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
Is Mitch McConnell Planning to Retire? Senator’s Office Weighs In
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell has plans to retire, according to some political activists and news reports. “Senators John Barrasso of Wyoming, John Cornyn of Texas, and John Thune of South Dakota are actively reaching out to fellow Republican senators in efforts to prepare for an anticipated leadership vote — a vote that would occur… -
news
Pro-Border Security Sheriff Announces Run for US Senate Against Prominent Incumbent
Sheriff Mark Lamb of Pinal County, Arizona, a strong advocate for border security, is running for U.S. Senate in 2024. If Lamb wins the Republican nomination, he will face off against incumbent Arizona Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, a former Democrat who left the party to become an independent last year. “Arizona needs a proven conservative fighter… -
opinion
Time for House to Join Senate, Reclaim Congress’ War Powers
The Senate voted overwhelmingly, and on a bipartisan basis, last week to repeal the obsolete 1991 and 2002 Iraq Authorized Use of Military Force resolutions by a vote of 66-30. That is sound policy, as I previously wrote here. It’s time for the House of Representatives to debate the Senate-passed repeal, and while doing so, keep… -
opinion
Mayorkas’ Testimony to House, Senate Reveals Big Lie of Biden’s Border Debacle
There is a fine line between stretched truth and outright lies. In a series of recent congressional hearings, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas seems to have found that line and pitched his tent on it. Mayorkas gave revealing testifimony Wednesday before both the Senate Appropriations Committee and a House Appropriations subcommittee. Such hearings tend to… -
news
Republicans Rally to Senator’s Defense for Holding Pentagon Promotions Over Abortion Policy
As senators head home for a two-week Easter recess, one Republican finds himself enemy No. 1 of Democrats. Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., is playing hardball with the Biden administration over the Defense Department’s expansive new abortion policy. On three occasions, Tuberville has objected to his Democrat colleagues’ attempts to approve 184 promotions for military generals… -
news
‘I Will Stay Here Until Hell Freezes Over’: Senator Pushes Pentagon to Reverse Abortion Policy
As the attacks on Sen. Tommy Tuberville escalated this week, the Alabama Republican appeared even more determined to undo a new Defense Department policy allowing U.S. military and their family members to obtain taxpayer-funded abortions. Speaking on the Senate floor Wednesday, Tuberville rebuffed yet another Democrat attempt to unanimously approve nearly 200 promotions for military… -
news
DOJ Discouraged Marshals From Arresting Illegal Protesters at Supreme Court Justices’ Homes, Senator Says
The Department of Justice appears to have discouraged the U.S. Marshals Service from arresting protesters illegally demonstrating at the homes of the Supreme Court justices, according to internal materials obtained by a United States senator. During a hearing Tuesday, Sen. Katie Britt, R-Ala., revealed training slides reportedly from a "whistleblower in DOJ who was concerned… -
news
Back to Prison? Suspect in Stabbing of Senate Staffer Was Freed After 12 Years Just 1 Day Earlier
A mere 24 hours after he was released from prison, police say a man approached a Senate staffer and stabbed him in broad daylight in Northeast Washington. Authorities had sentenced the suspect, 42-year-old Glynn Neal, to 12 years and four months in prison in 2011 for “compelling two North Carolina women to engage in prostitution… -
opinion
Parents’ Bill of Rights Is How Congress Can Help State School Reformers
The stunning success of conservative education reform across the country in the past few years is the result a moral fact: Parents are children’s primary educators. Until very recently, this was not disputed, let alone controversial. But lately, it has become clear that progressive elites who run teachers unions and school boards, the Democratic Party,… -
opinion
Why Congress Has Reason to Be Suspicious of Narrative on COVID-19 Origin
Congressional Republicans are busy trying to uncover the origin of COVID-19, which has killed more than 1.1 million Americans. Earlier this month, Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., won unanimous Senate passage of the COVID-19 Origin Act of 2023 to declassify all U.S. intelligence related to the Chinese origin of the pandemic. The House of Representatives… -
opinion
COVID-19 Origins: Why State Department’s Testimony to Congress Is Crucial to Finding Answers
Expect more details—and more controversy—coming soon on the Chinese origins of COVID-19 as a House select committee continues its investigation. While many in government in early 2020 immediately began pushing the narrative that the coronavirus came from nature, several scientists and the U.S. State Department had serious doubts and pointed to the large amount of… -
opinion
Congress Killed Silicon Valley Bank
The collapse of Silicon Valley Bank has unified Americans with a shared anger. Everyone—left, right, and center—knows that something is wrong. Executives sold off millions of dollars of stock before the crash, the bank paid out bonuses as it was collapsing, and the Federal Reserve created a brand new program (once again, Washington, D.C., is deciding… -
opinion
Senate Democrats’ Fickle Love-Hate Relationship With ‘Blue Slips’ on Judicial Nominees
With the 118th Congress underway, the Senate’s process of evaluating President Joe Biden’s judicial nominations has resumed. This means that, joining death and taxes on the certainty list, is pressure for the majority to rig the process by abandoning the “blue slip” process that gives deference to senators in whose state a judicial nominee would… -
news
DeSantis Endorsed for President by GOP Congressman: ‘It’s Time’
Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, announced Wednesday that he is endorsing Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, a Republican, for president. "It’s time for Ron DeSantis to be President of the United States," Roy, the policy chair of the Freedom Caucus, said in a campaign email obtained by The Daily Signal. DeSantis is considered one of the top… -
news
EXCLUSIVE: Senators Introduce Legislation to Terminate Pentagon’s Taxpayer-Funded Abortions
FIRST ON THE DAILY SIGNAL—The Senate’s first female combat veteran is escalating the fight against the Defense Department’s newly revamped and expansive abortion policies. Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, introduced legislation Wednesday along with 35 of her Senate Republican colleagues to halt the Pentagon’s policies. The Defense Department announced Feb. 16 it would provide three weeks… -
opinion
Appeals Court Steals Show on ERA Amid Senate Panel’s Bid to Resurrect Dead Amendment
The Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday held a hearing, “The Equal Rights Amendment: How Congress Can Recognize Ratification and Enshrine Equality in Our Constitution.” But even before the hearing could conclude, a federal appeals court ruling threw a monkey wrench into ERA backers’ bid to revive the long-dead 1972 amendment. Advocates of the ERA want… -
news
Senate Panel Turns to Defunct Constitutional Amendment Phyllis Schlafly Helped Defeat 40 Years Ago
The Equal Rights Amendment has been a topic of debate in the halls of Congress on and off for 50 years. On Tuesday, the controversial amendment will again be up for debate during a Senate committee hearing. Despite the deadline for ratification having expired—depending on who you ask—in either 1979 or 1982, the Senate… -
news
4 Things to Know About the Senate Probe That Inspired the House Weaponization of Government Investigation
The House Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government, which had its first hearing last week, is modeled largely after a similar Senate committee that investigated U.S. intelligence agencies during the mid-1970s. The Senate Select Committee to Study Governmental Operations with Respect to Intelligence Activities was better known as the Church committee, named… -
opinion
Will Congress Finally Take Back Some Power and End Outdated Iraq War Authorizations?
A remarkable thing happened in Washington Thursday morning, especially given the vituperative atmosphere of politics today. Legislators introduced substantive legislation that is good policy, and a policy that The Heritage Foundation has been advocating for years. A large bipartisan group of 22 Senators introduced legislation to repeal the 1991 and 2002 Iraq Authorizations for the… -
news
Congress Must Cut Spending to Match Hike in Debt Ceiling ‘Dollar for Dollar,’ Heritage Foundation President Says
Ahead of President Joe Biden’s meeting about the nation’s debt ceiling Wednesday with House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., it’s clear some negotiation will be required, Heritage Foundation President Kevin Roberts told reporters. McCarthy’s fellow House Republicans’ metaphor is that they will be “using the debt ceiling fight today, this week, this spring, as an opportunity…