Free Republic

A House-approved bill that the president supports would expand the draconian penalties he supposedly wants to abolish.When he ran for president in 2020, Joe Biden repudiated his long history of pushing harsh penalties for nonviolent drug offenses, calling for the abolition of mandatory minimum sentences. "Biden supports an end to mandatory minimums," his campaign said. "As president, he will work for the passage of legislation to repeal mandatory minimums at the federal level." But by endorsing a bill aimed at cracking down on fentanyl analogs, Biden is doing exactly the opposite. The HALT Fentanyl Act, which the Republican-controlled House of...

In remarks on the House floor Thursday, Rep. Frank Pallone (D-NJ) shot back at Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) over her energy amendment.

The rise of the scourge that is youth e-cigarette use in America is certainly something that cannot go unnoticed or unaddressed. However, instead of approaching the problem rationally and carefully -- as we should approach all areas of national policy -- it seems that all too many in Washington are more than willing to rush the deliberative process for the sake of moral panic and, in so doing, will end up throwing the baby out with the bathwater.  One such example comes from Rep. Frank Pallone (D-N.J.) who introduced a piece of legislation back in April aimed at tackling this...

The Trump administration plans to release guidance as soon as this month for granting states waivers to convert Medicaid funding to block grants, according to two people familiar with the matter, paving the way for a transformation of the 55-year-old program that is likely to reignite a partisan feud. The impending release comes as a surprise after the Office of Management and Budget, which reviews regulatory actions, indicated in November that block-grant instructions had been withdrawn. Lawmakers and legal advisers speculated that the guidance may have been shelved or significantly delayed. Approving state waivers to change Medicaid funding to block...

Washington, D.C. – Today, Congressman Frank Pallone, Jr. (NJ-06) released the following statement: “For months, the President of the United States has failed to respect the authority endowed to Congress by the Constitution. He has directed members of his Administration and former campaign officials to show contempt for Congressional subpoenas and investigations. The reports of a whistleblower complaint clearly call into question the oath the president took to protect and defend the Constitution of the United States above political, financial, and personal gain. The president has done more than enough to meet the legal standards to justify impeachment. It’s time...

On March 27, House Democrats introduced H.R. 9, the Climate Action Now Act, which would forbid using federal funds “to take any actions to advance the withdrawal of the U.S. from the Paris Agreement” and would mandate President Donald Trump to submit a plan for meeting U.S. commitments under the U.N.-brokered accord. Rep. Frank Pallone (D-N.J.), chairman of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, declared, “We’re not going to withdraw from the Paris Agreement.” Speaking at Capitol Hill press conference on Wednesday alongside House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), Pallone argued that President Trump’s 2017 announcement that the United States...

Federal scientists warned in a new report Friday that changes in the climate will disrupt the economies of every region in the country in the coming years, with costs threatening to reach hundreds of billions of dollars annually by the middle of this century. The message, echoing decades of sobering conclusions from the world's leading climate scientists, is at odds with President Donald Trump's repeated scoffing at the idea of global warming. And the administration chose to release it on Black Friday, the busiest shopping day and one of the slowest news days of the year. But despite the timing,...

House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi’s husband bought up to a quarter million dollars of stock in a now financially troubled green energy company just weeks before it announced a major 2014 acquisition that sent stock prices soaring, public records show. SunEdison told regulators last week that it is eyeing bankruptcy under the weight of $11.7 million in debt. But in late 2014, investors were bullish on the company, which manufactures and operates solar and wind power facilities. Its 2014 purchase of wind energy company First Wind “further bolstered the reputation of the company,” wrote one market-watcher at the time. “Perhaps...

SunEdison is now eyeing bankruptcy, but Paul Pelosi invested right before a 2014 stock rally House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi’s husband bought up to a quarter million dollars of stock in a now financially troubled green energy company just weeks before it announced a major 2014 acquisition that sent stock prices soaring, public records show. SunEdison told regulators last week that it is eyeing bankruptcy under the weight of $11.7 million in debt. But in late 2014, investors were bullish on the company, which manufactures and operates solar and wind power facilities. Its 2014 purchase of wind energy company First...

Moments after arriving on Capitol Hill for freshman orientation, Rep.-elect Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., went to the office of House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif. It wasn’t to speak with Pelosi about her run for House speakership. But to join an impromptu sit-in outside of Pelosi’s office to push for congressional action on climate change. “We need to tell her that we’ve got her back in showing and pursuing the most progressive energy agenda that this country has even seen,” Ocasio-Cortez said while standing in the middle of a group of around 200 protestors holding signs reading “Green Jobs For All.”

Earlier this week, the newly-elected Democratic Socialist Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez dropped by Rep. Nancy Pelosi's Capitol Hill office. She was not there to say hello to her new colleague but to show support for a group of environmentalists hosting a sit-in in the potential Speaker of the House's workspace. The move rankled party leadership and consultants. But what exactly was Representative-elect Ocasio-Cortez showing support for? It was the "Green New Deal", a massive overhaul spending plan of the United States' economy in an effort to supposedly combat climate change. According to Politico, Ocasio-Cortez met with members from the Sunrise Movement, a nationwide...

**SNIP** Watching it all from the sidelines was Pelosi, who has already called for reinstatement of the select panel that she first set more than a decade ago. Ocasio-Cortez has praised Pelosi for reinstating the special committee, even though she wants it to have far broader authority to craft legislation remaking the U.S. energy grid. “We need to act on climate change NOW w/ a *fossil fuel $-free* Select Committee *with a mandate* to draft a Green New Deal,” Ocasio-Cortez tweeted earlier Thursday. “It’s our best chance to beat the clock.” Pallone declined to comment on what happened during the...

A fight broke out in a closed-door meeting of House Democrats over climate change as a powerful veteran lawmaker fought with freshman star Rep.-elect Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and other members-elect over the creation of a special panel for the issue. New Jersey Rep. Frank Pallone, incoming chairman of the powerful Energy and Commerce Committee — backed by a number of other committee members — slammed the creation of the new climate panel, according to multiple sources in the room. Pallone argued that his committee and other existing panels within the House could take on the issue aggressively. But Ocasio-Cortez (N.Y.), Rep.-elect...

According to a USA Today analysis, members on this year’s House Energy and Commerce Committee have received roughly $381,000 in Facebook-related contributions since 2007 with the average Republican getting $6,800 and the average Democrat getting $6,750. The report was based on data from the Center for Responsive Politics. Committee Chair Greg Walden (R-OR) reportedly received $27,000 while Ranking Member Frank Pallone (D-NY) got $7,000 in Facebook-related contributions. Rep. Anna Eshoo (D-CA), the Bay Area Democrat whose district is reportedly home to many Facebook executives and employees, got the most contributions, receiving $51,050 in the last decade. Walden and Pallone announced...

NEPTUNE — Congressman Frank Pallone called President Trump a “racist” during a Black History Month event on Saturday. Encouraging the audience at the Monmouth County Democrats Black American Caucus to be active and aware of racism like Martin Luther King, Pallone said, “the guy in the White House – he’s a racist. He also doesn’t believe there’s any role in government other than his own ideology,” according to the Asbury Park Press. The 6th district Democrat has been outspoken against Trump on his Twitter feed, calling for disciplinary action against Kellyanne Conway after she asked people to buy Ivanka Trump’s...

New Jersey voters may want the government to do more to plan for rising sea levels and climate change, but the issue is dead in the water in Congress, according to U.S. Rep. Frank Pallone (D-6th). Speaking at a conference organized by the nonprofit Clean Ocean Action, Pallone told the audience that Tea Party members in the Republican-controlled House of Representatives refuse to discuss the matter. “Congress is doing nothing,” the Democrat said. “They can’t bring this up -- if they do, they just get slapped down. We have to get this issue away from the ideology of the Tea...

Rep. Joe Barton accused the Obama administration Friday of "running over" the privacy rights of individuals by using hidden codes in the HealthCare.gov website. "The Obama administration is hiding that they're running over your privacy rights," the Texas Republican said on Fox News' "America's Newsroom." "The law, specifically designed to protect your medical privacy, HIPAA, in my mind is being violated under this law," he added, referring to the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act. The Texas Republican made the same charge at Thursday's House Energy and Commerce Committee hearing on the problems with the Obamacare enrollment website, which requests...

Rep. Frank Pallone (D-N.J.) derided today's House Energy and Commerce Committee hearing as a “monkey court,” accusing Republicans of exhibiting false concern during testimony and chastising them for raising security concerns that he said were specious.

Imagine a radio station that does an interview and a video of it goes viral on the Web. Of course, you would expect such a station to feature that video on its website, probably its front page. Well, radio station 1010 WINS in New York City had such a video but instead of featuring it, they completely ignored it despite the fact that the video was highlighted on such websites as the Drudge Report, the Daily Caller, and many others. As of this writing you won't find that video, which was originally posted on YouTube by tvnewsnj anywhere on the...

Cory Booker pocketed $689,500 in payouts from his former law firm while he served as Newark’s mayor and the firm pulled down millions in government contracts, he revealed Friday. Booker, the front-runner in the race for New Jersey’s US Senate seat, received the payments in annual allotments from 2007 to 2011. At the same time, the Trenk DiPasquale law firm held lucrative contracts with several local government agencies over which the mayor had influence — raking in more than $2 million in fees, records show. When questioned last month by The Post, Booker refused to say how much money he...