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House Conservatives Staged A Mini-Revolt…

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(RepublicanWire.org) – House conservatives staged a mini-revolt Tuesday in retaliation for Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s leadership on last week’s vote to raise the debt ceiling, the right wing banding together to block progress on a mixture of bills and vent their frustration.

Led by outspoken members of the House Freedom Caucus, the group of about a dozen Republicans broke with their party on an otherwise routine procedural vote that threw the day’s schedule — and the rest of the week — into disarray. It’s the first such procedural rule vote to fail in nearly two decades.

The group is among some of the same conservative Republicans who tried to stop the debt ceiling bill from advancing last week and who then threatened to try to oust McCarthy after passage of the debt ceiling package that President Joe Biden signed into law. Short of taking that step, they have demanded a meeting a with McCarthy, leaving it unclear how the standoff will be resolved.

“We’re frustrated with the way this place is operating,” said Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., one of the more outspoken members of the group. “We’re not going to live in the era of the imperial speaker anymore.”

At issue is not just a gas stove bill and others that are now indefinitely stalled as the conservatives wage their protest, but the political standing of the House Republican majority. McCarthy is working with just a four-seat majority, which gives a small bloc of lawmakers considerable power to gain concessions from him.

“We’re trying to resolve internal tensions within the House Republicans. And from time to time you have to have an airing within your family and I think that’s part of what happened today,” said Rep. Patrick McHenry, R-N.C.

Just hours earlier Republican leaders were extolling how the House Republicans had learned to work together as a team after the rocky start of the year and the spectacle of McCarthy’s protracted election to become speaker.

“In sports, it’s called a game plan,” said Rep. Tom Emmer, R-Minn., the top GOP vote-counter and a former hockey coach. “The debt limit last week displayed just how far House Republicans have come as a team.”

What led the conservatives to revolt Tuesday is not fully clear — they outlined a list of grievances over McCarthy’s leadership in handling the debt ceiling package. The House approved the package in an overwhelming bipartisan vote last week, despite objections from the conservatives, sending it to the Senate where it also passed with an overwhelming vote. Biden signed it into law on Saturday.

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Treasury Secretary Yellen Was Confronted For Lying…

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(RepublicanWire.org) – Senator Bill Cassidy repeatedly told Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen during a Senate Finance Committee hearing that President Joe Biden has not been willing to meet with a bipartisan group of senators to address problems with Social Security.

The Republican senator accused Yellen of lying when she said Biden was willing to meet with Republicans to discuss Social Security.

“Why doesn’t the President care?” Cassidy asked.

“He cares very deeply – ” Yellen began to answer.

“Then where is his plan?” Cassidy persisted.

“He stands ready to work with – ” Yellen offered.

“That’s a lie,” Cassidy said.

Yellen later finished saying that Biden stands ready to work with Congress to address future shortfalls in Social Security, which Cassidy dismissed as “empirically” not true.

The exchange was a departure from the decorum usually often upheld in the Senate, and the respect typically afforded to Yellen, a former Federal Reserve chair.

“Accusing witnesses of lying is over the line,” the committee’s Democratic chairman, Ron Wyden, admonished Cassidy.

The senator from Louisiana replied he wasn’t accusing the Treasury secretary of lying and understood she was repeating what she had been told.

Later, another Republican senator, Ron Johnson, of Wisconsin, exhibited impatience with Yellen. Johnson asked Yellen how much the total deficits were over the 10-year period covered in Biden’s budget. When Yellen paused to look at some documents, Johnson quipped, “You don’t know that off the top of your head?”

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Liz Cheney Has New Gig…

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(RepublicanWire.org) – Former Republican Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming was hired by the University of Virginia Center for Politics. She will serve as a professor of practice.

“Professors of the Practice” are non-tenure track faculty who possess the expertise and achievements to provide professional instruction in a manner that brings distinction to the appointing School/College and the University.” It’s a title given to experts in various fields.

“Preserving our constitutional republic is the most important work of our time, and our nation’s young people will play a crucial role in this effort,” she said in the statement. She said she hopes the work will help find “lasting solutions that not only preserve, but strengthen our democracy.”

Cheney served in Congress from 2017 through 2022. She was the No. 3 Republican in the House GOP hierarchy from 2019 through 2021. Cheney was replaced by rising star Rep. Elise Stefanik of New York when Liz fell from grace in the party. Her hatred of Donald Trump ended her somewhat brief political career.

Cheney has spent recent years warning her party, and the public, about the dangers she says Trump poses to the nation. “I have said since January 6 that I will do whatever it takes to ensure Donald Trump is never again anywhere near the Oval Office,” she told a crowd in Wyoming last year. “And I mean this.”

She also criticized leading figures in the Republican Party, including Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin and 2024 presidential candidate Nikki Haley.

“I think they are really indefensible decisions,” Cheney said last year on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” She praised Youngkin for his work in Virginia but added, “nobody should be out advocating for the election of people who will not honor the sanctity of our elections process.”

According to the university’s statement, “Cheney will participate in University-wide lectures, serve as a guest lecturer in student seminars with Sabato and other center faculty, contribute to Center for Politics research, and participate in other University and community events.” A little of this, a little of that. Let’s be honest, she was hired for her name and recent battles against Trump and her fellow Republicans in Congress. She essentially grew up in Virginia, not Wyoming, so the University of Virginia is a logical place for her to end up. She graduated from McLean High School in Northern Virginia.

Her contract will run through this year’s fall semester. She has the option to renew for one or more years, according to the Center for Politics. Not too bad for someone who lost her re-election bid in a humiliating primary defeat to a Trump-endorsed candidate. Cheney was toying with the idea of running for president in 2024 but has been silent on the subject in recent months.

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Hunter Biden Ordered To Hand Over Business Documents…

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(RepublicanWire.org) – House Oversight Republicans ratcheted up their investigation into Hunter Biden Thursday, calling on the president’s son and his associates to hand over documents that allegedly show illicit business dealings.

The committee demanded Hunter Biden, James Biden, and Eric Schwerin hand over documents concerning their foreign dealings. Critics allege Hunter used his father’s political clout to secure overseas deals that could have compromised the president.

“The American people deserve transparency and accountability about the Biden family’s influence peddling,” said Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., who chairs the oversight committee. “The Oversight Committee is committed to exposing the waste, fraud, and abuse that has taken place at the highest levels of our government.”

The committee is particularly interested in finding out to what extent President Joe Biden was involved in the dealings, or at least what he was aware of, arguing that if foreign entities know of any wrongdoing, it could compromise national security.

Oversight Republicans vowed after taking a majority in November to make this investigation one of their top concerns.

Hunter is currently under federal investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice.

“Evidence obtained in our investigation reveals the Biden family business model is built on Joe Biden’s political career and connections,” Comer said. “Biden family members attempted to sell access around the world, including individuals who were connected to the Chinese Communist Party, to enrich themselves to the detriment of American interests. If President Biden is compromised by deals with foreign adversaries and they are impacting his decision making, this is a threat to national security.”

The Hunter investigation has many legal avenues and opportunities for prosecution aside from foreign entanglements, including potential tax violations and false statements to federal law enforcement. Politically, Hunter’s investigation further complicates Biden’s 2024 aspirations, especially now that the president faces his own investigation over a trove of classified documents found in his possession from his time in the Obama administration.

Hunter has until Feb. 22 to respond to the committee’s letter. The committee is considering new ethics laws to explicitly prohibit certain elements of Hunter’s behavior.

“Evidence shows that you engaged in foreign business deals with individuals who were connected to the Chinese Communist Party and received significant amounts of money from foreign companies without providing any known legitimate services,” the committee’s letter to Hunter said. “The Committee is investigating President Biden’s knowledge of and role in these foreign business deals to assess whether he has compromised our national security at the expense of the American people. You and your associates’ financial conduct raises significant ethics and national security concerns.”

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Democrats Vote With Republicans Against Biden Admin Initiative…

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(RepublicanWire.org) – The White House is attempting to deemphasize the fact that 113 Democrats in the House of Representatives joined Republicans to ban sales of oil from the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve to China.

“The House has passed bipartisan legislation that would ban the export of oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to Chinese companies.  Given that oil has flowed to China from that reserve during both this administration and the previous one, is that the type of reform that the President would potentially support?” a reporter said to White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre on Monday.

“So, look, I think this is a little bit of what the Secretary was talking about just moments ago.  This bill addresses a non-issue; we’re very clear on that.  We focus — we’re focused on advancing legislation that would lower costs for American families, not raise them.  So, I’m just going to leave it there,” she said.

The legislation, titled “Protecting America’s Strategic Petroleum Reserve from China Act,” passed in a landslide vote of 331-97 but now has to face a Democrat-led Senate.

“The bill prohibits the Department of Energy (DOE) from selling petroleum products (e.g., crude oil) from the SPR to any entity that is under the ownership, control, or influence of the Chinese Communist Party,” the legislation summary said.

Republican leaders on the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, led by Ranking Member John Barrasso, R-Wyo., introduced companion bills of House legislation targeting President Biden’s use of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR).

The first bill, the Secure Auction for Energy Reserves Act which Barrasso introduced with Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, would prohibit the federal government from selling SPR stocks to China and other countries of particular concern. Earlier this month, the House passed similar legislation, the Protecting America’s Strategic Petroleum Reserve from China Act, by a margin of 331-97.

“China is profiting from President Biden’s political abuse of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve,” the senator said. “Meanwhile, America has become more vulnerable to true energy and national security emergencies.”

“Our legislation will ban SPR sales to China and other hostile nations,” he said. “It will also ban SPR sales to state-owned companies which purchase oil from Russia, Iran, and other nations the U.S. has sanctioned. Adversaries cannot be allowed to benefit from America’s security reserve.”

Sen. Collins said that it is “inexcusable that our emergency stockpile of crude oil is being sold to dictators overseas.”

Another piece of legislation that was introduced in the Senate on Tuesday, the “Strategic Production Response Act,” would only allow the Strategic Petroleum Reserves to be tapped by the Department of Energy only when there is a severe interruption to the supply and only after the Interior Department issues a plan to increase oil and gas production in the United States on federal lands and waters.

“America is stronger and safer when we are energy independent,” Sen. Barrasso said. “The Biden administration agenda is to choke off energy development on federal land. Our legislation will prevent President Biden from raiding the SPR for political purposes without boosting American oil production.”

“It’s time to work together to lower prices for Wyoming families, unleash American energy, and strengthen our national security,” he said.

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Kyrsten Sinema Revealed What Prompted Her To Leave The Democratic Party…

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(RepublicanWire.org) – Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (I-AZ) revealed what prompted her to leave the Democratic Party last year, noting it was a declaration of her own independence from a “deeply broken two-party system.”

During a panel discussion at the World Economic Forum on Tuesday, Sinema revealed that she has long considered herself to be an independent lawmaker. However, it was the increasingly divided political realm that has emerged over the last two years that pushed her to break free from party affiliation, she said.

“Those who know me know that I was always an independent voice and always have been for the things that I believe in and for my state and for my country,” said Sinema, who left the Democratic Party on Dec. 9. “What you’ve heard about partisanship, I believe, is accurate. … Jan. 6, which is a horrible day from two years ago, created, I think, concern and fear for every patriotic American across the country.”

However, Democrats’ response to the Jan. 6 attack at the Capitol disappointed Sinema, prompting her to leave.

“But in the resulting two years, the Democratic Party shared a narrative that said, ‘We would not have any more free and fair elections in this country if the United States Congress didn’t eliminate the filibuster and pass a massive voting rights package,’” Sinema said. “As we all know, the filibuster was not eliminated. … That massive voting rights bill was not passed through Congress. And then we had a free and fair election all across the country [in 2022].”

Sinema was referring to a string of legislative proposals Democrats sought to pass in the last Congress to eliminate the filibuster in the Senate and to implement a massive overhaul of voting rights nationwide. However, Democrats were unable to eliminate the Senate filibuster after failing to garner the support of Sinema and centrist Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV).

But, Sinema argued, Democrats didn’t need either of those things to ensure a successful midterm cycle.

“Most election deniers lost across the country, and individuals of both political parties, some extreme, some moderate, won. So we had a free and fair election,” Sinema said. “One could posit that the push by one political party to eliminate an important guardrail in an institution of our country may have been premature or overreaching in order to get the short-term victories they wanted.”

However, Republicans struggle with similar problems, Sinema said, pointing to the party’s struggle to elect House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) during the lower chamber’s leadership elections earlier this month.

“We saw the House of Representatives struggle for multiple days in a row as Kevin McCarthy, a dear friend of mine, had to continue conceding point after point after point to the radical Right of the GOP to a point where he’s now in an unenviable position,” Sinema said. “Those are just two examples of the pull that you see political parties giving in order to get everything they want.”

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Joy Behar From “The View” Blames Republicans For NFL Tragedy…

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(RepublicanWire.org) – On Monday night, during the NFL game between the Buffalo Bills and Cincinnati Bengals, Buffalo Bills player Damar Hamlin suddenly collapsed mid-game. He apparently suffered a cardiac arrest during the game and he is still in critical condition in the hospital.

Predictably, one of the rambling ignoramuses on the far left, Joy Behar of “The View”, used the random tragedy to attack Republicans.

That comment came when the hosts were discussing the Hamlin tragedy and co-host Sunny Hostin spoke about her son’s experience with football, saying that an injury both ended his football career and had to go to six long months of physical therapy.

According to her, leaving the sport “was a very hard thing for him because he loved doing it.” Speaking on why he quit football, Hostin said “He realized at that point, uh-oh. I could – that could happen to my brain, and so he quit.”

Co-host Sara Haines noted that football is the norm for many families, saying:

“I grew up, and football was just the norm. My parents went to the games long after we were even in high school because the whole town did. I loved ‘Friday Night Lights,’ et cetera, et cetera. What it might change is people that have kids coming up because like me, you even wouldn’t have known all the damage that could be done now.”

Hostin then added that kids create bonds over playing the sport, saying “I think a lot of mothers certainly feel that way and have felt that way for a long time, but it’s – the way my son describes it is, it’s a family. It’s a bonding experience that he had never had before.”

This story about a fear of brain injuries piqued Behar’s interest and she proceeded to read off a bunch of unsourced statistics about who supported youth football:

Only 45 percent of Americans think that tackle football is appropriate. Heterosexual men voted the most support for kids doing football. And conservatives were more likely to support youth tackle football. Just saying.

“Just saying” that brain damage would explain why Republicans are the way they are.

This wasn’t the first time The View has used football to attack Republicans. Ahead of the midterms last year, they suggested the Republican Senate candidate in Georgia, Herschel Walker might’ve had brain damage because of how he talked. They also suggested only drunks thought he had a good debate performance.

Damar Hamlin’s family released a much less controversial statement following his injury and the outpouring of support that came with it. In the statement, they said:

“On behalf of our family, we want to express our sincere gratitude for the love and support shown to Damar during this challenging time. We are deeply moved by the prayers, kind words, and donations from fans around the country. 

“We also want to acknowledge the dedicated first responders and healthcare professionals at the University of Cincinnati Medical Center who have provided exceptional care to Damar. We feel so blessed to be part of the Buffalo Bills organization and to have their support. We also want to thank Coach Taylor and the Bengals for everything they’ve done. 

“Your generosity and compassion mean the world to us. 

“Please keep Damar in your prayers. We will release updates as soon as we have them.”

Hamlin’s uncle provided another update, saying “Right now, they got him on a ventilator, so they’re trying to get him to breathe on his own. So, we’re just kind of taking it day by day. Still in the ICU. They have him sedated, so just continue to administer the medical treatment that they’ve been doing.”

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Incoming GOP Congresswoman Threatened For Not Backing Kevin McCarthy…

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(RepublicanWire.org) – Incoming GOP congresswoman Anna Paulina Luna (FL) said Friday that she was threatened by a sitting House member to commit to backing House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) for speaker.

“I got a very inappropriate phone call,” Luna told Steve Bannon in an interview. “Another member had called me basically to whip votes for the speaker’s race and ultimately ended up threatening me.”

Luna, who is set to represent Florida’s 13th District, said it was a female member who issued the threat.

“I let that female member know that I wasn’t going to basically be threatened,” she said. “I don’t think I need to put that person’s name out there because I think that they are probably embarrassed about doing that.”

McCarthy’s office did not respond to the Washington Examiner’s request for comment.

Luna does not think incidents such as hers are uncommon in Congress, she said.

“I’m not going to be bullied,” the incoming congresswoman said. “If you are going to negotiate in good faith, negotiate in good faith, but don’t resort to threatening people.”

She expects some anger when she arrives in Washington, D.C., she said.

“I’m doing this not because I want to go hang out in D.C.,” the Floridian said. “I’m doing this because it needs to be done right now.”

Luna lauded a few of her colleagues but made it clear that her vote for speaker Tuesday is hers alone.

“I will not be voting for anyone that does not embrace that motion to vacate the chair, and I don’t care who that is,” she said. McCarthy has since made the concession of lowering the threshold for a motion to vacate.

Several other Republicans share Luna’s ambivalence to electing a speaker who would not lower the threshold on a motion to vacate the seat.

McCarthy has tried to stymie such sentiment regarding his potential election.

“Just as the Speaker is elected by the whole body, we will restore the ability for any 5 members of the majority party to initiate a vote to remove the Speaker if so warranted,” he wrote in a letter to colleagues Sunday.

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Conservatives Have Been Betrayed By Mitch McConnell…

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(RepublicanWire.org) – Republican Senate Leader Mitch McConnell is not a very popular guy on the right at the moment.

Conservatives are unhappy about the way that McConnell handled the midterms, as well as his willingness to work with Democrats on spending for Ukraine.

Conservative analyst Mollie Hemingway is now saying that Republicans are going to keep having problems until McConnell is no longer in office.

She writes at The Federalist:

GOP Can’t Be Successful Until Mitch McConnell Is Gone

Comments Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell made on Tuesday show why he has become the single biggest obstacle to GOP success.

The Kentucky Republican claimed giving more money to Ukraine is “the No. 1 priority for the United States right now, according to most Republicans.” The new $1.7 trillion Democrat spending bill he enthusiastically supports would give Ukraine another roughly $45 billion in assistance, bringing the total over the past eight months to more than $100 billion, a staggering figure even if it weren’t happening during a time of inflation, looming recession, and other serious domestic problems.

The comment about Republican priorities is so false as to be completely delusional. Among the many concerns Republican voters have with Washington, D.C., a failure to give even more money to Ukraine simply does not rank.

A large coalition of conservative groups, including the Heritage Foundation and the Conservative Partnership Institute, publicly opposed ramming through more Ukraine support during the lame-duck session before Republicans take over control of the House on Jan. 3, 2023. Strong pluralities and majorities of Republicans have told pollsters they want decreases, not increases, in foreign spending and global military involvement.

Many Republican voters support helping Ukraine fight Russia’s unjust invasion, but it is absolutely nowhere near their top issue, contrary to McConnell’s false claim.

Conservatives are tired of feeling betrayed.

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KJP Blames The GOP For The Chaos At The Border…

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(RepublicanWire.org) – The Biden White House is blaming Republicans for the historic crisis on the southern border.

Title 42, a pandemic-era program that blocked migrants from seeking asylum in the U.S., ends next week, just days before Christmas, and migrants are staging by the thousands to illegally enter the U.S. when that happens. Officials are saying the numbers crossing into the U.S. from Mexico could reach 14,000 a day — never mind that the numbers currently exceed 8,000 on many days.

But White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre not only claims that President Biden has put in “the work” to secure the border, but that the Republican Party is to blame for the crisis.

The number of migrants flowing into the U.S. under Biden’s watch is staggering at this point and if it continues, will nearly double the estimated population of 11 million illegal immigrants in just 4 years — some experts put the current number in America at 20 million or more. According to federal authorities, 2.76 million people were encountered in the last fiscal year attempting to cross the border illegally. This figure does not include hundreds of thousands of known got-aways. In the previous year, the total was somewhere around 2 million, and to be clear, the pace is only increasing, with border officials stating on Monday that the previous 48 hours saw 16,000 migrant encounters.

Asked about the expected bum rush next week at Thursday’s press briefing, Jean-Pierre said the administration has “an intensive all-of-government effort underway to prepare” — their answer to the problem is to process the wave of humanity faster before releasing them into the U.S.

Jean-Pierre said there are 23,000 agents at the border “working night and day to protect and secure the border,” but that simply is not true. They are overwhelmed with processing the mind-boggling number of migrants encountered daily, as they now cross in battalion-size clips of 1,000 or more.

Jean-Pierre made it a point to blame the Trump administration for its successful efforts to slow the numbers flocking to America.

“What Americans should know is that the president has done the work to deal with what we’re seeing at the border since day one,” she said with a straight face. “What Americans should know is that the president put forth an immigration reform policy to make sure that we’re dealing with a broken system, to make sure that we’re able to protect DREAMers, to make sure that we deal with the backlog that we’re seeing with asylum seekers, to fix the gutted system that was — that has been around for some time but certainly was gutted by the last administration.”

The administration has said all along that the border is secure, and Jean-Pierre used the issue to advocate for immigration reform — see amnesty — that Democrats are pushing.

Axios reported that the Biden administration was considering a new post-Title 42 rule that would impose an asylum ban for roughly five months, but Jean-Pierre took to Twitter earlier this month to reassure migrants that the gates will remain open.

“The Administration is committed to continuing to secure our borders while maintaining safe, orderly and humane processing of migrants,” she tweeted. “This will remain the case when Title 42 is lifted. Reports that indicate U.S. policy will change are inaccurate; no such decisions have been made.”

The real “stunt” is feigning that the crisis is being dealt with when in reality the White House appears to be intentionally exacerbating the problem. To be clear, processing illegal immigrants faster is not going to “fix” the issue — unless the issue is artificially altering voter demographics in America to favor Democrats.

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