Free Republic

President Obama at the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation Annual Phoenix Awards in Washington, 2011. The relationship between culture and poverty starkly divides not just liberals against conservatives, but also liberals against each other. Yet liberals rarely think through their disagreements publicly, even though — or perhaps because — they pit figures like Bill Clinton and Barack Obama against their own supporters. Ta-Nehisi Coates is an exception, having written a series of well-received columns (a year ago, a couple months ago, and then yesterday) objecting to President Obama’s regular habit of urging higher levels of personal responsibility in the black community....

Ryan said on William Bennett's talk radio show, "Morning in America," that there was a "tailspin of culture, in our inner cities in particular, of men not working and just generations of men not even thinking about working or learning the value of work."

This was an interesting statement made by the 2012 GOP vice-presidential candidate, equating school lunches to an “empty soul.” So one would think the anecdote, described by the National Review as “moving,” would be rock-solid. But the story seemed a bit pat.... ...It did not make much sense in part because [original sources] Schroff and Mazyck are partnering with a group called No Kid Hungry to help end childhood hunger in the United States. One key part of the program is connecting hungry kids with federal programs such as school lunches and food stamps. The group also opposed Ryan’s 2013...

House Budget Chairman Paul D. Ryan told his local newspaper that Republican leaders do not have the votes yet to pass a rewrite of the nation’s immigration system. “We don’t have the votes right now,” the Wisconsin Republican told his local newspaper, the Janesville Gazette, in an interview Monday. “Right now, we’re working hard to find where that consensus lies.” Ryan said both the right and left are holding up an overhaul. A poll of House Republican offices by CQ Roll Call found that just 18 members, including Ryan, publicly support the immigration principles Speaker John A. Boehner of Ohio...

A group of Catholic bishops, evangelical leaders and advocates pressured top House Republicans to vote this year on overhauling immigration in a series of private meetings on Wednesday. With legislation stalled in the House and prospects dimming, proponents argued that action is a moral imperative and offered the unique, united front of Catholics and evangelicals imploring the House to move ahead. Bishop Eusebio Elizondo of Seattle called it an "historic moment" and said they "reaffirmed that every day of delay, the consequences are separated families." The participants, who spoke to The Associated Press, said they received neither assurances of a...

Paul Ryan: 'Budget Isn’t a Serious Document; It’s a Campaign Brochure' 'This budget never balances—ever.' Daniel Halper March 4, 2014 11:55 AM Paul Ryan, chairman of the House Budget Committee, slams President Obama's budget in a statement released by his office. “The President’s budget is yet another disappointment—because it reinforces the status quo. It would demand that families pay more so Washington can spend more. It would hollow out our defense capabilities. And it would do nothing to preserve or strengthen our entitlements. The President has just three years left in his administration, and yet he seems determined to do...

Who’s likely to do well in New Hampshire’s 2016 first-in-the-nation presidential primary? It’s a preposterous question, here in 2014, but what the heck? We asked six experts to weigh in on some of the biggest political players. Our analysts are Wayne Lesperance, political science professor at New England College; Phil Boynton, president of the University of New Hampshire College Republicans; Peter Burling, Democratic national committeeman; Dante Scala, professor of political science at UNH; Jess Steever, vice president of the Plymouth State University Democrats; and Brandon Lemay, public relations officer for the PSU Democrats. Today, our panelists consider the Republicans. Tomorrow,...

Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin has a message for Donald Trump about BuzzFeed blogger McKay Coppins, and it's one that other Republican officials might heed when liberal journalists come looking to "humanize" them. "This nervous geek isn't fit to tie the Donald's wingtips," Palin told Breitbart News after Trump ripped Coppins for lampooning him with what he alleged were out-of-context quotes and boorish behavior at Trump's Florida resort. "Don't ever give him attention again."Coppins tricked Trump's advisers into thinking he would profile Trump as a potential "major" GOP 2016 presidential hopeful. As Breitbart News reported, the Jan. 5 email...

Under December’s budget deal, working-age military retirees — some of whom retire with pensions in their 40s after 20 years of service — would see those pensions grow at a slower pace. Their annual cost-of-living adjustments would be pegged to the rate of inflation minus 1 percentage point. But once they turned 62, they’d go back to receiving cost-of-living adjustments pegged to the full rate of inflation. The provision wouldn’t kick in until late next year, a delay Ryan says was designed to allow the House and Senate Armed Services Committees to consider alternative proposals for reining in the military’s...

There's been a lot of blathering about who the front-runner for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination is, and so far I've resisted taking part. But I guess I'm kind of curious: Is there much of a case to be made for anyone other than Paul Ryan? On the substantive side, Ryan sure seems like he's setting himself up for a run. There's his steady series of "unheralded" anti-poverty outreach trips that always manage to be just heralded enough to get sympathetic press coverage. He brokered a budget deal with Patty Murray that was businesslike and low-drama but didn't alienate the...

An immigrant-rights group on Tuesday escalated pressure on President Barack Obama to use his executive power to halt deportations — just days after he seemed to crack the door open on that option. The National Day Laborer Organizing Network filed a 41-page petition on Tuesday arguing that the administration has “extremely broad and virtually unreviewable discretion” on how to proceed with deportations. It urges Obama to shield undocumented immigrants who would “likely benefit from near-term congressional action on immigration” from deportation and grant them the ability to work in the United States. “Suspending the deportation of these individuals promotes the...

New momentum in Congress for a broad overhaul of border-control laws has prompted White House allies to demand that President Obama halt deportations of millions of illegal immigrants, many of whom would be allowed to remain in the country under a legislative deal. The advocates, including the AFL-CIO and pro-immigration groups, argue that Obama should use his executive authority to expand a 2012 decision that halted deportations of young people brought to the United States illegally by their parents. The administration’s aggressive approach to enforcement — which has resulted in nearly 2 million deportations during Obama’s tenure — makes little...

Democratic Sen. Chuck Schumer has held private talks on immigration with Republican Reps. Paul Ryan and Trey Gowdy. President Barack Obama’s emissaries have spoken with House GOP leadership about an overhaul. Speaker John Boehner and Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi have also chatted on the House floor about immigration. It sometimes seems like House Republicans are in their own universe when it comes to rewriting the nation’s immigration laws. But since late last year, key House Republicans have been meeting with House and Senate Democrats as they try to reach a deal. The talks haven’t led to any agreement on hugely...

Limit immigration or watch conservative efforts become irrelevant. People come to America because it is a remarkable oasis of freedom, prosperity, and opportunity. Conservatives recognize that the principal reason for our unique abundance is our constitutional restraint on the power of government. As Thomas Jefferson said, “In questions of power, let no more be heard of confidence in man, but bind him down from mischief by the chains of the Constitution.” Maintaining this system requires the public to support limited government. In a new report, Eagle Forum details how immigration is fundamentally changing the electorate to one that is much...

Days after House Republicans unveiled a roadmap for an overhaul of the nation's broken immigration system, one of its backers said legislation was unlikely to pass during this election year. Rep. Paul Ryan (R., Wis.) said distrust of President Obama ran so deep in the Republican caucus that he was skeptical the GOP-led House would pass any immigration measure. He said a plan that put security first could only pass if lawmakers believed the administration would enforce it - an unlikely prospect given Republicans' deep opposition to Obama.

Top House Republicans slammed President Obama’s embrace of executive action to move his agenda forward on Sunday, saying the president’s freelancing creates a trust deficit that makes bipartisan legislating more difficult. “We have an increasingly lawless presidency where he is actually doing the job of Congress, writing new policies and new laws without going through Congress. Presidents don't write laws, Congress does,” Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., told ABC. “Executive orders are one thing, but executive orders that actually change the statute, that's totally different.”

House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan, one of the top proponents for bringing a major immigration reform bill to the House floor this year, raised serious doubts about the likelihood of such legislation in remarks on ABC's This Week. Ryan also provided greater detail about how the GOP's approach might be structured. Referring to provisions to increase border security and interior security, Ryan said “those things have to be in law, in practice, and independently verified before the rest of the law can occur. So it's a security-first non-amnesty approach.” That statement is important because it implies key details about...

Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) confirmed on Wednesday that the House GOP’s principles on immigration reform would endorse giving legal status to undocumented immigrants. Ryan reiterated there would be no “special” pathway to citizenship for those immigrants, but said they would be able to apply for a green card after a long set of requirement were met. He did not, however, provide a timeline. The former vice presidential candidate said the principles would also outline a probationary work status those illegal immigrants would be initially defined under until the border is secure and a host of other requirements are satisfied. “That...

The nation’s economy won’t need additional immigrants for another 10 years, Rep. Paul Ryan told a friendly audience of Texas business executives. “We will have labor shortages in — not right now — but in the near future, in, say, a decade,” he predicted during a taped appearance at the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce in San Antonio. Paul’s admission may be a relief for GOP legislators, who are facing conflicting pressures on immigration from voters who are worried about jobs, from business donors eager for new low-wage workers, and from the Democrats’ 2014 campaign strategy of economic populism. The Jan....

Rep. Paul Ryan, a Republican from Wisconsin and former Republican vice presidential candidate, distanced himself from one of the most conservative leaders of his party and expressed reluctant support for one of its most embattled figures. At the San Antonio Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, Ryan took a swipe at Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, for not recognizing "reality" and, when pressed, expressed moderate support for Gov. Chris Christie, R-New Jersey. The chairman of the House Budget Committee and potential presidential contender in 2016 made the comments in a one-on-one conversation with Texas Tribune editor-in-chief Evan Smith on Thursday. ‘I wish Chris...