Free Republic

President Trump praising the work of Senator Richard Shelby, Republican of Alabama, in reaching a deal for funding a barrier on the nation's southern border..... He was arrested in Mexico just over two years ago, escaped from prison there twice, then extradited to the United States last year and now Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman found guilty of ten federal charges in New York Tuesday..... The leader of the "New Right" Party in Israel, Naftali Bennett, says that religious Israelis are used by Benjamin Netanyahu at election time, but then he abandons them afterwards..... The messaging and the message from Prime...

GOP Rep. Walter Jones (N.C.) on Thursday introduced legislation that would instruct the House to call on the White House to formally apologize for a staffer’s “insensitive comments” that Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) was “dying anyway.” Jones, a vocal critic of President Trump, rolled out the resolution after becoming outraged by comments made about McCain by White House aide Kelly Sadler and her refusal to publicly apologize, The Hill has learned. Last year, McCain was diagnosed with glioblastoma, an aggressive brain cancer, and the longtime senator is now receiving treatment at his home near Sedona, Ariz. House Resolution 901 was...

The GOP tax reform bill known as the “Tax Cuts and Jobs Act,” came one important step closer to becoming law on Tuesday when the bill passed the House of Representatives by a vote of 227 to 203. No Democrats voted for the bill, of course. The party of big, centralized government isn’t for anyone keep more of their own money, other than perhaps illegal aliens and welfare recipients, and will never vote to cut anybody’s taxes. But not all Republicans voted for the bill either. Here are the 12 Republicans — all from high tax states — who joined...

In a stinging rebuke to President Barack Obama by Republicans and Democrats, the House ignored a veto threat Thursday and overwhelmingly approved GOP legislation erecting fresh hurdles for Syrian and Iraqi refugees trying to enter the United States. Forty-seven Democrats joined all but two Republicans as the House passed the measure by a veto-proof 289-137 margin, a major setback to the lame duck president on an issue —the Islamic State group and the refugees fleeing it — that shows no signs of easing. The vote exceeded the two-thirds majority required to override a veto, and came despite a rushed, early...

Let’s look at the Kevin thing realistically. So the guy balked. Walter Jones (R-NC) sent around a generic letter to a select few influential House voters saying in effect, “Watch It, Guys.” “Generic” meaning he, a seasoned politico, knew to use common nouns, not Proper nouns in grammar speak, to avoid letting the masses in on a secret that allegedly the insiders have known for months. Gasp, here, take a deep breath. Those of you on oxygen, are your tanks engaged? Walter Jones was channeling the Robert Livingston extra marital affair; the Newt Gringrich extra-curricular activities that now are his...

Twenty-five Republicans rebelled against John Boehner (R-Ohio), who won a third term as Speaker on Tuesday. The 25 Republicans, including three freshmen, didn't coalesce around a single alternative candidate. Rep. Daniel Webster (R-Fla.), whose nomination for Speaker became public just minutes before the vote, attracted the most votes at 12. Meanwhile, the other two long-shot candidates, Reps. Louie Gohmert (R-Texas) and Ted Yoho (R-Fla.) only received three and two votes each. Additionally, freshman Rep. Brian Babin (R-Texas) voted "present" rather than voting for anyone. And two Republican lawmakers voted for people who aren't even members of the House: Rep. Gary...

To keep conservative rebels in check, Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) and his allies have been doling out punishments at an aggressive clip in the 114th Congress. From kicking unruly members off the Rules Committee and GOP whip team to stripping a lawmaker of his subcommittee gavel, leadership has been growing more comfortable with taking retaliatory measures to try to enforce party discipline. But several Tea Party targets haven’t gone quietly. They’ve been fighting back with help from Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan’s conservative House Freedom Caucus, which successfully pressured leaders this week to return a subcommittee gavel to one of their...

It looks like one of the North Carolina GOP Congressmen who voted against reelecting Rep. John Boehner (R-OH) as Speaker this year may get a primary challenge from the GOP establishment. (SNIP) Even after appointment as Secretary of Transportation in the administration of Republican Governor Pat McCrory, Tata has remained registered as an Unaffiliated voter. (SNIP) Wrenn is the same consultant who quarterbacked the election of Rep. Renee Ellmers (R-NC) , the most liberal Republican in the NC delegation, to Congress. (SNIP) Another area where Jones and Tata do not see eye to eye is immigration. Jones is the NC...

The rank and file aren’t happy. A minimutiny may be underway in the House of Representatives as another conservative has come out to announce that he will oppose Rep. John Boehner in his re-election bid as House speaker. [Snip] Another Republican, Rep. Walter C. Jones of North Carolina, said there are up to 18 conservatives who are looking for an alternative to Mr. Boehner. In 2013, there were nine Republicans who didn’t vote for Mr. Boehner. [Snip] Mr. Obama has been eating Mr. Boehner’s lunch for years. Early on, the president got the speaker to agree to $500 billion in...

The key vote on the bill that funds the Obama amnesty and Obamacare as well as the rest of government was the vote on the rule that put it on the floor, and it barely slid through by two votes. Any Congressman who voted for it voted to continue Obamacare and to allow Obama to proceed with his amnesty decree, because this bill funds both with no restrictions. The only North Carolinian to stand up and vote to stop this bill from proceeding was our own Walter Jones. The rest of the NC ''Republican'' congressmen voted for a piece of...

The cromnibus had an unlikely savior Thursday afternoon in the form of a lame-duck lawmaker who used to raise reindeer. Rep. Kerry Bentivolio (R-Mich.), who lost his primary earlier this year, was originally among the conservative Republicans who voted against the rule. Without the help of Democrats, Republicans could only lose 17 of their own to pass the rule, which sets up floor debate for the underlying "cromnibus" spending bill. Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) intervened once there were 18 Republican defectors — and not a single Democrat voting "yes." Many Democrats will vote against the government spending measure because they...

There is a growing movement in the United States against secrecy and a growing distrust that government is operating in the people's interest. Related to both of these movements is a call for President Obama to declassify and release the 28 classified pages from the 9/11 Commission Report that President Bush deemed too vital to United States intelligence operations to be released in the 2004 report. Both Republican Walter Jones, from North Carolina, and Democrat Stephen Lynch, from Massachusetts, say that the documents, which they have read, quite clearly spell out a relationship between President Bush and the Saudi government...

Over the weekend, both the Senate and the House approved $225M in funding for the Iron Dome. The bill passed by unanimous consent in the Senate and by a 395 to 8 vote. Opposition to the funding of the Iron Dome demonstarted an unfortunate bi-partisan measure – four Democrats and four Republicans voted against it. The four Democrats were Keith Ellison (MN-05), Zoe Lofgren (CA-19), Jim Moran (VA-08), and Beto O’Rourke (TX-16); The four Republicans were Justin Amash (MI-03), Walter Jones (NC-03), Tom Massie (KY-04), and Mark Sanford (SC-01). Rep. Ellison explains vote on “Meet the Press”: “Because a ceasefire...

You may recall that on Friday, in what would have been a Christmas Miracle were it not several months early, Congress actually got something done. It was the passage of a bill approving $225M in funding for Israel’s Iron Dome defensive missile system. It was quite the bipartisan effort in retrospect, garnering an overwhelming 395 votes in the House with only eight in opposition. One of those eight was Minnesota Congressman Keith Ellison, and as The Corner reports, he went out on the weekend gab circuit to explain why he didn’t support the measure. “Because a cease-fire is what we...

The Tea Party is Far from Dead --in North Carolina or Anywhere Else May 08, 2014 BEGIN TRANSCRIPT RUSH: Some election news out of North Carolina. You know I don't get involved in primaries. I never have gotten involved in primaries. From my standpoint, it's always been a -- not losing proposition. It's just policy-wise, basically driven by my instincts,stay away from primaries. So I didn't talk much about what was going on in North Carolina, and there was a lot going on in North Carolina. North Carolina is thought to hold the key election determining who will control...

Laura Ingraham hosted Taylor Griffin challenging Walter Jones in North Carolina. Griffin said that while Jones, after being a Democrat, became a Republican but has worked since with the Democrats. Griffin said he is against amnesty as the GOP should be for the rule of law. He is for continuing deportations.

The White House said Thursday that President Obama still believes American Olympians shouldn’t have to pay income taxes on the medals they win. But a bill by Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) never moved in the Senate. Three Republican lawmakers — Reps. Blake Farenthold (R-Texas), Walter Jones (R-N.C.) and Pete Sessions (R-Texas) — proposed a bill similar to Rubio's before this year's games, but it has also failed to gain traction.

After the 9/11 attacks, the public was told al Qaeda acted alone, with no state sponsors. But the White House never let it see an entire section of Congress’ investigative report on 9/11 dealing with “specific sources of foreign support” for the 19 hijackers, 15 of whom were Saudi nationals. It was kept secret and remains so today. President Bush inexplicably censored 28 full pages of the 800-page report. Text isn’t just blacked-out here and there in this critical-yet-missing middle section. The pages are completely blank, except for dotted lines where an estimated 7,200 words once stood (this story by...

In a secret meeting on Tuesday morning, Senator Rand Paul (R., Ky.) hosted a bipartisan group of senators and House members in the Capitol’s basement. According to several participants, the lawmakers plotted ways to stop the use of U.S. military force in Syria. Since the diplomatic situation is fluid, there was no final consensus on how best to combat the administration, but potential legislative maneuvers, press appearances, and letters were discussed. Several undecided members asked questions. Aides say Paul planned the gathering over a week ago, and the list of attendees grew by the day. He is pleased, especially, by...

Steve Stockman (Texas, 36th District) has responded to Ted Cruz’ challenge to House Republicans by filing a 19 point resolution to defund ObamaCare. Mr. Steve Stockman is not afraid of a fight. “I applaud the dozen Republican Senators who sent a letter to Majority Leader Reid explaining they will not vote for any continuing resolution that funds ObamaCare. But as Senators Ted Cruz and Mike Lee have said, ‘The House must refuse to fund Obamacare’ because every appropriations bill originates in the House and the House is the only chamber that Republicans control. My resolution includes 19 whereas statements that...