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

    Senate Passes Bill Stabilizing Doctors’ Payments, Adding $141 Billion to Deficit
    With just hours to go before Medicare physicians potentially faced deep cuts in payments, the Senate passed legislation that stabilizes such payments but adds $141 billion to the deficit. Fresh off of a two-week recess in their home states, the Senate voted 92-8 to pass the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015, which…
    Melissa Quinn
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  • opinion

    What’s Wrong With New Senate Version of No Child Left Behind
    Sens. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., and Patty Murray, D-Wash., have released a draft of their No Child Left Behind rewrite, which is slated to be considered in the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee Tuesday. The 601-page proposal has many of the hallmarks of the House No Child Left Behind rewrite—the Student Success Act—which…
    Lindsey Burke
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  • opinion

    How Lawmakers Could Reward Main Street
    With more and more Americans feeling unheard and disenfranchised by a political system that works for the well-connected while doing little to address their anxieties, Congress has an opportunity to deliver at least one easy victory to Main Street this year. The question is: Will they take it? This June, the Export-Import Bank is up…
    Mike Needham
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  • news

    Will Harry Reid’s Retirement Shake Things Up in the Senate?
    Five-time Democratic Senator and Minority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada announced his retirement Friday, starting a series of events in motion as Democrats look to anoint the first new leader they’ll have had in almost a decade. News of Reid’s retirement sent the rumor mill swirling. A replacement to the minority leader will officially be…
    Melissa Quinn
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  • news

    House Passes Medicare Doc Fix Bill. How Did Your Representative Vote?
    The House Thursday passed the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015—the so-called “doc fix” bill. The legislation was approved in a 392-37 vote. >>> Click Here to See How Your Representative Voted The bill, a bipartisan deal by House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, and Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., is an effort to make…
    Kate Scanlon
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  • news

    Reflections on the Conservative Budget From the Lawmaker Tasked With Crafting It
    The Republican Study Committee’s budget didn’t pass the House, but the lawmaker in charge of crafting the proposal as head of the group’s Budget and Spending Task Force is reflecting on the mark it’s made on the Republican conference. The House voted on six budget proposals Wednesday, which included the Republican Study Committee’s “Blueprint for…
    Melissa Quinn
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  • opinion

    The 2016 Senate Budget Vote-a-rama Begins!
    This morning the Senate concluded debate on the budget resolution and started off on an unofficial procedure known as “vote-a-rama,” a fast-track budget process of addressing amendments that were not disposed of during the previous 50 hours of debate on the budget resolution. The role of the budget resolution is to provide an important framework…
    John Gray
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  • opinion

    This Couple Lost $30K to the Government. Now Maryland Lawmakers Are Pushing Reform.
    Earlier this month, the Maryland House of Delegates took a big step forward in the push for civil asset forfeiture reform. By a margin of 81-54, the House approved H.B. 360, which proposes dramatic changes to Maryland’s forfeiture program. Though noble in intention, forfeiture laws have skewed law enforcement incentives and weighted the system too…
    Jason Snead | Mariza Smajlaj
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  • news

    Exclusive: Senator Aims to Use Budget Process to End Operation Choke Point
    UPDATE: The Senate Budget Committee approved the amendment to end Operation Choke Point on Thursday by a 13-9 vote. They also passed the committee’s 2016 budget proposal. Sen. Crapo’s Operation Choke Point amendment will now go to the full Senate with the budget package for a vote. Debate in the Senate will begin at 2…
    Kelsey Bolar
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  • opinion

    How Does the Senate Budget Measure Up?
    Following the House budget which was released Tuesday, the Senate Budget Committee released its fiscal year 2016 budget blueprint today. Any good budget should balance within 10 years or less, without raising taxes above the average historical level (roughly 18 percent of gross domestic product (GDP)). In addition, Heritage policy experts previously established seven priorities for the…
    Romina Boccia | Paul Winfree
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  • news

    Republicans in House, Senate Split on How to Boost Defense Spending
    Republicans in the House and Senate unveiled their separate budget proposals this week, kicking off debate over the federal government’s spending for fiscal year 2016. Though the documents were just recently released, spending for the Defense Department is proving to be a point of contention between GOP lawmakers in both chambers. Neither the House nor…
    Melissa Quinn
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  • opinion

    Senate and House Opposition to the U.N. Arms Trade Treaty Grows, Again
    The U.N. Arms Trade Treaty (ATT) is like much of the United Nations: it won’t achieve anything, but that doesn’t stop it from holding a lot of meetings. The latest meeting was held in Trinidad last month to prepare, of course, for yet another meeting — the first Conference of States Parties to the treaty,…
    Ted Bromund
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  • opinion

    How Lawmakers Are Trying to Control San Francisco’s Catholic Schools
    San Franciscans are currently debating a simple question: Should the government respect the right of Catholic schools to be authentically Catholic? San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone thinks so. But eight California senators and assemblymen sent the archbishop a letter last month, saying that his actions in issuing new faculty guidelines “foment a discriminatory environment in…
    Ryan T. Anderson | Leslie Ford
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  • news

    GOP White House Hopefuls Welcome Israeli Leader’s Washington Visit
    A much-anticipated speech by Israel’s prime minister to a joint meeting of Congress on the nuclear threat posed by Iran gave prospective Republican candidates for president an opportunity, and many of them took it. By the time Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu begins his address today at 11 a.m. EST (about 6 p.m. in Israel), these White House…
    Ken McIntyre
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  • opinion

    Why Are Lawmakers Attacking This Archbishop for Requiring Catholic Teachers to Not Slam Catholicism?
    If McDonald’s told its employees that it was unacceptable to diss its fast food as gross, disgusting or unhealthy at either McDonald’s or in a public setting, would it elicit a heated reaction from lawmakers? Probably not. So why are lawmakers getting involved in a Catholic bishop’s decision to tell diocesan employees he expected them…
    Katrina Trinko
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  • news

    Senator Demands Answers on Loretta Lynch’s Role in Money Laundering Settlement
    One day after launching an investigation that could delay Loretta Lynch’s confirmation to be attorney general, a Republican senator is raising more questions about her role in a money laundering settlement involving a global bank, terrorists and drug cartels. Lynch, the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of New York, negotiated a settlement in December 2012 with…
    Kelsey Bolar
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  • news

    Senator to Loretta Lynch: Why Did No One Go to Jail for Laundering Money to Terrorists?
    Loretta Lynch, President Obama’s nominee for attorney general, is facing questions about why she let multiple bank employees who funneled millions of dollars to the Iranian government, Middle Eastern terrorists and Mexican drug cartels walk away without criminal prosecution. Sen. David Vitter, a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, today launched an investigation into the…
    Kelsey Bolar
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  • news

    Raw Account of Senator’s Weekend Trip to the Border
    Sen. Ben Sasse, R-Neb., traveled to Texas this weekend for a first-hand look at the security at the U.S. border with Mexico. The trip comes as Congress wrestles with how to fund the Department of Homeland Security with a deadline of Feb. 27. Conservatives hope to use the funding measure as leverage to attack President…
    Kelsey Lucas
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  • opinion

    How This GOP Governor Is Bypassing His State’s Liberal Lawmakers to Promote Right-to-Work Laws
    Newly elected Illinois governor Bruce Rauner is already trying to shake up his state: He just proposed local right-to-work laws, albeit at the local rather than state level. As the Associated Press reports: The states that are already growing don’t force unionization into their economy,” Rauner told an audience at Richland Community College in Decatur, a city…
    James Sherk
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  • opinion

    Under Republican Control, the Senate Returns to Work
    In the lead-up to the November elections, Senate Republicans made a promise: If elected, we would get Washington working again. In particular, we would get the Senate working again. In 2014, the Democrat leadership allowed just 15 amendment roll call votes. After years of dysfunction under Democrat control, it was time for the Senate to…
    Sen. John Thune
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