
Senate Passes $1.8 Trillion Tax, Spending Package
The Senate easily approved a $1.8 trillion tax and spending package Friday on a vote of 65-33.

The Senate easily approved a $1.8 trillion tax and spending package Friday on a vote of 65-33.

Thanks in part to California Republican political consultant Rob Stutzman, Louisiana has elected a Democratic governor instead of a Republican one.

While Vitter’s loss is a setback for Republicans, and provides a boost to Democrats ahead of the 2016 elections, there is a silver lining as well: Edwards ran, and won, on a conservative message.

According to the newest state-wide poll of Louisiana taken Thursday, Republican gubernatorial candidate David Vitter has inched to within just 4 points of his Democrat opponent, John Bel Edwards. Earlier in the month, Edwards had been handily beating Vitter by

“It’s time for the world to call this what it is — radical Islamic terrorism. Today I’m calling on Obama to stop allowing Syrian refugees into Louisiana,” Vitter, who is running for governor in Louisiana, wrote on Facebook along with a petition for people to sign.

Parents, teachers, and other citizens who oppose the Common Core standards in Louisiana say corporate cronyism propelled proponents of the highly unpopular reform to win the super-majority in the recent state board of education elections.

Senator Marco Rubio returned to Washington, D.C., Tuesday to vote on a Senate bill to defund sanctuary cities, after weeks of being criticized for missing votes on Capitol Hill.

The U.S. Senate failed to come up with the required 60 votes needed to move forward with the Sanctuary City Bill.

The United States Senate will finally vote on a bill defunding sanctuary cities across America and two Texas cities could land right in the crosshairs of this battle. The vote on the “Stop Sanctuary Policies and Protect Americans Act,” (S. 2146) is scheduled for a motion to proceed vote on Tuesday afternoon.

The “Stop Sanctuary Policies and Protect Americans Act” is not comprehensive enough to address the myriad problems with immigration enforcement under the Obama administration. However it is an adequate response to the specific problem of sanctuary cities, according to the Center for Immigration policies.

The Stop Sanctuary Policies and Protect Americans Act, introduced by Sen. David Vitter (R-LA), will skip the committee process and go directly to the Senate floor. The bill restricts federal funding for sanctuary cities, or jurisdictions that do not comply with federal immigration authorities. It also provides legal protections for localities that do comply with federal immigration law and ups the penalties for illegal re-entry.

The legislation, introduced by Sen. David Vitter (R-LA), would restrict federal funds and grants to jurisdictions that serve as sanctuary cities for illegal immigrants and refuse to cooperate with federal immigration authorities. The bill would also establish a mandatory sentence of five years for illegal immigrants convicted of re-entering the U.S. after being convicted of an aggravated felony or of illegally re-entering the U.S. twice.

“No more people should die at the hands of those who ignore our immigration laws and commit crimes. No more families should have to go through what our hearing witnesses have experienced,” Grassley — who held a hearing Tuesday featuring testimony from the family members of illegal immigrant crime victims — said Tuesday.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement Director Sarah Saldaña said that she doesn’t want to “hit somebody over the head with a federal hammer” with regard to sanctuary communities and refused to state what negative consequences she would support placing on sanctuary

Loretta Lynch, President Obama’s nominee for attorney general, cleared a procedural vote Thursday, setting up a vote on final confirmation later in the day.

President Obama’s nominee for attorney general Loretta Lynch would not commit to investigate former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s use of a personal email account and server during her tenure at the State Department.

After some setbacks over the past several weeks, top aides to Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker tell Breitbart News that he’s toughening up his immigration position as he learns more about the issue. “He’s for border security first, enforce the laws on the books, fix legal immigration system with national interest in mind and then deal with those here,” Walker spokeswoman Kirsten Kukowski said in an email. Kukowski’s comments to Breitbart News come after a trip Walker took on Friday to the border with Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott. A lot depends on what the governor means by a: “legal immigration system with national interest in mind.” Still, this could be a step toward Walker remaking his image on immigration in the manner of Senate Judiciary Committee subcommittee on Immigration and the National Interest chairman Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL).

A non-binding amendment introduced by Republican Senator of Louisiana David Vitter–referred to as the Local Control of Education act– was approved last week in a long and drawn out voting session on the Senate budget resolution, which forbids the federal government “from mandating, incentivizing or coercing states to adopt the Common Core State Standards.”

The U.S. Senate passed an amendment Thursday that bans the federal government from coercing or incentivizing states to adopt specific academic standards, curriculum, or assessments, including those associated with the controversial Common Core standards.

A newly released Government Accountability Office (GAO) report confirms that Planned Parenthood Federation of America and five other groups are using taxpayer funds to advocate for abortions as “reproductive health care.”

Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid says an amendment to eliminate birthright citizenship is “stupid.” But he’s supported such efforts in the past.

The Senate Judiciary Committee has delayed consideration of Loretta Lynch to replace Eric Holder as Attorney General. Committee member Sen. David Vitter says he wants to dig into Lynch’s role in the federal prosecution of HSBC in 2012.

The Senate appears set to recess next week, even though it hasn’t been able to take up a DHS funding measure passed by the House.

To honor National School Choice Week, Louisiana U.S. Sen. David Vitter (R) announced Monday that he has introduced the Local Control of Education Act, a measure that would ban the federal government from mandating the adoption of specific standards—such as the Common Core standards—as well as curriculum and assessments.

Senators are already lining up their questions for Loretta Lynch, President Obama’s nominee to replace Eric Holder as Attorney General.