Congressional & Capitol Hill News

The Daily Signal delivers comprehensive congressional news with reporting and conservative commentary on House and Senate activities, legislative priorities, committee investigations, leadership battles, and the fight for conservative policy in both chambers of Congress.
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    • News

    5 Takeaways From House Hearing on COVID-19 School Lockdowns

    Federal and state officials—as well as teachers unions—should be held accountable for the consequences of school closures, lawmakers on the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic said Tuesday. “Long-term closing of schools proved to be harmful for students—their academic, mental, and social development, and overall success,” Chairman Brad Wenstrup, R-Ohio, said. “We need to…
    Fred Lucas
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    • News

    ‘Death, Drugs, and Disorder’: 4 Takeaways From House Hearing on Growing Crisis at Northern Border

    “The northern border is wide open,” Rep. Mike Kelly, R-Pa., said during a House hearing Tuesday. Under President Joe Biden and Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, a surge of illegal crossings has occurred at the southern border. At the same time, officials note a sharp increase in illegal crossings at the northern border, where drug…
    Jarrett Stepman
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    • News

    Back to Prison? Suspect in Stabbing of Senate Staffer Was Freed After 12 Years Just 1 Day Earlier

    A mere 24 hours after he was released from prison, police say a man approached a Senate staffer and stabbed him in broad daylight in Northeast Washington. Authorities had sentenced the suspect, 42-year-old Glynn Neal, to 12 years and four months in prison in 2011 for “compelling two North Carolina women to engage in prostitution…
    Mary Margaret Olohan
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    • Opinion

    Parents’ Bill of Rights Is How Congress Can Help State School Reformers 

    The stunning success of conservative education reform across the country in the past few years is the result a moral fact: Parents are children’s primary educators. Until very recently, this was not disputed, let alone controversial.   But lately, it has become clear that progressive elites who run teachers unions and school boards, the Democratic Party,…
    Kevin Roberts
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    • Opinion

    If Washington Wants to Support Taiwan, Here’s First Thing It Should Do

    Honduras on March 15 announced plans to establish diplomatic relations with the People’s Republic of China. Given Beijing’s insistence on a “One China Principle,” the move will require the Central American nation to cut ties with Taiwan, leaving the island with just 13 formal diplomatic partners. This represents not only a blow to Taipei’s international…
    Michael Cunningham
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    • Opinion

    Why Congress Has Reason to Be Suspicious of Narrative on COVID-19 Origin

    Congressional Republicans are busy trying to uncover the origin of COVID-19, which has killed more than 1.1 million Americans.    Earlier this month, Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., won unanimous Senate passage of the COVID-19 Origin Act of 2023 to declassify all U.S. intelligence related to the Chinese origin of the pandemic. The House of Representatives…
    Robert Moffit
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    • Opinion

    COVID-19 Origins: Why State Department’s Testimony to Congress Is Crucial to Finding Answers

    Expect more details—and more controversy—coming soon on the Chinese origins of COVID-19 as a House select committee continues its investigation. While many in government in early 2020 immediately began pushing the narrative that the coronavirus came from nature, several scientists and the U.S. State Department had serious doubts and pointed to the large amount of…
    Robert Moffit
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    • Opinion

    Congress Killed Silicon Valley Bank

    The collapse of Silicon Valley Bank has unified Americans with a shared anger. Everyone—left, right, and center—knows that something is wrong. Executives sold off millions of dollars of stock before the crash, the bank paid out bonuses as it was collapsing, and the Federal Reserve created a brand new program (once again, Washington, D.C., is deciding…
    Jessica Anderson
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    • Opinion

    Senate Democrats’ Fickle Love-Hate Relationship With ‘Blue Slips’ on Judicial Nominees

    With the 118th Congress underway, the Senate’s process of evaluating President Joe Biden’s judicial nominations has resumed. This means that, joining death and taxes on the certainty list, is pressure for the majority to rig the process by abandoning the “blue slip” process that gives deference to senators in whose state a judicial nominee would…
    Thomas Jipping
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    • News

    DeSantis Endorsed for President by GOP Congressman: ‘It’s Time’

    Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, announced Wednesday that he is endorsing Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, a Republican, for president. "It’s time for Ron DeSantis to be President of the United States," Roy, the policy chair of the Freedom Caucus, said in a campaign email obtained by The Daily Signal. DeSantis is considered one of the top…
    Mary Margaret Olohan
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    • News

    EXCLUSIVE: Senators Introduce Legislation to Terminate Pentagon’s Taxpayer-Funded Abortions

    FIRST ON THE DAILY SIGNAL—The Senate’s first female combat veteran is escalating the fight against the Defense Department’s newly revamped and expansive abortion policies. Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, introduced legislation Wednesday along with 35 of her Senate Republican colleagues to halt the Pentagon’s policies. The Defense Department announced Feb. 16 it would provide three weeks…
    Robert B. Bluey
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    • Opinion

    Appeals Court Steals Show on ERA Amid Senate Panel’s Bid to Resurrect Dead Amendment

    The Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday held a hearing, “The Equal Rights Amendment: How Congress Can Recognize Ratification and Enshrine Equality in Our Constitution.” But even before the hearing could conclude, a federal appeals court ruling threw a monkey wrench into ERA backers’ bid to revive the long-dead 1972 amendment. Advocates of the ERA want…
    Thomas Jipping
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    • News

    Senate Panel Turns to Defunct Constitutional Amendment Phyllis Schlafly Helped Defeat 40 Years Ago

    The Equal Rights Amendment has been a topic of debate in the halls of Congress on and off for 50 years. On Tuesday, the controversial amendment will again be up for debate during a Senate committee hearing.   Despite the deadline for ratification having expired—depending on who you ask—in either 1979 or 1982, the Senate…
    Virginia Allen
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    • Opinion

    America’s Outpost in Washington Celebrates Its 50th Anniversary

    The Heritage Foundation celebrates its 50th anniversary Thursday, and Heritage Foundation President Kevin Roberts is reflecting on the leading conservative think tank’s success over the past five decades. “There are a lot of ways I would put that, but I think most succinctly it would be [that] Heritage has always been willing without fail to…
    Samantha Aschieris
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    • News

    4 Things to Know About the Senate Probe That Inspired the House Weaponization of Government Investigation 

    The House Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government, which had its first hearing last week, is modeled largely after a similar Senate committee that investigated U.S. intelligence agencies during the mid-1970s. The Senate Select Committee to Study Governmental Operations with Respect to Intelligence Activities was better known as the Church committee, named…
    Fred Lucas
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    • Opinion

    Will Congress Finally Take Back Some Power and End Outdated Iraq War Authorizations?

    A remarkable thing happened in Washington Thursday morning, especially given the vituperative atmosphere of politics today. Legislators introduced substantive legislation that is good policy, and a policy that The Heritage Foundation has been advocating for years. A large bipartisan group of 22 Senators introduced legislation to repeal the 1991 and 2002 Iraq Authorizations for the…
    Cully Stimson
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    • News

    Congress Must Cut Spending to Match Hike in Debt Ceiling ‘Dollar for Dollar,’ Heritage Foundation President Says

    Ahead of President Joe Biden’s meeting about the nation’s debt ceiling Wednesday with House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., it’s clear some negotiation will be required, Heritage Foundation President Kevin Roberts told reporters.  McCarthy’s fellow House Republicans’ metaphor is that they will be “using the debt ceiling fight today, this week, this spring, as an opportunity…
    Fred Lucas
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    • Opinion

    Senators Quote Taylor Swift Lyrics While Grilling Ticketmaster

    Republican and Democratic senators alike tore into Ticketmaster on Tuesday after the company’s dominance in the ticketing industry created “bad blood” with singer Taylor Swift’s fans.  The Senate Judiciary Committee debated possible actions to prevent ticket-sale calamities like the one that beset Swift’s “Eras” tour that left fans waiting in digital lines for hours. While…
    Kristen Eichamer
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    • News

    Hawley’s ‘PELOSI Act’ Would Outlaw Insider Trading for Congress

    Lawmakers and their spouses would be prohibited from using privileged information to trade stocks under legislation introduced Tuesday by Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo.  Hawley’s bill follows news last year that then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s husband, Paul Pelosi, traded between $1 million and $5 million worth of semiconductor stocks shortly before Congress allocated $52 million to…
    Elizabeth Troutman Mitchell
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    • News

    ‘Making a Mockery of the Military’: 13 GOP Senators Vote to Confirm Green Activist for Energy Post in Defense Department

    Update: The U.S. Senate confirmed Brendan Owens to the position of assistant secretary for energy, installations, and environment in the Defense Department on Monday night. Owens received 60 "yea" and 35 "nay" votes. The following Republicans voted to confirm Owens: Sens. Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia, Susan Collins of Maine, John Cornyn of Texas, Joni Ernst of Iowa,…
    Samantha Aschieris
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