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
House Passes Huge Spending and Tax Bill Expanding Size of IRS and Green Energy Handouts
On a party-line vote, the House narrowly passed a $737 billion measure Friday to dramatically expand green energy subsidies and health care programs while nearly doubling the size of the Internal Revenue Service. As Republicans decried the inclusion of about $740 billion in new tax revenues, the bill that Democrats dub the Inflation Reduction Act cleared…Fred Lucas -
- News
After Marathon ‘Vote-a-Rama,’ Senate Democrats Ram Through ‘Inflation Reduction Act’ Tax and Spending Bill
Pulling an all-night “vote-a-rama” Saturday that extended through the middle of the afternoon on Sunday, Senate Democrats defeated a slew of Republican amendments en route to passing a massive spending and taxing bill. In her role as president of the Senate, Vice President Kamala Harris cast the tie-breaking vote on the bill, dubbed the Inflation…Fred Lucas -
- Opinion
Senate Hearing on Diversity in Diplomacy Fails to Get to Real Questions
A Senate hearing on “diversity and equity” in American diplomacy proved to be a wasted opportunity to tackle a core question in our politics: Do we want equality or “equity”? Instead, the hearing kicked off with mostly old white men bemoaning that the senior ranks of the State Department and the U.S. Agency for International…Simon Hankinson -
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Conservative Leaders Urge GOP Senators to Reject House-Passed Same-Sex Marriage Bill
Conservative leaders are calling on senators to reject the House-passed Respect for Marriage Act, which aims to codify into federal law the Supreme Court’s 2015 legalization of same-sex marriage in Obergefell v. Hodges. “The Act, which was suddenly rushed through the House without any public hearings or input, is an attack on millions of Americans, particularly…Gillian Richards -
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4 Compelling Reasons for the Senate to Oppose Redefining Marriage
The U.S. House of Representatives recently passed the Respect for Marriage Act, legislation that would repeal the overwhelmingly bipartisan Defense of Marriage Act of 1996 and codify the U.S. Supreme Court’s redefinition of marriage in Obergefell v. Hodges into federal law. Forty-seven House Republicans joined a unanimous Democratic caucus in voting for the bill, leading to speculation…David Closson -
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Congress’ Vote on Delphi Pensions Bailout Shows Problem With Putting Unions Above Law
Congress is set to vote this week on HR 6929 to retroactively bail out the pensions of about 20,000 former Delphi auto-parts employees who had their pensions reduced beginning in 2009. This proposed bailout, the Susan Muffley Act of 2022, is different in a number of ways from the recent no-strings-attached $97 billion bailout of…Rachel Greszler -
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The ‘Handshake’ Photo Taken Down at a Congressional Hearing
A congressional hearing on Tuesday was suddenly and dramatically interrupted—by the chairwoman conducting it. Her aim: Abort a Republican congressman’s attempt to present the very first photo of a person who is now 22 years old. The scene was the House subcommittee on oversight and investigations. The title of the hearing: “Roe Reversal: The Impacts…Terence Jeffrey -
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With CHIPS on Table, Leave It to Congress to Drop Ball on Semiconductor Subsidies
In honor of this week’s baseball All-Star Game, Congress and the Biden administration look poised to take a swing at the Creating Helpful Incentives to Produce Semiconductors for America Act. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., has begun the process of advancing a bipartisan technology research and development package through the Senate, whose hallmark is…Dustin Carmack -
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What Congress Shouldn’t (and Should) Do About Cost of Insulin
Many diabetics have seen their out-of-pocket costs for insulin increase significantly in recent years, and for some, those costs have become unaffordable. In response, members of Congress from both parties are looking to “do something.” However, “doing something” is not necessarily the same as enacting an effective solution. Indeed, when Congress enacts badly designed “solutions,”…Edmund Haislmaier -
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Why Congress Shouldn’t Increase Obamacare Spending
A recent analysis of federal health spending by the Congressional Budget Office suggests that allowing temporary expansions of Obamacare subsidies to expire in December would save taxpayers billions of dollars without reducing the number of those covered by individual health insurance. Senate Democrats nevertheless seek to extend the expansion of Obamacare and salvage a few…Doug Badger -
- Opinion
House’s Annual National Defense Authorization Act Scrum Reflects Best and Worst of Congress
Only one bill in Congress reliably makes it into law every year: the National Defense Authorization Act, or NDAA. The NDAA has passed for 62 years in a row, making it the extreme rarity among bills. It is meant to authorize the funding and provide key policy provisions for our country’s national defense. However, this…Thomas Spoehr -
- Opinion
These 7 Charts Show Why Congress Must Get Spending Under Control Immediately
Millions of American families are reeling from the worst wave of inflation in more than four decades. Reduced purchasing power and shortages of basic goods, such as baby formula, have caused consumer confidence to hit record lows. Those looking to Washington for real solutions will be left wanting. Both the Biden administration and congressional Democrats…David Ditch -
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Senate Republicans’ Report Condemns ‘Biden’s Border Crisis’
Consumers of the mainstream media might think that all news stopped on Jan. 6, 2021, but readers of The Daily Signal know that illegal crossings at the U.S. border are at “astronomical and record-breaking levels,” as a just issued report from the Republican minority on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee puts it. The 47-page report,…Simon Hankinson -
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Forbes Bludgeons Build Back Better Bill as Senate Democrats Seek to Revive It
“Don’t call it an ideology. Call it an idiot-ology,” Steve Forbes says of President Joe Biden’s defeated Build Back Better economic plan, which Democrats in the Senate are now trying to revive. Build Back Better is a multitrillion-dollar legislative package proposed by Biden consisting of massive spending on social, infrastructure, and environmental programs. Forbes, the CEO of Forbes…Bernadette Hassan -
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Congress Ignores Pressing National Business While It Obsesses on Jan. 6
As the House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol starts public hearings, we must ask what motivates those on the committee. Is the sole concern the ideals of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States? Or is it to get media to attack and…Star Parker -
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Will Congress Ignore Latest Medicare Warning?
Heads up. The Medicare trustees issued their annual report last week, buried under other “important” news from the Department of Health and Human Services—including the announcement of a new Office of Environmental Justice. Apparently, the administration is more interested in advancing its woke ideology than addressing the real and immediate warnings outlined in the Medicare…Robert Moffit -
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Evidence Is In, Rep. Mark Green Says: Democrats’ Control of Presidency, Congress ‘Very Bad for America’
What will happen if illegal immigrants continue to pour across the southern border? What should the Biden administration be doing to address soaring inflation? And what threat does China actually pose to the U.S. right now? Over and over, Americans are witnessing the “failures of this administration,” Rep. Mark Green, R-Tenn., says. “Obviously, Democrat control…Rob Bluey -
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5 Takeaways From Congressional Hearing on Baby Formula Shortage
Lawmakers pressed Food and Drug Administration officials and a baby formula manufacturer Wednesday at a tense congressional hearing on the massive formula supply shortages that are leaving infants hungry across the nation. The hearing, held by the House Energy and Commerce subcommittee on oversight and investigations, was the first to focus specifically on the topic since the formula shortage…Douglas Blair -
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How Congress Undermines Constitution, Federalism
The American republic was created by a remarkable generation of men who turned a rebellion against the British crown into a transforming moment in human history, one based on the revolutionary proposition that all men are created equal and are endowed by their Creator with fundamental rights that no government has the moral authority to…James Buckley -
- Opinion
Why Tennessee’s New Residency Requirement for Congressional Candidates Is Blatantly Unconstitutional
After the Civil War, Southern politicians fearful of losing their grip on power decried the influx of “carpetbaggers” from the North. Tennessee lawmakers today seem to have similar fears. On April 13, Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee, a Republican, returned SB 2616 to the legislature (meaning it became law despite his lack of signature). The bill…Hans von Spakovsky