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House Republicans installed Dallas Rep. Pete Sessions at the helm of their campaign arm (National Republican Congressional Committee) this afternoon, betting he can round up the cash and candidates they’ll need to climb out of a deepening hole in the next elections. That makes a pair of Texans responsible for GOP efforts to boost their ranks in both the House and Senate. On Tuesday, Sen. John Cornyn won the chairmanship of the Senate GOP campaign committee (National Republican Senatorial Committee - FR Thread) a coincidence that reflects Texas’ status as a mother lode of Republican votes and donors, an increasing...

WASHINGTON, (AP) -- With their Northern California House race still too close to call, Republican Tom McClintock and Democrat Charlie Brown will be heading to the nation's capital next week for orientation for new lawmakers. Both were invited by House leaders, as were contestants of both parties in another uncalled race in Ohio — along with some 50 new House members who won election outright. "We believe Tom will be elected to represent the 4th Congressional District, and it is important for him to attend orientation in order to best serve the people," said McClintock's spokesman, Bill George. Said Brown's...

A fiercely contested race between six-term U.S. Rep. Virgil H. Goode Jr., R-Rocky Mount, and Democrat Tom Perriello of Ivy was too close to call at press time Tuesday night. With 97.4 percent of precincts reporting, it appeared that Perriello, a 34-year-old national security consultant, and Goode, 62, were in a dead heat. Perriello had 50.11 per-cent of the vote, compared with Goode’s 49.83 per-cent. The Associated Press and CNN both projected Goode as the winner Tuesday, but Perriello took a slight lead over Goode late in the evening.

Of all the politicians this newspaper has encountered, Virgil H. Goode Jr. is among the most sincere in his efforts for constituents and the least caught up in politics and paybacks. He does what he believes is right. That’s a rare quality in Washington these days. If for no other reason than to present the Beltway insiders with an example of a true independent, the 5th District should re-elect Virgil Goode. But there are other reasons — such as that constituent concern. Mr. Goode is well known for his work in assisting 5th District residents with their problems. His record...

On RFFM.org you will find a list of those Congressional members who voted "yea" for a nearly $1 trillion rape of the American taxpayer: http://rffm.typepad.com/republicans_for_fair_medi/2008/10/the-bipartisan-boondoggle-which-members-of-congress-voted-yea---putting-the-us-nearly-1-trillion-in-more-debt.html I am not an economist. I am simply an American citizen who knows when it walks like a duck, quacks like a duck and defecates like a duck, it's a duck. Late last week, the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives passed a bill that will put the U.S. government nearly $1 trillion deeper in debt. Earlier in the week, the House of Reps. found some political backbone and rejected the $700 billion pork-laden bailout...

About one in five adults in the US still smokes The US House of Representatives has voted to treat tobacco as a drug and have it regulated by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The bill would tighten restrictions on advertising, impose new penalties for selling to children and require all new products to be approved by the FDA. But the White House threatened to veto the bill, saying it would put an enormous burden on the FDA. It also said having FDA approval could make people think cigarettes are safe. Industry funded The bill cleared the House with a...

U. S. Representative, 6th Congressional District 508 of 512 precincts reporting Click here for Results by Parish 49,312 49.24% "Don" Cazayoux, D - 46,282 46.22% Louis "Woody" Jenkins, R - 443 .44% Peter J. Aranyosi, N - 3,705 3.70% Ashley Casey, N - 397 .40% Randall T. Hayes, O -

Posted by: John Campbell at 6:36 PM Early in the morning on Sunday, as we were finishing up amendments on the Defense Appropriations bill, I debated an earmark challenge with the Chairman of the Defense Subcommittee on Appropriations, Congressman John Murtha (D-PA). The earmark allocated $2 million to Sherwin-Williams Paint Company to develop what they described as a "paint shield to protect against microbial attacks." As the sponsor of the amendment, Congresswoman Stephanie Tubbs-Jones (D-OH) did not come down to defend her earmark. The defense was left to Congressman Murtha. Here is a link to this brief debate, now keep...

Nadler just called Bush a criminal, Republicans object and ask him to withdraw statement. Nadler says he "withdraws his accurate statement." Heated debate continues with Democrat lies.....

A busted computer system hamstrung the House of Representatives for at least 45 minutes Friday on one of the tensest legislative days of the year.The House's electronic voting system malfunctioned at approximately 2pm as lawmakers began a vote on a procedural motion sponsored by Rep. Heather Wilson (R-N.M.). Projectors that usually display how each member voted and show a tally of votes were not working, although votes were still being recorded on computers at various locations in the House chamber. The mishap came during the final two days of legislative activity before a month-long recess, a time when tensions run...

In a massive flare-up of partisan tensions, Republicans walked out on a House vote late Thursday night to protest what they believed to be Democratic maneuvers to reverse an unfavorable outcome for them. The flap represents a complete breakdown in parliamentary procedure and an unprecedented low for the sometimes bitterly divided chamber. The rancor erupted shortly before 11 p.m. as Rep. Michael R. McNulty (D-N.Y.) gaveled close the vote on a standard procedural measure with the outcome still in doubt. Details remain fuzzy, but numerous Republicans argued afterward that they had secured a 215-213 win on their motion to bar...

11:49 AM PDT, August 2, 2007 WASHINGTON -- The House today passed a measure to mandate more rest at home for troops serving in Iraq, with Democrats taking another swipe at President Bush's management of the war on the eve of Congress' summer recess. The legislation — which passed 229 to 194, with six Republicans joining the majority — stands little chance of becoming law. A similar proposal sponsored by Sen. Jim Webb (D-Va.) was blocked by Senate Republicans last month, and the White House today issued a veto threat. But as lawmakers prepare to go home to face their...

House Republicans yesterday unveiled a resolution expressing their disapproval of the Senate immigration bill. It was offered by Rep. Pete Hoekstra (R-Mich.), and simply read: “resolved the House GOP Conference disapproves of the Senate immigration bill.” The move puts the House Republican Conference at odds with President Bush, who has endorsed the Senate bill. Hoekstra said that while he preferred not to break with the president, the language and content of the Senate bill compelled him to vocalize his opposition. It is the second time this year that members of the House Republican Conference have publicly vocalized opposition to Bush...

In a just concluded House GOP Conference voted 114 to 23 to reject the Senate's Amnesty Bill. Pelosi has now signaled that the House will start fresh on the Amnesty Bill and will not just embrace the Senate version. It looks like, in fact, the House will . . . dare we say it . . . have committee hearings on the bill.

Jun. 21, 2007 17:38 | Updated Jun. 21, 2007 17:46 House urges UN to charge Ahmadinejad By BY HILARY LEILA KRIEGER AND JTA The US House of Representatives urged the UN Security Council Wednesday to charge Iran's president under genocide conventions. The non-binding resolution, initiated by Reps. Mark Kirk (R-Ill.) and Steve Rothman (D-N.J.), passed by 411-2. It cites an October 27 speech in which Mahmoud Ahmadinejad allegedly called for Israel to be "wiped off the map" and calls for the Security Council to charge him under its 1948 convention for the prevention of genocide. Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio) attempted...

The House last week approved about $8 billion in earmarks as part of the 2008 defense authorization bill, with the wealth shared by both Democrats and Republicans. Given their majority, however, Democrats claimed close to 60 percent of the bill’s earmarks. Because of new House rules, for the first time the earmarks have been disclosed as part of the bill’s report. The current list of earmarks includes the budget account, the project description, the intended recipient and beneficiary as well as the name of the requesting member. This year, the House approved a $504 billion defense authorization bill. Among the...

...Minority Leader John Boehner and the GOP leadership deserve credit for making a spirited argument against the resolution that clearly won over many of their skittish backbenchers. Credit, too, to such "moderate" GOP Members as John McHugh of New York and Jim Saxton of New Jersey, who opposed the resolution despite the unpopularity of the war in their states. And credit as well to the two Democrats, Gene Taylor of Mississippi and Jim Marshall of Georgia, who didn't join their party's defeatist ranks. As for those in favor, no fewer than 69 Members were for the war before they were...

Veterans from World War II through the current conflict in Iraq led off debate yesterday as the House of Representatives took up a resolution to oppose President Bush's troop increase for Iraq. "Walking in my own combat boots, I saw firsthand this administration's failed policy in Iraq," said Rep. Patrick Murphy, D-Pa., a 33-year-old freshman and the first Iraq combat veteran to serve in Congress. Rep. Duncan Hunter, 58, a California Republican and Vietnam veteran, argued a widely held opposing view, that the resolution signals "the first sound of retreat in the world battle against extremists and terrorists." With the...

THE REAL story always wins out. After weeks of denying that he was interested in the UMass Lowell chancellor's job, Rep. Marty Meehan finally fessed up last week, and was interviewed by the 21-member Search Committee on Friday. The 50-year-old congressman handles the sharp focus of the press better than many pols, but in recent days he delivered his denials with atypical vehemence. Bending over backwards to prove his point, Meehan asked: How can I leave with the Democrats now in control of the House? How can I leave when I'm now chairman of a high-profile subcommittee of the Armed...

Thank you, OXENinFLA for putting together the below comments and links!. Since "Free Republic is an online gathering place for independent, grass-roots conservatism on the web. We're working to roll back decades of governmental largesse, to root out political fraud and corruption, and to champion causes which further conservatism in America.", I and others think it's a good idea to centralize what the goes on in the Senate (or House). So if you see something happening on the Senate/House floor and you don't want to start a new thread to ask if anyone else just heard what you heard, you...

Mounting population losses are all but certain to cost Massachusetts one of its 10 congressional seats after the 2010 Census, two new studies have projected. However, Secretary of State William F. Galvin has already begun a campaign to keep all the US House seats, focusing on making sure all students and immigrants get counted to boost Massachusetts' sagging population

A Tallahassee circuit judge today denied Democrat Christine Jennings’ request to expedite her lawsuit challenging the outcome of her District 13 Congressional race against Republican Vern Buchanan. The decision by Judge William Gary means the next critical event in the disputed election will occur Tuesday when the state Division of Elections begins its testing of touch-screen machines used in the election. Jennings has alleged the machines malfunctioned during the election, resulting in more than 18,000 undervotes in Sarasota County, and she has asked for a new election. In his order, Gary said Jennings and Buchanan can have their computer experts...

WASHINGTON - If a recount in Sarasota fails to award Democrat Christine Jennings a seat in Congress, she has a final recourse: The newly Democratic-controlled U.S. House. A little-known provision in the U.S. Constitution gives the House the final decision on who sits in its chamber. House staffers have already been dispatched to Sarasota to monitor the recounts, and both candidates in District 13 - Jennings and Republican Vern Buchanan - say they are aware that a disputed election could be appealed to Washington. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, a South Florida Democrat working with Jennings, said she hopes it wouldn't...

This is a favorite topic of mine. In investing, we can look at two markets and imply a third. That's basically how options work. Well...we can do the same for predictions markets. At Tradesports, they offer futures contracts for how many seats they Democrats will pickup in the house. They offer contract for several different scenarios (i.e., greater than 14.5 seats, or greater than 19.5 seats). Assuming a logonormal distribution, we can find an implied mean and standard devation. The chart above shows the mean number seats the Democrats looks to gain (black line) with plus and minus one...

Media reality says that the Democrats are going to win — either a colossal win or at least a narrow win — in the House and Senate races November 7. Maybe. But I am sticking to my view, expressed last June 15, that the Republicans will actually gain seats this fall, both in the House and in the Senate. Well, maybe only in the Senate, while holding the House. Put another way, I am expecting a delicious “November Surprise.” I know, I know. Unrealistic. All my friends who are numbers crunchers and “realistic” think that the Republicans are toast. Some...

The Washington Times offered an article today about improving GOP prospects that, to me anyway, seemed long on conclusions and short on evidence. Their thesis: There has been a palpable shift in the mood in Washington in recent weeks. No longer are insiders in both parties sharing predictions of a Democratic rout of Republicans. Some on both sides had expected an election debacle for the Republicans, driven by the Iraq war, high gas prices and the perception that a Republican-led Washington can neither shoot nor spend straight.Now those perceptions have changed. First off, let me just note the strategic...

Don't Trust the Scorpion By Herman CainA variation on a centuries-old parable goes like this: A scorpion wants to cross a stream but, since he cannot swim, the scorpion will need some help. A frog soon hops by and the scorpion says, "Mr. Frog, I would like to get to the other side of the stream, but I cannot swim. Would you carry me on your back?" The wary frog replies, "But you are a scorpion. As soon as we get halfway across you will sting me. Then we will both drown." "Don't be ridiculous," the scorpion replies. "Why would...

Hezbocrats Attack Wal-Mart By Herman Cain The Hezbocrats, a roaming band of militant guerrillas seeking their party’s 2008 nomination for president, have most recently lobbed their rhetorical bombs at Wal-Mart, that cruel capitalist occupying corporation. The most recent base of Hezbocrat activity was Iowa, the state whose January 2008 party caucuses are the nation’s first measure of presidential preference. The Hezbocrats, armed with nothing more than Katyusha-grade class warfare rhetoric, descended upon Iowa earlier this month determined to take down Wal-Mart, a company they consider the nation’s largest capitalistic oppressor of the proletariat. Leading Hezbocrats, including Sen. Joe Biden (D-DE),...

Where Congress Fumbles, the States Recover By Herman Cain August 16, 2006 "The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people." – 10th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution The inability and unwillingness of Congress this year to cut federal spending, restructure Social Security, eliminate the estate tax and protect our borders has been well documented. If the Republicans lose seats this November in one or both chambers, they will have their self-imposed legislative impotence to blame. Fortunately, many of the...

Democrats Can't Hit the Trifecta By Herman CainHouse and Senate Democrats have made an increase in the federal minimum wage a centerpiece of their 2006 plan to take back control of Congress. Yet when Republicans last week offered up the "trifecta" bill, which contained the minimum wage increase Democrats demand, the Democrats balked and opposed it. Democrats claimed that the coupling of a minimum wage increase with reductions in the estate tax was a dirty political trick they could not accept. If the minimum wage increase was so important to the Democrats' election year agenda, why did they oppose it...

Thanks to Congressman Jeff Flake's 19 anti-pork amendments, we now have every House member on record regarding their positions on earmarks. Before now, House members have been able to avoid scrutiny because their pork was co-mingled with other projects and tucked into the dark corners of big spending bills. Or they were able to withstand the scrutiny because they were attacked as a whole chamber and not directly attacked themselves. But because of Flake's amendments, they were recently forced to cast up-or-down votes on specific projects. They could no longer deflect attention. Below is a summary scorecard of how they...

The Constitution in Crisis; The Downing Street Minutes and Deception, Manipulation, Torture, Retribution, and Coverups in the Iraq War, and Illegal Domestic Surveillance

10. Steve Chabot (98%) – Liberals want Chabot’s seat. He’s in an evenly split district (Bush got 51% against Kerry), but that hasn’t weakened his exceptionally strong voting record. 9. Joe Pitts (99%) – A Vietnam veteran, Pitts has quietly attained a very conservative voting record in a state that continues to lurch leftward because of its increasing RINO congressional representation. 8. Sue Myrick (99%) – She’s part of the celebrated Class of 1994 who continues to fight for limited government even after 12 years in Washington. 7. Todd Akin (100%) – Akin was one of the 25 brave fiscal...

Top 10 Pro-Growth House Members Posted Aug 04, 2006 Ranked by The Club for Growth. 10. Steve Chabot (98%) – Liberals want Chabot’s seat. He’s in an evenly split district (Bush got 51% against Kerry), but that hasn’t weakened his exceptionally strong voting record. 9. Joe Pitts (99%) – A Vietnam veteran, Pitts has quietly attained a very conservative voting record in a state that continues to lurch leftward because of its increasing RINO congressional representation. 8. Sue Myrick (99%) – She’s part of the celebrated Class of 1994 who continues to fight for limited government even after 12 years...

State Sen. Steve Cohen won Thursday’s Democratic primary in the Ninth Congressional District. With all precincts reporting, Cohen had 23,570 votes. Nikki Tinker, who conceded about 10:30 p.m., was second with 19,132. She was followed by Joe Ford Jr. with 9,329, Shelby County Commissioner Julian Bolton with 8,050 and Ed Stanton with 6,920. Mark White easily won the Republican primary, collecting 12,013 votes to Tom Guleff’s 2,927 Cohen and White will face independent candidate Jake Ford in the November general election for the seat left open by U.S. Rep. Harold Ford Jr.’s bid for the U.S. Senate. Jake Ford is...

Thanks to Congressman Jeff Flake's 19 anti-pork amendments, we now have every House member on record regarding their positions on earmarks. Before now, House members have been able to avoid scrutiny because their pork was co-mingled with other projects and tucked into the dark corners of big spending bills. Or they were able to withstand the scrutiny because they were attacked as a whole chamber and not directly attacked themselves. But because of Flake's amendments, they were recently forced to cast up-or-down votes on specific projects. They could no longer deflect attention. Below is a summary scorecard of how they...

WASHINGTON - House Republican leaders, giving in to political reality, plan a vote to raise the $5.15 minimum wage before leaving Washington this weekend for a five-week recess. "Whether people like it or not, we need to go ahead with it," said Rep. Mike Castle, R-Del., who supports the idea. "There's a general agreement among Republicans (opposing the raise) that `maybe we don't like it much, but we need to move forward with it just for political reasons.'" The No. 3 House GOP leader, Majority Whip Roy Blunt of Missouri, said the plan was to have a vote before week's...

Illegal Dirty Little Secrets about Social Security By Herman CainThere are two dirty little secrets behind the debate over the illegal alien issue that even the advocates of securing the borders first have failed to discuss. The first secret is that the estimated twelve to twenty million aliens living and working illegally in the United States have to commit identity theft to secure employment. The second secret is that without illegals' payroll tax contributions, filed under stolen or fraudulent Social Security numbers, the Social Security system would collapse years earlier than estimated. Hard to believe, here are the facts. The...

CLUB FOR GROWTH rankings Indiana 6th Republican Mike Pence 1 100% Arizona 6th Republican Jeff Flake 1 100% Arizona 2nd Republican Trent Franks 1 100% Arizona 3rd Republican John Shadegg 1 100% Cal 40th Republican ED Royce 1 100% Missouri 2nd Republican Todd Akin 1 100% Texas 5th Republican Jeb Hensarling 1 100%

House Republicans To Vote On Amendment Banning Gay Marriage Washington D.C. (AHN) - House Republicans are going ahead to vote on a constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage. The vote is scheduled for Tuesday as part of a week in which House GOP leaders plan to focus on what they call their "American values agenda." In one of his weekly radio addresses, President Bush said changing the Constitution is necessary because "activist judges and some local officials have made an aggressive attempt to redefine marriage in recent years. Last month, the Senate was short of the 11 of the 60...

House Republicans signaled a coming clash with the Senate over the future of military tribunals yesterday when Armed Service Committee members indicated they were inclined to give the Bush administration largely what it wants in the conduct of terrorism trials. The tone at the first House hearing since the Supreme Court tossed out President Bush's tribunals last month was markedly different from Tuesday's Senate hearing, where lawmakers from both parties said they wanted to make significant changes to the White House's plans. "This could be easy," said Rep. Candice S. Miller (R-Mich.), who proudly announced she has neither a law...

One Culture, Indivisible By Herman CainNew York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg said of illegal aliens last week at a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing, "Although they broke the law by illegally crossing our borders…our city's economy would be a shell of itself had they not, and it would collapse if they were deported. The same holds true of the nation." Bloomberg and other elected officials who value the economic impact of illegal aliens' labor over the cultural decimation wrought by our acquiescence to illegals' demands should be swiftly removed from office. Those we elect to make laws must not be allowed...

Misplaced Priorities Again in the Senate By Herman CainIt could cost more to get caught working in the world's oldest profession if a bill passed last week by the U.S. Senate Finance Committee becomes law. The Finance Committee approved legislation that would allow the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to prosecute pimps and prostitutes for tax code violations. Senate Finance Committee chairman Charles Grassley (R-IA) proposed the legislation, which would impose a 10-year prison term on pimps for each prostitute in his employ on whom he fails to file a W-2 form. What's next? Will the Senate Finance Committee require pimps...

Illegal Aliens: A Few Myths to Keep in Mind . . . Mexico City. Last Tuesday the Pew Hispanic Center announced that 41 percent of Mexicans surveyed in February and 46 percent questioned in May stated they would live in the United States if given "the means and opportunity." Indeed, two out of 10 people interviewed said they were prepared to enter the U.S. illegally. These figures could have amazing consequences because our Spanish- speaking neighbor has a population of nearly 106 million inhabitants.

Bringing San Diego to the forefront of the immigration debate, House Republicans will hold field hearings on the issue Wednesday at an Imperial Beach border patrol station. Two opposing immigration bills from the House and Senate will head for negotiations after the hearings senators and representatives are holding across the country this summer. San Diego area representatives have been heavily involved in the debate, some authoring sections of the House bill. Measures proposed in the House bill, H.R. 4437, include: making illegal presence in the country a felony, building 698 miles of fencing along the border, requiring employers to use...

WASHINGTON -- With Democrats plotting to make the minimum wage a major issue in this fall's congressional races, House Republican leaders are conceding that they may have to yield to pressure for an increase to the federal standard, which has been frozen for nearly a decade. Faced with elections that could cost them control of Congress, John A. Boehner, the House majority leader, acknowledged Thursday that Republican leaders are likely to reverse course and hold a vote on a proposed minimum wage increase. Though Boehner said it was a ``cynical ploy" for Democrats to make it a campaign centerpiece, polls...

We rated each current Member of Congress on 15 criteria that demonstrated power and the ability to be effective in Congress in 2005. This resulted in a Power Score that ranked members for overall power in each chamber of Congress. Power Rankings Navigator Full List of Rankings      Search Last Name:         Power Rankings Home Full List of Rankings Senate: Jump to House Results Name Rank in Senate Score Sen. Frist (R-TN) 1 96.75 Sen. Specter (R-PA) 2 82.31 Sen. McCain (R-AZ) 3 80.94 Sen. Grassley (R-IA) 4 78.50 Sen. Reid (D-NV) 5 71.06 Sen. Domenici...

On the second day of his visit, Jackson told a crowd that Minnesota can send a message by electing Ellison to Congress. The Rev. Jesse Jackson let his star power shine on state Rep. Keith Ellison's congressional campaign on a sweltering Friday afternoon in North Commons park in Minneapolis. "What a statement from Minnesota to send Keith to Congress," Jackson said from the stage to a couple hundred faithful at the Ellison rally. "It's time to get the crooks out of office and put men in office who care." He spoke directly to Ellison, saying, "They're going to attack you....

We Need a New Independence By Herman Cain "That to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed." When our Founding Fathers signed the Declaration of Independence, they envisioned a governing body comprised of citizen legislators who served at the consent of the public. Today, too many of our elected officials have become independent kings concerned more with power, party and their political careers. The people who elect them and common sense policy solutions are no longer priorities. The inability of the men and women who represent us to secure...

In recent weeks, the talk among pundits about the inevitability of Democratic triumph has simmered down. For some reason - one that I have not yet ascertained - Bush in the high-30s induces an entirely different storyline than Bush in the mid-30s. While the logic does not make sense, the result is nonetheless a move in the right direction. We seem to have returned to the much more sensible conversation that we were having in March: for the Democrats to win the House, they will actually have to do something.What do they have to do? This is the $2.3 trillion...