Free Republic

Soon, the Senate will be voting on the nomination of Alejandro Mayorkas to be the number-two official at DHS. This nomination needs to be opposed because he had a "get to yes" philosophy at USCIS that has led to increased fraud and endangered national security and because he is being investigated by the Office of the Inspector General for pressuring adjudicators to approve flagged EB-5 applicants with political connections. Mayorkas is a political appointee who simply cannot be trusted with an important and influential job at DHS. Please call your U.S. Senators and urge them to vote against cloture when...

Revolutions are breaks from the norm; like a hand grenade in a room, their results are unpredictable. The ordinary coup in a third world nation is not a revolution, but rather the norm in power transfers. In a coup, the base rules of thuggary are unchanged, whereas a revolution requires a rewrite of the rules, usually with unintended results. This week, the US Senate opened the door to revolution by suspending decades of tradition regarding Presidential Advise and Consent. While the immediate results are clear – left-wing courts and agencies – nobody who voted to abolish Cloture likely understands the...

"...As Majority Leader Harry Reid orchestrated the change in the rules governing executive nominations and lower-court appointments, his opponents cried tyranny, though they also promised that when they took power they would go further, applying the new standard to Supreme Court nominations. In other words, tyranny—but we promise we'll give you more of it. The new rules fit with that kind of Senate. ...Whoever is ultimately at fault for the rule change—the Democrats who forced it or the Republicans who blocked the nominations requiring the new rules—the result is that the minority will have less power. That means elections will...

......Sen. Carl Levin (Mich.), one of just three Democrats who opposed his colleagues’ naked power grab, read those words on the Senate floor Thursday after Reid invoked the nuclear option. The rumpled Levin is not known for his oratory. But he is retiring next year and free to speak his mind — and his words were potent. “We need to change the rules, but to change it in the way we changed it today means there are no rules except as the majority wants them,” Levin said. “This precedent is going to be used, I fear, to change the rules...

Would you vote for cloture on a clean debt ceiling increase? What I’ve consistently said is that if they bring a continuing resolution at the levels, the spending levels that President Obama signed — and Harry Reid, and I think it was 45 Democrat senators voted for — the only other thing I would at this point require is you have to attach to that an amendment that would make sure that Congress and their staff does not get unequal treatment under the law. Under Obamacare. In other words, a rejection of that Office of Personnel Management ruling that grants...

Who says Senators don't listen to constituents....oh wait they don't!

Last week, Republicans in the House of Representatives, under great pressure from their constituents, came together and passed a Continuing Resolution (CR) to fund the federal government, but which disallowed any funding for ObamaCare. This afternoon, Republicans the U.S. Senate betrayed their House colleagues and their constituents by voting to send the CR back the House with funding for ObamaCare. The critical vote today was a procedural vote - on cloture - to end debate and proceed to votes on amendments and passage of the bill. Ending debate requires 60 votes, meaning that the 46 Republicans in the Senate have...

Sen. Ted Cruz refused point-blank to endorse his Texas Republican colleague Sen. John Cornyn in his upcoming reelection bid at an event here Friday. “I think it is very likely I’m going to stay out of all incumbent runs,” Cruz responded, when posed with an endorsement question at the annual Texas Tribune festival. Moderator Evan Smith, the head of the Texas Tribune, said that the junior Texas Republican’s failure to endorse Cornyn had inspired tea party activists to call for Cornyn’s head. “You could put a stop to this,” Smith said of grassroots unrest. “Endorse him right now. Will you...

Lindsey Graham takes the American people for fools. After voting to shut down debate on the continuing resolution, thereby allowing Harry Reid to strike the provision to defund Obamacare, Lindsey Graham had the gall to tweet this: Lindsey Graham ✔ @GrahamBlog I proudly voted to #DefundObamacare and am proud every Senate GOPer united in support of the House-passed #DefundObamacare provision. 1:34 PM - 27 Sep 2013

Since John Cornyn voted for cloture (I haven't seen definite news on this, so someone correct me if I'm wrong) despite the expressed wishes of his constituents- and there is still time to file to run against him in a primary.... Since Tom Delay no longer has the cloud of political prosecution hanging over his head.... Let's ask Tom Delay to file in the primary against John Cornyn so that we can have *two* articulate, conservative, and *effective* senators from Texas!

Defund "The ObamaCare SCAM" We need the Best info on the likely *Schedule* as this goes back to the US House. Having the best info on the *Schedule* allows us to get people involved in activism, and to keep their interest. We need ideas for Signs and Slogans.

Today, I proudly voted to Defund Obamacare, and I am proud that every Senate Republican has united in support of the House-passed Defund Obamacare provision. I only wish that more Senate Democrats, many of whom were responsible for Obamacare’s passage into law, would have voted with us. (NOTE: The amendment to remove the Defund Obamacare provision, which passed the House, was defeated by the Democrat-controlled Senate by a straight party-line vote of 44-54.) With Democrats in control of the Senate, we needed Democrats to join with the American people who want Obamacare stopped in its tracks. Based upon the Democrats...

Press Release of Senator Cruz Cruz: Vote Latest Example of Washington Not Listening to the People Contact: press@cruz.senate.gov / (202) 228-7561 Friday, September 27, 2013 WASHINGTON, DC -- U.S. Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) released the following statement regarding today's vote in the Senate to invoke cloture on H.J. Res. 59: "Today's vote by Sen. Harry Reid and the Senate Democrats to fully fund Obamacare was yet the latest example of Washington not listening to the people. "Obamacare is a 'train wreck,' a 'nightmare,' to use the words of its Democratic author and a union leader who previously supported the bill....

Senator Ted Cruz and the rest of his “defund” crew have consistently said that a vote for cloture on the House-passed spending bill is akin to a vote for Obamacare. But unfortunately for them, the much-anticipated votes are in and the news isn’t great. As it happens, the Senate voted, 79-19, to end debate on the spending bill all but guaranteeing that the provision explicitly defunding Obamacare will be stripped -- and the amended bill eventually kicked back to the House of Representatives. Twitchy breaks down what just happened in simplistic and easy-to-understand terms: There were many Republicans in the...

Senate just came into session. Happily, Dingy Harry is sparing us any commentary early on this morning, as is McConnell. Debate goes until 12:10, at which time there is 30 minutes reserved for majority and minority leaders , then the vote. Will there be any more GOP intramural fireworks on the senate floor?

The top Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee said Friday that he supports Sen. Ted Cruz’s strategy for defunding Obamacare. Sen. Charles Grassley, Iowa Republican, said via Twitter that he will vote against a parliamentary procedure, known as “cloture,” that would bring an end to the debate over a House bill that would keep the government running beyond the end of the fiscal year and withhold funding for Obamacare.

-snip- Cruz turned the tables on Corker, saying the Tennessee senator’s vote on cloture on Friday will align with Democrats. Cloture is the procedure to bring a debate to a close, allowing a vote to take place. “Why is Majority Leader Harry Reid going to vote the same way you’re proposing to vote? Why is every Democrat in this chamber going to vote the way you’re proposing to vote?” Cruz asked.

South Carolina senator explains his planned vote on GOP-backed resolution that looks to defund ObamaCare, fund the government

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Roy Blunt (Mo.) released the following statement regarding the House-passed continuing resolution (CR): "In the House and Senate, I've repeatedly voted to defund, repeal, and delay President Obama's health care law. I believe there is growing evidence that it will not work. "This week, I'll continue that fight by supporting the House-passed continuing resolution, which defunds ObamaCare and keeps the government open without increasing federal spending. I will vote to begin debate on this bill and move to final passage on the House-passed CR. I will also vote against any attempts by the Majority Leader...

-snip- “Any Senator who votes yes (on Friday’s cloture vote) is voting to give Harry Reid the power” to fund Obamacare. “That vote is the fight. Vote no on cloture.” The Senator repeatedly called tomorrow’s cloture vote which would make it possible to pass funding for Obamacare “Harry Reid’s cloture vote.” Cruz was not shy in saying that all 46 Republicans were not on board — and that there were some, although he named no names or numbers, who were considering voting with Reid. This is the vote that counts, he said. The “cloture on the bill — vote no,”...