Free Republic

President Joe Biden’s “infrastructure” plan hit a roadblock Wednesday after U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) disputed the scope and cost of the sweeping measure. Manchin, a key vote in the 50-50 Senate, told West Virginia reporters, “I would hope to see Democrats and Republicans agreeing on infrastructure – infrastructure by itself.” He added, “It won’t be the $2.3 trillion, that I can tell you.” The declaration came as Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg and other administration leaders attempt to redefine “infrastructure” to include just about everything — beyond simply roads, bridges, and railways. “To me, infrastructure is the foundation that makes...

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 Club for Growth launched an ad Tuesday featuring West Virginians urging Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) to “stick to your guns” and keep the Senate’s filibuster. West Virginians argued the filibuster serves as their bulwark against the far left. The Club for Growth ad, “West Virginia thing,” will launch Tuesday and run until April 26. The ads will run on broadcast in the Charleston and Bluefield market area and on Fox News and CNN in Charleston, Bluefield, Clarksburg, Wheeling, Pittsburgh, and Parkersburg. The campaign will cost roughly $240,000.

During an interview with CNN on Thursday, Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) said that he supports President Joe Biden’s executive orders on guns, but cannot support the House’s background check bill as it currently stands. Manchin said, “I support what the president did today, from what I heard, okay, what he’s doing on executive order. Now, there [are] an awful lot of things that he talked about, but the executive order says ghost guns should not be allowed to be legally made or sold or used. It’s illegal. Because they’re making them off of printers and you can’t detect them.”

The White House conceded on Monday that Senate Democrats such as Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) opposed President Joe Biden’s plan to raise corporate tax rates to pay for his massive $2.5 trillion infrastructure plan but failed to specifically address his concerns. Manchin said during a radio interview Monday he could support raising corporate taxes from 21 percent to 25 percent but not President Biden’s proposed 28 percent.

VIDEOCackling Kamala Harris is supposed to be the Border Czar. However, she has yet to even go to the border which is why Senator Joe Manchin completely UPSTAGED her by going to the border this week. Of course, Manchin fell back on the old failed Democrat bromides of immigration "reform" (amnesty) but he did utter that taboo C-word about the border, "CRISIS." Oddly, Manchin also praised the border policies of President Donald Trump without actually saying his name out loud. So when will Kamala finally go to the border? Before or after her vice-presidential residence is remodeled?

If you’re counting on Joe Manchin to save the Republic… – Well, you might want to think again. For all his bluster and fake media coverage about being some sort of “moderate” Democrat, West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin has always been nothing but a reliable, down-the-line leftwinger who operates in what I like to call the Lloyd Bentsen mode of being a senator. You might remember Lloyd Bentsen, the long-time Texas senator who ran for the vice presidency in 1988 as Michael Dukakis’s running mate. During his 22 years in the senate from 1971 through 1993, Bentsen was the quintessential...

With a 50-50 split in the United States Senate, there are two things Joe Biden cannot afford: Democrat defections and a filibuster. Senate rules require 60 votes for cloture to move on legislation, and recent years have turned the filibuster into an obstruction tactic by the minority party. Senator Joe Manchin, a moderate Democrat from the very red state of West Virginia, has found himself in a very powerful position. His support or opposition to key legislation could make or break Joe Biden’s agenda in Congress. So, it’s hard not to raise an eyebrow at the fact that Joe Biden...

HUNTINGTON, W.Va. (AP) — A federal judge has dismissed the lawsuit of a West Virginia teacher who was fired for her social media posts. Former Huntington High School teacher Mary Durstein made a series of posts in 2017 that ridiculed Black people, Muslims and former President Barack Obama. The Herald-Dispatch reports that she challenged an “immorality” law as overly broad. But Robert C. Chambers ruled Monday that the Cabell County school system did not violate her freedom of expression.

The Judicial Crisis Network has launched a new ad targeting West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin as he considers voting for the confirmation of Vanita Gupta, who has been nominated by President Joe Biden to become the next associate attorney general at the Department of Justice.West Virginia has the highest overdose rate in the United States and Gupta owns millions of dollars worth of stock in a company accused of making a key heroin ingredient for Mexican cartels.

WASHINGTON — Federal authorities arrested two men over the weekend on suspicion of assaulting Capitol police Officer Brian Sicknick and two others with bear mace during the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol. Julian Elie Khater, 32, and George Piere Tanios, 39, were arrested Sunday and are expected to appear in federal court Monday, The Associated Press reported. In a criminal complaint obtained by The Washington Post, an FBI official said surveillance footage and other video showed Khater and Tanios talking Jan. 6 as supporters of President Donald Trump gathered at the Capitol.

After 2020, Americans are coming to terms with the fact that the United States is splitting into two different countries culturally and politically. The red-blue divide is a divide between free states and counties and increasingly repressive and authoritarian blue states and counties. As the conservative professor Eddie Zipperer quipped on Twitter: 1980s Moms: "You should be thankful you have freedom. People in Russian and China don't have that." 2021 Moms: "You should be thankful you have freedom. People in Michigan and California don't have that."The freedom divide is particularly clear in the area of education. Republican states and counties...

​Sen. Joe Manchin threatened to block President Biden’s climate change and infrastructure package unless Republicans have more of a voice in the negotiation process than they did with the coronavirus stimulus bill. Manchin, a moderate Democrat from West Virginia who has emerged as a critical swing vote in the narrowly divided Senate, said he would use his position as chairman of the Senate Energy Committee to hold up the legislation unless the GOP has input.

Sen. Joe Manchin, the moderate West Virginia Democrat whose vote the party will almost surely need to pass laws this year, signaled Sunday that he may be open to reforming the filibuster, a procedural rule that requires 60 votes for many measures, effectively dooming most legislation.

INITIAL REPORT FINDS:Planned Parenthood’s quiet relationships with many faith-based schools flies under the radar of many engaged at colleges and universities. Schools partner with Planned Parenthood by listing them as a student resource, publicizing internships and careers with the abortion giant, and more. “There is an unholy partnership between a number of Christian schools and the abortion industry,” said SFLA’s Kristan Hawkins, “but Students for Life is mobilizing pro-life advocate nationwide to cut ties with the nation’s number one abortion vendor.” WASHINGTON D.C. (3-3-2021) Students for Life of America (SFLA) is working to identify and document every Christian school in...

Senate Democrats voted early Saturday morning to defeat a pro-life amendment that would have stopped the COVID relief bill from using tens of millions and perhaps hundreds of millions of dollars to fund killing babies in abortions. The Senate voted 52-47 to defeat the pro-life amendment offered by Senator James Lankford of Oklahoma to apply the Hyde Amendment to the COVID bill. Every Republican voted for the amendment along with Democrat senators Bob Casey of Pennsylvania and Joe Manchin of West Virginia. Senator Sullivan of Alaska did not vote. The amendment failed because it did not reach the 60-vote threshold...

Eight Democratic senators joined Republicans in rejecting raising the federal minimum wage to $15 per hour over five years after it was proposed by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.). Sens. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), Jon Tester (D-Mont.), Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.), Maggie Hassan (D-N.H.), Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), Tom Carper (D-Del.), Chris Coons (D-Del.), and Angus King (I-Vt.)—who caucuses with Democrats—opposed the measure, joining all Republicans in the upper chamber. Coons and Carper are considered two close allies of President Joe Biden, who was formerly a senator from Delaware. The final vote tally was 42–58, falling far short of the 60 votes needed 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...

WILLIAMSPORT — Shane Burkett has been watching the Interstate 81 Potomac River bridge work from the cab of a tractor-trailer. Now that the new third lanes are open in each direction, the semi driver likes what he sees. "I think it's great. I-81 is a massive highway. ... It's a big help having that third lane now," the Williamsport resident said. The Maryland Department of Transportation State Highway Administration formally announced completion of the $104.6 million project Thursday. The work, which has been years in the making, widened the interstate from two lanes to three lanes in each direction from...

A West Virginia mom allegedly upset over her husband’s recent absence fatally shot her five children and set their house on fire before turning the gun on herself, authorities said this week.The Greenbrier County Sheriff’s Department on Thursday revealed 25-year-old Oreanna Antoinette Myers killed her three kids and two stepchildren on Dec. 8, then set their two-story house near Williamsburg, West Virginia, ablaze. Immediately after, Myers shot herself, authorities said.The children have been identified as Shaun Dawson Bumgarner, 7; Riley James Bumgarner, 6; Kian Myers, 4; Aarikyle Nova Myers, 3; and Haiken Jirachi Myers, 1.