Free Republic

President Barack Obama challenged the GOP to end political brinkmanship and said Republicans should "win an election" if they so badly wish to change his policies.

Oct 17 (Reuters) - Community organizations and non-profit groups that were supposed to help millions of Americans sign up for "Obamacare" are trying to manage mounting frustration with a federal website hobbled by technical problems. Dozens of these groups, known as "navigators," received federal grants to guide consumers through the government's Healthcare.gov website serving 36 states, which is meant to help the uninsured determine their eligibility for tax credits toward buying private coverage under President Barack Obama's healthcare reform law, known as Obamacare. The site is allowing only a trickle of users to advance through the enrollment process since its...

ELLISVILLE – Second-term state Sen. Chris McDaniel says he’s running for the U.S. Senate in 2014, a decision that likely pits him against longtime incumbent Thad Cochran in the Republican primary. Cochran turns 76 in December and is expected to announce late this year whether he’ll seek re-election to the Senate seat he first won in 1978. He has been raising campaign cash. The 41-year-old McDaniel announced his intentions Thursday in his hometown of Ellisville. Cochran served six years in the U.S. House before becoming the first Republican since Reconstruction to win a statewide office in Mississippi when he was...

That’s why Bullard says he refiled a bill that aims to, in his words, “tie up any loose ends that most Floridians are concerned about.” That includes explicitly defining that an aggressor is someone engaged in an overt act of violence, such as brandishing a weapon… “...but, it would also again switch up that aggressor language so that one could not be provoked and then upon provocation, choose to defend themselves. And, then the person who did the provoking is able to use deadly force—that little loophole is what led to the unfortunate acquittal of George Zimmerman,” he added. The...

Despite presiding over a chamber that nearly drove the country to a debt default, John A. Boehner still has the enduring support of a group that would’ve been most harmed by that event: the business community. Rather than revisit their strategy of supporting Republicans after this week’s near-disaster, influential organizations such as the U.S. Chamber of Commerce are standing behind Boehner. More importantly, Boehner’s friends in the business community are getting ready to take sides in a few Republican primary races against tea party candidates in Michigan, Idaho and Alabama who could cause the House speaker more trouble.

A bomb in a mosque killed a provincial governor Tuesday in the highest profile assassination in recent months, part of an intensified campaign to intimidate Afghanistan’s administration as it prepares for elections and the withdrawal of foreign troops after 12 years of war. The bomb killed Gov. Arsallah Jamal of eastern Logar province as he delivered a speech at the main mosque in the provincial capital of Puli Alam to mark the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha. The attack also wounded 15 people, five of them critically, said his spokesman, Din Mohammad Darwesh.

The heads of the world’s largest defense companies are working to reclaim their clout in Congress after failing to push lawmakers to tackle sequestration as part of an agreement to end the latest standoff. The announcement of the deal to reopen the government and raise the nation’s debt ceiling made clear just how far the industry has fallen in its influence on Capitol Hill. Addressing the Senate on Wednesday, Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) touted the accord as a victory for conservatives precisely because it continues sequestration, the automatic spending cuts that have hit the Pentagon and the sprawling defense...

In a revealing move, the Obama Administration has announced its intention to try captured al-Qaeda jihad terrorist Abu Anas al-Libi in federal court in New York City. Al-Libi, who was involved in the jihad bombings of American embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998, has been held for the last week and a half on a ship in the Mediterranean, but now he is on his way to the U.S., where his trial is certain to be an international media circus – and yet another exhibition of Obama’s thoroughgoing denial of the nature and magnitude of the jihad threat. Senator...

Democrats need to win 17 House seats in order to recapture control of the lower chamber in 2014. So can they do it? Let's take a look: ---SNIP--- The National Republican Congressional Committee has compiled a list of what they believe are the seven most vulnerable House members, whom they refer to as the NRCC Red Zone Democrats. And in three of those seven races this past quarter, GOP challengers out-raised their opponents by decisive (and impressive) margins ...Utah-04 Mia Love (R) $592,355 Rep. Jim Matheson (D) $278,540 Arizona-02 Martha McSally (R) $394, 880 Rep. Ron Barber (D) $318,584 West...

Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell has floated a proposal for a couple years now as a last-chance way to avert a crisis and allow the president to raise the debt ceiling without congressional approval, with Congress having the ability to strip that authority with a two-thirds veto – and that’s sort of what the bill to be voted on tonight provides for (see pages 24 ff. of the bill).Assuming it passes tonight, the debt ceiling will be suspended until February 7, meaning the treasury can borrow what it needs to fund obligations until then. Then within the next 14 days, the House and...

WASHINGTON (AP) — For the first month alone, the Obama administration projected that nearly a half million people would sign up for the new health insurance markets, according to an internal memo obtained by The Associated Press. But that was before the markets opened to a cascade of computer problems. If the glitches persist and frustrated consumers give up trying, that initial goal, described as modest in the memo, could slip out of reach. The Sept. 5 memo, for Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, lists monthly enrollment targets for each state and Washington, D.C., through March 31, the...

Capitol Hill talk regarding the Senate deal apparently includes a provision that would take away the Congress’ power to increase the debt ceiling. According to Politico, it looks like the buzz appears to be true.: The plan includes a proposal offered by McConnell in the 2011 debt ceiling crisis that allows Congress to disapprove of the debt ceiling increase, which means lawmakers will formally vote on whether to reject a debt ceiling increase until Feb. 7. Obama can veto that legislation if it passes. If Congress fails as expected to gather a two-thirds majority to override the veto, the debt...

<p>WASHINGTON — Congressional Republicans conceded defeat on Wednesday in their bitter budget fight with President Obama over the new health care law as the House and Senate approved last-minute legislation ending a disruptive 16-day government shutdown and extending federal borrowing power to avert a financial default with potentially worldwide economic repercussions.</p>

Freshman Sen. Ted Cruz, who has led the tea party wing of Republicans in Congress in their effort to defund Obamacare, is an intelligent and principled debater, says his old Harvard law professor Alan Dershowitz. Appearing Tuesday on CNN's "Piers Morgan Live," Dershowitz called the Texas Republican "one of the sharpest students I had, in terms of analytic skills. I've had 10,000 students over my 50 years at Harvard . . . He has to qualify among the brightest of the students."

Sen. Ted Cruz on the Air with Mark Levin!CLICK)

The US Senate has passed a bill to reopen the government and raise the federal debt limit, with hours to spare before the nation risks default. The Democratic-controlled Senate's bipartisan compromise won swift approval by 81 votes to 18. It will now be sent to the House of Representatives, whose Republican leadership has begrudgingly said it will support the measure. It comes hours before the deadline to raise the $16.7tn (£10.5tn) limit. President Barack Obama is set to speak shortly at the White House. The deal would extend the federal borrowing limit until 7 February and fund the government to...

WHAT AN ASS!!!!!!!!!!!

Rep. Ron DeSantis (R-FL), a member of the House Judiciary Committee, has called on House GOP leadership to be open and honest about their intentions with any forthcoming immigration bills before they come to the floor. DeSantis said House GOP leadership should promise that there will be no conference committee with the Senate’s “Gang of Eight” immigration bill, and that there should be no attempt to try to fix the Senate’s bill. “We should not go to a conference on the Gang of Eight bill for two reasons,” DeSantis said in a phone interview with Breitbart News. “One, I don’t...

(CNSNews.com) - Every business day since May 17, the U.S. Treasury has published a daily statement claiming that the federal debt subject to the limit set by Congress closed the day at $16,699,396,000,000—about $25 million below the legal limit. Monday, the Columbus Day holiday, according to the Daily Treasury Statement released today, marked the 150th straight day that the Treasury has said the debt subject to limit was stuck at $16,699,396,000,000. - See more at: http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/terence-p-jeffrey/150-straight-days-treasury-says-debt-stood-still-16699396000000#sthash.XHVWZwVZ.dpuf

Polls in today's U.S. Senate special election put Republican Steve Lonegan somewhere between 10 and 14 points behind Democrat Cory Booker as voters head out to cast their ballots. Booker, though his campaign has not been without its foibles, has succeeded in creating an air of inevitability surrounding the race and it remains to be seen if he can stay out in front of a hard charging Lonegan. Down by double digits with only hours to go before the polls close, here's what needs to happen for Lonegan to walk away with victory.

If the Republicans can muster enough intestinal fortitude to fight Immigration Reform that Nero is going to run with here are my suggestions in dealing with it. Use the President's own retoric against him. The first Presser should be today or Tomorrow with the following comments: We will not negotiate with Terrorists, we will not allow guns to held against our heads or be held hostage to pass anything containing Amnesty. The President Doesn't get to decide what Laws he follows and what ones he directs LEO to ignore. We will not bring up ANY legislation involving Immigration until the...

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) - Ted Cruz is decrying a deal brokered by his U.S. Senate colleagues to avert a default and reopen the government - but isn't planning a filibuster to derail it. In a statement Wednesday, Cruz slammed the Senate and Washington in general for not doing more to shield Americans from the nation's new health care law. But he also praised the House for its "bold stance" during the government shutdown and debt-limit fight.

Consider for a moment what will come next for Obamacare, in the context of Ezra Klein’s five thoughts on the disastrous launch of the program – a bellwether of sorts for obamacare-logo_fullhow the administration failed to live up to the expectations it sold to the law’s supporters and opinion leaders.There are a few different directions it can go from here, but the worst case scenario hasn’t really entered people’s consciences yet, in part because the insurers are staying quiet at the moment. The reality now is that the system is at least a month from actually working, and likelier two...

Grover Norquist isn’t happy with the Defunders. The Americans for Tax Reform president told reporters today that they have a lot of apologies to make and bridges to re-build. “It’d be a good idea if they stopped referring to other Republicans as Hitler appeasers because they opposed the strategy they put forward which failed,” Norquist says. “I think if you make a mistake as big as what they did, you owe your fellow senators and congressmen a big apology — and your constituents, as well, because nothing they did advanced the cause of repealing or dismantling Obamacare.” Norquist refrained from...

Just heard Boehner say this on the hourly news five minutes ago regarding the Senate compromise. Hey John, THERE HASN'T BEEN A VOT IN THE HOUSE YET. You are deciding we didn't win when you can still defeat this compromise which gives us NOTHING! Lead, help...or get the hell out of the way! If you pass this with the Democrates and a minority of Republicans you need to be out as the GOP leader and Speaker of the House tomorrow.

WASHINGTON, DC – House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) released the following statement regarding the bipartisan Senate agreement to reopen the federal government and avoid a national default: “The House has fought with everything it has to convince the president of the United States to engage in bipartisan negotiations aimed at addressing our country's debt and providing fairness for the American people under ObamaCare. That fight will continue. But blocking the bipartisan agreement reached today by the members of the Senate will not be a tactic for us. In addition to the risk of default, doing so would open the door...

The conservative Club for Growth announced Wednesday that it opposes the Senate deal that raises the debt ceiling and ends the government shutdown. It urged members to vote down the deal, and said it will punish members who support it on the Club's annual scorecard. "This announced plan, the details of which aren't completely known, appears to have little to no reforms in it. There are no significant changes to ObamaCare, nothing on the other major entitlements that are racked with trillions in unfunded liabilities, and no meaningful spending cuts either," the Club for Growth said. "If this bill passes,...

In light of a deal struck by Senate leaders to reopen the government and avoid default on the country’s debt, CNN’s Van Jones cheered what he viewed as a “humiliating defeat” for Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) who expressed his dissatisfaction with the compromise, while saying he would not take steps to block it. Jones appeared on CNN shortly after the Senate announcement along with his Crossfire co-host Newt Gingrich. Wolf Blitzer began by asking the former Speaker of the House if he would have voted for this legislation if he were still in Congress. “I have no idea,” Gingrich said,...

In Yom Kippur War anniversary speech, prime minister suggests that inaction on Iran is costlier than international opprobrium Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu offered a thinly veiled defense of a possible Israeli preemptive strike on Iran during a Knesset commemoration Tuesday of the 40th anniversary of the Yom Kippur War. In a speech to MKs about the war, in which Israel was surprised by a coordinated Arab invasion on the northern and southern fronts, Netanyahu explained that IDF soldiers who fought in the bitter battles of that war “saved us from paying the price of complacency.” “In the end we won...

Every time we have a congressional impasse over budgetary issues, we hear from liberals predicting Shutdown-mageddon. Why don't they ever join us in expressing concern over the inevitable financial collapse that will result from their policies? We always seem to hyperventilate over these mini-crises involving the temporary shutdown of small parts of the precious federal government, while we totally ignore the real financial catastrophe we're headed toward unless we begin to move in the direction Sen. Ted Cruz and other congressional Republicans are insisting on in these budgetary battles — defunding Obamacare, reining in spending, and reforming unsustainable entitlements. Indeed,...

FULL TITLE: 'Obama adviser Valerie Jarrett 'was the architect of President's handling of the shutdown because she was the one to tell him not to negotiate' Republicans have largely been blamed for the ongoing government shut down but a new theory points the finger at President Obama's longtime advisor Valerie Jarrett. Author Ed Klein believes that Jarrett was the 'architect' of the approach that President Obama has taken with the budget battle. The New York Post reports that Klein says that it was during a late-night strategy session that Jarrett held with the President in the residence where they came...

Streaming at link

The speaker is considering a vote on the Senate-brokered deal, even if conservatives object. Speaker John Boehner is considering letting the House take the initial vote Wednesday on a Senate-prepared bill to lift the debt ceiling and restart funding for the shuttered federal government--apparently even if House conservatives object. If they do object, it would mean Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and her House Democrats could become critical to its passage.

".......A day that was supposed to bring Washington to the edge of resolving the fiscal showdown instead seemed to bring chaos and retrenching. And a bitter fight that had begun over stripping money from the president’s signature health care law had essentially descended in the House into one over whether lawmakers and their staff members would pay the full cost of their health insurance premiums, unlike most workers at American companies, and how to restrict the administration from using flexibility to extend the debt limit beyond a fixed deadline.............."

<p>Klein — who wrote a provocative biography about Obama last year entitled “The Amateur” — said White House insiders refer to Jarrett as “The Night Stalker” because she is the only presidential aide who frequently spends time in the family quarters and dines with the Obamas.</p>

It's a new poll, but the numbers are much the same. An automated telephone survey conducted last month found 51 percent of potential West Virginia voters would pick Rep. Shelley Moore Capito over Secretary of State Natalie Tennant in the race for retiring U.S. Sen. Jay Rockefeller's seat. The poll found 34 percent of potential voters would support Tennant, while 15 percent are not sure who would get their vote. Pennsylvania-based Republican polling firm Harper Polling conducted the survey, which included 640 likely voters. The poll has a 3.9 percent margin of error. In a question directed only to potential...

PAYSON, AZ - Republican Rep. Brenda Barton of Payson compared President Barack Obama to Adolph Hitler on her Facebook page Monday in a post urging county sheriffs to revoke authority from the National Parks Service “thugs” who are enforcing the federal shutdown on national parks lands. “Someone is paying the National Park Service thugs overtime for their efforts to carry out the order of De Fuhrer… where are our Constitutional Sheriffs who can revoke the Park Service Rangers authority to arrest??? Do we have any Sheriffs with a pair?” she wrote. Fuhrer is a German term for leader that is...

Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) said Tuesday he would vote for a “clean CR” to end the government shutdown. “I’ll vote for a clean CR," Issa told CNN’s “The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer. “Republicans in the House have always been for a clean CR increase if it meant we began the serious negotiations on the kinds of reforms that need to happen…entitlements as a shortcut for it. That's what the deal is about right now.” Democrats have pressed Republicans to bring a continuing resolutio to the floor that funds the government and does nothing else for weeks. GOP leaders have...

We’ve written extensively of late regarding the widening divide between fiscally conservative Republicans and the “neoconservative” fiscally liberal wing of the party – led by U.S. Senators John McCain, Lindsey Graham and John Cornyn. In fact according to the website Mississippi PEP, they’ve censured him. For those of you unfamiliar with this aging RINO, Cochran is one of several Southern “Republicans” who habitually caves to U.S. President Barack Obama and congressional Democrats (along with Graham, North Carolina’s Richard Burr, Tennessee’s Lamar Alexander and Georgia’s Johnny Isakson). “When any official continues to engage repeatedly in a course of conduct that violates...

House Republican leaders are preparing legislation that would fund the government until Dec. 15, extend the debt ceiling until Feb. 7 and strike the health care subsidies that members of Congress, White House appointees and staff were set to receive under the new health care law, a GOP lawmaker said. Under the new House GOP proposal — the second one they proposed Tuesday — union workers would also remain subject to a $63 health insurance tax from which they had sought an exemption. The proposal also would give the House and Senate until mid-December negotiate a new, long-term budget. "The...

Lurking at the very bottom of Conn's summary of the House's (final?) counter-offer to the Senate is this intriguing nugget: If the bill passes, House Republicans may adjourn leaving Senate Democrats and President Obama with a final take-it-or-leave-it offer. First, "if the bill passes" is an open question, though it's sounding like House Republicans have mostly rallied around the Speaker's plan. They opened their meeting this morning by singing "Amazing Grace," then telegraphed their next volley. Whether they have the votes to pass it without any Democratic support -- Pelosi will likely whip hard against it -- remains to be...

Ex-ACORN operatives helping roll out ObamaCare By Perry Chiaramonte Published October 15, 2013 FoxNews.com A group formed from the ruins of ACORN is hard at work signing people up for ObamaCare, and may be collecting taxpayer cash for their work despite Congress' efforts to cut the organization and its affiliates off from government funding, a watchdog group charged. The United Labor Unions Council Local 100, a New Orleans-based nonprofit, announced last month it would take part in a multi-state "navigator" drive to help people enroll in President Obama's health care plan. The labor council was established by ACORN founder Wade...

Rep. Peter King, R-N.Y., is no fan of Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas. The New York congressman made it clear on Monday’s "Morning Joe" that he will work to stop Cruz and his allies in their tracks. “I’ve been speaking out against Ted Cruz and this whole crazy movement since it started,” King told MSNBC host Mika Brzezinski. King also said he thought that “there’s no doubt that the Democrats are winning,” and that President Obama needed to play “a more aggressive role” in the negotiations to reopen the government and lift the debt ceiling. King also warned that Cruz and...

On the House floor on Monday, Rep. Tom McClintock (R-CA) argued that President Barack Obama’s activities during the government shutdown over Obamacare are a sign to him that Obama would act nefariously to attack the full faith and credit of the United States of America by taking the country into a default in a debt ceiling crisis if the president does not get everything he wants in negotiations. “Given the ruthless and vindictive way the shutdown has been handled, I now believe that this president would willfully act to destroy the full faith and credit of the United States unless...

Philippine quake: All is now OK on the island of Cebu. The power just came back on. It was shake, rattle, and roll for about 30 seconds, as my porter, delivering beer, and I made a dash for the door. Fallen book case was only damage. Thanks to FReepers who mailed their concerns.

House Republicans will vote Tuesday on a more conservative version of the Senate fiscal deal that would include a delay of Obamacare's medical device tax and scrapping of subsidies for members of Congress and top Cabinet officials, lawmakers and aides said. The bill would modify an emerging Senate plan crafted by Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and GOP Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.), but retain that deal's extension of the debt ceiling through Feb. 7. It would also keep the Senate measure's plan of funding the government through Jan. 15 and immediately end the shutdown. That's a shift from last weekend,...

The basic framework of the deal Mitch McConnell and Harry Reid have hammered out is coming to light. The provision the GOP is crowing over — that the Obama Administration will check the income levels of those who receive a subsidy — is already the law. Meanwhile, the GOP will let the rest of the year proceed above sequester level spending, give the unions another carve out of Obamacare, and extend the debt limit to February. I’m sure at the last minute they’ll also delay the medical device tax so it looks like Harry Reid caved on something. Really, it’ll...

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) said Republicans have a chance to take back the majority in the Senate in 2014 only if the party boldly differentiates itself from Democrats. “I think 2014 can and should be a very good Republican year and I think if Republicans stand for principle, we’re going to win in 2014," Cruz said in an interview with David Brody of the Christian Broadcasting Network. Cruz argued that the 2006, 2008, and 2012 election cycles were "disastrous for Republicans," because in "all three of those cycles Republicans followed the philosophy of keep your head down, don’t rock the...

(CNSNews.com) - If Congress passes legislation deferring a decision on the debt ceiling and stopgap government funding, Republicans should anticipate another crisis in six to eight weeks, Rep. Peter King (R-N.Y.) said on Monday. "We have to anticipate Ted Cruz is going to try to do this again. Ted Cruz and 30 or 40 people in the House. And we have to start going after him by name. I've been doing it all along. I wish I had more company on it." King said "we just can't have" Republicans or Ted Cruz second-guessing the final outcome of the current stalemate....

The National Security Agency is harvesting hundreds of millions of contact lists from personal e-mail and instant messaging accounts around the world, many of them belonging to Americans, according to senior intelligence officials and top secret documents provided by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden.