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Republicans Tag

House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-VA) has introduced a bill that would provide legal status for those in the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, funds for a border wall, and immigration reforms. Goodlatte, along with Rep. Michael McCaul (R-TX), Raul Labrador (R-ID), and Martha McSally (R-AZ), provided details in an op-ed in The Wall Street Journal:
A priority of our legislation is to increase the security of the southern border. Our bill would provide $30 billion to build a wall, to invest in new technology, and to improve, modernize and expand ports of entry. It would add boots on the ground: an additional 5,000 Border Patrol agents and 5,000 Customs and Border Protection officers. It would provide for the construction of additional ports of entry and a full implementation of the biometric entry-exit system, while authorizing the National Guard to provide aviation and intelligence support.

We're witnessing a perfect storm of sorts as various elements of leftist policy and ideology converge into an historical moment in which being accused of sexual harassment/abuse means being guilty.  Being guilty, in turn, means the immediate loss of one's career, one's reputation, and one's livelihood. The accused is not able to confront his accusers, or even know their names, nor does he know, in many cases, that an allegation has been made or an investigation underway.  He finds out when he is fired from his job, dragged through the mud, and is, what we'd say in any other circumstance, victimized. There's a problem here, one that we on the right may not be as willing to see because the majority of the people being taken down (so far) are unsavory persons populating socio-political worlds—Hollywood, politics, the media—in which we are "the deplorables."  It's not hard to feel vindicated in some cases and Schadenfreude in others.

We've been covering the on-going DACA saga here at LI; President Trump tossed Obama's unconstitutional Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) back to Congress, initially giving them six months to get a bill to his desk that would enshrine some version of DACA into law. The president later announced that he would grant Congress an extension if they weren't able to get their act together within the original time frame.  Trump, in other words, will gladly sign a DACA bill should one make its way to his desk.

Last weekend, I wrote about the 2018 fate of the GOP House majority ultimately being in the hands of Republicans.  They've been granted an immense honor in being bestowed with majorities in both Houses of Congress and the White House, yet they are losing support amongst their voters, including most alarmingly amongst independents.  The remedy, I proposed, was going all-in on President Trump's agenda; after all, his agenda is more popular than the GOP, Congress, and even the president himself.  What, I asked, do they have to lose? Instead of fulfilling their campaign promises and the president's agenda, the GOP is tying itself in knots trying to be more progressive than the progressives and more anti-Trump than antifa.  This leaves them in a bad situation going into 2018 because they will never win Democrat or progressive votes and are losing the Independents votes they did have on the merits of their campaign promises.

The GOP-controlled House passed a tax bill that eliminates many popular deductions, but reduces the tax brackets to three instead of seven and doubles standard deductions. It passed 227-205. However, 13 Republicans voted against the bill and no Democrats voted for it. This could spell gloom for it in the Senate, which the GOP holds a two seat majority.

Here at LI, we've covered the increasing, alarming, and widespread leftist intolerance for free speech in this country.  The radical left has decided and worked diligently to spread the dangerous notion that any ideas they deem offensive or objectionable should not be expressed, and if they are, there is the growing sense that violence should be used to silence anyone speaking words with which they disagree. What we haven't seen as often is what everyone else feels about the far left's increasingly fascistic approach to silencing any but their own speech.  It turns out that Americans are generally pretty fed up with it, and that there is a growing sense that we cannot express our true thoughts or views.

The Cook Political Report (CPR), a non-partisan group that analyzes elections, has changed the ratings in 12 districts across the country for the House 2018 elections as Democrats gain strength. It's important to note that the ratings have not gone directly to Democrat, but it shows that these districts have become vulnerable. Only one went from solid Democrat to likely Democrat, a plus for the Republicans.

Because Virginia's constitution does not permit current Governor Terry McAuliffe (D) to run for another term, there is no incumbent for voters to assess when they vote for a new governor on November 7th. A Libertarian convention and regular primaries earlier this summer resulted in a three-way race amongst Republican Ed Gillespie, Democrat Ralph Northam, and (nonstarter) Libertarian Cliff Hyra. According to Real Clear Politics averages, Northam was leading Gillespie last month by 4.4 points.

The Democrats have decided to use the GOP's attempts to repeal Obamacare to their advantage in 2018. From The Hill:
“I think the message is really simple here: As long as Republicans control Congress, your health care is on the chopping block,” said Tyler Law, a spokesman for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC), House Democrats’ campaign arm.
One problem: The GOP has shown that despite having control of Congress, they have not been able to repeal Obamacare.