Free Republic

Ukraine will be a “humiliating fiasco” for America like Vietnam if Washington continues its muddied involvement, a Russian official said Sunday. Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova issued the scathing comment a day after US lawmakers in the House of Representatives green-lit a long-delayed $60 billion aid bill for Ukraine that will help the war-weary nation buy more advanced weapons and defense systems. “Washington’s deeper and deeper immersion in the hybrid war against Russia will turn into a loud and humiliating fiasco for the United States, such as Vietnam and Afghanistan,” Zakharova said, adding that it’s become clear the US...

Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) and Democrats painted a surreal scene on the House floor Saturday as the House passed a $61 billion bill to further Ukraine’s war effort. As the inevitable outcome neared, Democrats produced dozens of miniature Ukraine flags, waiving them and cheering “Ukraine!” jubilantly.

A spending bill backed by House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) includes hundreds of millions of dollars in American taxpayer money for border patrol agents in Ukraine as illegal immigration at the United States-Mexico border remains at record levels. The spending bill, which 151 House Republicans helped 165 House Democrats advance on Friday, would see more than $95 billion sent to foreign countries — including about $61 billion to Ukraine amid its ongoing war with Russia.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky signed a bill on Tuesday to lower the conscription age to 25 in a bid to expand the ranks of his military ahead of what promises to be another tough year defending against Russia. With the Spring Thaw quickly approaching, fighting on the ground in the war between Russia and Ukraine is likely to again intensify. Last year, Kyiv launched a highly touted yet ultimately unsuccessful “counter-offensive” attempting to recapture lands seized by Moscow. This year, with dwindling manpower and alleged shortages of weapons and munitions, Ukraine appears content with digging in, while Moscow appears to...

Congress will vote Friday on a $1.2 trillion, 1,000-plus page spending bill revealed Thursday just before 3:00 a.m. The bill will start in the House, where Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) will move the bill under “suspension of the rules.” Johnson repeatedly has used suspension of the rules — which requires two-thirds support but bypasses procedural opposition from conservatives — to advance legislation lacking broad Republican support. Suspension of the rules also enables Johnson to bypass a requirement that Congress receive at least 72 hours to review legislation before voting on it.

Wyoming House Bill 125 is on the way to Governor Mark Gordon. Two Wyoming State Senators (Bouchard and Biteman) were instrumental in passing a ban on Red Flag gun seizures (SF – 109) and the removal of gun free zones (HB 125). They give an explanation of how they passed the bills in an 8-minute video. Senator Biteman reports the last time a similar bill passed, in 2017, the former governor, Matthew Hansen Mead (R), vetoed the bill. Wyoming is on the way to removing nearly all “gun free zones”. Anyone who is not prohibited from owning a firearm will...

Democrats, meanwhile, have contended the bill is an attempt to shut down Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis's prosecution of former President Donald Trump. Georgia Republican Gov. Brian Kemp on Wednesday signed legislation empowering the state Prosecuting Attorneys Qualifications Commission to remove prosecutors or impose other sanctions. In 2023, he approved creation of the panel, though the Georgia Supreme Court blocked its operations by rejecting its governing rules, the Associated Press reported. The Wednesday law will permit the panel to begin operations under with considerable disciplinary authority. The bill would further require that solicitors general and district attorneys evaluate cases...

The House on Wednesday passed legislation that would ban TikTok if they do not sell the company from its Chinese parent company. The House voted 352-61-1 H.R. 7521, Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act. The bill featured 15 Republicans against the bill, 50 Democrats against it, showing that there is strong bipartisan interest in curbing TikTok’s apparent national security threat.

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk warned House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) Tuesday that he’s putting “thousands of lives in Ukraine” at risk by turning the issue of whether to approve aid to the war-torn country into a political football. Such a strong statement from a foreign leader to a US congressman is unusual, and it comes as efforts to pass $60 billion in military assistance for Ukraine have stalled in the lower chamber. “The lack of a decision to unblock aid to Ukraine is very important for Ukraine, for the United States, for the entire Western community,” Tusk told reporters...

Democrats in Maine have quietly reintroduced into a different committee the same pro-transgender bill that was unanimously defeated once already. The bill would in part prevent parents from being contacted or having any say in the transing of their children by school or medical officials and would serve as a groomer protection measure. The bill, LD227, is very similar to LD 1735, which was killed in the Judiciary Committee in January. Republican critics of the bill are blasting the provisions as anti-family and anti-child.

Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) torpedoed a Republican-sponsored bill on Wednesday that would automatically detain illegal aliens charged with violent crimes. Sen. Joni Ernst (R-IA) had tried to force a floor vote on the bill, which would allow Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to detain any illegal charged with a violent crime in an effort to prevent liberal prosecutors from releasing them back into the population after arrest, giving them the chance to go out and commit other crimes, Fox News reported.

Been looking for the names of Democrats who voted "nay" on the Laken Riley bill. Only place I could find them is in this mixed list. https://clerk.house.gov/Votes/202466

The House of Representatives approved a “minibus” spending bill on Wednesday to avert a partial government shutdown this weekend — despite opposition from conservative Republicans. The $467.5 billion package was supported by 207 Democrats and 132 Republicans and keeps funding levels roughly the same through Sept. 30 for the Departments of Veterans Affairs, Agriculture, Transportation, Commerce, Housing and Urban Development and Justice, as well as military construction. Senate and House appropriators released the 1,050-page bill on Sunday afternoon, with Republicans celebrating the domestic spending levels as a budget cut for federal agencies like the FBI and Democrats touting the protection...

Kentucky’s House Bill 500 jeopardizes worker rights, eliminating breaks, employer liability, and longstanding protections, raising concerns about fair labor practices. NEW “House Bill 500 leaves it to the employer to decide if they will provide an unpaid lunch break or force workers to juggle eating while on the job.” “Additionally, at present, employers must provide at least a 10 minute rest period for every 4 hours of work in addition to a scheduled lunch period. House Bill 500 repeals that requirement. The Government Does Not Care About You. You’re Already Working Your Life Away To Still Be Broke Now &...

Monica Lewinsky, the anti-bullying activist who found herself at the centre of a 90s media storm after an affair with President Bill Clinton, has been signed by a major fashion brand. . Ms Lewinsky was chosen by women's fashion house Reformation to lead the company's latest voting campaign. . The "You've Got the Power" work wear campaign was launched on Monday in partnership with Vote.org.

During an interview aired on Monday’s broadcast of NBC’s “Late Night,” President Joe Biden stated that the Senate border bill “would allow us to control the border” and if he’s re-elected it will be taken up in the House and be passed, which Democrats didn’t do when they had control of both chambers and the White House from 2021 to 2023. After host Seth Meyers said, “You even got an immigration bill that passed in the Senate, but never got taken up in the House,” Biden declared, “It will be.” Meyers then asked, “What do you — would you want...

Speaker Mike Johnson lays down the House GOP's position on the bill passed this week in the Senate to send money and weapons to U.S. allies overseas. (1:20 min video)

Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) hit the GOP over the tanked bipartisan Senate border bill on Sunday, claiming House Republicans decided to kill the bill in order to help former President Trump win the 2024 election. The sweeping border security and asylum overhaul bill initially had strong bipartisan support in the Senate last week, but it fell apart after Trump and the House GOP went against it. Murphy said in a CBS “Face the Nation” interview that Republicans didn’t want to hand Biden a win by passing it.

@BasedMikeLee I just finished speaking for four hours on the Senate floor, offering amendment after amendment to the Ukraine bill. After promising a “fair and open” amendment process, Democrats objected to every one of my half-dozen attempts to make my common-sense amendments pending. From real border-security protections to measures to prevent non-citizens from voting in federal elections to a measure preventing U.S. funds from flowing to Hamas to restrictions on paying the salaries of Ukrainian bureaucrats (among other amendments), Democrats refused to let the Senate consider my proposed changes. Their reasoning in essence: “Republicans had their chance, but lost their...

The Senate overwhelmingly voted Thursday to start work on a $95 billion spending bill that would provide aid to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan — one day after it formally killed off a larger bill that included $20 billion in border security spending. The 67-32 vote included “yeas” from 17 Republicans while Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) was the only “nay” from the Democratic conference. A final vote on the legislation is not expected until next week as senators begin the lengthy process of negotiating which amendments will be voted on as part of the final package. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer...