Free Republic

This week there is the likelihood that we will be presented with a new spending proposal from the Biden administration, meant to cement his overreaching agenda. This will be the effort to both spend heavily on infrastructure and domestic economic plans, as well as establish the green energy pipe dream Biden and his cohort Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez have planned. This new spending plan will be divided into two prongs as it promises to be so large that the term "omnibus" will be rendered quaint upon its reveal.This is a proposal, unseen at the moment, that already is being veiled with euphemisms,...

Joe Scarborough used to be a Republican congressman from the conservative Florida panhandle. But after years of inhaling in the liberal miasma of the Upper West Side-Connecticut burbs-Nantucket corridor, in 2017 he quit the GOP. Could his dream now be to return to Congress . . . this time as a born-again Democrat? The question arises after Scarborough, on Monday's Morning Joe, said: "Oh my God: I would love to be a Democratic congressman!" Granted, Scarborough did so in the context of saying a Democrat could put together a good 30-second ad or stump speech in 2022 based on what...

Sen. Chuck Schumer speaking at a press conference in Manhattan on March 7, 2021. Sen. Chuck Schumer speaking at a press conference in Manhattan on March 7, 2021.Daniel William McKnight MORE ON: CORONAVIRUS IN NY Why restaurant closures hit this NYC neighborhood the hardest Gov. Cuomo’s top lawyer Kumiki Gibson departs administration ‘Panic in the room’: Ex-NYC Health chief speaks out on de Blasio’s handling of pandemic De Blasio reveals ambitious vaccine plan for homebound seniors in city The $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief package passed by the US Senate wipes out New York State’s projected budget deficit — possibly negating...

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is facing dissent in her caucus ahead of Tuesday’s vote to confirm the passage of the $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief bill. With the Democrats’ slim 221-211 House advantage, Pelosi can afford no more than four defections in the vote scheduled for Tuesday. But two members of her caucus, Reps. Marcia Fudge of Ohio and Deb Haaland of New Mexico, could be confirmed to Biden administration posts as soon as Wednesday. That could further amplify gripes coming from Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and other left-leaning House comrades after some of their major initiatives were stripped out of the...

In the old Soviet Union, the average party members were known as apparatchiks. The higher ups of the Communist party were called the "nomenklatura." They held the top positions and did as they pleased. There would be "rules" but they didn't apply to the nomenklatura. A clinical dissection of the Soviet system, in which a group of managers and bureaucrats (some 1.5 percent of the population) are engaged in ceaseless political maneuvering among themselves while maintaining total power, as a privileged class, over all the others. We have a privileged class. They're referred to as democrats, but they are our...

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...

Guess she’ll have to take the bus. Funding for a rail project near House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s California district that Republicans denounced as wasteful was removed Tuesday from President Biden’s $1.9 trillion COVID-19 stimulus bill. The Senate parliamentarian ruled the $140 million appropriation wasn’t allowed under the so-called Byrd rule that polices unrelated items in budget reconciliation bills. Republicans singled out the rail project as an example of unrelated “pork” in the bill, which is being rammed through Congress without Republican support using special rules that allow a simple majority vote in the Senate. On Tuesday, Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.)...

It should be clear by now that the COVID relief package is little more than a gigantic giveaway to special interests that are loyal to the Democrats and bailouts for mismanaged blue states. The House approved their version of the bill in the early hours of Saturday morning, cynically choosing to keep it out of sight of the American people and to hide Republican opposition to what will be a budget-busting boondoggle of epic proportions. With the bill now headed for the Senate, much of the contents will be ignored by the media or cloaked in the guise of ‘racial...

Subsidize something — get more of it. Expect the Biden economy to have additional unemployment, increased poverty, and lower incomes for a longer period.resident Biden’s plan for federal coronavirus relief resembles the American Recovery Reinvestment Act (ARRA) signed by President Obama after the 2008 financial crisis. It uses several federal agencies to separately distribute financial assistance to persons unemployed, in poverty, or otherwise with low incomes, on top of the dozens of programs already in place. Predictably, it will result in a disappointing economic recovery as long as it lasts. The plan includes a $100 weekly unemployment bonus, on top...

Americans should be appalled by both the substance and the process of the latest COVID relief bill passed by Congress. Our founding fathers intended for our country to be a constitutional Republic, where locally elected leaders would gather and through a process of careful deliberation and thoughtful debate arrive at decisions of nationwide importance. They would neither recognize nor respect a system where Congressmen and Senators are given a few hours to decide whether to vote for or against a 5,000 plus page proposal that they could not possibly even read, much less reflect upon. There’s no doubt that Americans...

President Trump had supporters waiting in the wings to fight for him and for the American people. Now, the swamp has gotten exactly what it wanted.There is no way to sugarcoat it. The Washington establishment — and the big-spending congressional appropriators, lobbyists, and bureaucrats who comprise it — jammed through a massive “omnibus” spending package and combo COVID-19 relief bill with a price tag of more than $2.3 trillion.President Trump was correct to initially balk at the absurd spending but did so despite the fact his team negotiated much of it while demanding additional direct payments to Americans. Unfortunately, notwithstanding...

President Donald Trump signed a $900 billion pandemic relief package Sunday evening Read President Trump’s entire statement below: As President of the United States, it is my responsibility to protect the people of our country from the economic devastation and hardship that was caused by the China Virus. I understand that many small businesses have been forced to close as a result of harsh actions by Democrat-run states. Many people are back to work, but my job is not done until everyone is back to work. Fortunately, as a result of my work with Congress in passing the CARES Act...

Trump had refused to sign a Covid relief bill until Congress raised the amount of money paid to everyday Americans. President Trump on Sunday night signed a $2.3 trillion federal spending and COVID relief bill, averting a government shutdown and ensuring millions of Americans continue to get unemployment benefits. Despite his misgivings about wasteful spending and low stimulus payments in the bill, Trump said he signed the legislation because “I have an obligation to protect the people of our country“ from further economic devastation. He said, however, “more money is coming” as Congress votes this week on larger checks. The...

Sen. Pat Toomey (R-Pa.) on Sunday urged President Trump to sign the coronavirus aid package that has passed Congress, warning the president’s legacy is at stake. “You don’t get everything you want, even if you’re president of the United States,” Toomey said on “Fox News Sunday.” “I think the COVID relief measures are really, really important.” “In my state, as in many other states, we have governors who are closing down businesses again,” he added. Toomey called it a “hopeful sign” that Trump has not yet vetoed the bill passed by Congress, even as he has demanded larger direct payments...

The 5,593-page government funding bill that includes the COVID-19 stimulus legislation also includes a section outlining the reincarnation and succession of the Dalai Lama. The legislation includes some notable sections that are not directly related to government funding or the pandemic.Section 342 of the bill outlines a "statement of policy regarding the succession or reincarnation of the Dalai Lama." Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama, currently resides in exile in India after escaping from Tibet in 1959 amid a revolt against Chinese governance. Tibet was occupied by China in 1951 and incorporated as part of the East Asian nation.

Someone dies after years of alcohol abuse. His younger brother having witnessed this, is well-known not to drink. If that younger brother does something you find odd, would it be funny to joke about the possibility that, denials notwithstanding, the younger brother does indeed drink? Of course not. It would be exploiting a family tragedy for a tasteless joke. But because Joe Scarborough found Pres. Trump's comments on the Covid-relief package "full-blown crazy," he said: Because Scarborough found this "full-blown crazy," he joked, a smirk on his face [see screencap]: "Are we sure? Are we sure, he doesn't drink? I...

Mr. McConnell took issue with the sheer number of times the new House bill mentions marijuana and criticized its requirement that the government study diversity within the nation’s cannabis industry, signaling the package is unlikely to fare well if considered in the Senate. “The word ‘cannabis’ appears in the bill 68 times. More times than the word ‘job’ and four times as many as the word ‘hire’,” Mr. McConnell complained. “Maybe it’s best if House Democrats focus on cannabis studies and leave economics to the rest of us,” he said on the Senate floor. “This is a totally unserious effort.”