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(FreedomWire.org) – Things got heated at a Senate Homeland Security Committee hearing when Rand Paul of Kentucky walked out over a procedural disagreement as Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona tried to cool tempers.

“If this is the way you’re going to run the committee, I would suggest that Republicans leave. I don’t see why we should stick around if you’re going to make up the rules,” Paul demanded of Peters after a heated back and forth. Paul proceeded to walk out of the room after the exchange.

Paul took issue after Peters used secondary amendments to effectively nulify amendments he offered to the bill that reauthorizes the U.S. Fire Administration, the Assistance to Firefighters (AFG) Grants Program, and the Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response (SAFER) Grant Program.

“I request a recorded vote,” Ranking Member Paul said. “I also have a second degree amendment and I recognize myself to offer a second degree amendment,” Committee Chairman Sen. Gary Peters (D-MI) replied. “My second degree amendment would direct — “

“Point of inquiry. Point of inquiry,” Paul interrupted. “ — GAO to issue an audit of the U.S Fire Administration — “ Peters continued.

“Point of inquiry,” Paul repeated.

“ — three years of enactment to continue improving — “ Peters carried on.

“Point of inquiry,” Paul insisted.

“Yes, go ahead,” Peters replied.

“We have, what, unlimited second degree amendments?” Paul asked.

“We have a second degree amendment, I’ve recognized myself for my second degree amendment,” Peters said.

“Your second degree amendment to a second degree amendment?” Paul asked.

“No, it’s a second degree amendment is being offered to the Scott Amendment,” Peters responded.

“No, I — I already called up a second degree amendment to the Scott Amendment,” Paul commented.

“You can’t call it up, senator,” Peters replied. “Only the chair can call it up.”

“Well, I was recognized to call it up the same way we have recognized for every other amendment,” Paul answered. “You recognized me and I called it up.”

“You were recognized to call it up for a vote,” Peters objected. “I will — only a chair can do that.”

“If this is the way you’re going to run the committee, I would suggest that Republicans leave. I don’t see why we should stick around if you’re going to make up the rules,” Paul said heatedly at one point.

The procedural argument turned increasingly hostile and Kyrsten Sinema (I-AZ) tried to calm down the senators.

“You don’t have to escalate this to a situation where folks are walking out,” Sinema pleaded. “Now, we can just ask folks who can explain the rules to us and then we’ll follow them…”

“Who do we ask?” Paul asked. “Just the majority staff?”

“Let’s consult the folks,” Sinema said and pointed out towards the chamber. “I mean, the rules are written down. We can follow them. I don’t think that we need to escalate this to become a spectacle.”

But that’s exactly what Paul did. He gathered up his things and he walked out.

What was the argument about? Peters was using procedural tactics to keep Democrats on the committee from voting on the Republicans’ amendments to the Fire Grants and Safety Act.

According to Senator Peters’ official website, “The Fire Grants and Safety Act reauthorizes SAFER, AFG, and the USFA until 2030. It authorizes $95 million for USFA – a nearly $20 million increase from current levels, and maintains currently authorized levels of funding for the SAFER and AFG programs.”

As reported by The Hill, “Paul offered an amendment to make any fire department that terminated firefighters for refusing a COVID-19 vaccine or speaking out against the mandate ineligible for federal grants.  Under Paul’s proposal, fire departments that fired employees for refusing vaccines could become eligible for federal money by offering those individuals reinstatement and backpay.”

Peters offered second-degree amendments to the Republican-sponsored amendments that completely gutted their content.

As Paul stormed out of the room, Sinema urged senators to “take a couple minutes, lower the temperature, just figure out the procedure.”

“There’s no need for us to turn this committee hearing into a partisan, ugly place like we’ve seen in other committees,” she added.

(FreedomWire.org) – President Biden slammed “MAGA Republicans” during a speech at the Finishing Trades Institute in Pennsylvania, and people across social media skewered him for it. 

While giving the speech, Biden said, “MAGA Republicans are calling for defunding the police department.”

He added, “And the FBI now. That’s a good one. I like that one.”

Twitter users went to the platform and condemned the president’s rhetoric as either uninformed or dishonest.

For the last three years after the entire Democrat Party said they wanted the police across the country to either be defunded or disbanded, and now Biden staffers had the nerve to write this for the president to say out loud to the American people.

It’s true that some Republicans called for either defunding or abolishing the FBI after, among other things, their politically-motivated raid of former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home.

But the phony claim from Biden about Republicans “calling for defunding the police department” is just just wrong when you consider the fact that Democratic leaders are on record as agreeing with the anti-police sentiment of the Defund the Police movement and/or supporting efforts to yank money from police departments in order to “reallocate” it to social services programs.

(FreedomWire.org) – During his State of the Union speech on Tuesday, Biden claimed that Republicans wanted to “sunset” Social Security and Medicare.

Then on Wednesday he doubled down on his debunked claims that Republicans want to “sunset” Social Security and Medicare using printed copies of proposals from GOP lawmakers to make his point at speech in Wisconsin.

During his speech, Biden acknowledged the “spirited debate” he had with House Republicans during the State of the Union address Tuesday night  — when Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., and others booed and shouted that he was a “liar” for claiming Republicans want to cut Social Security and Medicare entitlements. 

“They seem shocked when I raised the plans of some of their members in their caucus to cut Social Security. And Marjorie Taylor Greene and others stood up and said, ‘liar, liar’ … reminds me of ‘liar, liar, house on fire,'” Biden said. 

Refusing to back down, the president pulled out a brochure with the 12-point plan to “Rescue America” put forward by Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., which Biden and Democrats have asserted lays out a proposal that would cause Social Security and Medicare programs to end without Congressional action.

“He says, ‘All federal legislation sunsets every five years. If the law is worth keeping, Congress can pass it again,’” Biden read.  

Then the president read a placard with a 2022 quote from Wisconsin Sen. Ron Johnson, in which the Republican lawmaker called for Social Security and Medicare entitlements to be transitioned from mandatory to discretionary spending, which would require Congress to budget for those programs annually. 

Biden also referenced a video of Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, speaking at a campaign event in 2010 — more than a decade ago — in which Lee said his objective as a member of Congress would be “to phase out Social Security, to pull it up from the roots and get rid of it.” 

“Sounds pretty clear to me. How about you?” Biden told his audience. “But they sure didn’t like me calling them on it. Look, a lot of Republicans, their dream is to cut Social Security. Well, let me just say this: It’s your dream, but I’m going to — my veto pen, make it a nightmare.” 

Republicans have accused Biden of lying about their position on Social Security and Medicare. Scott’s proposal was rejected by Senate Republicans, and he has said his ideas was “aimed at dealing with ALL the crazy new laws our Congress has been passing of late.” In a press release, Scott called Biden a liar.

Lee, who also accused Biden of lying Tuesday night, previously addressed the 2010 video when it resurfaced during his 2022 re-election campaign, telling Newsweek, “Throughout my first campaign and from the day I took office, I have been clear: we must honor our commitments to retirees. That has been reflected in every vote I’ve cast, every bill I’ve introduced, and every speech I’ve given regarding Social Security.” 

As for Johnson, he has insisted that the only way to save Social Security and Medicare from insolvency is to reform those programs instead of permitting them to continue racking up debt. 

After accusing Republicans of wanting to “sunset” Social Security and Medicare, a video emerged of Biden while he was still a senator for Delaware, he introduced legislation to sunset all federal programs, including Social Security and Medicare.

In 1975, while Biden was in the upper chamber of Congress, the now president put forward a bill requiring all federal programs to sunset after four years.

When pushing his bill as a senator, Biden said “it requires every program to be looked at freshly at least once every four years.”

“The examination is not just of the increased cost of the program, but of the worthiness of the entire program,” he said in 1975.

Biden doubled down on his legislation in the ’90s, saying on the Senate floor that his bill would affect Social Security.

“When I argued that we should freeze federal spending, I meant Social Security, as well,” Biden said. “I meant Medicare and Medicaid. I meant veterans’ benefits.”

“I meant every single solitary thing in the federal government,” he said. “And I not only tried it once, I tried it twice, I tried it a third time, and I tried it a fourth time.”

(FreedomWire.org) – Sarah Huckabee Sanders thoroughly destroyed President Biden during her State of the Union rebuttal speech, pointing out that the contrasts in parties are no longer between Democrat and Republican, but “between normal and crazy.”

The Arkansas Governor’s speech on behalf of the Republicans evoked images of former President Trump as she unleashed almost immediately following the words, “Good evening. I’m Sarah Huckabee Sanders.”

In her opening, Sanders pointed out that as a mother of young children, you learn quickly not to believe everything you hear: “So forgive me for not believing much of anything I heard tonight from President Biden.”

She noted that contrary to what Democrats hope for, “Government exists not to rule the people, but to serve the people.”

Sanders also highlighted the age difference between herself and the President.

“At 40, I’m the youngest governor in the country. At 80, he’s the oldest president in American history,” she said before delivering this zinger.

“I’m the first woman to lead my state. He’s the first man to surrender his presidency to a woke mob that can’t even tell you what a woman is.”

Sarah Sanders continued to torch the Democrat party and their platforms during her State of the Union rebuttal.

“In the radical left’s America, Washington taxes you and lights your hard-earned money on fire, but you get crushed with high gas prices, empty grocery shelves, and our children are taught to hate one another on account of their race, but not to love one another or our great country,” she said.

“Whether Joe Biden believes this madness or is simply too weak to resist it, his administration has been completely hijacked by the radical left,” added Sanders.

She then laid out the choice Americans have before them. A choice that is vastly different than years gone by when Barack Obama discussed red states and blue states.

“The dividing line in America is no longer between right or left,” she said. “The choice is between normal or crazy. ”

Sarah Sanders’ speech is incredibly spot-on. It’s a choice between abortion up until birth or celebrating life. It’s a choice between crime-riddled streets and law and order. It’s a choice between one world order or America first.

And it’s a choice between normalcy and the crazies peppering the left side of the crowd at Biden’s State of the Union address.

The term ‘crazy’ became a consistent theme throughout the Arkansas Republican’s speech.

Sanders pointed out how, in her state, she’s been combatting the crazy.

“Upon taking office just a few weeks ago I signed Executive Orders to ban CRT, racism, and indoctrination in our schools, eliminate the use of the derogatory term ‘Latinx’ in our government, repealed COVID orders and said never again to authoritarian mandates and shutdowns,” she boasted.

“Americans want common sense from their leaders, but in Washington, the Biden administration is doubling down on crazy.”

Sanders blasted Biden for injecting his woke fantasies into the federal government.

“Every day, we are told that we must partake in their rituals, salute their flags, and worship their false idols, all while big government colludes with Big Tech to strip away the most American thing there is — your Freedom of speech,” she explained.

“That’s not normal. It’s crazy, and it’s wrong.”

Honestly, “That’s not normal,” ought to be the Republican presidential candidate’s slogan heading into 2024.

“America is great because we are free. But today, our freedom is under attack, and the America we love is in danger,” Sanders concluded. “President Biden and the Democrats have failed you.”

“It’s time for a change.”

We’re long past due for a change.

(FreedomWire.org) – On Wednesday, Hunter Biden accidentally admitted that the contents on his laptop was real when he said the laptop data was “stolen” from him.

After the admission and amid vows from the Republican House majority to investigate Hunter Biden’s shady business deals, lawyers for the scandalous first son have launched an attack on Rudy Giuliani, Steve Bannon, and John Mac Isaac, owner of the computer repair shop that was the recipient of the notorious “laptop from hell,” for accessing and disseminating Hunter’s personal data.

Additionally, a separate letter from lawyer Bryan M. Sullivan was sent to Tucker Carlson and Fox News that threatened them with a defamation lawsuit, The Washington Post reports.

The approach, now more than two years after the New York Post’s original reporting, is being described as “the boldest and most aggressive move to date from Biden” on the issue.

Hunter’s attorney, Abbe Lowell claimed in his scathing letters that “about a half-dozen people have violated various statutes, including by making public restricted private information; accessing and disseminating stolen property; and making false statements to Congress,” according to The Post.

“The actions described above more than merit a full investigation and, depending on the resulting facts, may merit prosecution under various statutes,” Lowell wrote. “It is not a common thing for a private person and his counsel to seek someone else being investigated, but the actions and motives here require it.”

The letters blasted Mac Isaac for alleged inconsistencies in the accounts of his role in the laptop saga and called for investigations into Giuliani for receiving the material and then distributing it; Giuliani’s lawyer, Robert Costello, who was also given the laptop’s contents; and Steve Bannon, who helped to spark the initial stories after he received the material.

“Hunter Biden’s attorneys also name Jack Maxey, who provided the material to several news outlets, including The Washington Post, as well as Ziegler, who has uploaded data onto his website, and Yaacov Apelbaum, a former aide to Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) who Mac Isaac has said helped create a ‘forensic image’ of the hard drive,” The Post reports.

“This marks a new approach by Hunter Biden and his team,” one anonymous source told the outlet. “He is not going to sit quietly by as questionable characters continue to violate his rights and media organizations peddling in lies try to defame him.”

While it is admittedly a new approach, it is one that is difficult to take seriously given all we now know of the laptop’s contents and the lengths Democrats and government agencies went to cover the story up.

(FreedomWire.org) – During a Town Hall on Thursday in Virginia, Joe Biden appeared to suffer another dementia-induced outburst giving a gaffe-filled speech about the economy.

“Talk about being deprived of your pride!,” Biden shouted, clenching his teeth and shaking his fist. “LOOK AT YOUR CHILD. CHILD! You know needs it! And you can’t afford it!”, Biden exclaimed, making zero sense whatsoever.

This wasn’t the only head-scratching moment of the speech for Joe. He also falsely claimed that we’re not in a recession and that the economy is fine.

“They’ve been telling me since I got elected there gonna be in a recession. EVERY time we’ve gone, we’ve gotten better.”

At another point in the speech, Biden told the audience that he will Veto any bill that Republicans send to his desk. “Not on my watch, I will veto everything they send us,” he said.

Then later, he went on another bizarre rant where he repeated himself on several occasions.

“We’re the United States of America. And nothing. Nothing. Nothing. Nothing is beyond our capacity…We’ve never failed to accomplish a goal we’ve set. Never. Never Never!”.

Perhaps the most cringy moment of the speech was when Biden called Rep. Don Beyer (D-Va.) by the name “Doug” four times.

“Where’s Doug? Congressman?” the 80-year-old president asked while giving a speech on the economy.

“He’s around here somewhere,” Biden said as he searched the crowd. “Oh, there you are. Doug, thanks for the passport into town. Doug and I have something in common, we both married way above our station.”

(FreedomWire.org) – Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm claimed Monday that “international and climate events” were to blame for price increases at the pump.

“It’s obviously based upon international and climate events, so, for example, Winter Storm Elliot pulled two million barrels off the U.S. market,” Granholm said during a White House press briefing. “That crimp in supply causes prices to go up.”

The average price of a gallon of gas is $3.423, up from $3.096 a month ago, according to AAA. Biden has taken credit for lower gas prices in the past, even though a gallon of gas cost an average of $2.1218 on Nov. 3, 2020.

Biden and the White House have often called increased gas prices the “Putin price hike,” but some experts have said Biden’s hostility to fossil fuel production has fueled higher gas prices. The Biden administration revoked the permit for the Keystone XL pipeline in January 2021 and cancelled an offshore lease sale in May after issuing new regulations for onshore drilling for oil and natural gas.

Biden authorized the sale of up to 180 million barrels of oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) in March, following Russia’s Feb. 24 invasion of Ukraine. The reserve is down to its lowest level since the 1980s, Forbes reported.

“Biden and Secretary Granholm have created an energy crisis by crippling American energy, sending U.S. jobs overseas, and depleting our SPR,” Senate Republicans said in a release.

The Strategic Production Response Act was introduced in the House earlier this month. It would require the Energy Department to develop a plan to increase the percentage of federal areas leased for gas and oil production before releasing oil from the reserve.

Granholm said President Biden will veto a House bill regulating U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve withdrawals.

Granholm said that such proposals risk raising gas prices and are “simply nonstarters,” according to the official White House transcript.

“So I’ll be very clear: If Congress were to pass H.R. 21 (the Strategic Production Response Act), the president would veto it. He will not allow the American people to suffer because of the backwards agenda that House Republicans are advancing.”

(FreedomWire.org) – Fox News contributor Geraldo Rivera is in hot water again with critics, this time over a hot take he posted to Twitter suggesting that the new Republican House majority was focused on the wrong thing, an investigation into President Joe Biden and his son Hunter Biden over past business dealings.

“Appointing a Special Counsel to investigate President Biden is as lame as it was to raid & relentlessly probe President Trump. Scold both of them. Revoke their library cards. Then, for the good of the country, move on. This case has 0 impact on the American people,” he wrote on the platform on Friday.

Also, Rivera was critical of the appointment of special counsels for both Presidents Biden and Trump regarding their possession of highly classified documents, perhaps in violation of federal law, at least in Biden’s case.

Republicans are demanding answers on the lack of transparency on visitor logs from President Joe Biden’s Delaware home. This comes as classified documents were discovered in Biden’s Wilmington garage as well as his think tank.

“There are no visitor logs for President Biden’s home in Wilmington, Delaware, the White House Counsel’s office said in a Monday statement. Republicans on Capitol Hill demanded the visitor logs this weekend following revelations that Biden’s lawyers had discovered a stash of classified documents inside the home’s garage. While it is common practice to keep comprehensive visitor logs at the White House, Biden’s lawyers say no such record exists for his home in Delaware,” Fox News reported.

“Like every President in decades of modern history, his personal residence is personal,” the White House Counsel’s office told Fox News. “But upon taking office, President Biden restored the norm and tradition of keeping White House visitors logs, including publishing them regularly, after the previous administration ended them.”

The U.S. Secret Service revealed on Sunday that while a protection unit is assigned to Biden’s Delaware home, they do not record visitors.

“We don’t independently maintain our own visitor logs because it’s a private residence,” spokesman Anthony Guglielmi told reporters.

Republican Rep. James Comer, chairman of the House Oversight and Accountability Committee, is demanding logs as well as additional answers.

“Given the serious national security implications, the White House must provide the Wilmington residence’s visitor log,” Comer wrote to White House chief of staff Ron Klain. “As Chief of Staff, you are head of the Executive Office of the President and bear responsibility to be transparent with the American people on these important issues related to the White House’s handling of this matter.”

(FreedomWire.org) – Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas is responding to Republicans who want him to resign or to impeach him.

He appeared on the ABC show “This Week” on Sunday and said he does not have any intention of resigning, knowing that he faces investigations and even a possible impeachment from the Republican House of Representatives.

“As of yesterday morning, Kevin McCarthy is speaker of the House. And back in November, he suggested that you might be impeached if you don’t resign. Here’s what he said,” host George Stephanopoulos said as he played a clip of what Speaker Kevin McCarthy said.

“If Secretary Mayorkas does not resign, House Republicans will investigate. Every order, every action and every failure will determine whether we can begin impeachment inquiry,” Mayorkas said.

“What’s your response to the speaker?” Stephanopoulos said.

“I am joining the president today on his visit to El Paso, Texas. I’ve been to the border quite a number of times,” Mayorkas said.

“I’m joining the president at the North Mexican Leader’s Summit in Mexico City to work with our partners in Mexico and Canada to address the security of the homeland. I’ve got a lot of work to do. I’m proud to do it, alongside 250,000 incredibly dedicated and talented individuals in the Department of Homeland Security and I’m going to continue to do my work,” Mayorkas said.

“So, you have no intention of resigning?” Stephanopoulos said.

“I do not. I’ve got a lot of work to do, and we’re going to do it,” Mayorkas said.

“Are you prepared for the investigations?” Stephanopoulos said.

“I am. I will be. And I’ll continue to do my work throughout them,” Mayorkas said.

Stephanopoulos asked, “As you said, you’re going to be joining the president today, both at the border and then on to Mexico. What do you hope to accomplish on this mission?

Mayorkas responded, “I have been to El Paso as recently as just a few weeks ago. I’ve been there quite a number of times. I’ve spoken with the president. He has requested my visits to the border. I have gone on my own, of course. And I want him to see the extraordinary work of the men and women of the United States Border Patrol, of Customs and Border Protection’s field operations, how we have surged resources to address a challenge that is not unique to the southern border of the United States. It’s a challenge that is really gripping our entire hemisphere.”

Mayorkas continued, “You know, George, I was in Columbia just a few weeks ago, the country of Columbia. And there are 2.4 million Venezuelans in Columbia now. I was in Costa Rica a few months ago, and Costa Rica’s population is increasing in the number of Nicaraguans. I was in Ecuador a few weeks ago and they too are really experiencing unprecedented migration challenges. This is something that is not unique to the United States. It’s gripping the hemisphere. And a regional challenge requires a regional solution. And that’s one of the elements of the North American Leader’s Summit that we look forward to addressing.”

The city of El Paso is putting its best face on for President Joe Biden who is finally making a visit to the Southern border.

The city has been cleaning up migrant encampments that have been languishing, ahead of the president’s photo op visit, The New York Post reported.

Encampments near the downtown bus station and the Sacred Heart Church, which operates a shelter, have been dismantled by local authorities over the last two nights as the city prepares to host President Biden’s first visit to the southern border, according to a photographer for The Post who witnessed it.

Six buses loaded with mostly Venezuelan migrants were spotted crossing a downtown bridge to Ciudad Juarez, the frontier city in Mexico, Saturday, as police escorted dozens more to a pedestrian crossing.

A Border Patrol agent who did not want to be identified told The Post that 200 people were sent back to Mexico Saturday.

“People are saying that if you are out in the streets the Border Patrol will get you and deport you because the President is coming to El Paso and they don’t want to show him the reality of things,” said Venezuelan migrant Maria Rodriguez said to The Post.

She said that for the past three days she has been living in a dumpster in El Paso.

“I hope we get shelter tonight because it took us a lot of courage to go out of that dumpster after three days…We just don’t want to keep running. All we are asking is for one chance,” she said.

(FreedomWire.org) – Appearing Thursday night on Fox News Channel’s “Hannity”, Trump ally and former GOP Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich tore into the Biden Administration, not pulling any punches and saying that it is the  “the most corrupt and dangerous” in American history.

Speaking on that through the lens of what he sees as the Biden Administration waging war on the American people and risking sparking a constitutional crisis, along with giving his advice on how the GOP should respond to what Team Biden is up to, Gingrich said:

“Oh, look, I think they’ll do a lot, and I think this is just a childish game by the Biden team. The fact is on the third or the fourth, the Republicans who will run the committees no matter who the speaker is, you know, I totally believe Kevin McCarthy will be Speaker but put that to one side.

“The Republicans are going to be running the committees can simply hand deliver everything they’ve already sent up there and say, fine, we now may your standard, give us the information. I think they also can begin to file subpoenas, and I think they should broaden out what they’re doing if the ways and means Democrats release Trump’s tax data. I think next year, the Republicans have to subpoena all of the Biden family’s various taxes, including the University of Pennsylvania records and say, fine.”

Continuing, Gingrich then did his best to remind Republicans of the obvious fact that RINOs and compromisers of the Mitch McConnell mold seem entirely unable to grasp: the Democrats are in it to win it. They might pretend to want “bipartisan” legislation, but they’re there to get what they want, not to compromise, and so they are going to be fighters or backstabbers, not reasonable partners to work with. It was then that he described Team Biden as the most corrupt in history, saying:

“I think you have to recognize two things here: One, the Democrats are going to play hardball every single day. They’re never going to be reasonable, and that’s fine. That’s who they are. They are desperately defending power.

“Two, this is much bigger than the Biden administration. This is the most corrupt and dangerous executive branch in American history. The FBI was corrupt before Joe Biden got elected. The things that have been going on with Fauci were before Joe Biden got elected.

“We have a real constitutional crisis of an executive branch seeking to wage war against the American people, and I think the House Republicans who are the only coherent conservative group in Washington, given the chaos in the Senate. I think the House Republicans have an obligation to take head on the totality of corruption and dishonesty that we’re now dealing with at every level of the bureaucracy, not just the Biden administration but deep into the bureaucracy.”

So, Gingrich did his best to get Americans to listen and Republicans to start fighting back. Time will tell as to if that succeeded.