Free Republic

full title...............Nancy Pelosi: Trump's 'empty chair photo opp' shows he's more interested in stunts than helping Americans............ House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., slammed President Trump for political theatrics on Tuesday after he addressed the press while sitting between two empty chairs designated for her and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y. "@realDonaldTrump now knows that his verbal abuse will no longer be tolerated," Pelosi wrote on Twitter. "His empty chair photo opp showed he’s more interested in stunts than in addressing the needs of the American people."

Trump, next to empty chairs, tears into Dems for skipping meeting By Jordan Fabian - 11/28/17 04:06 PM EST President Trump tore into Democratic leaders on Tuesday for skipping a legislative strategy session at the White House. Trump said he is “not surprised” that Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) decided not to attend, accusing them of being “all talk” and “no action.” “Now it’s even worse. Now it’s not even talk. Now they’re not even showing up to the meeting,” Trump said. The president spoke at the White House, flanked by two...

The top two Democrats in Congress canceled a meeting with President Trump slated for later Tuesday, saying they didn’t see him as a viable partner in trying to strike an end-of-year spending deal. The stunning move attempts to further sideline Mr. Trump and portray him as at odds with his party’s own leadership in Congress. Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi announced their decision to skip the meeting hours after Mr. Trump said he doubted they could reach a deal on an end-of-year spending bill.

Top congressional Democrats canceled a meeting with President Donald Trump on Tuesday after the president attacked them in a tweet, saying that they "want illegal immigrants flooding into our Country unchecked, are weak on Crime and want to substantially RAISE Taxes" and that he didn't see a deal happening with them. Instead of a get-together with Trump, the Democratic leaders asked their Republican congressional counterparts — Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky and House Speaker Paul Ryan of Wisconsin — to meet Tuesday afternoon.

Full Tweet: Meeting with “Chuck and Nancy” today about keeping government open and working. Problem is they want illegal immigrants flooding into our Country unchecked, are weak on Crime and want to substantially RAISE Taxes. I don’t see a deal!

It’s not exactly “Man Bites Dog,” but “Congress Gets Defense Spending Right” is almost as surprising a headline. For too long now, we’ve been cutting corners when it comes to the military. Years of underfunding have given us a weakened force that, despite the hard work of our brave troops, is ill-equipped to handle the missions we keep throwing at it. Think the recent spate of ship collisions is a coincidence? Hardly. They’re a red flag -- a warning sign we ignore at our peril. That’s what happens when you shortchange our armed forces and fail to ensure that they...

White House budget chief Mick Mulvaney said Wednesday he wouldn't take President Trump's comments about wiping out Puerto Rico's debt "word for word." "I wouldn't take it work for word with that," he said. "I talked the president about this at some length yesterday as we flew home on Air Force One." Mulvaney said now, the administration is focused on making sure the island is safe and "that we're rebuilding the island." "Dealing with the challenges that Puerto Rico had, the island is at least $72 billion in debt, $120 if you go by other counts, before the storm," he...

The U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill Thursday that will provide $1.2 trillion to fund the government past Sept. 30, and will allocate $1.6 billion towards President Donald Trump’s border wall. The legislation gives $658.1 billion to the Department of Defense, $44.3 billion for the Department of Homeland Security and allocates the rest of the money towards other federal agencies. The bill lops all 12 annual spending bills into two one piece of legislation. If Congress failed to act by the Sept. 30 deadline, portions of the government would be forced to shut down and all non-essential government employees...

RUSH: There is a story today in The Politico. “Teflon Don Confounds Democrats — Democrats have attacked the president every which way, but polling and focus groups show none of it’s working.” None of it! In addition, Rasmussen has just come out with a poll. I printed it out here (shuffling paper) and guess what? A majority, most voters… Not Trump supporters; they’re in this, but this is a sample of most voters. “Most Voters Welcome Trump’s Outreach to Congressional Democrats.” Now, the conventional wisdom is that Trump’s hurting himself, that Trump’s base, who are they? If you believe the...

White House legislative affairs director Marc Short told reporters on Tuesday that President Trump would not demand that border wall funding is tied to a legislative replacement for the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program. Speaking at a roundtable event hosted by the Christian Science Monitor, Short said the administration didn't want to "bind" itself by making a demand that would likely be a nonstarter for many lawmakers. "We're interested in getting border security and the president has made the commitment to the American people that a barrier is important to that security," Short said. "Whether or not that...

Only one quote & then link only b/c it's USA Today: "Whether or not [a border wall] is part of a DACA equation or whether or not that's another legislative vehicle, I don't want to bind ourselves into a construct that makes reaching a conclusion on DACA impossible."

(CNSNews.com) - The spending deal that President Donald Trump cut last week with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.)--and that was passed by a Republican-controlled Congress—breaks one of Trump’s unambiguous campaign promises: It funds Planned Parenthood, the nation’s largest abortion provider. Fiscal 2017 will end on Sept. 30 and the spending law Trump signed Friday will essentially continue federal funding from that date through Dec. 8 at the same levels and for the same purposes as the legislation currently funding the governmen That means both Planned Parenthood’s Title X and Medicaid funding can...

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson is spearheading an effort to force Israel to give back $75 million in aid allocated by Congress last year, the Washington Free Beacon reported Friday. The funds were awarded in defiance of the Obama Administration’s Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), which increased military aid to Israel from around $3 to $3.8 billion for the next ten years, with several provisos, one of which was a commitment on Israel’s part not to seek additional military aid from Congress. The other, even more devastating, was an eventual block on the money going to Israeli companies, essentially keeping all...

The House late Wednesday voted to block federal transportation and housing funding from cities and states that choose not to cooperate with federal officials on immigration. Rep. Jason Smith, R-Mo., brought up his language as an amendment to a minibus spending bill and proposed attaching it to part of the bill that deals with transportation and housing funding. It was the latest Republican attack on so-called sanctuary cities, which reject federal demands to cooperate when it comes to detaining and tracking illegal immigrants.

Yesterday morning, Paul Ryan attacked President Trump and others for trying to quickly pass a bill to provide emergency funds for Hurricane Harvey relief. President Trump was forced to go around Speaker Ryan in order to get the deal done, which temporarily raises the debt ceiling (until December) so Congress can allocate Hurricane relief as quickly as possible. Speaker Ryan called this deal “ridiculous and disgraceful,” and Lou Dobbs absolutely UNLOADED on him in a segment that is going viral! (Video Below) Lou Dobbs unleashed on Speaker Ryan, calling him a “fool” for trying destroy President Trump. Time after time,...

President Trump and Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) have agreed to pursue a deal that would permanently remove the requirement that Congress repeatedly raise the debt ceiling, three people familiar with the decision said. Trump and Schumer discussed the idea Wednesday during an Oval Office meeting. The two, along with House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D–Calif.), agreed to work together over the next several months to try to finalize a plan, which would need to be approved by Congress. One of the people familiar described it as a “gentlemen’s agreement.” Senate Democrats hope they will be able to...

RUSH: Two theories about the McConnell-Ryan reaction. Some people are hoping that the Republican leadership, congressional leadership, McConnell-Ryan reaction to Trump doing a deal with Democrats will be to wake ’em up, shake ’em up, and make ’em realize, “Oh, my God! This guy’s serious! Okay. We gotta help him with his agenda or we’re gonna be left out in the cold.” Some people hope that’s the reaction. I don’t think that’s gonna be their reaction, folks. I think that they are, on balance, okay with it. I think they’re perfectly fine with Trump doing a deal with the Democrats....

President Donald Trump briskly overruled congressional Republicans and his own treasury secretary Wednesday to cut a deal with Democrats to keep the government operating and raise America's debt limit. The immediate goal was ensuring money for hurricane relief, but in the process the president brazenly rolled his own party's leaders. ...brushing aside the urgings of GOP leaders and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin for a much longer extension to the debt limit. Republicans want that longer allowance to avoid having to take another vote on the politically toxic issue before the 2018 congressional elections. The session painted a vivid portrait of...

Does House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy think it’s funny to have to delay border wall funding? Apparently so. In a Tuesday appearance on Fox Business News with Maria Bartiromo, McCarthy giggled when revealing funding for President Trump’s top campaign promise was being pushed back months.

After President Donald Trump reiterated his commitment to building the southern US border wall last month at his Arizona rally, his threats to “shut down” the government were taken a s a strong signal that something was going to get done. Yet “voices” within the White House are apparently saying that the approval for Congressional funding is not contingent on getting the money to actually start building. In his Phoenix speech, President Trump began: “We are building a wall on the southern border, which is absolutely necessary,” he said. “The obstructionist Democrats would like us not to do it, believe...