Free Republic

Republican members of Congress are criticizing Jeb Bush’s comments on immigration, highlighting the challenge he’d face in winning over the GOP’s conservative base in a 2016 presidential primary. The former Florida governor made headlines this weekend, when he said people coming to the U.S. illegally were doing so out of an “act of Bush’s comments at an event marking the 25th anniversary of his father’s presidency come as he is weighing his own bid for the White House, but they weren’t warmly received, even among Republican members who want to see the system changed. Rep. Raúl Labrador (R-Idaho), a conservative...

Former Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour defended Jeb Bush’s recent comments that some illegal immigration is an “act of love,” saying it’s very similar to what former President Ronald Reagan thought. “What people want you to do: Tell the truth,” Barbour said Tuesday at the LBJ Presidential Library’s Civil Rights Summit. “And if Jeb feels that way about it — it sort of reminds me of my boss, Ronald Reagan.” Barbour, who was an aide in Reagan’s administration described what the president used to call the “gates test” during a panel Tuesday with Democratic San Antonio Mayor Julian Castro. “Ronald Reagan...

Former Sen. Jim DeMint, the president of the Heritage Foundation, writes in his new book—“Falling in Love With America Again”—about the cozy relationship between big business and big government. “Almost all big corporations benefit from, advocate for, and downright like big government,” DeMint writes. […] “These big companies like to write regulations that make it harder for the smaller companies to compete with them,” DeMint said. “The large companies can deal with a regulatory maze much better than the small companies can. Like the big tobacco companies wanted the FDA to regulate cigarettes because they knew the smaller companies could...

Aimed at attracting the world's best and brightest, the US will soon come out with a series of policy initiatives and changes in the existing rules including allowing the spouses of H-1B visas to work in America. In a statement, the White House said that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) will soon publish several proposed rules that will make the US more attractive to talented foreign entrepreneurs and other high-skill immigrants who will contribute substantially to the US economy, create jobs, and enhance American innovative competitiveness. "These proposed regulations include rules authorizing employment for spouses of certain high-skill workers...

More than five years after U.S. governors began a bipartisan effort to set new standards in American schools, the Common Core initiative has morphed into a political tempest fueling division among Republicans. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce leads establishment voices—such as possible presidential contender Jeb Bush—who hail the standards as a way to improve student performance and, over the long term, competitiveness of American workers. Many archconservatives—tea party heroes Rand Paul and Ted Cruz among them—decry the system as a top-down takeover of local schools. The standards were developed and are being implemented by states, though Common Core opponents argue...

Last week’s GOP primary showed the continued strength of the Tea Party in Texas. But it also showed a weakening of another stalwart Republican demographic: the businessperson.First, a disclaimer: The results don't prove anything definitive. One election does not a trend make. And it's not hard to find people who say the state's business leaders still have a large role in Republican Party politics."I think the business community hasn't lost its voice," Rice University Political Science department chair Mark Jones says. "But its influence is much less then it was say 10 years ago." Last week’s GOP primary showed the...

Georgia's Republican Governor, Nathan Deal, seems poised to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat by strong-arming the legislature away from pushing a bill to withdraw completely from imposing Common Core education standards on the state's schools and toward implementing most of the Common Core policies this year. State Senator William Ligon (R-Brunswick) was the voice against Common Core's being forced on Georgia schools. In 2013 he led a coalition of citizens to try to pass a law that put a halt to the policies. Opposition to Common Core became so stiff that Governor Deal was forced to issue a...

It’s over. The 50th Annual Conservative Political Action Conference has ended, and it was everything I’d hoped and feared it would be. Once again, it wasn’t far from being great. I just wish it were. I look forward to it every year, and hate it while it’s happening. I’ve never thought much about why before, but this year, it hit me. It’s an opportunity that far too often is wasted. I’m a cynical person, always have been. So while that may be a part of this, it only clouds my attitude, not my thoughts. CPAC brings together thousands of conservatives...

If 2016 brings another Bush-Clinton matchup, not all famous last names are equal at the start. The latest ABC News/Washington Post poll makes clear why it’s better to be associated with the 42nd president than the 43rd and 41st, at least for now. The poll has plenty of good news for Hillary Rodham Clinton. Two-thirds of Americans say they’d consider voting for Clinton in 2016, and a full 25 percent say they will definitely support her. Again, among all Americans – not just Democrats, or Democrats and independents – one in four say they are fully on board for Hillary...

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), who has the lead among Tea Partiers in nearly every 2016 GOP presidential primary poll, opened CPAC on Thursday. Cruz said that conservatives can win elections when they draw a clear and sharp contrast between corrupt Washington and the American people, in a way that the GOP establishment has not been able to do. The potential 2016 presidential candidate noted that Washington is the wealthiest region in the U.S. and blasted the "corrupt interlocking system" of lobbyists, lawyers, and consultants that are "suckling off of Washington." . . . "If you want to lose elections, stand for...

The 2016 presidential election is Jeb Bush’s now-or-never-moment. As other potential GOP standard-bearers have been hit by scandal or seen their luster fade, many Republicans desperately want the former Florida governor to get in the race. His allies say he is considering it more seriously than ever before. They believe he could be their Goldilocks candidate: Not too conservative, not too centrist; not too dull, not too unpredictable; not too inexperienced, and not too marred by scandal. In fact, just right. But many of his greatest potential advantages could also be liabilities. The Bush name gives him a deep and...

The Chamber of Commerce and 635 big businesses, including Facebook, sent a letter on Tuesday to House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) urging "legislative action to seize this opportunity to fix our dysfunctional immigration system by enacting meaningful immigration reforms this year." Saying they are encouraged by the House GOP leadership's "immigration principles" that they consider "guideposts," the business organizations wrote that they are "united in the belief that we can and must do better for our economy and country by modernizing our immigration system." They also pressed for amnesty by writing about the need to respect "family unity.""Done properly, reform...

Saying the political landscape will not be more conducive to amnesty legislation in two or four years, U.S. Chamber of Commerce President Tom Donohue wrote on Monday that immigration reform must happen now. Donohue has previously said that the U.S. Chamber of Commerce would "pull out all the stops" to get immigration reform this year. The group reportedly plans to spend $50 million to blunt the influence of the Tea Party, largely because it opposes amnesty, and millions more to push for immigration reform legislation that the Congressional Budget Office has said would lower the wages of American workers.Donohue wrote...

Amnesty is being driven, among others, by big businesses claiming they cannot hire enough high-tech professionals. These are (or posture as) major donors to members of Congress. So these businesses are twisting arms on Capitol Hill. The compromise is that Democrats get amnesty for illegal aliens if business gets more high-tech foreign workers. However, in fact, there is no shortage of high-tech professionals in the USA. Businesses do not need immigration reform. On August 30, 2013, the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers published a review of this question in its journal Spectrum, titled "The STEM Crisis Is a Myth."...

United States Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) enters the final weeks of his reelection campaign with the backing of one of the nation's largest business lobbies. The senior senator from Texas received the endorsement of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Friday morning. "There's so much uncertainty about the policies emanating from Washington, D.C., whether it has to do with regulations or whether it has to do with taxes or whether it's new burdens that are placed on employers like Obamacare," Cornyn told media and supporters at the Austin headquarters of the Texas Association of Business. Cornyn faces renewed criticism by some...

Idaho Republican Mike Simpson’s influence with fellow members of Congress is what makes him a key player in this year’s election, U.S. Chamber of Commerce Senior Vice President Rob Engstrom said Thursday. Besides earning high marks on the chamber’s rating scale, Engstrom said, Simpson has the trust of dozens of men and women in Congress. That makes him valuable to the chamber, which can’t individually reach out to each member, Engstrom said. Simpson is being challenged in this year’s election by Idaho Falls Republican Bryan Smith, who has the endorsements of groups such as Club for Growth, The Madison Project...

The Chamber of Commerce will back Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) in his reelection campaign, helping him in his surprise primary against Tea Party-aligned Rep. Steve Stockman (R-Texas). ‎"Senator Cornyn is a conservative champion for the American free enterprise system. He has a proven record on issues important to the business community and has received a 90 percent lifetime voting record with the U.S. Chamber," Chamber National Political Director Rob Engstrom said in a statement. "The Chamber is proud to stand with him." The endorsement is the latest example of establishment conservative and business groups stepping up for Republicans facing right-wing...

GOP Sen. Kelly Ayotte (N.H.) on Sunday urged House Republicans to take up immigration reform, despite a “trust deficit” with President Obama. “Here’s the deal: The status quo is totally unacceptable,” she said on CBS’s “Face the Nation” with Bob Schieffer. “I think we should solve this. I think [Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio)] can find a way forward. Certainly, the bill that came out of the Senate was not perfect, but it was a good solution to a hard problem,” Ayotte continued. “I think it’s an important issue to solve – not only for the country, but for the Republican...

Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., delivered a stark demographic warning to his party on Saturday, predicting that Texas – a sizable electoral prize that Republicans cannot afford to lose in national elections – may tilt Democratic within 10 years if the GOP doesn’t broaden its appeal. “What I do believe is Texas is going to be a Democrat state within 10 years if we don’t change,” Paul told the Harris County Republican Party on Saturday, according to Politico. “That means we evolve, it doesn’t mean we give up on what we believe in, but it means we have to be a...

George P. Bush said on Tuesday that “it’s never too late” for Mitt Romney to take a leadership role in the immigration debate, but he acknowledged Republicans were outflanked by President Obama’s election-year decision to allow hundreds of illegal immigrants to remain in the country without fear of deportation. “Governor Romney had an opportunity to get in front of the president on the issue,” said Mr. Bush, 36, the son of former Gov. Jeb Bush of Florida. “But the president clearly has taken the initiative on it.” Mr. Bush, who is urging younger voters to increase their participation in the...