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CHICAGO - Former Republican congressman and conservative radio host Joe Walsh says he's "seriously looking into" a primary challenge to U.S. Sen. Mark Kirk next year. He told Illinois Review he will decide within the next two months. Citing Kirk's lack of support for Jim Oberweis' 2014 challenge to Dick Durbin, Walsh told the Daily Herald: "As far as I'm concerned, he [Kirk] left the Republican Party." The usual political pontificators speculate that Walsh is merely looking to boost ratings, and will ultimately not run. "It's about him and promoting himself and promoting his positions. He's just not viable,” said...

Republicans voice support for Netanyahu congressional speech Top Republican leaders took to public and private channels Thursday to expose a coordinated campaign by the Obama administration to attack Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over his acceptance of an invitation to speak before Congress, according to conversations with multiple lawmakers and leading pro-Israel insiders. The statements, many of which were obtained by the Washington Free Beacon in conversations with leaders in Congress, come in the aftermath of a widely cited New York Times report in which Obama administration officials accused Netanyahu of breaking diplomatic protocol by agreeing to speak before receiving...

Egypt has offered to evacuate thousands of its citizens from Libya after Islamic State (Isis) released pictures showing 21 kidnapped Egyptian Christians paraded in orange jumpsuits. Egypt said it had no choice but take urgent measures on Friday with Isis expanding fast across Libya, its war-stricken neighbour. “We are helping them,” Cairo’s foreign ministry spokesman, Badr Abdelatty, said. “If they would like to come back from Libya, we are facilitating their return to their home country.” The Coptic Christian guest workers were kidnapped in Sirte, on Libya’s coast, by Isis units based there in two operations in December and January....

At first blush, it might seem that the White House has become unhinged over an appearance by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu before a joint session of Congress. After days of whining that Netanyahu’s appearance was not cleared with the White House, U.S. officials have taken to the press to anonymously screech and moan... ....... Ironically, the scuffle comes just after Iranian-backed Hezbollah terrorists killed two Israeli soldiers, reminding us that Iran is on the march throughout the region and that the Iranian government with which Obama hopes to achieve a grand reconciliation is committed to Israel’s destruction. UPDATE: In...

Ten Senate Democrats warned the White House in a letter Tuesday that they will support legislation imposing new sanctions on Iran if a framework to roll back the country’s nuclear program isn’t reached within two months. "In acknowledgement of your concern regarding congressional action on legislation at this moment, we will not vote for this legislation on the Senate floor before March 24," said the letter, led by Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.), who is the co-author of Iran sanctions legislation. "After March 24, we will only vote for this legislation on the Senate floor if Iran fails to reach agreement...

Everyone involved seems to be trying to put the best face on it, but Barack Obama went so far as to suggest senior Democrats like Sen. Robert Menendez (D-NJ), who take a hard line on Iran, are doing so purely to appease their donors. Obama said that as a former senator himself, he understood how outside forces — like special interests and donors — can influence senators to act, one of the senators recounted.

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- A heated exchanged between President Barack Obama and Sen. Robert Menendez (D-New Jersey) broke out Thursday over whether the U.S. should reimpose sanctions on Iran amid ongoing negotiations over the country's nuclear program, according to two senators who were in the room. Menendez, the leading Democrat pushing for additional sanctions against Iran, forcefully pressed Obama on the need for additional sanctions during a meeting in which Obama urged Menendez and other senators to drop their efforts to pass sanctions legislation. Additional sanctions, Obama argued, could torpedo ongoing negotiations over Iran's nuclear program. The unusually sharp exchange, between...

Menendez: Obama Admin Statements on Iran 'Sound like Talking Points Straight out of Tehran'

U.N. gives mixed signals on Tehran cooperation as nuclear talks intensifySenate Democrats on Tuesday backed away from a bipartisan push for immediate new sanctions on Iran, bowing to President Obama’s call not to undercut international talks to get Tehran to curb its nuclear programs in the coming weeks. The shift, announced Tuesday by Sen. Robert Menendez, the New Jersey Democrat and one of the party’s outspoken hawks on Iran, came amid a series of mixed signals from the U.N.’s nuclear watchdog agency over the question of whether Tehran was honoring promises to put its suspect nuclear programs on hold as...

Unless there is any doubt, the vast majority of Democrats value partisan support for a failed president over support for our own national security and for that of Israel. Hence, they want to delay once again a vote on the Menendez-Kirk bill imposing sanctions on Iran unless it agrees to an acceptable final deal. The bill was introduced more than a year ago. The timing just isn’t right, you see. Will it ever be? A letter by Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.) signed onto by Sens. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Gary Peters (D-Mich.), Bob Casey (D-Pa.), Ben Cardin (D-Md.),...

President Obama used his State of the Union address to urge Americans not to fear terrorists: “We lead best, when we don’t let our fears blind us to the opportunities that this new century presents.” But his words reached Americans when the Gallup Poll notes that 40 percent of Americans are very or somewhat worried that they will become a victim of terrorism — a higher percentage than when Obama took office in 2009. They have reason for concern. From Day One, this administration has downplayed the terrorist threat from Islamic extremists. It declared the terrorist attack at Fort Hood,...

Democratic Senator Dianne Feinstein of California says that inviting Prime Minister Netanyahu to address Congress during an Israeli election period is “highly inappropriate” and that imposing new sanctions on Iran at this time is “reckless and dangerous.” Feinstein’s statement to Haaretz comes against the backdrop of the growing backlash against Netanyahu’s upcoming March 3 speech to Congress, which is already causing some Democratic lawmakers to rethink their support for the Iran sanctions bill proposed by Democratic Senator Robert Menendez from New Jersey and Republican Senator Mark Kirk from Illinois. According to journalist Laura Rozen of Al-Monitor, Menendez is trying to...

Florida Sen. Marco Rubio is among a group of five Republican senators who introduced a bill this week that, if passed, would impose a travel ban preventing those in countries currently afflicted by Ebola from coming to the United States. A release on Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley's official website detailed the legislation. Rubio and Grassley are joined by Sens. Pat Roberts (Kan.), John Thune (S.D.) and Mark Kirk (Ill.). Under the proposed bill, people living in countries experiencing "widespread transmission of Ebola" as noted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention would be unable to acquire a visa to...

had a chance to sit down with Senator Mark Kirk (R-IL) this week, only days away from another P5+1 meeting in Vienna for the Nov. 24 Iran nuclear deal deadline. We sat in his Capitol Hill office just hours before a letter written by him and Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) and supported by 43 Republican senators was sent to the President warning him about bypassing Congress to strike a deal with the Iranian regime over the their nuclear agenda. Sen. Kirk has steadfastly opposed a deal with the Tehran and has worked together with a group of bipartisan lawmakers to...

A leading United States senator has warned that the Obama Administration is heading for confrontation with Congress over its refusal, as reported by the New York Times, to allow congressional approval of a final nuclear deal with Iran. In a statement to The Algemeiner, Mark Kirk (R-Ill.) declared: “By threatening to cut out Congress from the Iran nuclear deal, the Administration is actually uniting Congress. We will not support an Obama-Khamenei deal that condemns our children to a future where the Middle East is full of nuclear weapons.” After the signing of the Geneva Accord with Iran in November 2013,...

Remember these sixteen names when they run for office again. The sixteen Republicans who voted to proceed were Sens. Lamar Alexander (Tenn.), Kelly Ayotte (N.H.), Richard Burr (N.C.), Saxby Chambliss (Ga.), Tom Coburn (Okla.), Susan Collins (Maine). Bob Corker (Tenn.), Jeff Flake (Ariz.), Lindsey Graham (S.C.), Dean Heller (Nev.), John Hoeven (N.D.), Johnny Isakson (Ga.), Mark Kirk (Ill.), John McCain (Ariz.), Pat Toomey (Pa.) and Roger Wicker (Miss.). List courtesy The Hill.com. As reported by RedState yesterday, this bill would allow doctors to add a person’s name to the national database currently used for background checks, and list them as...

Speculation Builds on Michelle Obama Senate Run First Lady could be positioning herself for a run at Mark Kirk's seat in 2016 FLOTUS for Senate? It wasn't that long ago that such a slogan would seem absurd, but political wags are beginning to wonder whether Michelle Obama is mulling a run for Illinois Sen. Mark Kirk's seat in 2016. A Thursday column in Reuters suggests that Obama would be the only candidate with a large enough profile to unseat the Republican. The column also points to Obama's recent willingness to debate the merits of her school lunch program with Republicans,...

WASHINGTON, D.C., May 19, 2014 (LifeSiteNews.com) – In an era where political opinions that are not politically correct can get you blacklisted or worse, Bryan Kemper isn’t afraid to be visibly and outspokenly pro-life. Earlier this month, the activist – who heads up Stand True, the youth outreach for Priests for Life – proved it when he wound up sitting next to "pro-choice" U.S. Senator Mark Kirk, R-IL, on an airplane and used the opportunity to talk to the senator about abortion. LifeSiteNews caught up with Kemper last week to talk to him about the experience, and to ask him...

Frustrated with President Barack Obama’s reaction to Russian action in Ukraine, a group of Republican senators said Wednesday they will introduce legislation outlining a more muscular response. “What we’ve seen from the administration is a lot of rhetoric,” Sen. Bob Corker of Tennessee, the top Republican on the Foreign Relations Committee, said on the Senate floor Wednesday morning. The White House has been dealing “with the situation after something bad has already occurred,” he said. Earlier this week, violence flared up in another area of Ukraine that hugs the Russian border, as the new government in Kiev criticized local police...

The 60 Plus Association today released TV and radio advertisements in seven states targeting Senate Banking Committee Members who are sponsoring recently introduced legislation that will allow the government to take over the mortgage industry in an action 'disturbingly similar' to Obamacare. 60 Plus targeted three Democrat and four Republican U.S. Senators supporting this government take-over, including Joe Manchin (D-WV), Mark Warner (D-VA), Kay Hagan (D-NC), Mike Crapo (R-ID), Dean Heller (R-NV), Mark Kirk (R-IL), and Jerry Moran (R-KS).