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Earlier this month, the United States Chamber of Commerce handed out its annual "Spirit of Enterprise" awards to those members of Congress who voted with the Chamber 70 percent of the time on its most important legislative initiatives of 2008. The only four Republican senators who did not receive the award were Jon Kyl, Jeff Sessions, Jim Inhofe and me - four of the most conservative members of the Senate. What were the conservative offenses? We opposed the failed bailouts and stimulus. Which explains why many liberal Democrats scored higher, including Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton. The Republican who...

Sen. Jim DeMint tells Newsmax that Americans who backed Barack Obama are suffering from “a little buyer’s remorse” now that they see his administration’s agenda taking the U.S. toward socialism. The South Carolina Republican — the only U.S. senator to get a perfect score this year from the Conservative Political Action Conference — also said that universal healthcare is the “last thing we need.”

April 15, 2009 - Greenville, SC - During the campaign, Barack Obama said that if I voted for John McCain, America would be stuck with George W. Bush's third term. Well, I did … and he was right. For Barack Obama, after promising for two years to bring change to Washington, has only maintained and accelerated the worst aspects of the Bush economic program. Bush gave us the Wall Street bailout, known as TARP; Obama is working his way through TARP II and has recently proposed TARP III: The Financial Stability Plan (“Just when you thought it was safe to...

As strange as it sounds, one of the greatest threats to individual liberty in the United States is an obscure legislative tactic called "earmarking." As you probably know, earmarks are provisions individual senators or representatives drop into congressional spending bills to fund specific projects, usually in their home state or district. Members of Congress insert these provisions to circumvent the usual process by which executive branch agencies decide how to spend the funds Congress gives them. Earmarks are the means by which low-priority projects are funded in favor of higher-priority projects: you could call it affirmative action for pork. Earmarks...

One of the greatest threats to the security of the United States is not from a military, but from a psychology of denial. It is the Sept. 10 mentality that minimizes the threat posed by jihadist terrorism and rejects the idea we are even at war at all. According to this thinking, suicide bombers, their leaders and financiers are nothing more than street-corner criminals; a problem for our criminal justice system, not our armed forces. A quick look at terrorism in the 1990s exposes the inadequacy of the Sept. 10 mindset. In 1993, the World Trade Center was bombed. In...

CBNNews.com - WASHINGTON - The Serve America Act, named for Massachusett's Senator Ted Kennedy, is an effort to increase volunteerism. But some lawmakers say its patriotic name that hides a dangerous agenda. . . . . . "I think what we're going to see is secular causes, political causes being supported with this program," Sen. Jim DeMint R-SC told CBN News. "But you won't see this money running through faith organizations, because of this line that we've created: what we call church and state." DeMint expects organizations to emerge that counter efforts of Christian charities and for money to start...

(Senate Floor - March 24, 2009) Mr. President, I wish to speak for few minutes on the Serve America Act. I think this is a great opportunity to talk about what is good about a lot of the Members of the Senate. I certainly appreciate and applaud the sponsors of this bill for their good intentions and know their hearts are in the right place. Some of my best friends are supporting this bill. But I think, as we look at what is good about the hearts of many Members of the Senate, we need to recognize this bill does...

(CNSNews.com) - The U.S. Senate is poised to approve a dramatic expansion of the AmeriCorps national community service program. Conservatives who oppose the measure say it is an attempt to greatly expand government’s role in providing community services by replacing charitable volunteers with paid government workers. Senators voted 74-14 Monday to take up the Serve America Act, legislation that would more than triple the size of the AmeriCorps program over the next eight years, expanding its current 75,000 positions to 250,000. Last week, a similar bill that would add 175,000 participants to the program passed in the House by a...

WASHINGTON — South Carolina politicians are moving to try to block any transfer of suspected terrorists from the Guantanamo detention center ordered closed by President Barack Obama to the U.S. Navy brig at Charleston, S.C. On Thursday, Sen. Jim DeMint, R-S.C., became a sponsor of a bill that would prohibit the use of federal funds for such a transfer, while in Columbia, S.C., the South Carolina House of Representatives passed a measure asking President Obama and Congress not to move Guantanamo detainees to the state. "Guantanamo Bay is home to the most hardened and battle-tested terrorists in the world," DeMint...

BITELY: Thank you Senator DeMint for dropping by NetRight Nation. Can you tell us about the meaning of the 3 Senate Republicans that flipped and sided with Senate Democrats on the "Stimulus" vote? DEMINT: Glad to be here Adam and thank you for giving me this opportunity. Blogging is a very important aspect of the Movement and I appreciate all of the work that you and other bloggers do. The three Republicans that went into the negotiations with the Democrats did not represent the Senate GOP. They represented themselves. They played the GOP for fools. The belief that centrally planned...

It's time for the grassroots conservatives gathered at the Conservative Political Action Conference to again lead the fight for the principles of freedom that have propelled America to greatness. "Sometimes it is said that man can not be trusted with the government of himself. Can he, then, be trusted with the government of others? Or have we found angels in the forms of kings to govern him? Let history answer this question." ~ President Thomas Jefferson, First Inaugural Address, March 4, 1801 There has been a constant battle throughout history between those who wish to control others and those who...

'People have to show that they're not going to take it anymore.' BY DREW ZAHN Sen. Jim DeMint, R-S.C., a staunch opponent of the federal government's increase in size and spending legislated by President Obama's stimulus package, has issued a call for Americans to stand up – literally – and take back their freedom. "I would think it's time to start thinking about peaceful demonstrations," DeMint said in an interview with Georgia's Augusta Chronicle. "The power of the people is there. Freedom is in the people's hands right now, and it's about to slip through." DeMint lobbied his fellow Senators...

Their fight against Obama stimulus plan grabs GOP attention. BY WAYNE WASHINGTON One is a junior U.S. senator from a small, conservative state. The other is a governor and former congressman known for sleeping on his couch in Washington and bringing pigs to the state Capitol to protest what he saw as pork-barrel spending. Jim DeMint and Mark Sanford are major political players in South Carolina, but they have been blips on the national political screen. Both men were among the most vocal and prominent opponents of the federal stimulus package that President Barack Obama could sign into law as...

COLUMBIA, South Carolina (CNN) -- When a debate as important -- both in terms of policy and politics -- as the one currently rolling around our nation regarding the president's "stimulus" plan takes place, emotion often takes precedence over fact. Words are ripped out of context, motives ascribed where none may exist, political strategies implemented with limited regard for actuality. This, then, is the playing field we step onto -- as it has long been. But, as those in South Carolina have often heard me say, it is important to disagree without being disagreeable. So let's take a clear-eyed look...

Legislation will protect families, charities and small businesses from regulations and lawsuits that could kill thousands of jobs. Today, U.S. Senator Jim DeMint (R-South Carolina) announced the introduction of a bill protect small businesses, charities and families by reforming the Consumer Products Safety Improvement Act of 2008 (CPSIA). Senator DeMint’s legislation would stop the most overreaching and burdensome aspects of CPSIA, slated to take effect February 10. Unless reformed, the new law will demand onerous testing for anything geared towards children age 12 and under. This mandate would fall on books, toys, clothing, hair bands, board games, sporting equipment, backpacks,...

Republican Sen. Jim DeMint proposed an amendment Thursday to overturn a provision in the stimulus bill that prohibits renovation funding for schools that allow religious worship in their facilities. BY CRISTINA CORBIN Republican Sen. Jim DeMint proposed an amendment Thursday to kill a provision in the Senate stimulus bill that prohibits renovation money for schools that allow religious groups to meet on campus. DeMint proposed the amendment after the provision was passed in the Democratic-controlled House despite unanimous Republican opposition. The amendment is expected to be voted on Thursday, an aide to the senator told FOXNews.com. DeMint and others who...

WASHINGTON - Sen. Jim DeMint and Gov. Mark Sanford urged members of the Senate on Wednesday to reject President Barack Obama's economic-stimulus bill, as DeMint introduced a rival measure he said required only tax cuts. Sanford, in Washington for a Republican Governors Association meeting, asked Republican senators at a Capitol Hill lunch convened by DeMint to follow the lead of House Republicans who voted against the $819 billion stimulus measure last week. The bill passed the House by a 244-188 margin without a single Republican vote. It would bring South Carolina $3.2 billion, including a $905 million to eliminate a...