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

    Thousands Expected to Attend Franklin Graham’s First-Ever Prayer March on Washington

    Thousands of people are expected to convene in Washington, D.C., Saturday for Franklin Graham’s inaugural Prayer March, according to organizers. Tens of thousands have expressed interest in the Prayer March, the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association told The Daily Caller News Foundation Wednesday. Franklin Graham, son of the American evangelist preacher Billy Graham, announced on Twitter his spearheading of the Prayer…
    Bernadette Breslin
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    • Opinion

    How Fast Can Senate Move? 1 Supreme Court Justice Confirmed Same Day Nominated

    The Supreme Court vacancy created by the death of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg focuses attention on an obscure—but very important—process within our system of government; namely, how does such a job opening get filled? First, there’s no manual, rulebook, or set of instructions. The Constitution, in fact, has very little to say about it. It…
    Thomas Jipping
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    • News

    Senator Questions Whether Mueller Team’s Wiped Cellphones a ‘Widespread Intentional Effort’

    A leading Senate Republican is questioning whether deletions from more than two dozen cellphones used by the special counsel’s team in the Trump-Russia probe were part of a “widespread intentional effort” to scrub data from the devices. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, asked Attorney General William Barr and FBI Director Christopher…
    Chuck Ross
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    • Opinion

    New Report Shows Why Congress Must Address National Debt

    The Congressional Budget Office released an update to its federal budget projections—the first full update to include effects from COVID-19. While the federal government’s finances were already grim in January despite several years of solid economic growth, this updated report details how things have gone from bad to worse. First, the deficit for 2020 is…
    David Ditch
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    • News

    DC Mayor Embraces Report Calling for Removal or Contextualization of Washington Monument

    Washington, D.C., Mayor Muriel Bowser said Tuesday she looks forward to advancing the recommendations made in a report that urged her to remove, relocate, or contextualize the Washington Monument because of its “disqualifying” history. District of Columbia Facilities and Commemorative Expressions (DCFACES) said in a report Monday that it was tasked with evaluating whether statues and memorials in the…
    Andrew Kerr
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    • Opinion

    How America’s Culture Wars Erupted Into Presidential Impeachments

    Last year’s impeachment of President Donald Trump was an aberration from past historical impeachments in one major respect, but it fit perfectly in another respect. Unlike the Trump impeachment, the previous two presidential impeachments and one near-impeachment involved allegations of actual crimes. However, what all impeachments had in common is they occurred when the United…
    Fred Lucas
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    • News

    Senate Intel Panel Finds ‘Absolutely No Evidence’ of Collusion, Faced Roadblocks

    The Senate Intelligence Committee said in a long-awaited report released Tuesday that there is no evidence that the Trump campaign conspired with the Russian government to influence the 2016 election, affirming the findings of other investigations into an alleged Trump-Kremlin conspiracy. The Intelligence Committee's report, which clocks in at 966 pages, also offers a scathing assessment…
    Chuck Ross
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    • Opinion

    After the Supreme Court’s Oklahoma Decision, the Rights of Accused on Tribal Land Are Up in the Air. Congress Should Make Things Clearer, Not Less So.

    On the last day of the Supreme Court’s pandemic-extended term, the court declared that nearly half the state of Oklahoma remained reservation land. This thrust matters concerning jurisdiction on reservations and tribal lands on the center stage. The implications of the Supreme Court’s decision are staggering, especially in the criminal justice context. Some 2,000 convictions…
    Zack Smith
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    • News

    Why George Washington Was ‘Better Than His Era’ and a Great Businessman

    As mobs push to tear down statues of George Washington across the country, author John Berlau points out that the first president and revolutionary general was clearly better than the era he lived in.  Berlau joined “The Right Side of History” to discuss his new book “George Washington Entrepreneur: How Our Founding Father’s Business Pursuits…
    Fred Lucas
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    • Opinion

    How Leftists Would Destroy Congress’ Bipartisan US-Colombia Policy

    Bipartisanship might be rare in the halls of Congress, but the U.S.-Colombia relationship defies that stereotype. For decades, policymakers on both sides of the aisle have understood the importance of sustained U.S. commitment to Colombia’s peace, stability, and security. While legislators often lose sight of the long view required in foreign policy, congressional oversight and…
    Ana Quintana
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    • Opinion

    How Congress Could and Should Modernize Federal Regulation of Meat Inspection

    The federal government has created numerous barriers to the sale of meat and poultry, but underlying those restrictions is a complete disregard for many farmers, states, and consumers. Recently, COVID-19-related bottlenecks at meat processing plants have shone a spotlight on the flawed federal meat inspection system. Congress now seems to be paying attention. Several pieces…
    Daren Bakst
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    • Opinion

    House, Senate Defense Authorization Votes Are Rare, Welcome Show of Bipartisanship

    The House of Representatives and the Senate approved their respective versions of the National Defense Authorization Act last week. Both passed with strong bipartisan support. The House version passed 295 to 125, while the Senate bill was approved 86 to 14. The lopsided margins in favor show there are strong majorities in both parties and…
    Frederico Bartels
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    • Opinion

    Mindless Defense Cut Loses Big in Congress

    The Congressional Progressive Caucus introduced a measure in both the Senate and the House to cut the U.S. defense budget by 10%. The proposed amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act was bolstered by a flood of op-eds from think tanks advocating a “more restrained U.S. foreign policy”–shorthand for the U.S. abdicating its current global…
    Frederico Bartels
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    • Opinion

    Job Numbers Show Why Congress Shouldn’t Rush to Pass Another Massive Stimulus Package

    For a second month in a row, the U.S. economy gained a record number of jobs. Following job gains of 2.7 million in May, the economy added  4.8 million more jobs in June. And even as the labor force grew by 1.7 million workers, the unemployment rate fell by 2.2 percentage points, from 13.3% to…
    Rachel Greszler
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    • News

    ‘They Nearly Killed Me’: Journalist Andy Ngo Testifies Before Congress on Antifa Violence During Portland Protests

    Journalist Andy Ngo shared his personal experience with Antifa violence and his firsthand knowledge of its strategies during a congressional hearing Monday. Ngo testified in a virtual briefing called “The First Amendment Under Attack: Examining Government Violence Against Peaceful Civil Rights Protesters and the Journalists Covering Them” before the House Committee on Oversight and Reform…
    Kaylee Greenlee
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    • Opinion

    Correcting the Record on George Washington’s Mother

    A pivotal moment in world history occurred when Mary Ball Washington forbade her eldest son from joining the British navy as a cabin boy—one-third of whom died at sea.  After obeying his mother this time, George Washington lived to fight and lead another day. Despite a sometimes complex relationship with his mother, he said a…
    Fred Lucas
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    • Opinion

    Yes, Senator, Parents Can Educate Their Own Kids

    High school-educated, working-class parents aren’t capable of overseeing their own child’s education, a state lawmaker said last week. New Hampshire state Sen. Jeanne Dietsch, D-Peterborough, made the comment at a committee hearing last Tuesday while promoting a bill that would stop the state Board of Education from creating a new way of allocating high school…
    Nicole Russell
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    • Opinion

    5 Questions Congress Should Ask Ambassador Lighthizer

    Ambassador Robert Lighthizer, the U.S. chief trade negotiator, will testify Wednesday before the House Ways and Means Committee and the Senate Finance Committee. He is expected to defend the Trump administration’s trade agenda since 2017 and shed light on what Congress can expect the future goals of the Trump administration to be on trade. Lighthizer…
    Tori K. Smith
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    • Opinion

    Senate’s National Defense Authorization Act Has Right Focus

    The Senate Armed Services Committee last week passed its version of the National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal year 2021. The bill passed by a wide bipartisan margin of 25-2. From the summary we have, it appears the bill focuses, appropriately, on great power competition. The most recent National Defense Strategy outlines the need for…
    Frederico Bartels
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    • News

    George Washington University Apologizes for Sharing Email About Police Recruitment Fair

    George Washington University issued an apology Wednesday to students after sending an email about an upcoming police employment fair. The chair of the sociology department, Hiromi Ishizawa, said the employment email sent a few days prior “hurt many people in this context of national and international focus on police violence and police abuses, especially against…
    Jake Dima
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