Free Republic

President George W. Bush flexed the National Emergencies Act in the days after the 2001 terrorist attacks, President Jimmy Carter used it during the Iranian hostage crisis, and President Barack Obama tapped it to handle the swine flu pandemic in 2009. Now it’s President Trump who is eyeing the 1976 law, figuring it could be his ticket out of the shutdown showdown, allowing him to build his promised border wall without needing to get Congress to specifically approve the money. The White House said no decision had been made in the run-up to Mr. Trump’s Tuesday night speech on border...

President Trump will travel to the U.S.-Mexico border on Thursday in a bid to highlight border security, as he presses Democrats for wall funding amid the protracted standoff that triggered a partial government shutdown now stretching into its 17th day. White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders tweeted the president’s travel plans on Monday. “President @realDonaldTrump will travel to the Southern border on Thursday to meet with those on the frontlines of the national security and humanitarian crisis. More details will be announced soon,” Sanders tweeted. The president’s visit will come on what will likely be the 20th day of the...

The White House on Friday released the border briefing President Trump tried to get Democratic leaders to see during a meeting earlier this week, saying the public should see the information behind the president’s case for why he wants a border wall. The briefing, which was to be given by Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen, details increases in drug seizures, arrests of criminals and the surge of illegal immigrant children and families who the administration says are overwhelming agents. But attendees said Democrats’ top leaders interrupted Ms. Nielsen and wouldn’t let her give the briefing. “Some of those present did...

1) Hold the line for as long as it takes until the pledged wall is funded while also upholding pledge not to sign another bloated spending bill, ie, my counter offer is this: Nothing. Plus you will pay for the wall and you will cut government and you will cut spending. 2) Do not allow the congress to raise the debt limit. Make them live within the funds available, reallocate from 'nonessential' areas to essential only. Return functions that cannot be paid for that are not delegated to the federal government by the constitution to the states and the people...

Video at link. White House counselor Kellyanne Conway says there are two sides in the government shutdown debate — one which is trying to seriously negotiate and another that plays “silly semantic” games for political points. During an appearance on “Fox News Sunday” for a segment on the ongoing government shutdown, Ms. Conway lamented when the discussion turned to the difference between “steel slats” and the “wall” along the southern border, calling the topic a mundane distraction to the broader issue at hand. “It is a silly semantic argument because people who just want to say ‘wall, wall, wall’ want...

FULL TITLE: GOP Rep. Brooks: How Much American Blood on Hands of Pelosi, Schumer Before They Help with Border Security? Sunday on WAAY’s “Guerrilla Politics,” Rep. Mo Brooks (R-AL) said the government shutdown will end when the amount of “American blood” on the hands of Democratic leadership becomes overwhelming. Brooks said, “It is a very tough position that the Democrats have put us in. On the one hand you have got thousands of Americans who are dead each year because of the Democrats’ refusal to secure the border. Those Americans are dying either because they have been murdered by illegal...

Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina on Sunday said a deal that combines $5 billion for President Trump’s border wall with an extension of legal status for “Dreamers” and people fleeing conflict or natural disasters back home could “save the day in the Senate” and reopen the government. “We need to start talking again,” the Republican told CNN’s State of the Union. “To my Democratic friends: There will never be a deal without wall funding.” He said in return, immigrants brought to the U.S. illegally as children should be eligible for legal status and authorization to work for three years...

Tweets at link. Well, he’s been a pain in the rear end for months. He’s been a thorn in his party’s side during the Brett Kavanaugh Supreme Court nomination. Even as the GOP tries to confirm a slate of conservative judges to federal benches, he’s been insufferable. And why? On the latter issue, it was over Senate Republicans’ refusal to pass a bill to protect Special Counsel Robert Mueller from being fired by the president. Yes, Sen. Jeff Flake (R-AZ) has acted like your atypical Never Trump Republican. He has no base of support, no plan, no future, and so...

LIVE on the Senate floor: Senators debate the short-term funding bill passed by the House last night. If the bill fails, it will trigger a government shutdown just before the Christmas holiday.

Video at link. Mary Ann Mendoza displays picture of son killed by illegal alien. (Screenshot) Mothers who have had children killed by illegal aliens are rallying at a San Diego, California port of entry this week to demand Congress fund construction of a border wall. Angel Families Founder Mary Ann Mendoza, whose son, Police Officer Brandon Mendoza, was killed by an illegal alien, says recent comments by Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) opposing wall funding prompted her to hold a press conference: “Angel Families decided that we needed to do a press conference here at a...

Congressmen and senators are supposed to be fighting for the American people, their constituents. But when Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer pounced on the president at the Oval Office on Tuesday for whom exactly were they fighting? Both the Senate and the House oath of offices are nearly identical. They begin like this: "I do solemnly swear or affirm that I will support and defend the constitution of the United States against all enemies foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same." At this point, are we even sure that Chuck and Nancy took...