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Todd and I were proud to stand with Mark Levin and other bold, patriotic warriors in support of Steve Lonegan in the New Jersey Senate race! Mayor Lonegan fought the good fight, and he and his supporters have not “finished the race,” they’ve just begun! The press has now called the race for Barack Obama’s celebrity stand-in, Cory Booker, but rest assured that Steve fought gallantly for every vote that would have led to American solvency and exceptionalism. Steve is a lucky guy to have a strong New Jersey wife and two great daughters who supported him through this campaign....

It's official: Obama has won and conservative Republicans have lost. The US Senate just approved legislation to end the so-called government shutdown and raise the debt ceiling. The bill funds the government through January 15th, raises the debt cap, give back-pay to furloughed workers, and has only two tiny crumbs of concessions that essentially do nothing. The first is that Obamacare will verify the income of those signing up for it, but as the website and program itself is so riddled with junk, that'll likely never happen. The second bit of nothingness is that a bipartisan budget committee will form...

The Associated Press has declared Newark Mayor Cory Booker the winner in Wednesday's special U.S. Senate election. Booker defeated former Bogota Mayor Steve Lonegan, a Tea Party Republican, to serve out the remainder of the late Frank Lautenberg’s term. Although the race was close early on, Democrats were quick to declare Booker the winner. Only 40 minutes after polls closed at 8 p.m., the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee was declaring victory. A short time later, state Sen. Barbara Buono, who is running against Governor Christie in the Nov. 5 election, offered her congratulations to Booker.

The US Senate has passed a bill to reopen the government and raise the federal debt limit, with hours to spare before the nation risks default. The Democratic-controlled Senate's bipartisan compromise won swift approval by 81 votes to 18. It will now be sent to the House of Representatives, whose Republican leadership has begrudgingly said it will support the measure. It comes hours before the deadline to raise the $16.7tn (£10.5tn) limit. President Barack Obama is set to speak shortly at the White House. The deal would extend the federal borrowing limit until 7 February and fund the government to...

The legislation released by the Senate late Wednesday to reopen the government contains several surprises. The bill includes extra funds to fix flooded roads in Colorado, a $3 million appropriation for a civil liberties oversight board and a one-time payment to the widow of Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.), who died over the summer. It also includes a more than $2 billion increase in funding for construction on the lower Ohio River in Illinois and Kentucky. Current law authorizes $775 million in spending for related projects, and the bill increases it to $2.918 billion. The Senate Conservatives Fund quickly called that...

Breitbart News has obtained a legislative summary of the provisions in the Senate deal to reopen government and extend the debt ceiling. Breitbart News has also obtained a copy of the legislative text. Currently, Senate staff are able to review the summary and legislative text in the Senate cloakroom, but aren't allowed to retain a copy or make it public. In the interest of transparency, we have included the document below. [8 page document] As expected, the deal provides full back-pay for furloughed federal workers who haven't been at work for two weeks. It also provides back-pay, though, for state...

Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul endorsed Republican Greg Brannon for North Carolina’s marque U.S. Senate race, giving the Cary physician’s low-profile campaign a huge boost. “I enthusiastically endorse Greg Brannon for U.S. Senate because he’s a true constitutional conservative who will join me in fighting against business as usual in Washington,” Paul said in a statement Wednesday morning released by Brannon’s campaign. “Americans are looking for leaders who will honor their oath of office by fighting to ‘protect and defend’ the Constitution and Greg is the clear choice for conservatives in North Carolina.”

Down by double digits with only hours to go before the polls close, here's what needs to happen for Lonegan to walk away with victory. 1. Lonegan needs huge turnout among conservative Republicans. 2. Moderate Republicans need to engage. 3. Voters in the Urban Centers need to stay home.

It's been one of the biggest questions leading up to today's special election for US Senate, how many people would actually turn out to vote?

Urges House Not to Accept Deal and Receive Nothing in Return WASHINGTON, D.C.— The Tea Party Patriots today blasted the deal by Senate Democrats and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell. “The Ruling Elites in Washington, D.C. have completely abandoned the American people,” said Jenny Beth Martin, National Coordinator for Tea Party Patriots. “The deal cut in the Senate does NOT protect the American people from this unfair and unworkable law.’ “The Senate deal is a complete sellout. Speaker Boehner and the House should stand firm and reject this deal to reign in the Executive branch’s power before it is too...

On the brink of a national default, the leaders of the Senate struck a deal Wednesday to reopen the federal government and extend its power to borrow money. The House appeared ready to go along — and end, at least for now, the crisis in Washington. Sen. Harry Reid, the Democratic leader, said on the Senate floor at midday that his party and Republicans had found their way to a compromise to “provide our economy with the stability it desperately needs” and avert financial disaster. His Republican counterpart, Sen. Mitch McConnell, offered his blessing: “This is far less than many...

Despite no evidence in financial markets of a default, House Speaker John Boehner (RINO-OH) will bring the Senate clean Continuing Resolution (CR) to The House floor for a vote. The endless spending and debt growth in Washington DC will continue now that the Senate has turned over the power of pursestrings to The President (once House Republicans agree). Obamacare was already a tremendous transfer of power and control to the Executive Branch, and now capitulating to President Obama gives the Executive Branch overwhelming power and control. In order to honor our career politicians in Congress and the Administration, the Washington...

WASHINGTON — Senate leaders reached agreement Wednesday to avert a threatened Treasury default and reopen the government after a partial, 16-day shutdown, according to a Republican senator who also said the House might vote first on the plan to speed its approval.

OK, please educate me here-- How can this even be happening, constitutionally, when all fiscal bills MUST ORIGINATE in the House?

We’ve written extensively of late regarding the widening divide between fiscally conservative Republicans and the “neoconservative” fiscally liberal wing of the party – led by U.S. Senators John McCain, Lindsey Graham and John Cornyn. In fact according to the website Mississippi PEP, they’ve censured him. For those of you unfamiliar with this aging RINO, Cochran is one of several Southern “Republicans” who habitually caves to U.S. President Barack Obama and congressional Democrats (along with Graham, North Carolina’s Richard Burr, Tennessee’s Lamar Alexander and Georgia’s Johnny Isakson). “When any official continues to engage repeatedly in a course of conduct that violates...

Senate staffers were notified by the Disbursing Office on Tuesday that they will need to enter the D.C. health care exchange, regardless of their state of residency, and will lose their employer contribution if they do not enter the D.C. exchange, according to a memo obtained by CQ Roll Call. Some Washington, D.C.-based congressional staff retain their in-state residency (oftentimes to pay the lower tax rate in their home state) and all members have district staff outside Washington. The open enrollment in the D.C. exchange for most staffers who are losing their Federal Employee Health Benefits plans will be Nov....

**SNIP** When the president himself wanted to initiate discussions prior to shutdown, Harry Reid vetoed it, effectively overruling Obama. The Post report also notes that Nancy Pelosi has permitted dozens of House Democrats to vote with the GOP on a litany of common-sense piecemeal bills to restore funding to popular and essential elements of the federal government. She ran the political calculus and allowed certain members to break with the party in order to avoid being targeted with potent attack ads next year. She did so knowing that these fixes would be dead on arrival in the Senate. In short,...

The latest outline of a potential Senate deal to end the fiscal impasse and government shutdown calls for keeping the government funded until Jan. 15 and raising the debt limit through Feb. 15, congressional aides told ABC News today. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and Senator Minority Leader Mitch McConnell are spearheading the negotiations as the White House postponed a planned afternoon meeting with congressional leaders to give them time to do their work. It is still a moving target, but the plan is the framework for what McConnell and Reid believe could make a deal -- "and avoid repeating...

Here are some photos from the Tea Party Express event for Steve Lonegan. https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10200836689423023.1073741841.1337520026&type=1&l=cd0cea750c

In the wake of the government shutdown, despite provisions in the Pay Our Military Act, Catholics at Kings Bay Naval Submarine Base in Georgia are being denied religious services. The Catholic priest who serves this community has been prohibited from even volunteering to celebrate Holy Mass without pay, and was told that if he violated that order, he could be subject to arrest. Protestant services continue to take place. Only Catholic services have been shutdown. This is an astonishing attack on religious freedom by the federal government, and the latest affront towards the military since the beginning of the shutdown....

In 2014 the Democrats have 20 Senate seats up for the November vote. 17 of those seats are either vacant (retired incumbent) or held by Freshmen Senators. 7 of those seats are in states that either went for Romney in 2012 or else recalled sitting Democrats from their state legislature in 2013. Faced with the above, potential GOP Senate candidates for those 20 seats would appreciate something new...campaign material that doesn't regurgitate traditional Beltway Elite talking points about taxes, abortion, gay rights, etc. However, to create material that does not involve the rehashed political ideas of the 2012 Romney Campaign...

**SNIP** On Saturday, Palin told a rally at the New Egypt Speedway that Lonegan, a former mayor, would fight against ObamaCare and stand with Tea Party senators including Ted Cruz of Texas. "You have the momentum with Steve's campaign," she said. "The rest of the country knows." The 2008 Republican vice presidential candidate and former Alaska governor told the crowd to vote to defy the "fallacy" that a conservative Tea Party candidate cannot win in a Democratic-leaning New Jersey. Lonegan, who spent the weekend campaigning across the state, wants to repeal ObamaCare and "join those conservatives who stand up for...

House Republicans were furious with Senate Republicans and President Obama on Saturday for trying to cut a debt ceiling deal that leaves them out in the cold. Members emerged from a conference meeting saying Obama had double-crossed them by breaking off talks in order to shop for a better deal from the Senate GOP. “Clearly the president can't be trusted,” said Rep. Aaron Schock (R-Ill.). “It is up to Senate Republicans to grow a backbone and stand with House Republicans like they said they were going to do.”

Most of the talk on the cable gab festivals regarding shutdown mania has focused on the interplay between House Speaker John Boehner and the President. And rightly so, since all spending bills really are supposed to originate in the House. (Of course, there are little tricks they can use in the Senate to get around inconvenient facts like the Constitution.) But the upper chamber began making noises about taking matters into their own hands this week. “It’s been clear to me for a while we can’t wait for the House to save us,” said Richard Durbin of Illinois, the second-ranking...

As the government shutdown entered its 12th day, the best lawmakers on Capitol Hill could say on Saturday is that they’ve started talking — again..... ....Mr. Reid has rejected every request Republicans have made, including most recently a proposal circulated by Sen. Susan Collins, Maine Republican, that would have repealed a despised Obamacare tax and given the White House more flexibility to manage the sequesters, in return for opening up the government and passing a debt increase........ House Republicans and the White House had both said they were making progress over the previous two days, saying that they had cleared...

A trio of centrist Senate Republicans is pushing a plan to reopen the government for six months, extend the debt ceiling until Jan. 31, 2014 and make reforms to ObamaCare. Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) is spearheading the proposal along with Sens. Kelly Ayotte (R-N.H.) and Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska). It would address Tea-Party conservatives concerns over Medicare by delaying the medical device tax for two years and creating an income verification program under the Affordable Care Act to ensure only eligible individuals receive subsidies on the insurance exchanges. The delay of the Medical Device Tax would be paid for by extending...

On NRO there are stirrings about how the day has begun on the Hill. ___________ Jonathan Strong �@j_strong 3m Leadership's tough words on Senate Rs contradicts assumption by many in Capitol that when McConnell jams Boehner, it's done w tacit approval Jonathan Strong �@j_strong 6m Cantor to House Rs in meeting: "We need Senate Republicans to stand up and stand firm." Jonathan Strong �@j_strong 11m Boehner told Rs Obama has agreed to nothing. Said everything depends on Senate Rs holding firm Jonathan Strong �@j_strong 21m Big question for Boehner, House Rs this am: How do you deal with Senate Rs...

I want this to be a Ted Cruz thread, we need to support him with all we have in us.

Real conservative to defeat Mary Landfill...Landrieu. Help us get his name out and noticed. Thanks. http://robmaness.com/

(VIDEO-AT-LINK)The federal shutdown has found its angry prophet. Senate Chaplain Barry Black is usually a calm, pastoral presence on Capitol Hill, doling out spiritual wisdom and moral counsel to his high-powered flock. But the Seventh-Day Adventist and former Navy rear admiral is mad as hell about the shutdown — and he’s letting the Senate, and the Lord, know about it. “Lord, when the federal shutdown delays payments of death benefits to the families of (soldiers) dying on far-away battlefields, it’s time for our lawmakers to say enough is enough,” Black said in his prayer opening the Senate on Wednesday. “Cover...

A Tea Party group has dropped its endorsement of Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), citing criticism he reportedly made of conservative groups that has put him in their crosshairs for 2014. [big snip] "While endorsing Mitch McConnell seemed like the right thing to do at the time, Mitch McConnell has proven he is not worthy of conservative support. Glenn Beck is right. It is time to defund the GOP until the GOP pushes people like Mitch McConnell out of leadership," Phillips wrote in a post on the group's website. McConnell has clashed with conservatives in recent weeks over the...

ST. PAUL, Minn. Former U.S. senator Rod Grams, a popular TV anchorman who went on to become the most conservative politician ever elected to statewide office in Minnesota, has died. He was 65. Grams died late Tuesday night at his home in the east-central Minnesota town of Crown, said Kent Kaiser, a longtime GOP activist and spokesman for the Grams family. Grams had been diagnosed with cancer in April 2012. After nearly a decade as lead news anchor at KMSP-TV in the Twin Cities, Grams launched his political career in 1992 by running for Congress and ousting the Democratic incumbent....

Citizens United is endorsing Rep. Paul Broun (R-Ga.) in the crowded Georgia Senate primary. The nod from the conservative group will give the Tea Party favorite a boost — and establishment Republicans new reason to be concerned about the race. Establishment Republicans have publicly fretted about Broun winning the primary, fearing he might not be the party's best candidate in a general election. The congressman regularly refers to President Obama as a socialist and communist, and has said evolution and the big bang theories are lies "from the pit of hell."

It’s going to be illuminating to see whether there is any backlash in New Jersey against news that Mayor Bloomberg of New York is scrambling to put an emergency $1 million into the floundering campaign of Mayor Cory Booker to succeed Senator Lautenberg. This news was injected Sunday by Michael Barbaro of the New York Times into a dispatch that ran on page one under the headline “Anxious Allies Aiding Booker In Senate Bid.” Mr. Bloomberg tried something similar in Colorado the other day, and Rocky Mountain voters promptly cashiered his two candidates out of the state’s Senate.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Police in Washington are reviewing the use of officers' deadly force in the killing of a woman who tried to ram her car through a White House barrier, a shooting her family says was unjustified.

Senator Landrieu outlines how the Biggert Waters flood insurance bill was manipulated through the legislative process without ever coming up for a vote in the Senate. This bill is nothing but a tax increase on anyone with property that requires flood insurance... People are now unable to sell property as this is driving away any and all buyers .. if you sell without disclosing the premium increases that will be levied on a new owner (rather than increased incrementally on existing property owners) you will be sued ,, bank on it. This is also impacting hurricane Sandy victims in the...

What is this horrid government shutdown I keep reading about? It isn’t for Federal employees, since the House passed legislation paying all non-essential Federal employees that were furloughed for their missed time. Stated differently. Non-essential Federal employees received a taxpayer-funded vacation. The government shutdown is a way for the Administration and Senate to punish Americans for Republicans not rubber-stamping the funding of Obamacare. John Nolte has created a list of unnecessary shutdowns. 1. Treatments for Children Suffering From Cancer – The GOP have agreed to a compromise by funding part of the government, including the National Institutes of Health, which...

Throughout the past week, Democrats leaders have justified their refusal to negotiate with Republicans as a natural response to hostage taking. They claim that the fight over Obamacare is extraneous to the budget, and as such, they should not have to talk to Republicans until they agree to pass a “clean” CR. There are two points they are obfuscating in the context of the budget battle. 1) Obamacare was passed through budget reconciliation. So when they felt it was convenient for them to inject Obamacare into the budget process; namely, for the purpose of avoiding the 60-vote threshold, they were...

The difference is dramatic – it all depends upon the ground you're standing on. The founders had it right. Their biggest problem was taxation, and who and how it could be done. So that put that authority solely in the hands of the House of Representative. Because the house had to face the people every two years and reflected a balanced view of the population, they would be the best barometer of the people’s current feelings. And – hundreds of years later – they still are. So when the Republicans in the house say, “no”, there’s no need to shoot....

House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) vowed to bring forward more piecemeal spending bills Thursday, as he expressed confidence President Obama would eventually be forced to negotiate. In a memo sent to House Republicans, Cantor called the Democratic position "untenable" and "unsustainable," adding that a steady diet of narrow funding bills would force Democrats to deal. "I am confident that if we keep advancing common-sense solutions to the problems created by the shutdown that Senate Democrats and President Obama will eventually agree to meaningful discussions that would allow us to ultimately resolve this impasse," he wrote. "The American people ......

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid on Thursday blocked a House bill providing funding to reopen national parks amid the government shutdown, saying he would not allow the GOP to pick and choose from among favored programs and insisting the only way out is to pass all spending at the same time. Republicans tried to get an agreement in the Senate to restore the parks money along with funding for the National Institutes of Health, the military reserves and National Guard, and veterans affairs, but Democrats objected to each of those agreements in turn. [snip] The debate on the Senate floor...

Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.) has blamed the government shutdown on politicians like Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), calling them “Cruzites.” DeFazio took the House floor Tuesday afternoon and offered up his definition of a “Cruzite”. “Shutting down the government –pretty radical. But we are really dealing here with for short –Cruzites, or I guess I would call them - they’re sort of anarchist, radical, libertarians who don’t believe in government,” DeFazio said. “They don’t believe in evolution they believe in devolution – devolve all the duties to the states,” DeFazio continued. “Dissolve the Union essentially. Go to some loose federalism and...

Yes, it is frustrating. The government should run smoothly and efficiently, going about its business and getting things done without much pomp and circumstance. Having the government shut down, well, it's inconvenient for many of us -- no museums, zoos or national parks. For others, who either work in nonessential government jobs (and who are not working and not getting paid) it's more than an inconvenience. Just imagine if you were suddenly told that you should not go to work and you would not get paid. Then there are those who do not work directly for the government, but provide...

.........But that led to a follow-up question from Bash, and a condescending reply from the Senate majority leader. BASH: But if you can help one child who has cancer, why wouldn’t you do it? REID: Why would we want to do that? I have 1,100 people at Nellis Air Force base that are sitting home. They have a few problems of their own. To have someone of your intelligence to suggest such a thing maybe means you’re irresponsible and reckless. BASH: I’m just asking a question.

BASH: But if you can help one child who has cancer, why wouldn’t you do it? REID: Why would we want to do that? I have 1,100 people at Nellis Air Force base that are sitting home. They have a few problems of their own. This is — to have someone of your intelligence to suggest such a thing maybe means you’re irresponsible and reckless –

ALASKA The race against incumbent Mark Begich is likely to end up tougher than it should be. Mark Begich, if you remember, was voted in on the 2008 wave on King Obama’s coattails. He won by something like 2% over incumbent Republican, Ted Stevens. Stevens was being indicted at the time (though the charges were later thrown out), so it’s remarkable that the race was that close. Stevens subsequently died in a plane crash. Mark Begich is a fraud. And I often call Joe Manchin a fraud, well Begich is a bigger fraud. He consistently avoids being tied to Obama...

**SNIP** The final proposal on keeping the government open from the House removed this special Congressional exemption. Members and staff would no longer receive special subsidies from the federal government to purchase health insurance. The proposal would have also suspended, for one year, penalties levied on individuals who don't have health insurance. This is similar to the waiver granted by the Obama Administration to employers earlier this year. The Senate, however, rejected both provisions. Had it opted to eliminate its own special subsidies, the government would be open today. Preserving its own platinum health insurance coverage drove the Senate to...

Raleigh, NC – In a demonstration of the Brannon campaign’s surging strength and support, the campaign announced today that it will report third quarter fundraising totals that more than double the previous quarter. Since the last filing in mid-July the campaign raised over $150,000 and heads into the fourth quarter with more than $100,000 cash-on-hand. The pro-life Obstetrician’s fundraising shows an impressive base of support with more than 3,000 individual contributors accounting for more than 4,000 contributions with an average contribution of less than $70. This brings the total raised to over $275,000 since the start of the campaign, solidifying...

All across the country, voters are paying closer attention to the particulars of Senate procedures. As a result, they were angered and insulted by Senator Lindsey Graham, who dishonestly tried to hide behind procedural motions like the recent cloture vote and claim to support defunding ObamaCare while their votes actually make it more difficult to do just that. This newfound understanding and interest by voters is a positive development for the future of liberty. It is an extension of the engagement on the part of citizens that was sparked by Rick Santelli's 'Lake Michigan Tea Party' rant in early 2009,...

Senate Democrats on Tuesday rejected negotiating with the House on government funding, leaving no clear path for ending the federal shutdown that began overnight. The Senate voted 54-46 to table a House request for a conference committee on a continuing resolution (CR), marking the third time that Democrats have voted down legislation from the lower chamber since Monday. "The government is closed," Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said. "All over America federal employees are getting furloughs this morning … because of the irrationality that is going on in the other side of the Capitol." Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell