Free Republic

The bipartisan group of senators who just passed a $1.1 trillion federal infrastructure bill are attempting to sell it as a reasonable, centrist compromise. Yet it is neither reasonable nor centrist. If approved by the House, the bill would immensely expand the size and power of the federal government, waste hundreds of billions of taxpayer dollars on things that aren't federal responsibilities, and promote expensive, far-left causes like climate change and taxpayer subsidies for green energy companies. But that’s not all. Take that $1.1 trillion infrastructure bill and add to it a second bill that’s more than triple the cost,...

The summer provides for many reruns on television. The same can be said as the country lurches toward an epic showdown as Republicans and Democrats argue about the debt ceiling and how the federal government spends more money than it brings in. Like debt ceiling discussions in the past, left-leaning politicians and bureaucrats are urging lawmakers to raise the amount of money the U.S. government can borrow, while some on the right are demanding reductions in federal expenditures. It is clear that something will have to be done. As of July 8, 2021, the total U.S. national debt is more...

In their haste to appear reasonable and bipartisan, Democrats are now offering an amended version of legislation known as S.1 - ironically named the “For the People Act” - but in reality, this new version of S 1 is nothing more than a Washington, D.C. takeover of states’ election laws. Senate Republicans won’t be fooled. The bill still fails to preserve the good work already being done by states to secure their elections, and it places D.C. bureaucrats in the driver’s seat of elections at every level. But Democrats are hoping to pitch the media into reporting that they made...

Editor's Note: This piece was co-authored by U.S. Congresswoman Lisa McClain and Dr. Kent D. MacDonald.A “Baker's Dozen" is synonymous with more, or extra in a transaction. This piece provides (extra) arguments - a baker’s dozen - why government subsidized, free college tuition is bad for all involved. Making the case:The state is that great fiction by which everyone tries to live at the expense of everyone else. Frederic Bastiat Nowhere are Bastiat’s words becoming more evident than with the many in Washington and their fascination with free college tuition. To better understand the naïveté of this harmful and expensive...

“Abolish the filibuster,” tweeted Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) on June 2. AOC’s tweet was a direct response to President Biden’s tweet earlier the same day, “We’re witnessing an all-out assault on our democracy — and we need to act swiftly to protect the sacred right to vote. We need the For the People Act and the John Lewis Voting Rights Act.” Biden’s hyperbolic tweet was in reference to the fact that a few states have passed election integrity laws since the chaotic 2020 election, which could threaten the left’s electoral strategy of mass mail-in ballots, no identification verification, no signature...

If the past few weeks are any indication, one thing is crystal clear: the Democrat Party is intent on fundamentally transforming the United States of America. Their radical legislative wish list includes federalizing our elections, dismantling the Electoral College, and making D.C. and Puerto Rico a state. These are just a few of the far-Left agenda items that Congressional Democrats have sponsored as of this writing. If these bills become law – or if they are forced through by Executive Order - the one and only safeguard for the American people will be the Supreme Court of the United States....

Senator Joe Manchin (D-WV) was one of five Senate Democrats withholding support for the Protecting the Right to Organize (PRO) Act—until yesterday.While participating in this virtual event, Senator Manchin announced he’s now signing on as a co-sponsor, saying, "I look forward to working with my colleagues, on both sides of the aisle, to move this bill through a legislative process.”What an act of betrayal. Unsurprisingly, another holdout— Senator Angus King (I-ME)—also threw freelancers under the bus last week.Business groups immediately rebuked him. "It is very disappointing that Senator Manchin has chosen to side with union bosses over West Virginia’s workers...

The Rev. Raphael Warnock, a Democrat vying for one of Georgia's two contested Senate seats, claims his Republican opponent, incumbent Sen. Kelly Loeffler, is running "smear ads." She is "taking things I've said out of context from over 25 years being a pastor," says Warnock. Loeffler warns Warnock is a "radical liberal" who would change America. Warnock denies it. Sorry, Reverend, but you proved yourself the extremist during Sunday night's nationally televised debate. In your own words, there was nothing edited or taken out of context. At the debate, Warnock didn't deny he wants to eliminate cash bail and empty...

Nothing threatens the progressive project more than the existence of a Supreme Court that adheres to the Constitution. It's really that simple. That's what the tantrum over Justice Amy Coney Barrett's confirmation is all about. The notion that the same Democrats who shelved the judicial filibuster and now threaten to destroy the separation of powers with a revenge scheme to pack the Supreme Court -- the same people, incidentally, so fond of smear-drenched confirmation hearings -- are sticklers for process or decorum is simply ludicrous. For one thing, no norms have been undone by the confirmation of Barrett. If Democrats...

There are few conclusions that can be drawn from Joe Biden’s refusal to answer whether or not he supports packing the courts other than he’s in favor of it. The Democratic Party’s mouthpieces, as if through backchannels, have suddenly flipped their talking points to the same page – it’s Republicans who’ve packed the courts, it’s Democrats who have to “reform” the system in order to save it. This play is a power grab of Hitlerian proportions.  It started off as a sort of joke, Democrats whining about President Donald Trump getting to appoint a third Justice to the Supreme Court....

For the last 30 years, Republican nominations for the Supreme Court have faced personal, ugly, defamatory attacks from Democrats. We’ve been hearing a lot from Democrats and the media this week about how President Trump and Senate Republicans are “violating norms” with their plans to nominate and confirm a Supreme Court justice before the November election. Of course, the clear historical norm in this situation is for a sitting president to nominate and, if his party controls the Senate, for the Senate to confirm a new justice — even in an election year.The norm Republicans are following isn’t the one...

Chuck Schumer, Senate minority leader, says, "Our No. 1 goal must be to communicate the stakes of this Supreme Court fight to the American people." He continued, "nothing is off the table." Nothing? Not even violence? After the confirmation hearings of Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, members of the Trump administration were being assaulted in publics spaces, in restaurants. Sen. Schumer is right that the American people must know what's at stake. Will we have a culture of life and civility, or a culture of death, violence and chaos? The abortion rate in Schumer's own New York state stands the...

Bigotry against Catholics is nothing new in America. WhatÂ’s new is DemocratsÂ’ wholesale embrace of it, which we might see play out in primetime. President Trump is expected to pick a Supreme Court nominee to fill the seat left vacant by the death of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg as early as the end of this week. Two of the people on TrumpÂ’s short list of possible nominees are Catholic women: Amy Coney Barrett, a federal appellate court judge in Chicago, and Barbara Lagoa, a federal appellate court judge in Atlanta.If either of these eminently qualified judges gets the nomination, expect...

If Joe Biden wins the November election, Democrats will try to pack the Supreme Court—and that’s just for starters. It didn’t take long after Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s death for the left to trot out arguments for packing the Supreme Court.“If the Democrats are unable to block Trump’s nominee, there is but one choice should Joe Biden win the White House and the Democrats take back a majority in the Senate: pack the Supreme Court,” argued an article at The Nation. “If McConnell pushes through a nominee, President Biden should pack the court,” ran a headline at the Washington Post.The New...

Editor's Note: This piece was co-authored by Joseph Olson. Last week, President Trump claimed the election will determine the future of private gun ownership in the United States. On Saturday, the NRA tweeted out that a Biden win “will destroy our Second Amendment.”They are right. If Democrats gain control, Joe Biden and Senate Democrats promise a radical change in the Senate by eliminating the filibuster, which will allow them to pass any legislation that they want with a simple majority vote. This year, the Democrat’s convention platform is focused on a radical gun control agenda. It advocates licensing for gun owners, allowing...

Democratic Sens. Catherine Cortez Masto, Kirsten Gillibrand, Kamala Harris, Elizabeth Warren and Amy Klobuchar -- self-styled feminists who bought every flimsy claim made against now Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh -- have chosen to stand by Joe Biden in the face of a sexual assault allegation made against him by a former staffer. The MeToo movement, which followed a New York Times' expose on Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein's abuse and degradation of women in the entertainment industry, was supposed to prove that the feminist movement was a moral entity committed to fair treatment of women, even when big Democratic figures...

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's attempted partisan sabotage of the coronavirus relief bill might mark a new low for her. That the bill finally passed the Senate doesn't excuse her reckless gamesmanship. Republican and Democratic Senate leaders were close to an agreement when Pelosi parked her partisan broomstick and poured poison into the congressional punchbowl. "Talking to some Senate GOP sources," Townhall political editor Guy Benson tweeted. "They seem stunned and angry. I'm told there was lots of bipartisan input into the legislative outline & emerging specifics -- including an agreement in principle on broad strokes. Then Pelosi showed up and...

People tend to come together in moments of crisis, most people anyway. There’s always that selfish jerk in a zombie movie interested in grabbing the wads of cash or something else they’d always wanted but couldn’t get before everything went to hell, and it usually costs them. Democrats are that selfish guy. And while it varies what the cost is in the movies – either his life or the life of someone else – in the case of coronavirus, let it be the political lives of every Democrat, because they truly are bad people. [snip] The words necessary to accurately...

While Congress fiddles and the U.S. economy is left to burn, the citizens are the ones being asked to bear the full weight of this crisis. Now is not the time for business as usual, it is time for a post-pandemic reality. The old ways of red tape and kick-backs to favored groups and special interests must end now. A crisis of liquidity for individuals, small businesses, and Fortune 500 companies will soon send our economy into even further decline unless the federal government acts quickly and decisively. On Thursday, the Washington Times published my proposal for a Temporary Income...

The liberal media may have temporarily won the battle to trash the stock market with this Wuhan coronavirus outbreak, but the Trump administration’s proactive response to this disease is winning the larger public relations battle. Polls now show a majority of Americans now approve of how the president is handling the crisis. The anti-Trump media cannot fight a two-front war. They’re not smart enough. So, either way—Trump has won—again. And if this outbreak is contained—and God-willing that occurs soon—the economy should recover. The media has done well in stirring up apocalyptic-laced reports about this disease, which while highly contagious, has...