Free Republic

“I have learned to live with trash,” said fifth-generation Arizona rancher Jim Chilton.He saw his once-beautiful ranch, just a few miles from the border with Mexico, is now dotted with clusters of crushed trees and cactus, whole hillsides have been turned into charred eyesores, years worth of his award-winning conservation projects obliterated — and the whole thing is littered with trash, tons and tons of trash. And some of the trash was dead bodies. Chilton had the misfortune of settling in the path of what would become a dangerous drug- and human-smuggling route on the U.S.-Mexican border, parallel with the...

"The legislative cannot transfer the power of making laws to any other hands... The power of the legislative, being derived from the people... [is] only to make laws, and not to make legislators." — John Locke, “Second Treatise of Government”Here, however, is a paradox of sovereignty: The sovereign people, possessing the right to be governed as they choose, might find the exercise of that right tiresome and so might choose to be governed in perpetuity by a despot they cannot subsequently remove. Congress did something like that in passing the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, a.k.a. Obamacare. The point...

House Majority Leader Tom DeLay said yesterday that Republicans have done so well in cutting spending that he declared an “ongoing victory,” and said there is simply no fat left to cut in the federal budget. Mr. DeLay was defending Republicans’ choice to borrow money and add to this year’s expected $331 billion deficit to pay for Hurricane Katrina relief. Some Republicans have said Congress should make cuts in other areas, but Mr. DeLay said that doesn’t seem possible... Asked if that meant the government was running at peak efficiency, Mr. DeLay said, “Yes, after 11 years of Republican majority...

Rove, Palin Call 'Birthers' a Distraction February 18, 2011 Sarah Palin and former Bush adviser Karl Rove suggested this week Republicans should admit President Obama was born in the United States and move on. Rove, speaking Wednesday on Fox News, went so far as to suggest the Obama camp is trying to keep the "birther" issue going as a distraction. "We need the leaders of our party to say, 'Look, stop falling into the trap of the White House and focus on the real issues,'" he said. Palin, speaking in New York, called claims Obama was born in Kenya or...

A Kyl-less Arizona U.S. Senate race is a bit like the open race in Texas. There is a wide, deep bench of ambitious Republican talent -- John Shadegg, Jeff Flake, state legislators who have now run the place with supermajorities. So this is significant -- the Club for Growth is already urging Flake to make the race. (Conservative donors have, for years, floated the possibility of Flake challenging or replacing John McCain, who isn't up again until 2016.)

Rep. Jeff Flake will announce on Monday that he is running for the Senate seat being vacated by Jon Kyl, who said last week that he is retiring and will not seek reelection in 2012. Flake, who like Kyl is a Republican, is expected to make his announcement in Phoenix at 10 a.m. ET, The Arizona Republic reported Sunday afternoon. A six-term congressman who represents Arizona’s Sixth Congressional District, which includes Phoenix’s eastern suburbs, Flake is a member of the House appropriations committee. After Kyl announced his retirement on Thursday, eyes quickly turned to Flake. One source told POLITICO...

Following a contentious vote Tuesday night, the House Appropriations Committee will move forward with a GOP proposal to cut tens of billions in federal non-security spending for the remainder of the fiscal year (through September). The move puts Republicans one step closer to bringing a continuing resolution to the floor that will replace the one that expires on March 4. The 27-22 vote broke down by party, with two notable exceptions: GOP Reps. Jeff Flake (R., Ariz.) and Cynthia Lummis (R., Wyo.) joined with Democrats and voted ‘no’ in protest over cuts they viewed as insufficient. Republicans very nearly lost...

WASHINGTON (AP) - President Barack Obama is praising the House for passing legislation to end the Pentagon policy that bans gays from serving openly in the military. The legislation awaits Senate action now. The House passed the measure 250-175. Obama says the legislation permits a smooth transition from the Clinton-era 'don't-ask-don't-tell' standard. Obama says the legislation will give the military "the clarity and certainty it deserves."

Do the congressional Republicans get the message of the 2010 election? The House Appropriations Committee will be a key test. Rep. Jeff Flake (R., Ariz.) has been a thorn in the side of congressional appropriators — both Democratic and Republican — for years. That this “anti-earmark crusader” has been recommended for a seat on the House Appropriations Committee seems to be a clear indication that Republicans are listening to the American public’s concerns over wasteful spending by Washington. “I don’t see how you can view it any other way,” Flake tells National Review Online. “People expect us to go in...

The two Republicans who didn’t vote: Jeff Flake (AZ) and John Sullivan (OK). Here’s why: Flake had a “family conflict” (his daughter is reportedly in a beauty pageant in Alabama tomorrow) and Sullivan is undergoing alcohol treatment. FYI - Dem. Rep. Patrick Kennedy was pulled out of rehab to cast his vote.

Conservatives have warned of the disastrous economic effects of Barack Obama’s proposed cap-and-trade system and the massive burdens it will impose on American families. Republicans have derided it as a tax, and a particularly regressive one, that will force working-class earners to choose between heat, lighting, and food. In response, House conservatives have proposed … a carbon tax?

Top Dem: 'Don't be a Flake'By: Patrick O'Connor and John Bresnahan May 14, 2009 04:32 AM EST As the House prepared to vote this week on Republican Rep. Jeff Flake’s push for an ethics investigation involving Rep. John Murtha and other senior appropriators, Democratic leaders sent an unmistakable message to their members: “Don’t be a Flake.� That was the subject line of an e-mail that staffers for first- and second-term Democrats received Tuesday from Rep. Chris Van Hollen, assistant to Speaker Nancy Pelosi. The message said that Democrats would once again be “voting to table another Flake resolution� —...

SAN FRANCISCO — The 109th and 110th editions of the U.S. Congress debated and battled but never came up with a major immigration bill that its members could pass. Whether the 111th Congress will fare any better remains to be seen. In the first of what is likely to be many more salvos, a Chicago-area congressman will be touring the Bay Area this weekend, issuing a faith-focused call to make immigration reform a national priority — even as foreclosures, health care and urgent economic troubles vie for President Barack Obama's attention. Rep. Luis Gutierrez, an Illinois Democrat, is scheduled to...

Senator Mitch McConnell and Rep. John Boehner have a tough two years ahead of them. For the second election cycle in a row, conservative-leaning voters gave the Republican party an ultimatum: Shape up or ship out. And now the leaders of the GOP better deliver if they want 2010 to go any differently. They can start by changing business as usual in the House and Senate. In the House of Representatives, John Boehner should use his influence and leadership position to appoint Rep. Jeff Flake to the Appropriations Committee. Flake fans may recall the Arizona representative’s pursuit of an appropriations...

House Republicans installed Dallas Rep. Pete Sessions at the helm of their campaign arm (National Republican Congressional Committee) this afternoon, betting he can round up the cash and candidates they’ll need to climb out of a deepening hole in the next elections. That makes a pair of Texans responsible for GOP efforts to boost their ranks in both the House and Senate. On Tuesday, Sen. John Cornyn won the chairmanship of the Senate GOP campaign committee (National Republican Senatorial Committee - FR Thread) a coincidence that reflects Texas’ status as a mother lode of Republican votes and donors, an increasing...

Republicans are in position to play their once and future strong suit of limited government. Well, we Republicans have just made history. Not the type of history we wanted to make, mind you, but history nonetheless. Not only did we lose the White House but, after losing our House and Senate majorities in 2006, we followed it up Tuesday night with even steeper losses in Congress. In January, Democrats will enjoy lopsided congressional ratios not seen since the 1970s. Let's face it: We Republicans are now, by any reasonable measurement, deep in the political wilderness. The temptation for Republican members...

Now that Congress has a proposal before them to bail out beleaguered investment banks in the wake of the subprime mortgage fallout, there is one way to pump liquidity into the markets almost no one is talking about – cutting the financial obligations of these troubled firms by cutting taxes. That was one proposition Rep. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., suggested when he spoke to conservative bloggers at the Heritage Foundation in Washington, D.C. on Sept. 23. He was promoting his new grassroots activism Web site PorkParade.com. But even Flake, a staunch earmark reform crusader, admitted that issue is trivial compared to...

WASHINGTON – To his credit, Rep. Jo Bonner has done his best to embrace some on the hard right that are still a little bitter Rep. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) didn’t get the spot on the House Appropriations Committee. Bonner spoke at the Heritage Foundation’s Conservative Bloggers Briefing (yeah, I know – sounds like a wild party, huh?) a couple of weeks ago and explained that although he isn’t the absolutist Flake is, who wants to eradicate all earmarks – taxpayer money designated specifically for certain areas by Congress, he is the “quiet reformer.” “I had a reporter question me, ‘Why...

House Republicans have been taunting Democrats for turning down their offer to eliminate spending earmarks, and Democrats reply that the GOP isn't serious. The Republicans seem intent on proving that Democrats are right, as GOP leaders showed last week in denying Arizona's Jeff Flake a seat on the Appropriations Committee...

Presidential candidate John McCain's sweeping victories on Super Tuesday revealed what could be a post-partisanship era in politics. Republican voters across the country turned away from the party's more conservative candidates and selected the Arizona senator again and again in primary contests from New York to California. The ultraconservative radio talk show hosts, bloggers and newspaper columnists simply didn't resonate with the party's majority members - the soccer moms and NASCAR dads who never attend precinct meetings, but showed up on election day. Whether those high-profile opinion givers like it or not, McCain is their man. Rep. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz.,...

Make It Jeff Flake! Help Fight Pork: Support Rep. Flake for the Appropriations Committee "With Roger Wicker being named a United States Senator, there is an opening on the Appropriations Committee for the U.S. House of Representatives. The Republicans get to fill the seat. The Republican leadership has a great opportunity to prove that it is serious about earmark reform and a conservative approach to spending. It's time to put some action behind their rhetoric." --RedState: The Road to Recovery Begins with Jeff Flake on Appropriations "In four terms in Congress, Mr. Flake has never sought a special bridge, courthouse,...

This is a powerful opportunity for the Republican Leadership in Congress to prove they are serious about returning to an agenda of limited government principles. Rep. Flake has made a name for himself on the Hill for his stalwart stand against the practice of earmarking. He has never offered a single earmark, and consistently puts the spotlight on Members who do through his weekly “Egregious Earmark” press releases and frequent speeches on the House floor to call out members of both parties for wasting the taxpayers’ money. Jeff Flake is serious about reining in spending and has done an incredible...

State. Rep. Russell Pearce -- a Mesa Republican and a conservative firebrand in the immigration debate -- has formed an exploratory committee for a possible Congressional run. Pearce -- who favors tighter immigration controls -- is eyeing a possible challenge of U.S. Rep. Jeff Flake, R-Mesa. Flake has been a proponent of the business-backed guest worker program and federal immigration reforms that include a legal path for undocumented migrants already in the U.S. Pearce opposes such reforms and is a key advocate of a new state law that calls for revocation of business licenses if employers are caught knowingly hiring...

House of Corruption? By Robert D. Novak Monday, August 13, 2007; A11 With the midnight hour approaching on Saturday, Aug. 4, near the end of a marathon session, Democratic and Republican leaders alike wanted to pass the defense appropriations bill quickly and start their summer recess. But Republican Rep. Jeff Flake's stubborn adherence to principle forced an hour-long delay that revealed unpleasant realities about Congress. Flake insisted on debating the most egregious of the 1,300 earmarks placed in the defense money bill by individual House members that authorize spending in their districts. Defending every such earmark was the chairman of...

A piece of literary criticism entitled “Honor In A Noir Universe” summed up the role of Congressman Jeff Flake in our current U.S. Congress. Its author, C.S. Thompson, writes crime novels for a living and articles in noir webzines for personal enjoyment. He may write extensively about evil people, but his piece describes perfectly the dilemma of Congressman Flake, one of Washington’s last good men. C.S. Thompson’s article header quotes another critic’s description of the Noir Hero. "That is the noir character. Alone, a loner in a world he knows he can’t fix. Alone in a world that has turned...

WASHINGTON -- With the midnight hour approaching Saturday Aug. 4 near the end of a marathon session, Democratic and Republican leaders alike wanted to pass the Defense appropriations bill quickly and start their summer recess. But Republican Rep. Jeff Flake's stubborn adherence to principle forced an hour-long delay that revealed unpleasant realities about Congress. Flake insisted on debating the most egregious of the bill's 1,300 earmarks placed in the Defense money bill by individual House members that authorize spending in their districts. Defending every such earmark was the chairman of the Defense Appropriations subcommittee: Democratic Rep. John Murtha, unsmiling and...

Sensing a major shift in the political winds, Rep. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) is zeroing in on groups that receive earmarks to help businesses win even more federal dollars. And he’s not making any exceptions: Flake’s targets include a pet project of Appropriations Committee Chairman David Obey (D-Wis.).

Plan would grant temporary legal status to millions and offer a path to citizenship.WASHINGTON -- Bipartisan legislation to be unveiled today in the House of Representatives would offer temporary legal status to millions of undocumented immigrants but would require them to leave the country before they could be eligible for permanent residency and U.S. citizenship. The bill by Reps. Luis Gutierrez, D-Ill., and Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., is the first major immigration legislation to be introduced in the current session of Congress, as lawmakers address the status of more than 11 million immigrants in the country illegally. A comprehensive Senate immigration...

March 21, 2007 Yesterday, Congressmen Jeff Flake (R-AZ) and Luis Gutierrez (D-IL) held a conference call with reporters in which they announced their intention to introduce a "comprehensive immigration reform" bill on Thursday. There were few substantive details released at that time, but sources tell us that at the very least, the bill will contain some sort of amnesty provision for illegal aliens currently in the United States. This morning, CongressDaily reports that Congressmen Flake and Gutierrez, who had been participating in negotiations with Senators John McCain (R-AZ) and Ted Kennedy (D-MA) about the components of a new immigration bill,...

Citing the WSJ, Stephen Bainbridge asks "Did the K Street Gang learn nothing from the drubbing it took in 2006?" Apparently not: One big test of a new minority is to draw the right lesson from its drubbing at the polls. House Republicans have a long way to go, judging by House Minority Leader John Boehner's decision this week to punish Arizona's Jeff Flake by tossing him off the Judiciary Committee. The offense? Porkbusting. Mr. Flake should be getting a promotion to the leadership, given how prescient he was in warning his colleagues about the perils of their run-amok "earmarking."...

HAVANA -- International diplomacy is the art of mixing tact with patience, and both are in abundant supply as a 10-member delegation of U.S. lawmakers concluded its second day of meetings in this balmy seaside city. Beginning with breakfast at 8 o'clock with a group of European ambassadors stationed here and concluding almost 12 hours later with a strategy session back at the hotel, the lawmakers are learning firsthand that establishing a rapport with Cuba requires painstaking delicacy. "Diplomacy can be testing and testy," said Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-Far Rockaway), a member of the House International Relations Committee. "[Interim leader]...

HAVANA - (AP) -- Cuban officials told a group of visiting U.S. lawmakers that Fidel Castro does not have cancer or a terminal illness in the most comprehensive denial yet of rampant rumors about the ailing leader's health, the head of the U.S. delegation said Sunday. U.S. Rep. Jeff Flake, an Arizona Republican, said Cuban officials did not provide further details on the 80-year-old leader's health, but did say he will eventually return to public life. ''All the officials have told us that his illness is not cancer, nor is it terminal, and he will be back,'' Flake told The...

Weekend Talk Show *Preview* for 6/24 and 6/25/06 (not the live thread)The main message is the Sunday Shows.  Message 1 will be the Saturday Shows and message 2 will be the show guest links post.  Then I'll post the ping list.Sunday Shows for 6-25-06 ABC This Week (George Stephanopoulos) Meme: What is wrong with these Democrats?  We hand them the election on a silver platter and they just screw it up!Bush has had two good weeks - it's time to bring out the big guns and knock that fool down a peg Topics: Iraq Withdrawal?: In a pair of exclusive...

BACK on the F-Bar Ranch, when I was too young to load the chute, de-horn, vaccinate, hold a hot iron or otherwise make myself useful as my father and older brothers branded calves, I would spend my time collecting "earmarks" — V-shaped pieces of a calf's left ear detached with two swift strokes of a pocketknife. I would stack these earmarks on the fence surrounding the corral as an unofficial tally of our progress. Well, the more things change, the more they stay the same. Here I am in Congress, again being asked to collect earmarks. Sorry. I've had enough...

RUSH: Try this headline in the Boston Globe today: "GOP Embracing its Maverick." I said, "Oh, is the GOP getting friendlier with McCain?" Then the subhead says, "Tough Race Makes Chafee an Asset." You know, this Specter experience is a mistake. Why do you keep repeating history here? "Senator Lincoln Chafee hopped out of the driver's seat of his beige Toyota Prius..." I was really hooked after that line. "Senator Lincoln Chafee hopped out of the driver's seat of his beige Toyota Prius, a car with a dent on the side and 'I am electric' blazoned across the back window,...

In all my years in politics, I've never sensed such anger and frustration from our volunteers -- those who do the hard work of door-to-door mobilization that Republican candidates depend on to get elected. Across the nation, wherever I go to speak with them, their refrain is the same: "I can't tell a dime's worth of difference between Republicans and Democrats." Our base rightly expects Republicans to govern by the principles -- lower taxes, less government and more freedom -- that got them elected. Today, with Republicans controlling both the legislative and executive branches of the federal government, there is...

Last week we suggested that cancellation of $25 billion in pork projects -- euphemistically known as "earmarks" -- in the recently passed Highway Bill would be a good first step to offset some of the cost of rebuilding the infrastructure in New Orleans and along the Gulf Coast. The idea of a pork-for-reconstruction swap had already been denounced as "moronic" by a spokesman for Don Young of Alaska, Chairman of the House Transportation Committee and proud father of the now-infamous $223 million "bridge to nowhere" near Ketchikan. Since then the White House and Congressional Republican leadership have been acting as...

A roll call vote was held this afternoon in the U.S. House of Representatives for bill H.R. 3673, which is intended to provide "further emergency supplemental appropriations to meet immediate needs arising from the consequences of Hurricane Katrina, for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2005, and for other purposes." The full text of H.R. 3673 is available here. The bill passed with a vote of 410-11, with twelve representatives not voting. Of the eleven who voted against the bill, all were Republicans of a more fiscally-conservative, libertarian philosophy. Below are the names of the eleven Republicans who voted against...

...The Republican Party remains deeply divided over immigration, with supporters of agriculture and business lined up against those who say increasing the flow of foreign workers would crowd Americans out of jobs and undermine national security. President Bush and other Republican leaders have made immigration a key issue in hopes of attracting Hispanic votes. The issue is quietly smoldering in districts throughout the country, making it harder for Congress to ignore. snip... Bush is wrestling with how best to handle the divisive issue. During his first term, he publicly supported the expansion of federal guest-worker programs, which included protections for...

HAVANA (AP) - Two Republican lawmakers promised Thursday to try to ease U.S. restrictions against Cuba, saying tourism and trade can do more to undermine Fidel Castro's hold on the country than current U.S. policy. Rep. Jeff Flake of Arizona said he will attempt to get Congress to eliminate funding for enforcement of the U.S. travel ban against Cuba, allowing more Americans to travel to the communist island. "I don't think that the for the next four years we can maintain this policy," Flake told a group of international journalists. Referring to America's four-decade old policy of isolating Cuba, Flake...

Arizona Congressman Jeff Flake, who represents the state’s Sixth District, today blasted an earmark contained in the omnibus appropriations bill for fiscal year 2005, which Congress passed late last year. The $150,000 earmark is for the GRAMMY Foundation, the music appreciation wing of the Recording Academy which distributes the yearly GRAMMY Awards. “A song by the name of ‘Here We Go Again’ won the GRAMMY for Record of Year last night,” said Flake. “After finding out today that Congress kicked in $150,000 to the GRAMMY Foundation, I’m thinking the same thing. Congress simply cannot control its appetite to spend taxpayer...

‘Everything on table’ GOP plans cuts, reforms, to tackle budgetary woes By Alexander Bolton and Sam Dealey House Republicans hope to enact a host of measures aimed at curbing what both centrist and conservative lawmakers decry as runaway federal spending. Emerging from a rare members-only “mandatory” two-and-a-half-hour conference called yesterday to deal with mounting budget concerns, Speaker J. Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) told reporters: “Nothing is sacred in this business. Everything is on the table.” Although Hastert didn’t say so, several initiatives under consideration would curb the power of the Republican leadership as well as House appropriators and authorizers. These initiatives...

President Bush's immigration initiative has sparked a great deal of discussion across the country. Perhaps the most interesting debate centers on whether the president, in announcing the initiative, has embraced conservative principles or abandoned them. I believe a temporary worker program is consistent with conservative principles, and here's why. First, conservatives value national security, and the status quo encourages anything but national security. The presence of 8 million to 12 million illegal aliens within the confines of our borders should prompt the type of reform the president has suggested. President Bush's proposal will ensure smarter border enforcement by redirecting resources...

Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge's expression of support for giving legal status to immigrants drew congressional criticism Wednesday but heartened advocates. At a town hall meeting in Miami, Ridge said the country needs to "come to grips" with an estimated 8 million to 12 million illegal immigrants and "determine how you can legalize their presence." He also said during a visit to Florida on Tuesday that the immigrants should not be rewarded citizenship. Asa Hutchinson, undersecretary for border and transportation security, said Wednesday in Miami that Ridge's comments simply reflected the debate in Congress on immigration. "Secretary Ridge addressed it...

<p>WASHINGTON - Three Arizona lawmakers brought several local community organizers to Capitol Hill on Wednesday to show that widespread grass-roots support exists for their bill to create a nationwide guest-worker program that would include legalizing scores of undocumented immigrants.</p> <p>The groups, mostly representing Hispanic immigrants, hailed from as far away as California and as nearby as the District of Columbia. They included organizations such as the Bangladeshi American Federation here; the Society of Honduran Residents in Oakland.; and the Dallas-based Mexican Professionals Abroad. In Arizona, the Tucson Chamber of Commerce and others have endorsed the bill.</p>

<p>Moderate Republican state lawmakers better watch their backs come next year. The same for Democratic Gov. Janet Napolitano in 2006.</p> <p>A nationally based group of fiscal conservatives hopes to use "big money and hardball politics" to change the face of government in Arizona.</p>

<p>Despite his home state's often-combative relationship with Mexico, a U.S. senator from Texas is pushing hard for greater rights for millions of Mexicans living and working illegally in the United States.</p> <p>Speaking in Mexico City on Friday, Republican John Cornyn said it was "past time" for his colleagues in Congress to consider legislation making some form of guest-worker program a reality.</p>

WASHINGTON -- Members of Arizona's congressional delegation introduced a proposal to dramatically reform immigration law, shifting the focus from enforcing borders to creating a regulated, market-driven flow of immigrant workers. The sponsors -- Sen. John McCain, Rep. Jim Kolbe and Rep. Jeff Flake, all Republicans -- admitted passing the legislation in this Congress will be difficult, but McCain suggested those unwilling to budge on reform should see the human consequences of inaction. "They're so far from the desert of Arizona that they don't see the concern or urgency that we do, where today some innocent person is dying in the...

<p>Conservatives in the House have major concerns about the chamber's Medicare prescription drug bill, expected to come to the floor tomorrow, and some say it would be better to join with Democrats to defeat the measure rather than to pass it as written.</p>

<p>The National Institutes of Health continues to fund sex studies despite protests from members of Congress who say projects such as paying women to watch pornography take taxpayer dollars away from potentially lifesaving research.</p> <p>The critics' latest target of outrage: $26,000 in federal funds for a conference on sexual arousal next month at the Kinsey Institute in Bloomington, Ind.</p>