Free Republic

Wannabe wiseguys have a new opportunity to own the Chicago home of famous Prohibition Era crime boss Al “Scarface” Capone after the South Side property popped back on the market Friday.

Chairman of the House Intelligence Committee Adam Schiff hired a highly placed former Trump White House staffer to his investigative team, and it is raising serious concerns among current and former administration officials who spoke to SaraACarter.com. Abigail Grace is a former National Security Council and was transferred from the Middle East office to the Asia office during her tenure at the White House, according to two former White House officials. The former officials spoke on background as they were not authorized to speak on the matter. Grace, who has a high-level security clearance, was hired Monday by Schiff. Schiff,...

The nine Democrats selected by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) to serve on the Select Committee on the Climate Crisis received a combined $198,000 from fossil fuel industry political action committees in the 2018 election cycle. The majority of the donations went to Rep. Ben Ray Lujan (D-N.M.), who raised $117,000 from PACs connected to oil, gas, mining and electric utility corporations. Those donations constituted 6 percent of all contributions raised by Lujan. The rest of the appointees received scant funds from fossil fuel PACs. The data comes from the Center for Responsive Politics, a nonprofit that classifies campaign donations...

Nearly a dozen stakeholders representing local governments and the freight and commuter sectors on Feb. 7 urged a House transportation panel to identify a sustainable source of funding for an infrastructure bill. As the panel prepares to craft legislation, lawmakers agreed infrastructure policy should top their priorities this year. Yet, they continue to differ on a way forward for ensuring the sustainability of the dwindling Highway Trust Fund. The idea that former Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood told the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee to consider is increasing and indexing the fuel tax by about 10 cents. Doing so, LaHood argued, would...

After 40 House seats swung to Democrats in the 2018 midterms, the Republican Party is targeting dozens of them ahead of 2020 in a bid to win back control of the chamber. The House GOP’s campaign wing has released a list of 55 seats it will target next year, mostly by portraying Democrats as the party of socialism, CNBC reported. The targeted seats include 41 of the 43 the GOP lost to Democrats — many weeks after polls closed in November.

In the House’s first congressional hearing on gun violence prevention in almost a decade, tensions flared between the father of a Parkland high school shooting victim and a Florida lawmaker. During the meeting, Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., said illegal immigration, not guns, is a major factor behind acts of public violence that have plagued the nation over the past two decades. (snip) ...Oliver interrupted him at least two more times. Gaetz then petitioned Chairman Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., to remove Oliver from the gallery. Nadler declined to eject Oliver saying... ...“It is never permissible for members of the audience to comment...

The Democrat-controlled House Committee on Natural Resources may soon strike the reference to God in the oath given to witnesses testifying before the panel, according to a draft, Fox News reports. Rather than including “so help you God,” at the end of the oath, it would instead read: "Do you solemnly swear or affirm, under penalty of law, that the testimony that you are about to give is the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?"> The rules proposal places the words "so help you God" in red brackets, indicating they are slated to be cut. The words...

RUSH: Republican minority leader in the House Kevin McCarthy is really ticking off Pencil Neck Adam Schiff, delaying Schiff’s investigations into the Russia scandal. This is great. BREAK TRANSCRIPT RUSH: The thing that Kevin McCarthy is doing here, the Republican leader in the House, he has not seated any Republicans on Little Schiff’s committee! The House Intelligence Committee Schiff runs now instead of Devin Nunes, McCarthy has not assigned any Republicans to the committee yet so Schiff can’t start! Schiff’s anti-Trump investigations and hearings have been brought to a screeching halt because he can’t do anything if there aren’t any...

This article was written in response to a discussion that I had with a friend of mine. He made the statement, “You wouldn’t be able to believe how these (Chinese) people lived! You and I could never live like that!” Turns out that he saw some propaganda from the UK and was convinced that the Chinese lived in windowless hovels. Not so. Not by a long shot. Over the last thirty years, China has experienced a period of enormous growth. It began in the 1990’s. It started when the progressive socialist policies of Mr. Mao were replaced with the Free-Market...

Pelosi, D-Calif., made a considerable misstep when she sent the president a short letter Wednesday stating: “I am writing to inform you that the House of Representatives will not consider a concurrent resolution authorizing the president’s State of the Union address in the House Chamber until government has opened.” [cut] With Pelosi foolishly refusing to allow the president to deliver the State of the Union in the House chamber, some alternate locations that have been floated for the speech – including the White House, Republican-held state legislative chambers, or even at our border with Mexico. But for the sake of...

Dear Madam Speaker: Thank you for your letter of January 3, 2019, sent to me after the long Shutdown began, inviting me to address the Nation on January 29th as to the State of the Union. As you know, I had already accepted your kind invitation, however, I then received another letter from you dated January 16th, 2019, wherein you expressed concerns regarding security during the State of the Union Address due to the Shutdown. Even prior to asking, I was contacted by the Department of Homeland Security and the United States Secret Service to explain that there would be...

The Honorable Nancy Pelosi Speaker of the House of Representatives Washington, D.C. 20515 Dear Madam Speaker:Thank you for your letter of January 3, 2019, sent to me long after the Shutdown began, inviting me to address the Nation on January 29th as to the State of the Union. As you know, I had already accepted your kind invitation, however, I then received another letter from you dated January 16, 2019, wherein you expressed concerns regarding security during the State of the Union Address due to the Shutdown. Even prior to asking, I was contacted by the Department of Homeland Security and...

Last week was dominated with pettiness and silliness, as President Trump responded to Speaker Pelosi's cheap 'State of the Union' stunt with some retaliatory theater of his own.  Pelosi hid behind the Secret Service and DHS to raise bogus "security concerns," only to insult those very public servants when they contradicted her unfounded sloppiness.  Then Trump foraged about for a hammer with which to clobber Pelosi in return, settling on the abrupt cancelation of an overseas trip.  But since that display of mutual childishness, the president has made two smart plays: First, he adopted a constructive tone and approach in...

The Constitution provided that the president "may, on extraordinary occasions, convene both Houses, or either of them." On forty-six occasions between 1791 and 1933, presidents called the Senate alone into special session (see Table V-L). Most of these special sessions met in March (since presidents were inaugurated on March 4) to confirm the president's nominations to the cabinet.

House Republicans are up in arms over a plan by the new Democratic chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee that could abolish the panel’s anti-terrorism subcommittee and replace it with one that will focus in part on President Trump’s business interests and how they affect U.S. foreign policy. The reorganization eyed by new committee Chairman Eliot Engel, New York Democrat, was first reported by The New Yorker. “I am disappointed with [Mr. Engel‘s] reported plans to eliminate the Terrorism, Nonproliferation and Trade Subcommittee for one dedicated to investigations,” Texas Rep. Mike McCaul, the ranking Republican on the House foreign...

The funny part of this isn’t the wrong turn. The funny part is the idea that McConnell, of all people, might be cowed by a bunch of Democrats. It’d be like the Freedom Caucus showing up at Pelosi’s office and demanding she back a balanced-budget amendment. Think she’d be intimidated? {snip} Yes, everyone’s favorite frosh was part of the group. {snip} They left a note signed by more than 30 House freshmen for him on his desk in the Senate, hoping, I guess, that he’ll read it and “run train” on the shutdown.

Most Americans know that their representation in the U.S. House of Representatives is based on proportional representation as determined by the decennial Census. And, many Americans are aware that the Census takers try to count everybody residing in the country. But, most Americans do not make the connection that illegal immigrants and other foreigners who are not legal permanent residents are part of the calculation for the apportionment of Congressional representatives.... As may be seen from the reallocation of seats based on the distribution of U.S. citizens, the states with the largest illegal and resident nonimmigrant populations currently gain influence...

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez didn’t get a seat on the powerful tax writing committee where she sought to push her progressive agenda of Medicare for All, free college tuition and a green new deal. Instead, the open downstate New York slot on the House Ways and Means Committee went to a moderate Democrat, Long Island Rep. Tom Suozzi, a former CPA, attorney and county executive. Suozzi will assume the committee seat of Rep. Joe Crowley, the Queens Democrat Ocasio-Cortez defeated last year in a stunning upset.

Join Freepers throughout the world to pray for PRESIDENT TRUMP and VICE-PRESIDENT PENCE and for AMERICA: All Levels of Government, Family, Military, Business, Education, Churches, Health Care Systems and the Media. This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. —1 John 5:14 Forum threads labeled [Prayer] are closed to debate of any kind. Please join us in prayer for Divine healing of the Democratic majority members of the 116th U.S. House of Representatives.

House Budget Chairman John Yarmuth (D-Ky.) has announced that the forthcoming budget blueprint will call for a 33 percent corporate income tax rate by hiking the rate from 21 percent to 28 percent. This would make the U.S. a less competitive place to do business and make the U.S. statutory rate higher than many developed competitors. State corporate taxes average 6 percent across the U.S, so this planned tax hike would give the U.S. an average top corporate rate of 34 percent. The current combined corporate rate across the 36 member Organisation for Economic Development and Cooperation (OECD) is currently...