Free Republic

Sen. Marco Rubio said the government surveillance programs that leapt back into the news this week are subject to "intense congressional oversight," and represent a difficult balance of privacy issues and national security interests. He also suggested they are here to stay. "Much of what that program involves is classified," Rubio said in an interview Thursday with Florida reporters, referring to the report about NSA phone monitoring. "I'll tell you that program is part of intense congressional oversight. It's a program members are aware of and they get to review from time to time and see how it's being applied."...

The pro-Amnesty lobbyists who helped craft the Schumer-Rubio immigration bill included two "slush funds" amounting to $150 million. Millions of dollars will go to groups like La Raza, Casa de Maryland, and the American Immigration Lawyers Association.

Sen. Rand Paul said Monday that the immigration reform debate should be halted until Congress first understands what went wrong in Boston, where two brothers who came to the U.S. legally under the asylum program have been accused of the deadly bombings at last week’s marathon. The Kentucky Republican had given the immigration issue a big boost when he said earlier this year he supported taking action. But in light of last week’s bombings, Mr. Paul said things have changed. “The facts emerging in the Boston Marathon bombing have exposed a weakness in our current system. If we don’t use...