Free Republic

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."...