Free Republic

New Mexico Democrat Representative Deb Haaland was confirmed as the next secretary of the Department of the Interior on Monday, making her the first Native American Cabinet secretary in the country’s history. Senators voted 51-40 to confirm Haaland, who was strongly supported by advocates for conservation and Native American issues. She will soon lead an agency critical to the Biden administration’s efforts to confront climate change. Haaland said the confirmation was another crucial step in increasing Native American “visibility.” Haaland will soon be leading a federal agency with wide-ranging responsibilities on public lands throughout the country. The Interior Department approves...

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., has renewed interest in his ongoing feud with Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, who he singled out as “a big part” of the “mistake” Democrats made in trying to work with moderate Republicans in 2009. “We made a big mistake in 2009 and ’10 — Susan Collins was a big part of that mistake. We cut back on the stimulus dramatically and we stayed in recession for five years,” Schumer said on CNN on Tuesday, referring to the economic stimulus package that Democrats pushed in response to the Great Recession. On Wednesday, in remarks to...

When the Democrats get caught doing not as they say, they often ignore it and act like hypocrites. But some “offenses” they’ve made so grave that they can’t get away with it. Their latest likely victim is Neera Tanden, who The New York Times suggests will be “First Cabinet-Level Casualty of the Twitter Age?” Biden nominated Tanden for Director of the Office of Management and Budget. She has a staunch left-wing background. She served as policy adviser for the Clinton White House, advised Hillary Clinton as senator and presidential candidate, served in the Obama administration, and most recently, served as...

Members of the Maine Republican Party state committee are condemning "in the strongest possible terms" Republican Sen. Susan Collins' vote to convict former President Donald Trump in his impeachment trial this month -- another sign of the backlash against lawmakers who bucked Trump, but one that may not have immediate impact given that Collins just won a fifth term."We vehemently disagree with your vote on this matter and condemn it in the strongest possible terms," members of the committee -- including the state party's chair and vice chair -- wrote in a letter to Collins posted to Facebook on Wednesday,...

Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) defended her decision to convict former President Donald Trump for incitement of insurrection during an appearance Tuesday on WLOB radio with host Ray Richardson, explaining that she voted to convict Trump not just based on his January 6 speech alone but his “culmination of actions which started even before the election occurred.”

The Maine GOP is considering censuring Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) over her decision to side with Democrats and vote to convict former President Trump for incitement of insurrection in connection to the January 6 protests at the U.S. Capitol. Maine GOP chair Demi Kouzounas acknowledged that many members were “upset after what happened” following Collins’ vote to convict on Saturday and told them to remain “prepared for an emergency state committee meeting in the near future.

Sens. Ted Cruz (R-TX) and Josh Hawley (R-MO) will be judged by a “secretive” Senate ethics panel over whether they had a part in inciting the U.S. Capitol riot on January 6.The Senate Ethics Committee probe “will unwind over an interminable timetable with little hint of where it is going,” Politico reports.The committee says nothing about its business until actions are taken. And it has a lot of business before it: Seven Democratic senators filed a complaint against the two GOP senators who led the effort to object to the election results, arguing that they ‘lent legitimacy” to the cause...

With the chances of the Senate actually convicting former President Trump in the upcoming impeachment trial, Sens. Tim Kaine (D-VA) and Susan Collins (R-INO) are quietly pitching their colleagues on a bipartisan resolution to censure Trump, according to Axios.The Senators are 'looking for a way to condemn Trump on the record' as it's become abundantly clear that Democrats don't have the 17 GOP crossover votes required to gain a conviction for Trump's second impeachment. That said, Axios says that some Democrats are only interested in censure if at least 10 GOP Senators will publicly commit to it - which would...

Sens. Tim Kaine and Susan Collins are privately pitching their colleagues on a bipartisan resolution censuring former President Trump, three sources familiar with the discussions tell Axios. Why it matters: Senators are looking for a way to condemn Trump on the record as it becomes increasingly unlikely Democrats will obtain the 17 Republican votes needed to gain a conviction in his second impeachment.

Just five GOP senators vote Trump impeachment trial is constitutional Jordain Carney 45 mins ago Dr. Fauci pressed on vaccine availability, asked whether media focuses too much… Just five GOP senators vote Trump impeachment trial is constitutional The Senate sent a strong signal Tuesday that there are not nearly enough votes to convict President Trump in an impeachment trial when only five GOP senators rejected an effort by Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) to declare the looming trial unconstitutional. Greg Nash Just five GOP senators vote Trump impeachment trial is constitutional The Senate voted 55-45 to set aside Paul's motion, with...

A Bangor woman is facing federal charges for allegedly making death threats against Sen. Susan Collins. Katrina F. Preble, 56, of Bangor made the threats in a series of “rambling” voicemail messages left at Collins’ Bangor and Washington, D.C. offices, according to an affidavit filed Monday in U.S. District Court in Bangor. The eight messages were left after the Nov. 3 election, in which Collins defeated Democratic challenger Sara Gideon. Preble, who was arrested Monday by Bangor police and federal agents, has been charged with two federal counts of making threats across interstate lines, each punishable by up to five...

The Senate failed to advance the nomination of Judy Shelton to the Federal Reserve Board — further complicating what was an already rocky confirmation process. Shelton, a longtime Fed critic who favors a return to the gold standard, was blocked in a 50-47 vote that was shaken up by some GOP senators being absent and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris making a return to the Senate floor. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) needed just 50 Republicans to vote in favor of Shelton to move her nomination forward. The upper house of Congress currently has a 53-47 GOP majority, meaning that...

As far as liberal financiers go, you don’t get much more powerful than S. Donald Sussman Since 1989, the hedge-fund billionaire has pumped millions into the coffers of Democratic politicians and their political pet projects. Sussman sits on the board of the Center for American Progress, the Democracy Alliance and the dovish Israel Policy Forum, and he’s been one of the top contributors to left-leaning 527 organizations during the 2010 election cycle. But while Sussman has long kept a behind-the-scenes profile, a recent ethics controversy in Maine has flung him into the center of a complicated dispute over state residency,...

Campaign fundraising reports for Chellie Pingree, a former Democratic Senate candidate form Maine who now heads Common Cause, contain numerous infractions that may prompt an audit by the Federal Election Commission (FEC), The Hill has learned. The prospect of an election commission audit of Pingree has raised eyebrows among campaign finance experts and lawyers because the well-known government watchdog group spearheaded the passage of the landmark Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act last year. In fact, campaign finance regulation has become Common Cause's signature issue in recent years. Pingree, who last year lost her bid to oust Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), became...

@PpollingNumbers #BREAKING Susan Collins (R-Inc) says Sara Gideon (D) called her to concede the race. Maine Senate over, Collins reelected.

An Emerson College poll conducted between October 29 and 31 showed Gideon with a 48 percent to 42 percent lead over Collins, and 61 percent of supporters of both Savage and independent Max Linn, polling at 5 percent and 1 percent, respectively, would back Gideon on their second choice. Collins entered the Senate in 1997 as one of Maine’s two independently minded Republican women senators alongside Olympia Snowe. The junior senator survived in the New England state as a politically savvy member of the GOP in a liberalizing region by touting her independence and reasonableness, but the tension between her...

Video at link. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) called Amy Coney Barrett “an illegitimate Supreme Court justice" during an Election Day news conference on Tuesday, just one week after Barrett was confirmed as President Trump's third Supreme Court pick. “The president is installing an illegitimate Supreme Court justice one week before the election, after 60 million Americans have voted, who will dismantle the ACA, and won’t say, by the way, when asked, by Sen. [Dianne] Feinstein [D-Calif.], do you think Medicare is constitutional? She said she really couldn’t say." The GOP-led Senate confirmed Barrett in a largely party-line 52-48 vote...

Sara Gideon staffers donated to the Minnesota Freedom Fund, which bails out rioters... At least seven staffers for Maine Democratic Senate candidate Sara Gideon donated to a bail fund that releases looters and other violent criminals from jail. Gideon's staffers posted on social media about their donations to the Minnesota Freedom Fund, a group that pays criminal bail for protesters and looters regardless of whether they were violent or which crimes they committed. The donations came after individuals involved with anti-police demonstrations began looting and burning businesses in Minneapolis. ... Local reports have indicated the fund has bailed out individuals...

Meet the new Justice of the Supreme Court -- Justice Amy Coney Barrett. Amy Coney Barrett has been CONFIRMED to the Supreme Courton a Party line vote. 52-48. One Republican turned her back and voted with the Democrats, Susan Collins of Maine. Congratulations to Justice Barrett and may God Bless the United States of America!

Guest Piece by America’s History Teacher, Larry Schweikart Confession: I rarely watch conservative, or so-called conservative, news sites. You can get some information that way, but I find it much more instructive to watch the reactions of liberals to the stories of the day. That is an instant indicator of who is winning and losing. For example, if the Washington Post says “Trump must change tone or face loss,” you know that Trump’s tone is deadly effective. Or, if Politico headlines “Some Senator Say McConnell Moving Too Fast on Barrett Nomination,” you know that Yertle is moving at light speed...