http://www.freerepublic.com/tag/ussenate/ en-us Fri, 25 Dec 2009 13:48:31 GMT Focus Forum 15 http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2414913/posts Merry Christmas, Scott Brown, and boy have the Democrats in Congress handed you the perfect gift - health-care “reform.” Between now and election day, Jan. 19, there is no other issue. This is what the Senate fight is all about. If the voter likes his or her health care - or at least doesn’t believe that the federal government is going to improve it - then they should vote for you, Scott Brown. Boston Herald http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2414913/posts#comment Fri, 25 Dec 2009 13:48:31 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2414010/posts At the end of a decade marked by a general failure of U.S. leadership, 2009 saw the collapse of the Senate. Confronted with an array of difficult problems, a reactionary Senatorial minority put their personal political interests above those of the nation and blocked action by the progressive majority. While polls don’t differentiate between levels of support for the House of Representatives and the Senate, the long-term trend is down. At the beginning of the decade, 50 percent of Americans approved of the way Congress was handling its job; today the approval level is in the twenties. There’s a widespread... Berkeley Daily Planet http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2414010/posts#comment Wed, 23 Dec 2009 20:59:57 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2413388/posts WASHINGTON — It may be the only bipartisan agreement that Congress reaches this year on overhauling health care. Republicans, under pressure not to wreck Christmas for lawmakers and their staffs, agreed Tuesday that Senate passage of the Democrats' controversial bill seemed inevitable and scaled back procedural-delay mechanisms to allow a vote by the morning of Christmas Eve.Had the full debate continued, the Senate would have voted at around 9 p.m. Thursday, too late for many lawmakers and their staff members to get home in time for the holiday. Instead, the vote is set for 8 a.m. President Barack Obama had... McClatchy Newspapers http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2413388/posts#comment Wed, 23 Dec 2009 00:09:15 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2413385/posts WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Senate on Tuesday set a Christmas Eve vote on final congressional approval of a bill to provide a two-month increase in the federal debt limit. The measure, passed last week by the House of Representatives, would increase the debt limit, now at $12.1 trillion, by $290 billion. Senate Democrats may approve the measure largely by themselves because most, if not all, Republicans are expected to vote against it, Republican aides said. Democrats control the Senate, 60-40. reuters http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2413385/posts#comment Wed, 23 Dec 2009 00:06:35 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2412214/posts In 2006 I became totally blind. I don't need to go into the details involving what led to the loss of my eyesight, but because of my experience, I am familiar with how Medicare and Medicaid work in Illinois. I also understand how the proposed health care reform bill--which cleared a major hurdle due to a procedural vote taken in the United States Senate on Monday, December 21, 2009 at roughly 1 A.M. Central time--would impact those currently receiving Medicare and Medicaid. Without going into the minutiae regarding parliamentary rules, the vote taken in the U.S. Senate early Monday morning... RFFM.org http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2412214/posts#comment Mon, 21 Dec 2009 14:59:40 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2409943/posts Democratic Sen. Al Franken took the unusual step Thursday of shutting down Sen. Joe Lieberman on the Senate floor. Lieberman, a Connecticut independent, currently is the target of liberal wrath over his opposition to a government-run insurance plan in the health care bill. Franken was presiding over the Senate Thursday afternoon as Lieberman spoke about amendments he planned to offer to the bill. Lieberman asked for an additional moment to finish — a routine request — but Franken refused to grant the time. "In my capacity as the senator from Minnesota, I object," Franken said. "Really?" said Lieberman. "OK." Minneapolis StarTribune (aka The Red Star) http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2409943/posts#comment Thu, 17 Dec 2009 23:01:57 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2407951/posts The U.S. Senate defeated an amendment last week to restrict taxpayer funding of abortions under Obamacare. Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., voted against the measure, arguing that it would require women to buy special riders to purchase abortion coverage. In defending her no vote, Boxer argued that male senators were doing to women something they would never do to men. Quoth Boxer: "The men who have brought us this don't single out a procedure that's used by a man, or a drug that is used by a man that involves his reproductive health care, and say they have to get a... San Francisco Chronicle http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2407951/posts#comment Tue, 15 Dec 2009 15:41:36 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2400647/posts WASHINGTON - Soon after the Senate opened its long-awaited debate on health care legislation this week, John McCain strode into the chamber to spearhead his party's efforts to reshape the massive bill. He offered Republicans' first amendment and leveled the party's most politically stinging charge--that its cuts in Medicare spending will hurt the elderly. A day later, McCain took the lead in grilling President Obama's team on its newly minted plan for the Afghanistan war. Why, McCain pressed, had the president set a deadline for withdrawing U.S. troops? "A withdrawal date only emboldens al Qaeda and the Taliban," he complained.... The Baltimore Sun http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2400647/posts#comment Sat, 5 Dec 2009 00:41:32 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2399198/posts Chicago, IL - Former Nevada State Assemblywoman Sharron Angle (R-NV), appeared yesterday on local conservative talk radio in Chicago before attending a fundraiser at the American Legion Hall in West Chicago thrown by heartland supporters wanting to replace Harry Reid (D-NV) with a qualified conservative. The enthusiastic crowd included Representative Mike Fortner (R-IL). “Harry Reid might represent Nevada, but as Majority Leader his liberal agenda gravely affects all Americans regardless of residency. America’s solvency rests on replacing Harry Reid and liberals like him with conservatives we can trust,” answered Chicago community activist Jeanette Ward when asked about her interest in... TheCypressTimes.com http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2399198/posts#comment Thu, 3 Dec 2009 12:49:22 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2398146/posts I apologize in advance for the Vanity Post. I rarely use 'em - but in this case, I need some Freeper advice. Like all of you, I despise Harry Reid. Next year, I want him gone in the worst possible way. But I was gonna wait and see how Nevada's GOP primary turned out before I wrote a check. In the last three weeks, I've received two fundraising letters from Danny Tarkanian's campaign for US Senate. I've read thru both of 'em. I've visited his website. And you know what? I still don't know much about this race. I don't... http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2398146/posts#comment Wed, 2 Dec 2009 03:13:25 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2397289/posts Sen. John McCain just offered the first Republican motion as part of the Senate health care debate, which would remove roughly $500 billion in Medicare cuts and send the legislation back to the Finance Committee. While Republicans don't have the votes to pass their amendments, the Senate floor debate gives Republicans the opportunity to highlight areas of the Democratic health care bills that are unpopular, and the proposed cuts to Medicare are a large reason why older Americans remain among the most opposed to the health care push. But even though it's true that Democrats should be called out on... The American Spectator http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2397289/posts#comment Tue, 1 Dec 2009 01:19:02 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2396914/posts She will be placed on the US Supreme Court, as should have Miguel Estrada when President Bush nominated him as a Latino candidate for the DC Circuit Court – one of the highest courts in the land. The difference being, Estrada was attacked, and Sotomayor will be handled gently by the weak Republican leaders in the US Senate Confirmation Hearings. My biggest concern is simple: “Will a white man before the high bench be forever changed in America’s Constitutional Law?” More than a white woman, Judge Sotomayor has a direct ideology as it relates to white men and civil, judiciary... Hogue News http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2396914/posts#comment Mon, 30 Nov 2009 16:33:48 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2391800/posts I'd love to read your opinions of the Fiorina versus DeVore race. Here is an earlier piece I wrote; working on a follow-up for the Thanksgiving break: The charge that State Assemblyman Churck DeVore is making; “don’t be fooled again”. California has its own Dede Scozzafava in the GOP’s newest candidate, Carly Fiorina. On Thursday afternoon I spoke with Assemblyman Chuck DeVore, candidate for US Senate himself. A day after Carly Fiorina’s launch into the primary race, DeVore reiterated his charge that she is a moderate, a centrist, and a pragmatic individual – who has waffled on major issues and... Hogue News http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2391800/posts#comment Sun, 22 Nov 2009 02:47:30 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2391036/posts The media is stirring up drama regarding tomorrow's vote - namely, they are speculating whether Landrieu and Lincoln will vote with Reid to start debate. Of course they will. Three big reasons: (a) "Keep the Ball Rolling". Tomorrow's vote - like all of the votes to date - is a process vote, meaning that Obama and the leadership can argue, "Vote yea to keep the process going. We can improve the bill later if you stick with us." Every vote they have won to date has, I think, been won based on this argument - and it should carry the... RealClearPolitics http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2391036/posts#comment Fri, 20 Nov 2009 21:28:08 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2382409/posts Conlin is wealthy enough to finance her own campaign. She will also receive plenty of funding from her out-of-state liberal friends. Conlin is the former president of the Association of Trial Lawyers of America. This is a group that the entire Democratic Party is beholden too. In fact, former DNC chairman Howard Dean admitted that it was the trial lawyers that are preventing the Democrats from inserting necessary tort reform into the ObamaCare bill. The Examiner http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2382409/posts#comment Mon, 9 Nov 2009 21:14:12 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2381016/posts Tough-as-nails former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina kicked off her U.S. Senate campaign this week with defiant words for a ruthless opponent - her cancer. "Let me start with the most obvious question: What's with the hair?" she asked a crowd in Orange County, motioning to the graying buzz cut that replaced her auburn wigs of recent months."I'm happy to tell you that having been through surgery and chemotherapy and radiation, breast cancer is officially behind me. I feel absolutely great and I am raring to go."In California, where politics and drama are wedded, the Republican candidate's public embrace of a... San Francisco Chronicle http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2381016/posts#comment Sat, 7 Nov 2009 18:30:10 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2370240/posts Senate Democrats are looking to restart momentum for climate legislation, which has taken a backseat to healthcare. The Senate Environment and Public Works (EPW) Committee next week opens debate on the Kerry-Boxer bill with three hearings over three days in which more than 50 witnesses are scheduled to testify. Not much has happened since the House passed its climate bill in late June on a tight vote, but Senate Democrats hope to make progress on one of the administration’s highest priorities before global climate talks in Copenhagen, Denmark, in December. One marathon session set for Thursday on the Clean Energy... The Hill http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2370240/posts#comment Sun, 25 Oct 2009 00:03:26 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2365646/posts I first became a social activist nearly 20 years ago. At that time, I did not realize that activism and politics are inexorably linked. Perhaps I was naive to believe this was not the case. I had hoped with all my heart that pro-family conservatives held to a higher standard than those on the left which practice the dark arts of innuendo, ad hominen and character assassination as a means to gain political power. Again, I was naive. I am learning battles between factions of the Republican Party can be just as ruthless as our Democratic opponents. Republican U.S. Senate... RFFM.org http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2365646/posts#comment Mon, 19 Oct 2009 12:59:29 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2362327/posts Periodically, a Republican senator is seized with desire to be the front man for the Democrats' latest regulatory monstrosity in Washington. Sen. Lindsay Graham of South Carolina is now in the throes of this pathological urge, which usually appears just when defeat seems imminent for a big-government scheme like the Waxman-Markey cap-and-trade energy bill. Democrats and their liberal buddies in the mainstream media need only whisper the magic word "bipartisanship" and soon enough along comes a gullible GOPer to take the bait. Graham made clear in a Sunday New York Times op-ed written with Sen. John Kerry, D-MA, that he... The Washington Examiner http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2362327/posts#comment Wed, 14 Oct 2009 17:26:08 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2351250/posts September 29, 2009 With No Fanfare, Senate Hits ACORN, Again With no fanfare and no roll call vote, not even a speech -- the Senate on Tuesday unanimously approved an amendment by Sen. Mike Johanns, R-NE, that bars any funds from the Defense spending bill from going to ACORN. Fox news congress blog http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2351250/posts#comment Wed, 30 Sep 2009 01:32:18 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2348460/posts WASHINGTON (AFP) – US Senate Republicans on Friday pulled out of a bipartisan investigation into controversial "war on terror" detentions and interrogations, including tactics widely condemned as torture. The move by the opposition party dealt a sharp blow to the Senate Intelligence Committee's efforts to find out exactly what methods were used when and whether they paid off -- without prosecuting witnesses or agents thought to have committed abuses. Senator Kit Bond, the panel's top Republican, blamed Attorney General Eric Holder's investigation into alleged CIA abuse of detainees, which he said made it impossible for current or former CIA officials... AFP on Yahoo http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2348460/posts#comment Fri, 25 Sep 2009 22:33:55 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2347520/posts The IRS yesterday severed its ties with ACORN, the profoundly corrupt community organizing group embroiled in a seemingly never-ending string of controversies, criminal investigations and voter registration fraud charges.  Last week, the U.S. Census Bureau also severed ties with the group. The latest controversy is over the series of videos covertly taped by new media journalists James O’Keefe and Hannah Giles.  In these videos, O’Keefe and Giles, posing as a pimp and prostitute, are given tax advice by ACORN representatives in different cities across the country.   The tax advice included listing “performance artist” as the prostitute’s employment code in... HumanEvents.com http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2347520/posts#comment Thu, 24 Sep 2009 20:36:52 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2347287/posts It's time for the Illinois GOP to request that Mark Kirk bow out of the U.S. Senate race. U.S. Rep. Mark Kirk's bid to obtain the Republican nomination for the U.S. Senate seat to be vacated by Roland Burris in 2010 has, to put it mildly, got off to a rocky start. The 10th District Republican has come under fire, not only from social conservatives, but from fiscal conservatives as well. Kirk's votes on abortion, gun rights and radical environmentalism is contrary to the state and national Republican Party Platforms. Kirk was never going to receive support from pro-family Republicans,... RFFM.org http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2347287/posts#comment Thu, 24 Sep 2009 15:29:28 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2346664/posts There might not be a temporary replacement for Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) in the coming days after all. Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick (D) was expected to have the power to appoint a 60th Democratic senator this week, but the bill to give him that power hit a snag Wednesday, according to The Associated Press, and the situation could be headed for court. Though the state Senate on Tuesday joined the state House in signing off on the appointment powers, the timing the of the appointment is at issue. Without an emergency declaration, Patrick could not make the appointment for 90... The Hill http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2346664/posts#comment Wed, 23 Sep 2009 20:34:34 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2345886/posts Here is a YouTube video of what Jan Schakowsky (D-IL) and Robert Casey (D, MoveOn.org, PA) just voted to continue funding with taxpayer dollars. Here are the U.S. Senators who voted to continue to fund Barack Obama's friends in ACORN (a "nay" vote is a vote against defunding ACORN). See also this video. Note in the video that, per ACORN's employees, the fake pimp doesn't have to file W-2 reports for his (imaginary) prostitutes because they are under sixteen.U.S. Senators who voted to continue to spend taxpayer money to fund ACORNBurris (D-IL) Casey (D-PA), also accepted the endorsement of an... IsraPundit http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2345886/posts#comment Tue, 22 Sep 2009 22:34:58 GMT