Free Republic

A senior Senate Republican leadership source reached out to discuss the case I laid out this morning (linked an excerpted by Allahpundit here) concerning a possible path to breaking Democrats’ Iran deal filibuster. He said Majority Leader McConnell will schedule another cloture vote early next week, likely on Tuesday. If and when that fails (assuming none of the 42 filibustering Democrats relent), GOP leadership is considering a number of options, including forcing votes on one or more highly-charged amendments related to the Iran deal. This maneuver would respond to Democrats’ politicized posturing in kind, contriving scenarios in which filibuster-sustaining...

On this September 11, 2015 our Senate has joined our enemies in making our enemies in Iran the most powerful terrorists on earth. Fourteen years ago, on September 11, 2001 we sustained the most devastating terrorist’s attacks in our history. We were caught completely by surprise and to the delight of our Muslim enemies, thousands of innocent American men women and children were murdered. They enjoyed every minute of it. In our national bewilderment some people thought the seventh century savages attacked us because the numeric value of September 11, is 9 -1-1 the national number to call our police....

Tennessee Republican Senator Bob Corker, author of the treasonous Corker – Cardin bill to facilitate President Obama’s nuclear weapons treaty with Islamist Iran, has made another inexplicable betrayal of American military superiority and indeed the future of America itself. The Iran Nuclear Agreement Review Act, which Corker authored, requires the Administration transmit to Congress all documents related to the JCPOA —including side agreements—prior to a 60-day review period and subsequent vote. There’s no doubt that Obama has not complied with the terms of the Iran Nuclear Agreement Review Act, indeed Senator Corker said “there’s no question that two of the...

Senate votes 58-42, failing to overcome Dem filibuster on Iran nuke deal. The deal will stand

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) is dismissing a House Republican Hail-Mary attempt to kill the Iran nuclear deal by postponing a vote on a disapproval resolution. House conservatives want to delay the vote and argue that the 60-day congressional review period has not yet elapsed because the administration has yet to submit paperwork detailing “side deals” between Iran and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). ADVERTISEMENT Tea-Party firebrand Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) joined the House GOP effort Wednesday by panning an upcoming Senate vote on the disapproval resolution as a “show vote” and putting pressure on McConnell to delay...

Do you remember Lewis "Scooter" Libby? In 2003, the Department of Justice appointed a special counsel to investigate allegations that Libby, Vice President Dick Cheney's chief of staff, unlawfully disclosed the covert status of CIA operative Valerie Plame. Yet Plame may not have been a covert undercover agent, based on the formal government definition of that role. And even if she were, it was widely known at the time that Secretary of State Colin Powell's subordinate, Richard Armitage, had most likely disclosed her status earlier. In other words, Libby was in an Orwellian position of being accused of a crime...

The battle for control of the Senate rests on the outcome of the presidential race, strategists in both parties say. Since 1860, no party has been able to climb out of the minority to capture the Senate during a presidential election year without also winning the White House. Strategists say 2016 won’t be any different. If Hillary Clinton, the current Democratic front-runner, doesn’t win the White House, there’s little chance New York Sen. Charles Schumer (D) will become Senate majority leader in 2017. Democrats appear well-positioned to knock off two Republican incumbents, but whether they can stretch the number of...

We already knew that Barack Obama won the fight over the Congressional disapproval of his deal with Iran. Last week, when Barbara Mikulski became the 34th vote in favor of the deal, that took the veto override off the table — even if that had been a long shot at best in the House already. In quick succession, seven more Democrats quickly followed suit, and now Obama has enough to filibuster a disapproval bill, according to the AP’s tally: Three undecided senators announced their support for the deal in quick succession — bringing supporters to 41 votes. That’s enough...

Democrats clinched the crucial Senate votes Tuesday to block passage of a disapproval resolution against the Iran nuclear accord, an outcome that would be a major victory for President Barack Obama against united Republican opposition. But amid fast-paced developments as lawmakers returned to Washington from their five-week summer recess, supporters of the deal stopped short of declaring victory. That was because it remained uncertain whether all 41 Democratic and independent senators now on record in favor of the deal would also support a filibuster to block a final vote on the disapproval resolution.

Two more Democrats announced support Tuesday for President Obama’s nuclear deal with Iran, putting the White House a single senator away from assuring it can prevent Congress from scuttling the agreement and leaving GOP leaders hoping to avoid an even bigger embarrassment of losing to a filibuster. With about 10 Democrats still to decide, it’s a lock that at least one of them will back Mr. Obama, giving him the 34 votes needed to uphold his expected veto of a bill to halt the deal.

We do have the numbers to force a shutdown, but McConnell’s already ruled that out. I’m going to look on the bright side here: At least this guy’s trying to spare us another dismal episode of GOP failure theater. If we had a majority in the Senate that was prepared to dig in and have this fight on principle, no matter what the polls say, it’d be worth considering a shutdown. Obama might blink if it lasted long enough. Because we have the majority we have, there’s really no point. It’ll play out just as lefty Bill Scher says...

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConell says the Senate will vote a second time to attempt to de-fund the Planned Parenthood abortion business which has been caught in a series of videos selling aborted babies and their body parts. The news comes after reports that the House of Representatives is planning a vote on legislation in a couple weeks that would de-fund the Planned Parenthood abortion business. The two votes would follow one the Senate had weeks ago, which saw Senate Democrats filibuster and block legislation to revoke $550 million in taxpayer funding. While McConnell says the senate will hold another...

The consolation prize in the great Senate GOP sellout on the Iran deal was supposed to be the opportunity it created to embarrass Obama. The fear was that if Republicans insisted on two-thirds approval of the deal for ratification, as the Constitution’s Treaty Clause requires, King Barack would simply reassure the public that this wasn’t technically a treaty and proceed to implement the agreement under his own executive authority. Heads he wins, tails you lose. That’s life in post-republic America. (And if you like that model, wait until President Trump is sworn in.) So Bob Corker and McConnell decided...

I heard on Bill Bennett this morning that we still have the medical device tax thanks to Democrat/Obama/MitchMcConnell Care. I thought that part of the beast had been ripped out, but apparently it was tabled like so many other conservative efforts thanks to McConnell not using Harry Reid's "nuclear option" to get the bill to the floor for a vote. Bills only takes 51 to pass the senate, but Reid's buddy Mitch won't let them come to the floor for a vote. What good is he for us?

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump wants more than a wall to keep out immigrants living in the country illegally. He also wants to end "birthright citizenship" for their children, he said Sunday. And he would rescind Obama administration executive orders on immigration and toughen deportation, allowing in only "the good ones." Trump described his expanded vision of how to secure American borders during a wide-ranging interview Sunday on NBC's "Meet The Press," saying that he would push to end the constitutionally protected right of any family living illegally inside the U.S. ...

Aug. 22 will be judgment day for Rand Paul. That's the day the Kentucky GOP will decide whether or not to move their presidential nomination from a May primary to a March caucus. Should such a change occur, the Republican senator would be able to run for both his Senate seat and the presidency. Rand's campaign has lobbied the Kentucky Republican Party to make the switch. Now, his fate is in the hands of 334 committee members. The Kentucky GOP executive committee unanimously advanced the proposal in March, charging a special committee with developing a plan for how the change would actually be implemented....

It was August 7, 2012, and I was standing in my hotel room in Kansas City about to shotgun a beer for the first time in my life. I had just made the biggest gamble of my political career—a $1.7 million gamble—and it had paid off. Running for reelection to the U.S. Senate as a Democrat from Missouri, I had successfully manipulated the Republican primary so that in the general election I would face the candidate I was most likely to beat. And this is how I had promised my daughters we would celebrate. But first let me go back...

The most important takeaway from yesterday’s vote on S. 1881 is not–repeat not–that the Democrats were able to block a bill that would end all federal funding of the nation’s largest abortion provider. While unfortunate, the inability of pro-lifers in the Senate to get 60 votes to “invoke cloture” (move the bill forward) is a mere bump in the road. Here’s what really matters. #1. The vote was 53 to 46. But one pro-lifer was absent and Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) switched his vote to opposition only so that he would be eligible to enter a motion to reconsider....

President Barack Obama’s Iran deal looks increasingly likely to survive a challenge from congressional Republicans after several swing Democrats said they would back the deal just as the Senate sped toward recess on Wednesday. Minutes after Senate leaders locked in an agreement to begin debating the nuclear deal on Sept. 8, Independent Maine Sen. Angus King came to the floor to announce his support for the agreement. King’s decision will make it hard for GOP opponents to block the lifting of legislative sanctions when the Senate votes no later than Sept. 17. Story Continued Below “This is the most difficult...

Honestly, I’d much prefer a pure party-line vote in which the GOP’s bid to block the deal goes down in flames rather than some excruciating Senate kabuki where they almost — but not quite — get enough Democratic votes to reach a two-thirds majority. If Chuck Schumer’s going to let his caucus force America to swallow this sh*t sandwich because it would be too embarrassing for poor Barack if they joined Republicans in stopping it, he should have the balls to vote with them. Instead we’re almost certainly going to be treated to a Democratic version of “failure theater,”...