Free Republic

Jeb Bush may have made his first notable gaffe of the 2016 presidential campaign, declaring in an interview that Americans need to “work longer hours” for substantial economic growth to return. The Republican presidential candidate was conducting a recorded interview with New Hampshire’s The Union-Leader and was answering a question about his tax plan, which he used as an opportunity to state his goals for economic growth. “My aspiration for the country and I believe we can achieve it, is 4 percent growth as far as the eye can see,” Bush said. “Which means we have to be a lot...

If elected to the White House, Mike Huckabee says he would use “all powers of the presidency to deny federal funding to sanctuary cities,” among other executive orders to stop illegal immigration. Huckabee, the former Arkansas governor running for president, said he would “use my pen and my phone to follow the Constitution” and sign executive orders. That includes:

Despite the recent Supreme Court ruling upholding ObamaCare subsidies, opponents of the law remain poised to strike a key blow against another component of the health care overhaul in a matter of months. Republicans, with help from Democrats, have gained momentum in their long-running effort to repeal the law's controversial 2.3 percent excise tax on medical devices. The House voted 280-140 to nix the tax, which went into effect in 2013, in June; the debate heads next to the Senate. While Republicans have tried dozens of times to unravel all or parts of the law through repeal legislation, this bill...

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell says there's not much Congress can do in the wake of the ruling by the Supreme Court legalizing gay marriage. In an interview Tuesday night on Kentucky television station WDRB, McConnell restated that he still holds to the traditional view of marriage. "I’ve always felt that marriage is between one man and one woman and the Supreme Court has held otherwise. That’s the law of the land," the Kentucky Republican said. When he was asked if there is anything Congress can do, he answered: "I don’t think so. I think the courts have pretty well...

Jeb Bush said Monday that the Confederate flag has become a "racist" symbol and applauded efforts to remove the flag outside the South Carolina State Capitol after a racially motivated church shooting. In his first campaign stop in South Carolina since the deadly shooting that killed nine at AME Emanuel Church in Charleston, Bush recalled how he "decided to do something politically incorrect" and removed the flags outside the Florida state house when he was governor in 2001. "The symbols were racist," the Republican presidential candidate said during a campaign stop at a pharmaceutical manufacturing plant.

Voting against the speaker’s reelection may have cost one Iowa Republican his seat. John Boehner has found ways to punish the fractious conservatives who have formed into a thorn in his side since attempting a coup at the beginning of the year. Through means both petty and significant, Boehner has made his displeasure felt while trying to lead the broader conference in a series of high-profile legislative fights. A number of rebel backbenchers have had their overseas travel curtailed and their committee posts threatened or even taken away. But the treatment of one lawmaker in particular stands out: Colleagues worry...

Backers of President Barack Obama’s trade agenda are imploring key senators to stand by their previous votes when they revisit the issue in a showdown set for Tuesday. Opponents meanwhile are mounting an equally emotional push to keep Obama from obtaining “fast track” authority to negotiate trade agreements with Pacific Rim countries and others. At least 60 of the Senate’s 100 members must back the measure for it to clear a procedural hurdle Tuesday and complete a near-miraculous resurrection of the White House priority. In a May 21 vote, 62 senators backed fast track, but they didn’t expect it to...

The recent cyber theft of millions of personnel records from the federal government was sophisticated and potentially crippling, but hackers with just rudimentary skills could easily do even more damage by targeting voting machines, according to security experts. In many cases, even the electronic ballots could be manipulated remotely, according to a new report. The report found that the AVS WINVote machines Virginia has used since 2002 have such flimsy security that an amateur hacker could change votes from outside a polling location. “This means anyone could have broken into the machines from the parking lot,” said Cris Thomas, a...

Former Gov. Mitt Romney (R-Mass.) said on Sunday that Republicans should not doubt the conservative credentials of possible GOP presidential candidate Jeb Bush. Romney argued that Bush, Florida’s former governor, would proudly represent conservative values should he seek the White House in 2016. “Governor Bush is a man of integrity,” Romney, the 2012 GOP nominee, told host Chuck Todd on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” “He has very strong record,” he said. “He doesn’t have to speak his way into conservatism, he’s lived conservatism.” Romney’s praise comes as Bush weighs an Oval Office bid next election cycle. He is expected to...

For years, when it came to presidential candidates, Wall Street made huge compromises in order to support the Republican Party. The money men in New York City set aside their socially liberal views in order to support fiscally conservative candidates because that was the only way to get on the same page as the GOP base. The result has been a series of candidates Wall Street's big donors didn't really want. It seems those donors are getting tired of that outcome.

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie faulted his party Wednesday for its unwelcoming tone at times to minority voters. In a speech to a Latino Coalition small business conference, the potential Republican presidential contender also boasted about getting 51 percent of the Hispanic vote in his re-election as governor. Christie portrays himself as the kind of Republican who can attract females, blacks, Hispanics and other voters who are normally drawn to Democrats. …

There are signs that liberals are making a comeback — and not just because a socialist is running for president, gay marriage is spreading like wildfire and pot legalization is gaining acceptance. A new analysis of Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll data finds a marked increase in the share of registered voters identifying themselves as liberals, and an even bigger drop in the share saying they are conservatives. In three national polls conducted so far in 2015, the analysis found that 26% of registered voters identified themselves as liberals — up from 23% in 2014. At the same time, the...

Nevada’s Republican governor, Brian Sandoval, secured an unlikely victory when the conservative state Legislature approved a huge tax increase at his urging as part of a plan to boost education spending. The $1.1 billion package raises taxes on businesses and cigarettes, and it makes permanent a $500 million bundle of temporary payroll and sales taxes. Sandoval’s win on Monday came on the last day of the legislative session, and the proposal’s fate had been in doubt until late Sunday when several skeptical Republicans in the state Assembly pledged support. The plan had faced vocal resistance for months, led by anti-tax...

Republicans in Congress and GOP presidential hopefuls are threatening tens of thousands of small business jobs by seeking to cut a little-known government agency that guarantees loans to help U.S. exporters, Hillary Rodham Clinton said Friday. Clinton said during a round-table discussion at Smuttynose Brewery that Congress should renew financing for the Export-Import Bank. She argued the GOP is risking up to 164,000 jobs supported by the bank. The Democratic front-runner said Republicans in the 2016 presidential campaign would rather threaten those jobs rather than “stand up to the tea party and talk radio.” …

Last week, I argued that Sen. David Vitter – the undisputed leader in this year's governor's race – should be nervous because of our electorate's long history of punishing frontrunners and promoting also-rans. (SNIP) Democrats have a clear choice: send Edwards into a runoff that he almost certainly cannot win – or back a moderate Republican, who could defeat Vitter. If Democrats have any power left in Louisiana politics, it is electing moderate Republicans. That's not a goal that will launch Democratic activists out of bed each morning but it's about all the power the party has left (in statewide...

Republicans are not keeping the campaign promise they made to voters in 2014 to halt President Obama’s “fundamental transformation of America,” conservative and Tea Party leaders charged in an open letter to Congress on Monday. On April 28, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) cited fast-track trade legislation and a bill requiring congressional review of the administration’s nuclear deal with Iran as the major accomplishments of the GOP-led 114th Congress so far. Earlier that month, Obama praised what he called “some outbreaks of bipartisanship and common sense in Congress” over Iran and trade. The president also said he was holding...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Top Republicans predicted on Sunday that both chambers of Congress would muster the votes to pass the "fast-track" authority sought by President Barack Obama to negotiate major trade deals, despite opposition from Obama's fellow Democrats. "Yes, we’ll pass it. We'll pass it later this week," Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell said in an interview with ABC. Republican U.S. Representative Paul Ryan said on CNN's "State of the Union" that he was confident the measure would also pass the House of Representatives. "We will have the votes," said Ryan, chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee. "We're...

MADISON (AP) — Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker tells a German audience that young people around the world will be stronger if a new trade agreement between the United States and the European Union can be reached.Walker made his comments Tuesday at the Hannover Messe trade show.A recording of his comments provided to The Associated Press shows the likely Republican presidential candidate voiced his support for the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership, or TTIP. Negotiations between the U.S. and EU began on it in 2013 but many Europeans remain skeptical over concerns about environmental protections, labor security and other issues.Walker referenced...

Thursday at his weekly press briefing, House Speaker Rep. John Boehner (R-OH) lashed out when a reporter asked if funding was an issue on the heels of this week’s tragic crash of an Amtrak train in Philadelphia, killing 7 and injuring hundreds.

House Republican leaders are unlikely to allow amendments to the Senate-passed Iran bill, bucking a clutch of conservatives who wanted to change the language, according to multiple sources familiar with internal planning. The move all but assures passage of the legislation when it comes up for a House vote, probably on Thursday. It was approved by the Senate last week, 98-1. GOP leadership expects to discuss its plans at a closed-door party meeting Wednesday. Members of the House Freedom Caucus, led by Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), are pushing for Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio), Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) and Majority...