Free Republic

Sen. John Cornyn welcomed Attorney General Eric Holder’s planned resignation today, two years after calling for Holder to step down over a botched gun-trafficking sting. “Unfortunately the American people, myself included, lost confidence in the Attorney General’s ability to lead a long time ago because of his continued willingness to put politics before the law,” Cornyn said.

Senate Republicans are preparing an agenda for their first 100 days in power next year in case they win majority control of the upper chamber, The Hill reported. The agenda includes authorizing the long-delayed Keystone XL oil pipeline, approving “fast-track” trade authority, rolling back new Environmental Protection Agency regulations and repealing Obamacare’s unpopular tax on medical devices. Republican senators insisted they were not “measuring the drapes” in anticipation of a wave election sweeping them into power after years in the minority. “We will have to be prepared if we are in a position to govern,” Sen. Bob Corker said. “You...

Well, that Senate “showdown” went about as one would have expected, with RINOs scattering for the hills and handing the problem right back to the House by “cleverly” voting for it before they voted against it, knowing full well that their “nay” would amount to nothing and in no way endanger the ObamaCare that they need next year for fundraising purposes. Over the screams of the sick and the dying, of course, but why would they care? They’ve got theirs, so kindly bugger off, voters. The full list of traitors who couldn’t give a flying flip (Senator Cruz’s words, not...

South Carolina Sen. Jim DeMint last week accused his Senate Republican colleagues of doing “everything” in their power to help Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski’s write-in campaign against GOP nominee Joe Miller. And he pounded them in a fundraising solicitation for doing “business as usual,” just as he “thought Republicans in Washington were beginning to get the message.” Turns out Republicans got his message — they just didn’t like it. A number of Republican senators told POLITICO Tuesday that DeMint was skewing the GOP conference’s position solidly backing Miller, saying he was intensifying a rift within a party that’s trying to...

A brief glimmer of sanity among Congressional Republicans has been followed, almost immediately, by a return to the more traditional Washington insanity. Last week, every single Republican in the House of Representatives voted against the Obama administration's "stimulus" package — which had stimulated an orgy of runaway spending by Congressional Democrats on everything from sports arenas to sexually transmitted diseases. This was a rare smart move by the Republicans. If the Republicans had gone along, pursuing the will o' the wisp of "bipartisanship," then if the stimulus had by some miracle succeeded, it would have been a bill for which...

Democratic Senate candidate Sheldon Whitehouse repeatedly used the president and the Republican Party to hammer Sen. Lincoln Chafee in their second TV debate, while the incumbent accused the former prosecutor of going easy on public corruption. "I didn't vote for him. Rhode Island didn't vote for him," Chafee said Thursday. The campaign is among the nation's most closely watched as Democrats seek to win a majority in the Senate. The candidates met in an hourlong debate taped at WLNE-TV that is scheduled to air Sunday.

Cornyn: 700 miles of border fence won't happen Senator says plan isn't practical, doesn't have the necessary funds. By Eunice Moscoso WASHINGTON BUREAU Wednesday, October 04, 2006 WASHINGTON — Sen. John Cornyn, a Texas Republican and key liaison to the White House on immigration, said Tuesday that 700 miles of fencing approved by Congress for the United States' southern border will probably not be built because of a lack of money and other practical considerations. "It's one thing to authorize. It's another thing to actually appropriate the money and do it," he said.Cornyn predicted that some fencing would be built...

Like the famous racehorse Silky Sullivan, Sen. Rick Santorum is known as a great closer. Yet, months ago, he had been virtually given up for dead by pundits in his race against Bob Casey, Jr., son of the popular, pro-life, former Democratic governor of Pennsylvania. One poll early this year had Santorum down 23 points, an almost insurmountable deficit. A Strategic Value poll had Santorum down 16 points. Now the senator who had been written off is finishing fast. An average of all polls monitored by the RealClearPolitics.com website finds him trailing by 6 points. The most recent Strategic Value...

Alaska Republican Ted Stevens admitted Wednesday that he used a parlaimentary maneuver to secretly block legislation that would open federal spending practices to public scrutiny. Stevens used a procedure known as a "secret hold" to derail the legislation, which was introduced by Sens. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) and Barack Obama (D-Ill.), said Aaron Saunders, a spokesman for Stevens. Speculation over who placed the hold on the measure, which would create a searchable database of $2.5 trillion in government contracts, grants, insurance, loans, and financial assistance, has been swirling around Capital Hill as well as the blogosphere.

They Shot the Wrong Lincoln by Ann CoulterPosted Aug 30, 2006In addition to supporting Democrat Joe Lieberman over Republican Alan Schlesinger in Connecticut, President Bush is supporting the Democrat over the Republican in Rhode Island, too. In the Republican primary, Bush supports Lincoln Chafee -- who votes with Bush on the important issues less often than Sen. Lieberman does -- over the only actual Republican in the race, Stephen Laffey. Apart from Bush, the only person who hasn't figured out that Lincoln Chafee is a Democrat is Lincoln Chafee. As the expression goes, if Chafee switched parties, the average IQ...

Washington, DC -- The estimate by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), released Friday, that the Senate-passed guest worker amnesty bill (S. 2611) would cost the country a net amount of $127 billion over the next ten years is misleading and grossly underestimates the real fiscal impact, contends the Federation from American Immigration Reform (FAIR). According to FAIR, the CBO estimate includes only the fiscal impact at the federal level, but ignores the much greater impact S. 2611 would have on state and local governments. An estimate of the fiscal impact at the local level by FAIR identifies a cost of...

COEUR D'ALENE, Idaho (AP) -- A town hall meeting with Sen. Larry Craig, R-Idaho, dissolved into angry shouts and walkouts when Craig began discussing the controversial issue of immigration. "I am sick of listening to these lies," one woman said, interrupting Craig as she left the Tuesday meeting, the Coeur d'Alene Press reported. Stan Hess, candidate for the North Idaho College Board of Trustees, screamed at Craig as others booed. Before leaving, Hess yelled at a woman, his face inches from hers, as several people tried to separate them. Craig planned eight town hall meetings in three days during a...

Washington D.C. ­– Conservative U.S. Senator John McCain (R-AZ) issued the following statement regarding the suggestion of Don Goldwater, candidate for Arizona governor, to incarcerate illegal immigrants in forced labor camps: "I strongly denounce Don Goldwater’s deeply offensive suggestion that illegal immigrants should be incarcerated in concentration camps along the border, and pressed into forced labor. That Mr. Goldwater is either unaware of or indifferent to the loaded symbolism, injustice and un-Americanism of his “plan” to address the many serious issues caused by illegal immigration reveals his flaws as a candidate, and a stunning lack of respect for the basic...

When Judiciary Committee Chairman Arlen Specter stepped into the shower yesterday, it was an elusive immigration overhaul, not a slippery bar of soap, that he most hoped to keep within his grasp. The Pennsylvania Republican wanted a way to counter the House GOP’s unusual post-passage hearings on the bill, which are sure to delay negotiations and give a platform to critics of the Senate’s “path to citizenship” for millions of illegal immigrants. “I plan to hold some hearings of our own,” he told surprised reporters in the Capitol later in the day. “I just developed the idea this morning in...

WASHINGTON - Texas Republican John Cornyn is unhappy with Bill Frist, the Senate majority leader from Tennessee, and he makes no secret of his displeasure. "We could do better," Cornyn said last week. The Texan's criticism came after the Senate approved an immigration bill that includes provisions to allow most illegal immigrants to stay in the United States while seeking citizenship. Cornyn considers this amnesty and favors requiring illegal immigrants to return home before they could apply for legal status. Frist, who may seek the Republican presidential nomination in 2008, helped shepherd the bill through the Senate, and President Bush...

Vice President Dick Cheney Thursday defended himself against accusations by a leading Republican senator that he worked to thwart Senate plans to make telephone executives testify at a hearing about a U.S. domestic spying program. A day after Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Arlen Specter rebuked Cheney for trying to head off subpoenas of the phone company executives, Cheney acknowledged that he had spoken to Senate leaders and members of Specter's committee. He said in a letter to Specter that he acted when the administration became concerned about a "compulsory process to force testimony" in a matter that could involve classified...

Senators voted Thursday to reject a Republican effort to abolish taxes on inherited estates during an election year with control of Congress at stake. GOP leaders had pushed senators to permanently eliminate the estate tax, which disappears in 2010 under President Bush's first tax cut, but rears up again a year later. A 57-41 vote fell three votes short of advancing the bill. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., said the Senate will vote again this year on a tax that opponents call the "death tax." "Getting rid of the death tax is just too important an issue to give...

I watch each day as my Country continues its leftward spiral out of control and find myself at a loss for words. The very pillars that form the foundation of this great nation are being shaken by both the Liberal Democrat Party and the increasing number of moderate Republicans. In the middle we find a President who once stood with a backbone of steel in the face of terror, who now panders to both sides in a weak kneed attempt to please everyone. Those of you who visit this site regularly know that I have been a staunch supporter of...

Sen. John McCain called on Orange County Latino leaders Wednesday to support his immigration bill, saying it was time for them to "speak for people who cannot speak for themselves." "You are the role models," McCain said to a mostly Latino audience of 340 gathered at the Hyatt Regency Irvine. McCain (R-Ariz.) came to Orange County — a hotbed of opposition to illegal immigration — to garner support from the Hispanic 100, a 3-year-old organization that has organized events with President Bush, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and gubernatorial candidates. ... In Orange County, McCain said Latino leaders must press Congress to...

Quick: What do 61% of Republican and 10% of Democrat Senators have in common? They represent America—at least on the issue of immigration. These numbers, drawn from the recorded vote on last week’s disastrous amnesty-granting immigration “reform” bill in the Senate, starkly illustrate two related insights about the ongoing illegal immigration crisis. One is that, despite gleeful media reports that “Congressional Republicans” are at odds with most of their supporters on the immigration issue, the great majority of Republican congressmen are not. The Republican leadership of the House of Representatives refused to even consider amnesty, legalization, or a guest worker...