-funded young heir to a political dynasty. The latest developments are not good for Markey — and we’re not even talking about his staggeringly stupid decision to pose on his porch with an American flag on the floor. Democratic sources say two new polls in separate congressional districts show Markey trailing U.S. Rep. Joseph P. Kennedy III by double digits. One of the polls was from a Democratic...

Booker celebrated his newfound lead in a Thursday morning tweet, saying, "something big" was going on in the state. McGrath has yet to address the new vote total. McGrath will become the biggest fundraiser to lose a congressional primary in U.S. history should she fail to close the gap. She was endorsed by the Chuck Schumer-controlled Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee in February, using the national support to raise nearly $41 million. Nearly 97 percent of her campaign funds came from out-of-state donors, as McGrath ran watered-down ads in major liberal cities to court donors. Booker, meanwhile, raised just $793,000 as...

@RepThomasMassieIf, as John Bolton supposedly implies in his book, @RandPaul convinced @realDonaldTrump not to make John Bolton his Secretary of State, then Rand Paul deserves the Nobel Peace Prize! (and a thank you from POTUS) -- Can't link to article on here so click through via twitter...

HELENA, Mont. (AP) — President Donald Trump wrote Friday he plans to campaign in Montana in support of Republican U.S. Sen. Steve Daines’ reelection bid. Daines is running against Democratic Gov. Steve Bullock in a key battle that could help determine the majority party in the U.S. Senate. Daines, writing on Twitter, thanked voters for their support in Tuesday’s primary election and added: “Let’s win this in November!” ***

A Republican-authored police reform bill failed in a Senate test vote Wednesday after Democrats opposed the bill on the basis it did not go far enough – sparking a furious war of words on the floor and marking an apparent impasse just weeks after George Floyd's death led to calls for new legislation. The procedural vote on whether to start debate was 55-45; it needed 60 votes in order to proceed. Republicans had 53 votes, but not enough Democrats joined them. This effectively freezes police reform in Congress for now, even if the House approves its own measure on Thursday.

Financial advisory firm Signum Global Advisors is telling clients that it now believes the U.S. Senate is going to flip blue as presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden continues to surge past President Donald Trump in the polls. In a note to Signum’s clients, Chairman Charles Myers and senior partner Lew Lukens said that while they were initially convinced Republicans would maintain control of the upper chamber, they have changed their minds and think Democrats are going to take it back. “As Joe Biden’s lead over Trump in national and battleground polling has widened, several Senate races have become closer. We...

Polling results released by an Alabama-based, nationally respected data firm on Monday show that both former Auburn University head football coach Tommy Tuberville and former U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions would enter a general election battle against U.S. Senator Doug Jones (D-AL) with a sizable lead. Cygnal, recognized as the nation’s most accurate polling firm during the 2018 midterm cycle, conducted a survey of 530 likely Alabama general election voters from June 13-16. The survey had a margin of error of ±4.26%, utilizing a probabilistic mixed-mode method that included Interactive Voice Responses (IVR) from landline phones as well as SMS...

President Trump urged Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., to run against the state’s longtime Sen. Chuck Schumer in the 2022 primary in November, saying that she would be a “big improvement” and that she would likely win. Schumer, the Senate minority leader, has been a vocal critic of the president, but so has Ocasio-Cortez, who faces her own primary challenger this year for her House seat. Critics of the president say Trump's call on Ocasio-Cortez to run is simply an attempt to divide the party. Trump retweeted a report from the Washington Times that said liberals “are kicking around the idea”...

The Nebraska Democratic Party called on its U.S. Senate nominee to drop out of the race Tuesday after he made sexually repugnant comments about a campaign staffer in a group text with her and other staffers. The party said its state executive committee voted unanimously on Monday evening to withdraw all of its resources from Chris Janicek's campaign. Janicek, the owner of an Omaha cupcake bakery, is challenging Republican Sen. Ben Sasse, who is seeking a second term. --- The text messages, which were obtained by The Associated Press, were from a group chat involving Janicek and five other people,...

Nebraska Democrats are asking their U.S. Senate candidate to quit the race after he sent staffers text messages that the state party described as "sexually inappropriate." Omaha baker Chris Janicek sent a group message to at least five people, including a female staff member who filed a complaint with the Nebraska Democratic Party. His text said that they needed to "get her laid," referring to the female staffer. Janicek has since apologized but said he's staying in the race. "This is a moment in time where I made a terrible mistake in a text message," he said. **SNIP** Nebraska Democratic...

Former television news meteorologist Mark Ronchetti won the state’s Republican primary election for U.S. Senate, taking more than half the votes in a three-way race through partial results on Tuesday night. *** Ronchetti will now face Democratic U.S. Rep Ben Ray Luján and Libertarian Bob Walsh in the November general election. Neither had competition in their parties’ primaries. The seat is currently held by Sen. Tom Udall, who announced he would not run for another term.

Republican Sen. Joni Ernst is trailing her Democratic challenger for Iowa's Senate seat, putting a once-safe GOP race in doubt, according to an early poll.Ernst, 49, has support from 43% of likely Iowa voters compared to 46% who told Des Moines Register/Mediacom Iowa Poll researchers they'd cast a ballot for Democrat Theresa Greenfield. Another 7% remain undecided.J. Ann Selzer, whose firm Selzer & Co. conducted the poll, said this was the first survey fielded since Ernst, a President Trump ally, first ran for the Senate in 2014, which showed her behind her opponent.“Symbolically, that's certainly meaningful, even if Theresa...

An attempt by the Senate to prevent China from using American investments in Chinese firms against the United States might prove to be self-defeating in the long run. Already an epicenter of anti-Chinese communist sentiment, the Senate on May 20 overwhelmingly approved the "Holding Foreign Companies Accountable Act (S. 945)," a bill that might lead to Chinese firms being barred from listing on U.S. stock exchanges. The bill will require foreign companies doing business in the U.S. to certify they’re not controlled by their governments. They will also have to submit to audits by U.S. regulators for three consecutive years....

Washington — The Senate Armed Services Committee approved an amendment to the annual military spending bill that would require the Defense Department to change the names of military bases and assets named for Confederate leaders. A source familiar with the proceedings confirmed to CBS News that the GOP-led panel on Wednesday approved the amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) offered by Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts via voice vote. According to a summary of the NDAA released by the committee Thursday, the measure requires the Defense Department to rename posts and assets — streets, aircraft, ships, and...

COLUMBIA, S.C. U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham, R- Seneca, faces three Republicans on June 9. They are educator and attorney Duke Buckner of Walterboro, corporate executive and businessman Michael LaPierre of Pickens and Merchant Marine Joe Reynolds of North Charleston. The State asked candidates to submit questionnaires. Here’s a look at who’s running and what they want voters to know, in their own words:

Feinstein then offered a defense of Mueller's mental ability. "I think Mr. Mueller is a man of extensive brain cells and can well recall the situation," she said. "I think this side would very much like to have him here." Later on in the meeting, Graham signaled he would consent to their demand but with a word of caution. "As to Mr. Mueller: If you want to call him, I will," Graham said, followed by a long pause. "I would just ask you to think twice about that. If you can find somebody else involved in the Mueller investigation that...

Democrats have been playing offense so far this year as they try to regain the majority in the Senate for the first time in six years. But with five months to go until November’s general election, the Republicans are starting to return fire as they defend 23 of the 35 Senate seats up for grabs this year. This week the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) – which is the campaign arm of the Senate Republicans – kicked off a major ad blitz in three key races that could determine which party controls the chamber next year. And the NRSC says...

Against the backdrop of a national crisis over race and law enforcement, the Senate Judiciary Committee plans to convene a hearing on Wednesday about the now-closed investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election. **SNIP** The sole witness is former Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, who'll likely be grilled about revelations about the Russia investigation that have come to light since he left the Justice Department last year. The political context has evolved: Republicans want to tie former Vice President Joe Biden into what they call the abuses of power from the end of the Obama era. **SNIP** In the...

There’s an ages-old problem with republics: majoritarian tyranny. If the law is whatever the fifty percent plus one of the people or their reps determine, then the legislative body is little different in practice from the typical Florida Homeowners Association, and the nation should expect similar results. Thanks to the 17th Amendment, the Senate long ago abandoned its deliberative nature and adopted the passionate, popularly reflexive nature of the House. It is why party interests, rather than those of the nation, came to dominate congress. We see this regularly when Senator Schumer joins Speaker Pelosi in wild proposals that threaten...