Free Republic

Obamacare forces young men and old people to pay for maternity coverage in their health insurance. It’s a ludicrous requirement that makes everyone’s health insurance cost more. But to rich, old leftist Sen. Tom Harkin, that’s not a bug in Obamacare. It’s a feature, because it imposes his values on everyone else. Harkin began his sermon: “I must say that there was a story the other day in the paper about somebody who said, ‘well gee, now I’ve got — I have to take this policy that covers maternity care. My wife and I aren’t having any more children.’ I...

Democrats charged in a Friday memo that Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) is leading the Republican Party, and that his "brand of conservatism" will hurt Republicans running for office in Iowa in 2014. The memo, issued by the Democratic National Committee and the campaign committees for both chambers and the party's governors, came as Cruz is slated to headline a Friday night fundraising dinner in Des Moines, Iowa. "Make no mistake: Ted Cruz is leading the Republican Party. Candidates want to be him. Incumbents are afraid of him. The Republican Party base is energized by him," the memo reads. It's the...

WASHINGTON — During the recent federal government shutdown, Republicans and Democrats in Congress went to war over GOP efforts to repeal or delay the Affordable Care Act. One front in that fight was the 2.3 percent tax on medical devices such as defibrillators and stents that manufacturers, including Minnesota-based companies, say has slowed the industry's growth. Still, U.S. Rep. Erik Paulsen said the effort wasn't fruitless. "The silver lining is that it's really a household word because of all the media attention it's had," said Paulsen, who represents Minnesota's 3rd District, home to medical device companies. There's so much support...

Republican Congressman Steve King is striking back at Democratic Senator Tom Harkin for suggesting King is wrong to suggest the October 17 “debt limit” date is a fiction. “I hope Tom Harkin understands when we reach the debt limit that doesn’t mean default,” King says. “Default on our debt would be if we failed to service our debt which requires that we pay the interest and then, at a minimum, roll over the principle of our debt which means we could borrow money from the Saudis to pay off Chinese bonds or vice versa or we could borrow money from...

The Food and Drug Administration would have greater oversight over large volume compounding pharmacies like the Massachusetts company that triggered a deadly meningitis outbreak, under federal legislation winning bipartisan support. Iowa Sen. Tom Harkin, the Democratic chairman of the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions, said Wednesday that the bill calls for an “unprecedented tracing system that will track prescription drugs from manufacturing to distribution.” The FDA would be able to monitor the pharmacies much the way they regulate drug-makers, including through inspections. The system would replace what critics say is the existing patchwork of federal regulations over the...

DES MOINES, Iowa — Vice President Joe Biden is heading into the belly of Democrats' anti-war opposition, venturing into a politically influential heartland state for the first time since President Barack Obama publicly endorsed a possible military strike on Syria. Biden is scheduled to headline a fundraiser in Iowa Sunday for Democratic Sen. Tom Harkin, an annual steak picnic for the senator who is popular with anti-war Democrats. Even if Biden sidesteps talk of Syria, the issue will be as much a part of the backdrop as the bales of hay and smoke from the grilling steaks, and in a...

President Obama has some work to do if he wants congressional authority to bomb Syria. Already some of his liberal allies are questioning the evidence which is supposed to show that Syrian strongman Bashar al-Assad used chemical weapons on his own people. “I have just attended a classified Congressional briefing on Syria that quite frankly raised more questions than it answered. I found the evidence presented by Administration officials to be circumstantial. The atrocious use of chemical weapons against civilian is an affront to human values and a violation of international law. It should be condemned by the international community...

The party has an outside chance of winning the five or six seats it needs to retake control, but needs to find top-tier recruits in several states and is running out of time to do so. ....Here are five states where the party needs to land strong candidates to broaden the battleground and have a hope of winning back the Senate. Michigan Iowa Montana Arkansas New Hampshire

Iowa state Sen. Joni Ernst (R) will run for retiring Sen. Tom Harkin's (D-Iowa) seat, she announced Wednesday afternoon. "As a mother, soldier, and a conservative, the values I hold dear, and have fought more than 20 years to protect, are being threatened by the failed policies of this president," she said in a statement on her new campaign website. "Washington has failed us. We need and deserve better leadership. And that's why I am running for U.S. Senate." Ernst, a lieutenant colonel in Iowa's national guard and first-term state lawmaker, has received encouragement from Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad (R)...

Iowa Congressman Steve King sent an email to supporters Friday night announcing he would not seek the state’s open U.S. Senate seat in 2014. The announcement is not unexpected. King said in February that he was leaning toward running. However, as he struggled with the decision for three months, it became less likely that he would enter the fray. King would have been an overwhelming favorite in a Republican primary. His decision not to run opens the field for other candidates to enter. Former U.S. Attorney Matt Whitaker has stated he would run for the seat if King opted not...

My congressman, Steve King, announced to supporters tonight via email that he will not be seeking the Iowa U.S. Senate seat being vacated by Tom Harkin in 2014.

2014 retirements: Dems heading for the hills By: Alexander Burns April 23, 2013 04:49 PM EDT Doesn’t anyone want to run for Senate in 2014? Midway through candidate recruitment season, the bad news for Democrats is this: They are watching a generation of talent leave the Senate and head for retirement. The less-bad news: So far, few marquee-name Republicans are interested in these seats either. When Montana Sen. Max Baucus called it quits on Tuesday, he became the latest in a long series of senior legislators to announce that they’ve had quite enough of life on the Hill. National Democrats...

It was revealed recently that President Obama told John Boehner he was tired of hearing about a supposed spending problem in America, that it didn't exist. Democrat Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi joined in the madness last Sunday, declaring it was a false argument to say our government has a spending problem. Now, we have another liberal Democrat in spending denial, with Senator Tom Harkin voicing his opinion on the subject. This gets crazier every week. Let me share Harkin's thoughts on the issue, using two different sources because it seems a lot of people are not catching the full context...

Credible sources are reporting this morning that Democrat U.S. Senator Tom Harkin will not seek reelection next year.

<p>CUMMING (AP) - Iowa Senator Tom Harkin said he will not seek re-election in 2014.</p> <p>The 73-year-old told The Associated Press in an interview, "It's just time to step aside."</p> <p>By the time Harkin would finish a sixth term, he would be 81 years old.</p>

Stopping veteran Dem retirements is top priority for Reid, SchumerBy Alexander Bolton - 11/25/12 06:00 AM ET One of the highest immediate political priorities for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and Senate Democratic political guru Charles Schumer (N.Y.) is to persuade veteran colleagues not to retire in 2014. Democratic sources identify four senators as most likely to retire: Sens. Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va.), Tim Johnson (D-S.D.), Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.) and Tom Harkin (D-Iowa). Another possible veteran retirement is Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Carl Levin (D-Mich.), who has yet to announce his decision. But Democratic aides expect him to run...

America’s accumulated college-loan debt will surpass $1 trillion this year; what is our leadership doing about it? The Obama Administration took over the student loan market and expanded Pell Grants, but hasn’t accomplished anything to address the root cause of the crisis: exploding college fees and related costs. The only thing they’ve done is criticize innovators and entrepreneurs. The Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP), chaired by Senator Tom Harkin (D-Iowa), issued a new report calling into question the costs and performance of For-Profit universities. There are actually hundreds of these schools, perhaps the most well-known being...

Clint Eastwood is the “perfect icon” for the GOP, Iowa Sen. Tom Harkin said Tuesday, describing the legendary actor as “an old angry white man spewing incoherent nonsense.” The Des Moines Register reported the 72-year-old Harkin made his comments on the Iowa delegation’s breakfast this morning in Charlotte, N.C. “We’ve got our work cut out for us this week, folks, following the Republican convention,” Harkin told the delegates. “I mean, how are we ever going to match Clint Eastwood? I got to thinking he is the perfect icon for today’s Republican tea party: an old angry white man spewing incoherent...

A group of prominent economists today urged President Obama and congressional leaders to raise the federal minimum wage, which has been stuck at $7.25 an hour for three years. In a letter to the president and lawmakers they wrote: A higher minimum wage at this juncture will not only provide raises for low-wage workers but would provide some help on the jobs front as well. The group, including Nobel Laureate Joseph Stiglitz, a professor at Columbia University; former Labor Secretary Robert Reich; and Lawrence Mishel, president of the Economic Policy Institute (EPI), advocate a three-step raise of 85 cents a...

The House Democrats pushing for a steep hike in the minimum wage could face an unlikely foe: their own leadership. Behind Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. (Ill.), almost two dozen liberal Democrats endorsed legislation this week to raise the federal minimum wage immediately from $7.25 to $10 per hour, the first such increase in three years. The lawmakers think they’ve found a winning issue in an election cycle that’s featured the rise of the Occupy movement, criticism of Mitt Romney’s path to wealth and a class-centered fight over the Bush-era tax rates. But no Democratic leaders have endorsed the measure, and...