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

    How One Senator’s Command Economy Proposal Could Put Air Travel Out of Reach and Cost Airport Workers’ Jobs

    Airline prices—which are already 22% higher than they were two years ago—could get a whole lot more expensive and many airport workers could lose their jobs if a proposed amendment allowing the federal government to set the wages and benefits of airport workers makes its way into a Federal Aviation Administration bill. That proposal from…
    Rachel Greszler
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    • News

    Border Bill Fails in Senate

    The Senate’s $118 billion spending bill failed to advance past a procedural vote on the Senate floor Wednesday.   The bill included funding for border-related measures, Ukraine, Israel, and Taiwan. The bill fell short of receiving the 60 votes needed to keep moving forward in the Senate.   If the bill had passed in the…
    Virginia Allen
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    • News

    Senate Border Bill Would Hand $1.4 Billion to Nonprofits That Help Illegal Migrants

    The Senate’s border funding bill released Sunday night would allocate $1.4 billion for nonprofit organizations that help migrants who enter the U.S. illegally. Page 67 of the 370-page bill contains a provision stating that $1.4 billion “shall be transferred to [the category of] ‘Federal Emergency Management Agency–Federal Assistance’ to support sheltering and related activities provided…
    Jennie Taer
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    • Opinion

    ‘THE BORDER NEVER CLOSES’: Democrat ‘Outs’ Senate’s Immigration Bill

    The Senate finally released its so-called border security bill on Sunday night.  The “compromise” bill between Democratic and Republican leadership would do little to stop the massive flow of illegal immigration across our border, and to top it off, it has been paired with $60 billion in funding for the war in Ukraine.  It appears…
    Jarrett Stepman
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    • Opinion

    How Washington Regulation Strangled American Manufacturing

    U.S. Steel, the world’s first billion-dollar company, is being sold for scrap. And Washington made it happen. Originally an amalgamation of Carnegie Steel and countless smaller firms, and the favorite stepchild of J.P. Morgan, U.S. Steel had been losing market share for decades. It’s now being taken over by a foreign rival—the result of slow…
    EJ Antoni
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    • News

    House Leadership Declares Senate’s Border Bill ‘Dead on Arrival’ Amid Bipartisan Criticism

    The Senate released the text of a $118 billion spending bill Sunday night that includes funding for U.S. border security as well as security-related aid for Ukraine, Israel, and Taiwan. But House leadership calls the Senate bill “dead on arrival” if it reaches the lower chamber. “I’ve seen enough,” House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., wrote…
    Virginia Allen
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    • News

    How Big Tech CEOs Respond in Senate Hot Seats: 6 Big Takeaways

    Two Big Tech CEOs apologized to grieving parents Wednesday while others insisted to senators that they are working to prevent exploitation of teens and children on their social media platforms.   The CEOs testifying at the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing, titled “Big Tech and the Online Child Sexual Exploitation Crisis,” included Jason Citron of Discord Inc.;…
    Fred Lucas
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    • Opinion

    Congress: Stop Expecting Big Tech to Protect Kids Unless You Make Them

    The harm social media does to kids has been well documented. Perhaps the most well-known exposé is The Wall Street Journal’s The Facebook Files, published in October 2021. Congress has held several hearings since that publication. On Wednesday, the Senate Committee on the Judiciary is holding another hearing centered around Big Tech’s failures to protect…
    Annie Chestnut Tutor
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    • News

    Republican Senators Hold Listening Session With Parents Fighting Indoctrination in Schools

    Republican senators met Wednesday with a group of parents to discuss the state of education in the U.S. and school systems affected by woke ideology and critical race theory. Sens. Tommy Tuberville and Katie Britt of Alabama joined Sens. Ted Budd of North Carolina, Eric Schmitt of Missouri, and Roger Marshall of Kansas at the listening…
    Mary Margaret Olohan
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    • News

    Ohio Senate Overrides DeWine Veto of Bill Protecting Kids From ‘Gender-Affirming Care’

    The Ohio Senate voted to override Gov. Mike DeWine’s veto of House Bill 68, which will protect minors from experimental transgender treatments euphemistically referred to as “gender-affirming care” and safeguard fairness in women’s sports. The override passed the Senate 24-8 Wednesday, after passing the House of Representatives, 65-28, on Jan. 10. The clerk initially read…
    Tyler O’Neil
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    • News

    Georgia State Senator Proposes Committee to Investigate Fani Willis

    A Republican Georgia state senator introduced legislation Monday to establish a committee that would allow the Legislature to investigate Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, according to a press release. Republican state Sen. Greg Dolezal’s bill would establish a Senate Special Committee on Investigations, a committee of nine members who have the power to call…
    Katelynn Richardson
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    • Opinion

    Senate Opens Door to Massive Carbon Tax Despite Critical Economic Concerns

    This week, Congress took a step toward passing a carbon tax—an inflationary, regressive tax on all products that would lower economic growth; make all Americans worse off; and disproportionately harm poor people, farmers, and small businesses. Politicians have rightly rejected carbon taxes in the past and should continue to do so. On Jan. 18, the…
    Diana Furchtgott-Roth
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    • Opinion

    Concerns About Proposed Senate Border Security Compromise: The BorderLine

    The BorderLine is a weekly Daily Signal feature examining everything from the unprecedented illegal immigration crisis at the border to immigration’s impact on cities and states throughout the land. We will also shed light on other critical border-related issues like human trafficking, drug smuggling, terrorism, and more. ——————————————————— In 1910, future president Calvin Coolidge told his father—a newly…
    Simon Hankinson
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    • Opinion

    3 Reasons Congress Can’t Seem to Dismount From Government Shutdown Merry-Go-Round

    We’re in a new year, but the headlines from Capitol Hill feel old. Once again, Congress has been debating its annual spending bills. And once again, a fiscal deadline looms: There will be a partial government shutdown on Friday unless Congress passes something in time. Considering that the gross national debt is now more than $100,000 for…
    David Ditch
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    • News

    ‘DEEPLY DISTURBING’: GOP Senators Slam Biden Admin for Using SPLC on ‘Domestic Terrorism’

    FIRST ON THE DAILY SIGNAL—Republican senators condemned as “deeply disturbing” the Biden administration’s decision to reach out to the Southern Poverty Law Center for advice in combating the “domestic terror threat.” “Since January 2021, the Biden administration has consistently attempted to weaponize the federal government against its political opponents,” Sen. Katie Britt, R-Ala., told The…
    Tyler O’Neil
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    • Opinion

    Why Is Hunter Biden Defying Congress?

    Two House committees approved resolutions Wednesday recommending that Hunter Biden be held in contempt of Congress for defying a subpoena to testify and that the matter be referred to the Justice Department for criminal prosecution.  But the question is: Why isn’t President Joe Biden’s embattled son already in jail?   The younger Biden displayed his…
    Hans von Spakovsky
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    • News

    ‘Breach of Trust’: Senate Republicans Demand Briefing From Pentagon on Defense Secretary’s Unknown Hospitalization

    Republicans on the Senate Armed Services Committee demanded a formal briefing from Department of Defense officials on the circumstances surrounding Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin’s unexplained absence in a letter sent Wednesday. Mississippi Sen. Roger Wicker, the top Republican on the panel, led 11 of his GOP colleagues in requiring a briefing from all relevant…
    Micaela Burrow
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    • News

    Congress Has to ‘Go to War’ With President Over Border, Says Lawmaker at Mayorkas Impeachment Hearing

    House Republicans conducted a hearing Wednesday to press the impeachment of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas for allowing millions of illegal aliens to enter the United States.  During a House Homeland Security Committee hearing chaired by Rep. Mark Green, R-Tenn., lawmakers discussed the need to impeach and remove Mayorkas from office in the wake of…
    Jarrett Stepman
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    • News

    Ohio House Votes to Override Governor’s Veto of Bill Protecting Kids From Transgender Surgeries, Hormones

    The Ohio House of Representatives voted Wednesday to override Republican Gov. Mike DeWine’s veto of a bill that would protect children from irreversible transgender sex-change procedures and medical interventions, such as puberty blockers and hormones. The state’s House of Representatives met Wednesday afternoon to vote 65-28 to override the governor’s veto. It now heads to…
    Mary Margaret Olohan
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    • Opinion

    Washington Subway’s Financial Woes Underscore Folly of Virginia Sports Arena Plan

    It would be nearly impossible to make the folly of government economic development more obvious than two recent announcements in the Washington, D.C., area. On Dec. 13, Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin announced a $2 billion arena project in suburban Alexandria, Virginia, that would be the new home for the NHL’s Washington Capitals and NBA’s Washington Wizards of the NBA, who now…
    David Ditch
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