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HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Republican leaders of the Pennsylvania Legislature on Friday produced a new proposed map of the state's congressional districts, three weeks after the state Supreme Court declared the former map unconstitutional. The proposal drafted by House Speaker Mike Turzai and Senate President Pro Tempore Joe Scarnati would make widespread changes, eliminating dozens of municipal and county divisions while keeping nearly 70 percent of residents in their old districts. They forwarded the map and other materials to Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf, who has until Thursday to tell the justices if he supports it. If not, the court has...

President Trump offered some kind words for Rep. Lou Barletta, R-Pa., and his bid to unseat Sen. Bob Casey, D-Pa., in 2018, saying that the Republican congressman is "going to win big" in the race. Trump made the remarks while opening up an event in Harrisburg, Pa., early Wednesday evening on tax reform.

Rep. Lou Barletta (R-PA) called out Senate Democrats following a government shutdown led by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and members of the Republican establishment, saying the Democratic Party put the interests of illegal aliens ahead of American citizens. On Friday evening, Senate Democrats, including Schumer and Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL), along with well as Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) and Sen. Jeff Flake (R-AZ), voted against a spending bill to prevent a government shutdown because it did not include amnesty for at least 3.5 million illegal aliens and their illegal alien parents. Barletta quickly responded to the decision to...

Sen. Pat Toomey (R-PA) endorsed Rep. Lou Barletta (R-PA) in a video on Tuesday to challenge Sen. Bob Casey (D-PA) in the 2018 midterm election. In a video endorsing Barletta, Sen. Toomey called Barletta a “trusted conservative and a relentless fighter for hardworking Pennsylvanians.” “No one in the House of Representatives has been more committed to fighting to protect our borders or to ending dangerous sanctuary city policies than Lou Barletta,” Toomey declared. “When we recently needed an ally in the House to pass the most sweeping tax reforms in a generation, Lou was there every step of the way,”...

HAZLETON — Congressman Lou Barletta, a Republican from Hazleton, officially announced this morning he will challenge Democrat Bob Casey for a U.S. Senate seat next year. Barletta made the announcement this morning in a campaign video. Barletta has been a U.S. Representative for the 11th district since 2011, last winning re-election in 2016. He was one of the first Pennsylvania lawmakers to support Donald Trump's candidacy for president and he served as Pennsylvania Campaign Co-Chair and was named to the Executive Committee of President Trump’s Transition Team. "I don’t see running for the Senate to represent Pennsylvania as an opportunity....

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Pennsylvania's Republican Party on Saturday endorsed candidates who are closely identified with President Donald Trump to run in contested primaries to challenge the state's two leading Democrats, Gov. Tom Wolf and U.S. Sen. Bob Casey. The endorsements of gubernatorial candidate Scott Wagner and Senate candidate Lou Barletta came a month before the deadline to file paperwork to get on the May 15 primary election ballot. The endorsements at the Republican State Committee's winter meeting were expected after both men performed well at regional caucus straw votes in recent weeks and come with the party's financial support...

Former Alaskan Governor and Republican Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin says the illegal alien acquitted of fatally shooting 32-year-old Kate Steinle in the sanctuary city of San Francisco, California, in 2015, was given “more rights, grace and favor” than his victim and her family. ....In an interview with a local news station in 2015, Lopez-Sanchez confessed that he sought out San Francisco because it was a sanctuary city that would not deport him from the U.S. “Sanchez said he knew San Francisco was a sanctuary city where he would not be pursued by immigration officials,” the local report added. Members...

<p>HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) - Republican U.S. Rep. Lou Barletta of Pennsylvania, a crusader against illegal immigration, is telling GOP officials and activists that he's decided to run for the U.S. Senate seat now held by Democrat Bob Casey.</p> <p>A person familiar with the discussions tells The Associated Press that Barletta began telling party officials of his decision last week. The person spoke on condition of anonymity Monday because Barletta has not yet made his plans public.</p>

Mark Margavage said he’s had enough of “polished politics.” Margavage, an Edwardsville resident, said he believes Republican Donald Trump is a better presidential candidate than Democrat Hillary Clinton, regardless of the sexually charged comments Trump was recorded as saying about women in 2005. Margavage said many men make similar comments about women. And he’s not alone in his support for Trump. In an informal Times Leader poll Saturday on Facebook, an overwhelming majority of Trump backers said they still plan to vote for him despite his lewd comments 11 years ago. The poll had reached nearly 7,000 readers over the...

According to local media reports, people were lined up as early as 6:30am this morning. Thousands couldn’t even get in to the filled venue. WILKES-BARRE TWP. – Donald Trump took the stage to a cheering, capacity crowd at the Mohegan Sun Arena around 7:30 p.m. Monday. "We love Wilkes-Barre," Trump VIDEO Trump immediately said his son reminded him to immediately tell the crowd he supports the area natural gas and coal industries. "This is my last stop. Tomorrow is the election," Trump said. A win in Pennsylvania will help him get closer to the Republican nomination. "We're going to make...

U.S. Rep. Lou Barletta, R-11th, has become the second member of Pennsylvania's GOP Congressional delegation to endorse billionaire Donald Trump's presidential candidacy. Trump has already received the endorsement of U.S. Rep. Tom Marino, R-10th, whose district borders Barletta's. This is the full text of the statement the Hazleton Republican released this afternoon: "Like millions of Americans, I want our next president to be a leader who fights for the American people and gets things done, not a politician who tries to say all the right things but will never be able to deliver on more broken promises. "Throughout his campaign,...

Congressman Lou Barletta, R-Penn., is now the eighth federal lawmaker to have endorsed Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump, claiming he and the billionaire have overcome similar obstacles. "He caught my attention immediately when he highlighted illegal immigration and the open Southern border," Barletta said in an interview Tuesday with the Washington Post. "The fact that he didn't back down, well, he was criticized the same way I was as mayor. It was reminiscent of what I went through." He continued, "I've been called names, a racist and a bigot. I fought my case all the way to the Supreme Court....

As candidates are gearing up for the 2016 election cycle, many members of Congress have officially endorsed their favorites.Roll Call has compiled a list of the current public endorsements from sitting members of Congress among the Republican candidates.While some have racked up more endorsements than others (most candidates have none), we decided to filter the nearly 25 endorsements based on their different scores from three of the biggest conservative advocacy groups: The Heritage Foundation, the American Conservative Union, and FreedomWorks.Here are the three 2016 Republican candidates who have received the lion’s share of endorsements, matched with the average ratings from...

WASHINGTON – To hear Rep. Steve Stockman, R-Texas, describe it, the difference between President Obama and Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas – on the question of their eligibility for the highest office in the land – may be a case of comparing apples and oranges. ~ The congressman said with Cruz, it is a legal question of whether he is eligible to serve as president – whereas the issue with Obama is not really about where he was born, but whether his documentation is authentic. ~ Obama, on the other hand, is the subject of Stockman’s proposed legislation calling for a...

(snip) Impact on American Workers But the labor rights of existing American workers is a Catholic social issue that U.S. Rep. Lou Barletta, R-Pa., a Catholic, believes the current immigration debate has failed to address. (snip) “What are we going to do about the 22 million Americans who can’t find work today?” Barletta said. “They’re always left out of the conversation, but they’re the real losers in this deal.” (snip) Subsidiarity Argument Although the U.S. bishops have called for comprehensive immigration reform, Spalding raised questions about the Catholic principle of subsidiarity — the idea that matters should be handled by...

Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius rebuffed an appeal from Rep. Lou Barletta, R-Pa., on behalf of a girl who needs a lung transplant but can’t get one because of a federal regulation that prevents her from qualifying for a transplant. … “I would suggest, sir, that, again, this is an incredibly agonizing situation where someone lives and someone dies,” Sebelius replied. “The medical evidence and the transplant doctors who are making the rule—and have had the rule in place since 2005 making a delineation between pediatric and adult lungs, because lungs are different than other organs—that it’s based...

HAZLETON, Pa. – A mayor whose get-tough policies on illegal immigrants attracted national attention years before the immigration debate shifted to Arizona resigned Tuesday to take a job in Congress.

PAUL E. KANJORSKI YOU ARE FIRED!!! DAMN IT FEELS GOOD TO SAY THAT!Tuesday I stood at a poll for a guy I considered to be the best guy in any Pennsylvania race. Throughout the day I had many conversations with the folks coming in to vote. My primary goal was promotion of a candidate, the bonus for me was the various reasons, attitudes and personalities encountered through out the day. To breakdown the Scranton voters in Lackawanna County goes a little like this, people who knew, people who didn’t know, people who would vote Democrat no matter what, people who...

Hazleton Mayor Lou Barletta is among a group of national dignitaries who will attend a fundraiser in Philadelphia on Wednesday supporting Arizona's illegal immigration law. The Big Talker 1210 AM radio will run a live remote broadcast of the fundraiser at Geno's Steaks from 6 to 10 p.m. Barletta; Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer; Arizona state Sen. Russel Pearce, who authored the state's controversial immigration bill; Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, and Pennsylvania state Rep. Daryl Metcalfe, who supports a similar law for Pennsylvania, are scheduled to participate. Barletta, who's running against Paul Kanjorski for the 11th Congressional District seat, has...