Free Republic

Far from being a helpless minority, Senate Republicans are in a powerful position to leverage their consent for key priorities from their voters.In a Senate that is now split 50-50, newly minted Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and his counterpart, Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, are negotiating a power-sharing agreement. Although Vice President Kamala Harris wields the tie-breaking vote for Democrats on the Senate floor, the two parties must negotiate how they will manage the day-to-day operations of the institution. What McConnell agrees to in the upcoming days will tell us a lot about how the Senate GOP plans to comport itself...

SCOOP: Trump calls treatment of the troops “disgusting and unforgivable,” per advisor

President Donald Trump ordered U.S. flags across the nation and abroad to be flown at half-staff until Jan. 13 in honor of the “service and sacrifice” of law enforcement, the U.S. Capitol Police (USCP), and the two USCP officers who died in the wake of protests at the Capitol on Jan. 6. “As a sign of respect for the service and sacrifice of United States Capitol Police Officers Brian D. Sicknick and Howard Liebengood, and all Capitol Police Officers and law enforcement across this great Nation, by the authority vested in me as President of the United States by the...

Electing Warnock is a key step toward reaching Schumer’s goal of totally changing AmericaSen. Kelly Loeffler has asserted that Raphael Warnock is “the most radically liberal candidate we have seen in this country for Senate.” Is that just a political charge in a heated campaign, or is Warnock more radical than liberal? Here is his record. You decide. Betsy McCaughey, for the New York Post reported on Dec. 8: “At the debate, Warnock didn’t deny he wants to eliminate cash bail and empty the prisons. He promoted the false narrative that police disproportionately kill Blacks more than Whites suspected of...

U.S. Senators Ed Markey (D-Mass.) and Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) announced legislation Wednesday aimed to bring mask mandates to the entire U.S., saying that “overwhelming scientific evidence” has shown that masks reduce the spread of Covid-19, which is now taking a grim toll on the country at levels never before seen.-The bill would set aside $5 billion in federal funding that would then be given to states and local governments in the form of grants.-Money would be withheld from states that do not have a mask mandate in place.-Funding would be contingent upon mandates that require face coverings in public, “including...

U.S. Sen. Cory Gardner was asked what a U.S. Senate would look like if Democrats took control after the November election. Specifically, Fox News asked, what does a Senate ruled by presumptive Democrat Majority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York look like? Not so good for Colorado, Gardner responded. A ban on oil and gas, the destruction of hundreds of thousands of jobs in Colorado, massive tax increases, a regulatory overtake the likes of which we’ve never seen — it would undo the work that we did prior to the pandemic and building up our economy and prevent our economy...

I sent this comment to Sen's Warner and Kaine. Despite the interesting theories of Sen. Coons and others, Judge Barrett is highly qualified to serve on the Supreme Court. Her appointment was constitutionally correct and in accordance with precedent. She should be confirmed in the same spirit of comity and bipartisanship as Justices Kagan and Sotamayor. I received the following unasked for response from Warner: Sen. Mark Warner [donotreply@warner.senate.gov] Thank you for contacting me regarding the nomination of Amy Coney Barrett to be an Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court. This week, the Senate Judiciary Committee is holding...

Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC) leads North Carolina Senate Democrat candidate Cal Cunningham, according to a poll released Tuesday. An East Carolina University (ECU) poll found Tillis leads Cunningham by one point or 46 to 45 percent, and six percent of voters remain undecided. This represents a rise in support for Tillis, as the last ECU survey had Cunningham and Tillis tied at 44 percent. The poll was conducted after the National File released a report which found that Cunningham was sending lurid text messages to Alrene Guzan Todd, a public relations strategist from California. Cunningham has a wife and two...

BREAKING EXCLUSIVE: I have obtained the Sext messages between married North Carolina Democrat U.S. Senate candidate Cal Cunningham and Arlene Guzman Todd, a veteran's wife, in which they discuss lying to his family to have a hookup. EXPLICIT! 🚨🚨🚨https://t.co/adNHlaJUFc— Patrick Howley (@HowleyReporter) October 1, 2020

North Carolina Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Cal Cunningham has admitted to sending sexual text messages to a California strategist who is not his wife. Cunningham apologized but said he would not drop out of the race in a statement to multiple news outlets late Friday. It’s unclear when the messages were sent, but at one point Cunningham says he’s “Nervous about the next 100 days,” which could be a reference to the election. One hundred days before the election would be July 26.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer have escalated their rhetorical war, with Schumer hammering McConnell over the alleged "fiction" precedent Republicans say they are following on Supreme Court nominations while McConnell called Schumer "uniquely non-credible" on the topic of judicial nominations, citing comments Schumer made while George W. Bush was president. The verbal barbs are just the beginning of what is likely to be one of the nastiest political fights in recent American history over Republicans' plans to confirm a successor to the late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg before the presidential election. After...

Sen. Gary Peters holds slight lead over John James Democratic Michigan U.S. Senator Gary Peters is in a tight race with Republican challenger John James, according to a new WDIV/Detroit News poll. Sen. Peters is running for his second term in the U.S. Senate, while John James is making his second attempt at being an incumbent for the seat. James lost to Sen. Debbie Stabenow in 2018. Heading into the final stretch of the 2020 election, Peters holds a 3-point lead over James, which is in the margin of error for the WDIV/Detroit News poll. Sen. Peters has a 30.8...

The Tennessee Department of Economic & Community Development operates like a closely held, family-owned business hiring family members of friends and friends of friends, but whose salaries are paid by state taxpayers. Former commissioner Bill Hagerty established this culture which was maintained by Randy Boyd. Shortly after taking office in 2011, Governor Haslam appointed Bill Hagerty as Commissioner of Economic & Community Development (ECD). One year later, in 2012, Hagerty promoted Sen. Lamar Alexander’s son Will Alexander, from assistant commissioner for strategy to ECD’s chief of staff. That same year, Hagerty hired Samar Ali and Alice Rolli. “Samar Ali is...

SANTA FE – With New Mexico’s general election just over three months away, Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham has sparked criticism – and praise – by urging New Mexico political parties to forbid their candidates from door-to-door campaigning. During a Thursday news conference, Lujan Grisham said door-knocking, long a staple of political campaigns, was “hugely problematic” given the close proximity between voters and candidates amid a recent surge of coronavirus cases. “That is just a terrible idea in a COVID world,” she said. While the Democratic Party said this week it has already been focused on running largely virtual campaigns, state...

Sen. Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., on Thursday announced her intention to block Senate confirmations for 1,123 senior U.S. Armed Forces promotions until Defense Secretary Mark Esper confirms he will not block the "expected and deserved" promotion of Army Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman. Vindman, an Iraq War veteran, served on the White House National Security Council and was thrust into the limelight last year when he testified about President Trump's July 2019 phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky that became the heart of a Democratic-led impeachment inquiry. Vindman said he listened to the call and filed a whistleblower complaint over concerns...

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer is itching to hear from Dr. Anthony Fauci as he testifies before the Senate Health Committee Tuesday morning. The Democrat believes that without President Trump looking over his shoulder, Fauci can tell them how he really feels about the administration. "Fauci has a huge amount of respect and it seems at times he's muzzled by the president," Schumer said. "The president is always lurking over his shoulder. This is the first time we get to hear him without the president looking over his shoulder or cutting him off or cutting the reporter off who asks...

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., on Wednesday joined a growing chorus of Democrats calling on Senate Republicans to pause their efforts to confirm federal judges when the Senate returns on May 4 amid the coronavirus pandemic, saying the GOP seems less interested in passing further measures to combat the virus than they are in putting more of President Trump's nominees on the federal bench. "The GDP just had its biggest drop since the Great Recession, the United States has surpassed one million confirmed positive cases of COVID-19, and we still don’t have adequate testing," Schumer said in a statement....

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., told Fox News Tuesday he will not consider any additional coronavirus aid legislation unless it includes liability or litigation protections for businesses and employees seeking to come back to work. "We can't pass another bill unless we have liability protections. That's the only way we're going to ultimately begin to get past this," McConnell told "Your World with Neil Cavuto". "We have to have businesses brave enough to open up again and employees brave enough to go back to work. And I'm glad to see that some of the states are beginning to move...

Rep. Tom Malinowski (D-NJ) reportedly said on Thursday that he has fantasized about holding up coronavirus disinfectant from Kentuckians to make Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) pass more Democrat measures. Malinowski, a Democrat representing New Jersey’s seventh congressional district, said in a call that he would threaten McConnell by withholding Lysol for his constituents. “Fun fact about Somerset County [New Jersey], we make 100 percent of the national supply of Lysol disinfectant,” he said in a video obtained by the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC). “I’ve thought about using with Mitch McConnell, like, ‘Hey, we’re going to hold up...

Paul told Politico, "It is a chilling and disturbing day in America when giant web companies such as YouTube decide to censure speech. Now, even protected speech, such as that of a senator on the Senate floor, can be blocked from getting to the American people. This is dangerous and politically biased. Nowhere in my speech did I accuse anyone of being a whistleblower, nor do I know the whistleblower’s identity." YouTube spokesperson Ivy Choi said, "Videos, comments, and other forms of content that mention the leaked whistleblower’s name violate YouTube’s Community Guidelines and will be removed from YouTube. We’ve...