U.S. Senate News
This section focuses on the upper chamber of Congress, from major policy debates to confirmation hearings. The Daily Signal provides a conservative look at Senate priorities.
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news
Debt Limit Forecast Adds Pressure to GOP House-Senate Budget Negotiations
The Congressional Budget Office on Wednesday released a stark forecast of when the government’s borrowing limit would be exhausted—increasing the urgency of congressional Republicans' budget negotiations. The forecast warns that if the government doesn't raise the limit of its debt, then it will no longer be able to borrow money and pay its obligations. “CBO… -
news
Senate Panel Clashes Over Censorship, Free Speech
The Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution met Tuesday to discuss censorship with a panel of expert witnesses from the media and the law. Witnesses criticized what they called broad cooperation in years past between the government and nongovernmental organizations to suppress unfavored speech. Mollie Hemingway, the editor-in-chief of The Federalist, contended that NGOs have… -
opinion
7 Changes Congress Should Make Before Restoring DC’s Bloated Billion Dollars in Funding
Should the District of Columbia be allowed to spend over $1 billion furthering a radical leftist agenda harming those who live, work, and visit our nation’s capital? The answer is clearly “no.” As part of restoring any additional funding to D.C.’s local government, the House of Representatives should take at least seven actions to help… -
opinion
Key to Uncovering Truth About MLK Assassination Lies With Congress
Since his return to the White House, President Donald Trump is close to signing 100 executive orders. The deluge has put the corporate media, and sometimes Congress, on their heels. Nevertheless, Congress is coming alongside Trump to keep one of his more interesting campaign promises: to declassify records related to the assassinations of John F…. -
news
Senate Dems Cave, Help GOP Advance Bill to Fund Government, Avoid Shutdown
The Senate on Friday voted 62-38 to end debate on a continuing resolution to fund the government through September, all but guaranteeing final passage of a GOP-crafted bill that would avoid a partial federal shutdown. Nine Democrats and one nominal independent who caucuses with them helped push the Republican-backed bill over the finish line. Democrats… -
news
Senate Strikes Blow to Drug Traffickers With Passage of HALT Fentanyl Act
Update: The Senate passed the HALT Fentanyl Act on Friday afternoon by a vote of 84-16. America has many adversaries: China, Iran, North Korea, to name a few. But perhaps America’s biggest enemy is fentanyl, a highly addictive and highly lethal synthetic opioid. In this war on fentanyl, the Senate is preparing to launch its… -
news
Leading Senate Republican Has Questions About Oz’s Record on Trans and Life Issues as Major Hearing looms
With the Senate Finance Committee preparing to interrogate Dr. Mehmet Oz, President Donald Trump’s nominee to be Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services administrator, Friday morning, one Senate Republican says Oz’s record on transgenderism and abortion is “concerning.” Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., told EWTN that Oz “promoted, I know, trans doctors and activists on his… -
news
After Senate Republicans Rip ‘Schumer’s Shutdown,’ Top Democrat Abruptly Shifts Course
Editor’s note: After this article was published, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer reversed course on the funding bill. “Either proceed with the bill before us or risk Donald Trump throwing America into the chaos of a shutdown. This in my view is no choice at all. While the [House bill] is very bad, the potential… -
news
Congress, Country Split on Year-Round Daylight Saving Time
Even as a bipartisan coalition of 17 lawmakers push to lock clocks in the U.S. in permanent daylight saving time, many Americans say they want permanent standard time, according to a new poll. Americans lost an hour of sleep over the weekend as the clocks skipped from 1:59 a.m. to 3 a.m. early Sunday morning…. -
news
Senators Hesitant to Respond to Mass Killings in Syria
Amid reported mass killings of ethno-religious minorities in Syria, senators are reluctant to recommend intervention in a region that has been a focal point of American foreign policy in years past. It was a bloody weekend in Syria, where forces loyal to the government, jihadists, and individual actors reportedly killed hundreds of civilians. Many were… -
news
Government Shutdown Will Be on Democrats, Senate GOP Leader Says
Senate Majority Leader John Thune didn’t mince words at a Tuesday afternoon news conference. If a government shutdown happens, the South Dakota Republican said, it “will be entirely on the Democrats.” Thune reaffirmed that Senate Republicans are prepared to pass a continuing resolution to keep the government open. Nevertheless, some Democrats would have to join… -
opinion
The Sneaky Way DC Got Its Awful Reparations Bill Past Republicans in Congress
Washington, D.C., is not a state, and Congress has the authority to block its laws, but the district pulled a fast one on the Republican majority in Congress to get its “reparations” bill past its oversight. The Reparations Foundation Fund and Task Force Establishment Act of 2023, which passed Washington’s City Council in January, was… -
news
EXCLUSIVE: Senators Demand Documents on How Much COVID-19 Cash Planned Parenthood Illegally Received
FIRST ON THE DAILY SIGNAL—Two U.S. senators are demanding documents from the Small Business Administration regarding how much COVID-19 relief aid Planned Parenthood chapters received. Sens. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, and Rand Paul, R-Ky., sent the letter Friday to Kelly Loeffler, the SBA's administrator. The letter concerns funds from the Paycheck Protection Program, a creation of… -
opinion
Congress Should Repeal the FACE Act
When Congress enacted the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act in 1994, the advocates’ sales pitch was that it would address an alleged organized nationwide campaign of blockades, bombings, and violence against abortion clinics. The last three decades, however, have unveiled the truth. The FACE Act has become exactly what it was designed to… -
news
‘Very Effective’: GOP Senators Talk About DOGE
Canceling federal contracts and grants are real savings that can be done at the executive level through the White House’s Department of Government Efficiency, some Republican senators assert, although with an eye to using congressional action as well to cut costs. “I think it’s been very effective, and it can be very effective. And I… -
opinion
Congress Needs to Step Up and Codify DOGE’s Savings
Government waste is nothing new. For years, reports from Republican Sen. Rand Paul’s Festivus Report and the Government Accountability Office have detailed billions in taxpayer dollars squandered on frivolous projects—yet little has changed. The Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, initiative has joined the fight, once again exposing inefficiencies, fraud, and abuse. However, unless Congress… -
opinion
13 Winners and Losers From Trump’s Address to Congress
President Donald Trump turned his joint address to Congress into a rally Tuesday night, declaring “America is back,” and connecting the vigorous actions taken in the first six weeks of his administration to the campaign promises made en route to a mandate victory for Republicans in the 2024 election. Trump’s speech came just six weeks… -
news
‘Come Out Swinging’: GOP Members of Congress Anticipate Trump’s Address
Republican members of Congress shared with The Daily Signal what they expect—and hope—to hear in President Donald Trump’s address to a joint session of Congress on Tuesday night. Rep. Nathaniel Moran, R-Texas, told The Daily Signal he expects Trump to “come out swinging … like he did in his second inaugural” on Jan. 20. “I think… -
news
White House Announces Themes of Trump’s Address to Congress
The White House has unveiled the theme of President Donald Trump’s Tuesday night address to a joint session of Congress. In his speech focused on “The Renewal of the American Dream,” Trump will highlight accomplishments from his second term so far, what he has done for the economy, the push for additional border security funding,… -
opinion
Senators, Protect Women’s Sports from Gender Ideology Invasion
For decades, women fought for the equal rights that men in this country had enjoyed from its inception. Yet recently, and under Democrat rule, these hard-fought freedoms have been thrown into jeopardy from the Left demanding that women share their sports and private spaces with men pretending to be the opposite sex. Female athletes have…