Free Republic

Senator Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and several Democratic lawmakers came under fire this week after circulating a misleading clip of White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt’s remarks about a renovation project at the White House. The edited video falsely suggested that President Donald Trump’s “main priority” was a ballroom construction project, despite clear context showing the statement referred only to ongoing renovation efforts, not national priorities. The controversy began Thursday during a White House press briefing, when a reporter asked Leavitt, “In addition to the ballroom and the Rose Garden patio, is the president looking at any other renovations or significant...

Despite calls for many Democratic politicians and pundits to temper their inflammatory rhetoric, this week has proven a further escalation in this dangerous form of rage rhetoric. DNC Chair Ken Martin just told MSNBC’s “The Beat” that “we may be nearing” the moment when “elections don’t matter and then the resistance looks completely different.” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer called on people to “forcefully rise up.” With political violence on the rise, these leaders are clearly fueling the mob in hopes that they and their party can ride the wave of rage back into power. History suggests that it is...

The White House says the shutdown could halt next month’s inflation report for the first time in 70+ years, leaving the Fed without crucial price data.The government shutdown now in its fourth week likely means there won't be an inflation report next month for the first time in more than seven decades, the White House said Friday, leaving Wall Street and the Federal Reserve without crucial information about consumer prices. “Because surveyors cannot deploy to the field, the White House has learned there will likely NOT be an inflation release next month for the first time in history,” the Trump...

Billionaire businessman Timothy Mellon – scion of the famed American banking family – is the deep-pocketed donor who gave $130 million to pay US troops during the government shutdown. The reclusive Mellon was identified as the source of the funds in a Saturday report by The New York Times. President Trump announced this week that “a friend” who “loves the military and loves the country” – but who didn’t want to be identified – had given the funds. Trump referenced the contribution en route to Asia Friday night, calling the request for anonymity “pretty unusual in the world I come...

The government shutdown will end soon. How do I know? Because whatever political advantage Democrats had a few weeks ago by “standing strong!” and “confronting Trump!” is quickly evaporating. When the polls flip, so will the party that has lost its way. Voters have a way of sniffing out the truth. They are beginning to understand that Democrats are rudderless, and are voting to keep the government closed out of confusion, not conviction. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and their colleagues claim they desperately want Obamacare premium subsidies extended, but they have...

We have no idea how the government shutdown, now in its fourth week and the second longest in history, will end, or how. But what is increasingly clear is how badly Democrats miscalculated on this one. Consider three bits of news from this week: First, the shutdown isn’t hurting Republicans. In fact, a Reuters/Ipsos poll showed that President Donald Trump’s approval rating has ticked up by two points to 42% since the shutdown started. Other polls find it unchanged. The Real Clear Politics average shows Trump’s disapproval at 52%, which is down a point from the day before the shutdown...

The U.S. Department of Agriculture will not use any of the more than $5 billion in emergency funding it maintains to provide food assistance to needy families during the government shutdown, nor will it reimburse states that try to provide such benefits themselves, according to an agency memo obtained by Scripps News on Friday. Trump administration officials argue they’re unable to use the funds for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) during a lapse in appropriations, and instead are holding onto them for true emergencies like “hurricanes, tornadoes, and floods, that can come on quickly and without notice.” “SNAP contingency...

Groups on the left know full well that allowing the enhanced subsidies to expire as scheduled wouldn’t cause a catastrophe for most families. As the government shutdown winds on, Democrats continue to hold the federal government hostage because, they claim, “premiums will double” if Congress does not extend Covid-era enhanced Obamacare subsidies. I’ve debunked that topic in detail here and elsewhere, but to quickly summarize the argument: 1) The federal government will still pay on average 75-80 percent of enrollees’ premiums if the enhanced subsidies expire. 2) Nearly half of Exchange enrollees currently pay nothing in out-of-pocket premiums for benchmark...

Americans are likely to face even more flight interruptions after Congress failed to provide last-minute relief for air-traffic controllers and other federal aviation workers whose paychecks will stall due to the government shutdown. While Donald Trump's administration moved funds to delay impact on some areas – such as pay for the troops – lawmakers warn that next week aviation workers will not receive their paychecks. Around 13,000 air traffic controllers and 50,000 TSA officers are facing work without pay, leading to surging absences and sick says. Since the shutdown began on October 1, staff absences have contributed to 53 percent...

The powerful Brooklyn Democrat plans to endorse the democratic socialist Friday afternoon.The long-awaited nod from Jeffries is certain to prove divisive in the fractured party as it seeks a path out of the political wilderness ahead of next year’s midterms. Jeffries’ decision leaves Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer as the last key person in state Democratic leadership to withhold support from Mamdani.Before the expected endorsement Friday, Jeffries sought to keep the focus on the federal shutdown.“Stay tuned,” he told reporters in Washington, giving his stock reply on a Mamdani endorsement. “I have not refused to endorse. I have refused to...

The Trump administration plans to funnel a $130 million donation from an anonymous ally of President Donald Trump toward paying military service members during the government shutdown, the Defense Department confirmed on Friday. “The donation was made on the condition that it be used to offset the cost of Service members’ salaries and benefits,” chief Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said in a statement to CNN, adding that the money was accepted under the department’s “general gift acceptance authority.” The move marks a striking departure from government procedure for funding the military, which traditionally relies on public funds appropriated by Congress....

ACA was a costly illusion.The focus of the current government shutdown circus has increasingly narrowed to Democrat demands to undo proposed reductions in very large, supposedly temporary, Covid-era Obamacare (Affordable Care Act) subsidy boosts. A major part of their public push is the claim that they are trying to save citizens money, though what they are actually demanding is that we shift the burden to future generations via increased federal debt, backed by the threat of demonizing Republicans as heartless for taking away any benefits. They emphasize the need to maintain the “great deal” the ACA offered.The problem with their...

A Republican measure that would pay essential government employees faltered in the Senate, and the G.O.P. blocked a pair of Democratic bills to pay a broader swath of workers.Senate Democrats on Thursday blocked legislation to pay federal employees who have been working without compensation during the government shutdown, thwarting Republicans’ latest effort to weaken their hand in the federal spending fight. The defeat was part of a series of failed partisan votes on the 23rd day of the government shutdown that underscored the depth of the prolonged impasse, with neither Republicans nor Democrats showing any indication that they planned to...

Washington’s latest fiscal standoff isn’t just another round of partisan posturing—it’s a direct assault on the grocery budgets of 42 million Americans who rely on SNAP to keep food on the table. As November 1 looms, the U.S. Department of Agriculture has issued a stark memo: federal funds for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program will evaporate without a budget deal, leaving states scrambling and families exposed. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and his Democratic allies bear the brunt of the blame here, having stonewalled a House-passed funding extension 12 times in the Senate, all to extract concessions on healthcare subsidies...

Thursday on CNN’s “The Situation Room,” House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) said House Speaker Mike Johnson’s (R-LA) comments about the ongoing government shutdown were “going to get someone killed.” A day earlier on CNN, Johnson said, “No, we’re not going to allow Chuck Schumer to play selfish political games and hold the American people hostage. We will not negotiate with legislative terrorists.” Jeffries said, “That type of language is reckless, it’s irresponsible, and it’s going to get someone killed. What do these folks not understand as it relates to the language that they continue to use? We should be...

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., stood by Virginia’s embattled Democratic attorney general candidate Jay Jones who sent text messages fantasizing about putting "two bullets" in his Republican rival's head and also suggested his ‘fascist’ children should die as well. As Jones faces mounting calls to drop out of his race because of the text scandal, with his GOP opponent going so far as saying he should disqualify himself at a Thursday night debate, Jeffries suggested that Jones already did the right thing by apologizing. "The attorney general candidate has appropriately apologized for his remarks, and I know his remarks...

President Trump said Saturday he would use his authority as commander in chief to pay military troops despite the government shutdown that has furloughed federal employees. Trump blasted Democratic Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and noted that if the government isn’t reopened by Oct. 15th, the nation’s warriors and Pentagon employees would miss paychecks. “That is why I am using my authority, as Commander in Chief, to direct our Secretary of War, Pete Hegseth, to use all available funds to get our Troops PAID on October 15th,” Trump posted on his Truth Social site. “We have identified funds to do...

House Speaker Mike Johnson revealed on Fox News this morning that the Democrats will likely keep the government shut down for more than another week until after a scheduled “No Kings” protest against the Trump Administration on October 18. The shutdown is entering its tenth day on Friday as Democrats continue to vote against reopening. They are demanding taxpayer-funded healthcare for illegals, continued funding for leftwing PBS propaganda, and $1.5 trillion in additional spending. The No Kings group is planning its demonstration on the National Mall in DC, and "Some of the House Democrats are selling T-shirts for the event,"...

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) touted Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene’s (R-Ga.) call to extend Affordable Care Act (ACA) subsidies, as he doubled down on his opposition to funding the government without addressing the expiring tax credits. In remarks on the Senate floor Tuesday, the Democratic leader read aloud from part of a social media post in which Greene said she’s “absolutely disgusted” that health insurance premiums could double if the ACA subsidies expire at the end of the year, breaking with her party on an issue at the center of the government shutdown standoff.“I’m going to go against everyone...

Rep. Jared Golden (D-ME) is blaming leftist groups and his own party for the ongoing government shutdown. In a social media post on Wednesday, Golden wrote, “This government shutdown is the result of hardball politics driven by the demands far-left groups are making for Democratic Party leaders to put on a show of their opposition to President Trump.” He added the shutdown is “hurting Americans and our economy, and the irony is it has only handed more power to the president.” Golden continued: This fight is ostensibly about health care, so let me be clear: I opposed the GOP’s Medicaid...