Tag: republicans

Reckoning for Newsom: GOP Rep. Introduces Bill to Force CA to Repay Past Due COVID-Era Unemployment Loans

On Tuesday, Rep. Vince Fong (R-CA) introduced the California Accountability and Loan Repayment Act (the CAL Repayment Act), which requires California to repay its outstanding $21 billion loan to the federal government before spending federal money on other programs.

Gavin Newsom’s state is the only state that has yet to repay its COVID-era unemployment loans (UI).

The bill would require California to prioritize repayment of its federal UI debt before spending any eligible federal funds on other programs and would require the state to direct available federal funds toward the loan within 5 business days of receipt.

Additionally, if the state diverts funds, it must repay the full misused amount to the federal government.

Newsom’s failure to repay the loans has placed the burden directly on the backs of employers in the state. The debt has led to automatic federal tax penalties on California employers via reduced FUTA tax credits, costing businesses roughly $84 per worker in 2025, with costs expected to rise.

In January, Rep. Fong shared details about the “hidden jobs tax” that Newsom pushed onto the backs of the business owners.

California employers are about to get hit with a massive tax increase — one they never voted on, one lawmakers and the governor never debated, but one Sacramento knew was coming.

At the very moment families and employers should be seeing relief from the Working Families Tax Cuts, which are in effect this year, California is moving in the opposite direction by raising taxes on employees and worsening the cost-of-living crisis already plaguing the state.

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Rep. Chip Roy Files Bill to BAN Chinese Communists and Radical Islamists from Buying American Homes

Rep. Chip Roy has introduced new legislation to stop Chinese Communist Party members, radical Islamists, and other designated foreign adversaries from purchasing homes and real estate in the United States.

In an announcement on Tuesday, Roy declared that American property should belong to American citizens, not to geopolitical foes who seek to undermine the country from within.

The bill would explicitly prohibit individuals affiliated with the Chinese Communist Party, Islamist groups, or other designated adversaries from acquiring residential property.

“American homes belong to American families — not the Chinese Communist Party, foreign Islamists, or our geopolitical foes,” Roy told the Daily Caller. “While Americans struggle to afford housing, hostile regimes are buying up our land and neighborhoods.”

“This bill slams the door on foreign adversaries owning American housing and forces them to sell what they already control,” Roy added. “We’re putting America’s homes back in American hands.”

Housing affordability is a top issue for American families struggling with high prices and limited inventory, while foreign entities, especially from China, continue to snap up homes and farmland in strategic locations.

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Sen. Graham Urges Trump to Renew US Strikes on Iran

Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., on Sunday called on President Donald Trump to renew U.S. military strikes on Iran, arguing that a stalled ceasefire and a closed Strait of Hormuz are strengthening Tehran while inflicting economic pain at home.

“I think the status quo is hurting us all,” Graham told NBC News’ “Meet the Press,” framing continued military pressure, not negotiation, as the faster route to ending the war.

Graham’s appeal landed at a stalemate.

U.S.-Iran talks, mediated by Pakistan, have been suspended since both sides rejected each other’s latest proposals, and no permanent peace deal has been reached since the two countries announced a ceasefire last month.

Graham said the impasse only benefits Tehran.

“The longer the [Strait of Hormuz] is closed, the more we try to pursue a deal that never happens, the stronger Iran gets,” he said.

The senator, a leading proponent of Trump’s military campaign, urged the president to “weaken them further.”

He credited the administration’s strikes as “amazing, militarily.” But, he said, “there’s more targets to be had.”

Graham added that nothing in the conflict so far suggests Iran’s leadership has abandoned what he called the regime’s goal “to terrorize the world, destroy Israel, come after us.”

The closed strait, which before the war carried more than a fifth of the world’s energy supply, has driven oil prices rising higher since the conflict began on Feb. 28.

As of Friday, the average U.S. price of unleaded gas was above $4.50 a gallon, up 51% since the war started.

Graham argued that pressure would ease with force, telling moderator Kristen Welker, “Gas prices will come down when you put Iran in a box.”

Tehran has signaled little appetite for compromise.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Friday that Iran has “no trust” in the U.S. and would negotiate only if Washington is serious, citing “contradictory messages” from American officials.

The diplomatic freeze coincided with Trump’s return from a multiday summit in China, where he met President Xi Jinping.

Trump told Fox News’ Bret Baier he had not asked Beijing for help on Iran. “If he wants to help, that’s great, but we don’t need help,” Trump said, adding that accepting help invites obligations in return.

The dispute carries domestic political stakes.

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Former Kansas Mayor Detained by ICE After Guilty Plea for Illegally Voting

A former Republican mayor of a small Kansas town has been taken into federal immigration custody after pleading guilty to illegally voting as a non-citizen.

Jose “Joe” Ceballos-Armendariz, 55, a Mexican national who has held a green card since 1990, turned himself in to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials at their Wichita office on Wednesday.

Ceballos is now being held at the ICE-contracted Chase County Jail in Cottonwood Falls and faces potential deportation proceedings.

The green card holder served two terms as mayor of Coldwater, Kansas, a conservative Comanche County town of fewer than 700 residents.

Ceballos was first elected in 2021 and won re-election in 2025 with 83% of the vote.

The charges surfaced the day after that re-election when Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach announced felony election fraud charges.

Court records show Ceballos illegally voted in multiple elections despite knowing he was not a U.S. citizen. He also admitted during a January citizenship application that he had falsely claimed U.S. citizenship.

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Colorado county Republican chair arrested in sting on allegations he tried to pay for sex with a child

Hunter Rivera, the 24-year-old chairman of the Weld County Republican Party, was one of two men arrested Thursday on suspicion of trying to buy sex from Larimer County Sheriff’s Office investigators who posed as minors as part of an operation targeting child predators.

After news of Rivera’s arrest broke late Friday, multiple prominent Republicans denounced Rivera and called for his immediate resignation from the party position.

The sheriff’s office said in a news release that “several dozen people” responded to investigators who posed as minors offering sexual acts for sale on local websites and online forums. Two men — one of whom was Rivera — showed up at an agreed-upon location to pay for sex but were arrested and later booked into the county jail, the office said.

Rivera, who lives in Windsor, faces four felony charges, the sheriff’s office said: soliciting a child prostitute, internet luring of a child, soliciting to arrange a minor prostitute in a cybercrime, and attempted sexual assault on a child.

Rivera was being held at the Larimer County jail on a $6,500 cash-only bond but was in the process of being released, according to county records. His next scheduled court appearance is May 21.

“Children are not property to be bought or sold,” Sheriff John Feyen said in a statement. “Human trafficking is modern day slavery, and we won’t tolerate it in Larimer County. I hope this operation sends a strong message. It doesn’t matter who you are, if you try to hurt kids in our community, you will be held accountable.”

The sheriff’s office release stressed that defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty.

Rivera has been a fixture in Republican circles in recent years, both at the state Capitol, where he worked for several years as a legislative aide until last year, and in broader party activity.

After serving on multiple local local boards and chairing the Northern Colorado Young Republicans, Rivera ran unsuccessfully for Windsor Town Board in 2022, the Fort Collins Coloradan reported.

He served as an appointed member of the state GOP’s executive committee until last month, when the state party’s interim chair, Eric Grossman, removed him from the panel following delegates to the Republicans’ state assembly censuring members who had voted against filing a motion to close Colorado’s primary election to unaffiliated voters.

“Mr. Rivera should immediately resign,” Grossman told Colorado Politics in a text message. “I dismissed him from the excomm weeks ago after being censured by over 2,000 delegates and how fortuitous that decision looks now.”

U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert, a Windsor Republican who supported Rivera’s bid for county chair last year, issued a blistering statement condemning the allegations and calling on Rivera to be “replaced immediately” as party chair.

“These allegations are vile and indefensible. I pray to God there are not real victims out there. I am angry and disgusted,” Boebert said in a text message.

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Liberal ‘Historian’ Claims Republicans Accuse Other People of What They Are Doing, Just Like the Nazis

Heather Cox Richardson is a historian and academic who teaches at Boston College. In a recent video made for her subscribers, she claimed that Republicans use a ‘propaganda technique’ of accusing other people of what they themselves are doing.

There are MOUNTAINS of evidence that show this is actually, exactly what the left does, but it gets even worse. She goes on to suggest that this makes Republicans just like the Nazis because that’s where she claims this tactic comes from.

Now before you dismiss this woman as the idiot she clearly is, you should know that she holds a tremendous amount of influence on the left. Her Substack site has hundreds of thousands of subscribers and she is reported to earn almost a million dollars a year from that alone.

It’s just amazing that she can say these stupid and untruthful things with a straight face:

“The Republicans have perfected a technique for a long time now which really became obvious in the 2000 presidential election, but it’s an old propaganda technique in which you accuse your opponent of what you yourself are doing.

And we tend to identify that in modern politics with Karl Rove, who’s a Republican operative, but in fact, it’s an old propaganda technique that is often identified with Nazi Germany.

And the idea behind it is that if you accuse your opponent of what you are doing, it’s very difficult then for people to understand when the opponent comes back and says, well wait a minute, you’re doing it too.

And what that does is create confusion so that people tend to throw out both sides of the equation and say, well they’re both corrupt.”

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Sen. Rand Paul’s Son Apologizes After Alleged Anti-Semitic, Anti-Gay Tirade Targeting Rep. Mike Lawler

The son of Kentucky Senator Rand Paul has issued an apology after reportedly unloading a drunken, expletive-laced tirade at New York Congressman Mike Lawler (R-NY) inside a Capitol Hill bar Tuesday night.

According to multiple reports, William Hilton Paul confronted Lawler at the Tune Inn, a popular dive bar frequented by Hill staffers and lawmakers.

The outburst allegedly stemmed from frustration over the primary challenge facing Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY).

Paul reportedly mistook Lawler for being Jewish and launched into a ten-minute rant accusing “your people” of meddling in GOP primaries and prioritizing Israel over America.

Lawler, who is actually of Irish-Italian Catholic descent, recounted the incident publicly Wednesday, describing it as “f***ing disgusting.”

He said Paul yelled that the Iran situation was “about the gays and the Jews, and I hate them both, and I don’t care if they die,” while trafficking in classic antisemitic tropes about dual loyalty and anti-American influence.

More from New York Post:

In a phone conversation recounting the evening, Lawler told The Post that he was sitting at a popular DC bar with a friend and a reporter for NOTUS, which first revealed the incident involving William Paul.

“So Rand Paul’s f—ing son is sitting next to us at the at the bar … And he just like chimes in on our conversation, f—ing drunk and belligerent, and then starts going off about, you know, if [Rep. Thomas] Massie [R-Ky.] loses [his primary], it’s because of my people,” Lawler recalled.

“I’m like, ‘What people?’ He goes, ‘Jews,’ and I’m like, ‘Do you think I’m Jewish? … I’m Irish-Italian Catholic, buddy,’” the Hudson Valley lawmaker went on.

“He’s like, ‘Wait, you’re not Jewish?’” Lawler recalled the younger Paul asking, to which the lawmaker said he replied: “And even if I was, what’s the problem?”

“And then he got into the Middle East, and he was talking about, like, us trying to steal Iran’s land for the Jews and steal the West Bank, and I’m like, ‘What are you talking about?’”

At that point, William Paul said: “This war, it’s all about the gays and the Jews, and I hate them both, and I don’t care if they die.”

[…]

“I just wonder if someone who applauds violence against their political opponents is the right person to lead an agency that has struggled to accept limits to the proper use of force,” the Kentucky senator and chairman of the Homeland Security Committee said.

On Wednesday afternoon, Paul posted a clear-eyed apology on X:

“Last night, I had too much to drink and said some things that don’t represent who I really am. I’m sorry and today I am seeking help for my drinking problem.”

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With GOP Help, House Dems Force Vote To Give Another $1.3 Billion To Ukraine – Rep Dan Bacon Is Working For The Blob Agenda, Not America

In a rebellion defying the priorities of Speaker Mike Johnson, House Democrats have teamed up with two Republicans and an independent in a parliamentary maneuver that will force a vote on a bill that would give another $1.3 billion in military aid and other assistance to Ukraine, as that country continues to lose territory in its war with Russia.  

“We look forward to seeing the House pass this bill quickly and encourage the Senate to take it up without delay. The ​brave men and women of Ukraine ​are waiting,” said NY Rep. Gregory Meeks, ranking member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee and the author of the bill.  

All 215 House Democrats signed a discharge petition, a means by which representatives can bypass House leadership’s agenda-setting role and compel a vote on a bill. Seldom used over House history, discharge petitions are showing their potency in a House ruled by a narrow majority, as is the case today. Most famously, Republican Rep. Thomas Massie and Democratic Rep. Ro Khanna used the maneuver last year to compel a vote on forcing the release of the Epstein investigation files. For this Ukraine bill, the Democrats were joined by two Republicans — Pennsylvania Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick and Nebraska Rep. Don Bacon — along with California independent Kevin Kiley, who earlier this year left the GOP. 

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“BE QUIET!” — GOP Rep. Brad Knott Absolutely TORCHES Fairfax Soros-Backed Prosecutor Steve Descano After Child Predator Case Collapses: “You’re a COWARD!”

In a jaw-dropping, viral takedown during Thursday’s House Judiciary Subcommittee hearing on the dangerous consequences of sanctuary policies, North Carolina Republican Rep. Brad Knott absolutely eviscerated far-left Soros-backed Fairfax County Commonwealth’s Attorney Steve Descano for his disgusting decision to let a Honduran illegal alien child predator walk free after yanking a sleeping 4-year-old American girl out of her bed with the clear intent to sexually assault her.

Fox News reported last year:

On June 15, 2023, Fairfax County Police responded to a home in the 7500 block of Little River Turnpike after receiving a call reporting a burglary and an attempted abduction of a child.

When they arrived, the 4-year-old’s mother said she woke up when she heard her daughter crying and saw the window in her room had been opened. The child told her mother someone grabbed her and then ran away.

Investigators say a fingerprint led them to Baquedano-Rodriguez who was arrested the following day.

ICE officials said Baquedano-Rodriguez is a national of Honduras and described him as an “unlawfully present noncitizen.” They say he was first encountered by U.S. Border Patrol in Yuma, Arizona on August 25, 2018.

“I’m traumatized to be quite honest with you. She is 4 years old,” the victim’s mother told FOX 5 in 2023. “It’s not that she’s not comfortable, but you can tell there are signs of trauma that’s left behind from this, and I’m going to have to get her some type of counseling as well as myself.”

Descano, the radical Democrat prosecutor who has been hammered all day by Reps. Jim Jordan and Brandon Gill for his office’s bias favoring illegal alien criminals over U.S. citizens, tried his usual weaselly excuses.

But Knott, a father of two young girls, wasn’t having any of it. He scolded the coward like a child and ordered him to shut up.

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California Democrats deploy risky strategy to shut out Republican governor candidates

A growing number of California Democrats are embracing an unusual election strategy ahead of the state’s crowded gubernatorial primary: waiting until the final possible moment to cast their ballots.

The tactic is being fueled by anxiety within left-wing circles over the state’s open primary system, where the top two candidates advance to the November election regardless of party affiliation, infamously earning the name “jungle primary.”

With multiple Democrats splitting the vote and two Republicans performing strongly in polling, some progressive activists fear a scenario in which Democrats are entirely excluded from the general election, CalMatters reported.

The concern intensified earlier in the race when many Democratic voters rallied around former Congressman Eric Swalwell in hopes of consolidating support behind a single candidate.

Swalwell’s campaign, which at the time was gaining momentum as he lead polls among others his block, collapsed after multiple women accused him of sexual assault, reopening uncertainty among Democratic voters searching for a viable contender.

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