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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    • Opinion

    The Senate Should Offer a Range of Options to Encourage Continuous Insurance Coverage

    As Senate Republicans work on legislation to start reversing Obamacare’s damage to insurance markets, one problem they need to address is the perverse incentive created by two Obamacare mandates. Those mandates required insurers to accept all applicants and prohibited them from denying coverage for pre-existing conditions. The problem to address is that the combination of…
    Edmund Haislmaier
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    • News

    4 Conservative Senators Say They Can’t Vote for GOP’s Draft Health Care Bill

    Four conservative senators promptly said they can’t support the draft of a health care bill released Thursday by the Senate’s Republican leadership as a cure for Obamacare. “Currently, for a variety of reasons, we are not ready to vote for this bill, but we are open to negotiation and obtaining more information before it is…
    Rachel del Guidice
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    • Opinion

    The Senate Health Care Bill Misses a Key Opportunity. Here’s What Should Be Done.

    While the ongoing congressional effort to reform health care is falling short of repealing Obamacare, it is critical that Congress maximize every opportunity to undo Obamacare’s damage. The draft bill released on Thursday by the Senate misses important opportunities to move closer toward that objective. On net, the Senate bill is better than Obamacare because…
    Edmund Haislmaier
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    • Opinion

    What This Supreme Court Ruling Means for the Washington Redskins, Other Brands Deemed ‘Offensive’

    Should “offensive” brand names be allowed to get a federal trademark? The Supreme Court answered “yes” on Monday, handing a decisive win to Simon Tam and his band, The Slants. Tam had tried to register a trademark for his band’s name, but the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office denied his application, citing a provision of…
    Elizabeth Slattery
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    • News

    Senators Seek to Stop Government Subsidies for Sports Stadiums

    Two senators are calling foul on government subsidies for professional sports stadiums. Sens. James Lankford, R- Okla., and Cory Booker, D – N.J., introduced a bill Tuesday named “Eliminating Federal Tax Subsidies for Stadiums Act”. “The federal government is responsible for a lot of important functions, but financing sports stadiums for multi-million—sometimes billion—dollar franchises is…
    Katrina Willis
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    • News

    Lawmaker Says CHOICE Act Could Bring Deregulation and Promote Economic Growth

    The House of Representatives will vote on legislation Thursday afternoon that one lawmaker says, if it passes, will promote economic growth and provide regulatory relief. “The Financial CHOICE Act is designed to give working Americans that pay increase that they have earned and to unshackle the economy and let the animal spirit move yet again…
    Rachel del Guidice
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    • News

    Democrat Takes the First Steps Toward a Trump Impeachment

    Texas Democratic Rep. Al Green formally drafted articles of impeachment that are designed to force President Donald Trump out of office Wednesday. The representative asserted that the president obstructed justice by firing former FBI Director James Comey in May. Other Democrats, like California Rep. Maxine Waters and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, joined in the call for…
    Phillip Stucky
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    • News

    How This Lawmaker Wants to Advance Conservative Ideas by Changing the Spending Process

    A Georgia congressman proposes a timing change in government spending that he says would advance conservative principles as well as fast-track the budget process. “Just given the known time constraints we have, this is just a new idea to make the government funding process work and [do so] in a transparent way, while at the…
    Rachel del Guidice
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    • Opinion

    Chronic Illness Is an Epidemic in America. This Senate Bill Will Help Address It.

    Americans today are facing an epidemic of chronic illness, including arthritis, diabetes, and heart disease. In fact, chronic illness is now the biggest single driver of medical costs. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that chronic diseases are the leading cause of death and disability in America. As of 2012, the last time…
    Robert Moffit
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    • News

    Trump Impeachment Proceedings Over Obstruction Charge Unlikely to Go Far, Analysts Say

    While Democrats cry for impeachment, legal experts are dubious that President Donald Trump’s reported conversation with FBI Director James Comey about his former national security adviser would be an easy case of obstruction of justice. “No politician in history, and I say this with great surety, has been treated worse or more unfairly,” @POTUS says….
    Fred Lucas
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    • News

    Senate Democrats Want to Make It Harder for Congress to Remove Regulations

    Democratic New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker wants to make it more difficult to remove government regulations through congressional review, Reuters reported Tuesday. President Donald Trump and the Republican-controlled Congress have repealed 14 regulations through the Congressional Review Act since Jan. 20, but that is too fast for Booker. The untitled bill introduced Tuesday, temporarily called “A bill to repeal the Congressional…
    Thomas Phippen
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    • News

    This Republican Senator Pushes Congress for ISIS War Authorization

    For political and practical reasons, lawmakers across the partisan divide have permitted President Barack Obama, and now, President Donald Trump, to carry out a bombing campaign against ISIS without specific congressional approval. More than 40 times in U.S. history, Congress has authorized the use of military force in the form of what’s known as an…
    Josh Siegel
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    • Opinion

    Senators Like School Choice for Their Own Kids. Why Not for Everyone?

    In recent years, states have significantly increased the availability of private school choice options. Since 2011, nearly a dozen states have enacted new tax credit scholarship programs, which provide tax credits to corporations and individuals who contribute to nonprofit organizations that provide scholarships to eligible children to attend a private school of choice. And since…
    Matthew Pelyhes
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    • News

    Senator Explains Why the Susan Rice Surveillance Allegations Are a Big Deal

    Hearings are being planned to find out more about whether Obama political officials obtained intelligence to use against President Donald Trump’s associates during the campaign. News reports recently alleged President Barack Obama’s national security adviser, Susan Rice, asked to see names of U.S. citizens captured incidentally in surveillance—names normally “masked” for privacy reasons. I recently…
    Sharyl Attkisson
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    • News

    Republican Lawmakers Expect Role for Congress in Military Force Against Syria

    President Donald Trump’s order of a missile strike on a military base in retaliation for the Syrian government’s deadly chemical attack on civilians served as a strong, decisive message to bad actors worldwide, congressional Republicans say, and signified the new administration would hew closely to the traditional concept of American power. In interviews with The…
    Josh Siegel
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    • News

    Why the Maryland Rape Case Is a National Issue, According to One Lawmaker

    In the debate over illegal immigrants, sanctuary cities, and walls, there’s a great deal of existing policy undergoing re-examination. Last month, two young men, one 17 and one 18, who allegedly entered the country illegally and were enrolled in the ninth grade were charged with raping a 14-year-old girl at Rockville High School in Rockville,…
    Sharyl Attkisson
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    • News

    What 3 GOP Lawmakers Are Saying About Susan Rice After Bombshell Report

    After Bloomberg reported that Susan Rice attempted to unmask identities of President Donald Trump’s associates for their involvement with foreign states, several Republican lawmakers were quick to speak out against the former Obama national security adviser. Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., said, according to The Daily Caller News Foundation, that Rice should “testify under oath” for her involvement…
    Caleb Ecarma
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    • Opinion

    What This Centrist GOP Lawmaker Gets Wrong About the Freedom Caucus

    After a week of fallout from the failure to pass the GOP health care bill, disgruntled Republican Rep. Adam Kinzinger of Illinois took to the pages of the New York Times Friday to vent his frustrations. His target? The House Freedom Caucus, a group of conservative members that has borne the brunt of media shaming and ire…
    Rachel Bovard
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    • News

    Trump’s Budget Cuts Face Resistance From Republican Lawmakers

    Republican leaders are voicing disapproval of budget cuts proposed by President Donald Trump. “I doubt there’d be a lot of appetite for dramatic cuts this year,” Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn, R-Texas, told Roll Call. “I just look at it as a conversation. They’ve got their views, we’ve got our views, and we need to…
    Rachel del Guidice
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    • News

    Heritage Blueprint Shows Lawmakers How to Balance Budget Without Hiking Taxes or Weakening Defense

    Balancing the budget without raising taxes and still maintaining strong national defense are the main goals in a new budget blueprint released by The Heritage Foundation Tuesday. “We emphasize is that it’s possible to balance the budget without raising taxes and while strengthening our national defense, which we demonstrate in the product,” Romina Boccia, deputy…
    Rachel del Guidice
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