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
15 GOP Senators Warn Against Secret Border Deal With Democrats
Nearly one-third of Senate Republicans are asking their leaders not to finalize a border agreement with President Joe Biden and other Democrats without allowing members to review it. The 15 GOP members sent a letter dated Sunday to Republican Conference Chairman John Barrasso, R-Wyo., to ask for a meeting of all Senate Republicans no sooner… -
news
Senator Blocks Air Force Colonel’s Military Promotion Over ‘Divisive DEI Policies’
When the U.S. Senate unanimously approved 425 military promotions earlier this month, one person was missing from the list: Col. Ben Jonsson, the Air Force officer who espoused controversial views on race and diversity. Sen. Eric Schmitt, R-Mo., stepped in to hold Jonsson’s ascension to brigadier general after a 10-month blockade of all military promotions… -
opinion
By Ending Forced Representation, New Proposal in Congress Could Benefit Workers and Unions Alike
What if some of the antagonism around labor unions in the United States could be reduced by eliminating laws that force workers and unions alike to do things against their will? That’s what the Worker’s Choice Act, introduced Wednesday by Rep. Eric Burlison, R-Mo., would do. Current law forces workers in unionized workplaces to be… -
opinion
Hits and Misses: What Congress Achieved in 2023, What’s Ahead for New Year
Only 17 days remain in 2023, and members of Congress are preparing to leave Washington to return to their districts for Christmas. It has been a lively, and sometimes contentious, first session for the 118th Congress. The removal in October of House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., by his own party likely will be remembered as… -
opinion
SEE WHAT THEY DID THERE: Senate Republicans Pretend to Fight for Life While Enabling Biden’s Abortion Policy
Republicans in the U.S. Senate voted to trick the American people Tuesday. The Senate voted on a motion to table an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act. Theoretically, if the vote had passed, Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, would have then proposed her own amendment dealing with pro-life policy, but the vote was never going… -
news
Pro-Life Senator Ends Holds on Most Military Promotions in His Fight Against Pentagon Pro-Abortion Policy
In a reversal in the Senate on Tuesday, Sen. Tommy Tuberville backed off his long-running pro-life fight. Tuberville, R-Ala., had been blocking hundreds of military promotions as a lever to challenge a Pentagon policy promoting abortion. On Tuesday, the Alabama lawmaker said he would free up most of the promotions to proceed after blocking them… -
news
4 Key Takeaways From FBI Director Chris Wray’s Senate Testimony
FBI Director Christopher Wray testified Tuesday before the Senate Judiciary Committee, fielding topics from border security and China to the Hunter Biden investigation. Wray’s testimony came as the FBI faces continued scrutiny by a House investigation into “weaponized” government under the Biden administration. Here are key takeaways from Wray’s appearance. 1. ‘Hiding Behind the Skirts… -
news
Threat of Terrorist Attack Against US Has Reached a ‘Whole ‘Nother Level,’ FBI Director Tells Congress
Foreign terrorists are more likely to attack the United States, according to FBI Director Christopher Wray. “In a year where the terrorism threat was already elevated, the ongoing war in the Middle East has raised the threat of an attack against Americans in the United States to a whole ‘nother level,” Wray said. “Since… -
news
‘You Have Broken Your Promise’: 27 Senate Republicans Demand Lloyd Austin Drop Abortion Policy
FIRST ON THE DAILY SIGNAL—Twenty-seven Senate Republicans sent a letter to Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin Monday, demanding that he rescind an abortion travel policy that they claim violates U.S. law by circumventing Congress. Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., has vocally opposed this policy. "You have broken your promise to the American people not to politicize… -
opinion
The BorderLine: Senate Hearing Shows—Again—Why Mayorkas Should Be Impeached
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. ———————————————————- At a recent Senate hearing on threats to the homeland,… -
opinion
Congress Must End Federal Handouts to Radicalized Academia
In recent weeks, Americans have been shocked by widespread student protests and statements by professors from colleges and universities that support violence against Israel. These incidents highlight that radical ideologies have taken hold of broad swaths of academia. It’s important to counter the toxic pathologies that are opposed to the founding principles of society. However,… -
opinion
Tlaib’s Despicable Call for Genocide Warrants Harsh Censure by Congress
Rep. Rashida Tlaib last week made clear that she supports the destruction of the world’s only Jewish state and, therefore, a second Holocaust. On Friday, the Michigan Democrat published a video on X (formerly Twitter) accusing President Joe Biden of supporting genocide against the Palestinian people by supporting Israel in its conflict against Hamas. The… -
news
BREAKING: GOP Senators Turn on Tuberville on Approval of Biden’s Military Promotions
Some Senate Republicans sided with Democrats in pushing to approve hundreds of President Joe Biden’s military promotions Wednesday night, even as the Defense Department continues to allow taxpayer-funded travel for service members or spouses to obtain an abortion. The bipartisan move was to break a “hold” placed by Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., on more than… -
opinion
5 Charts Sum Up Biden’s Irresponsibility in Asking Congress for $106 Billion More
President Joe Biden has asked Congress for $106 billion in supplemental “emergency” funding, a proposal that contains several important policy flaws and threatens to drive the nation further down the road to bankruptcy. Biden’s Oct. 20 request includes $61 billion for Ukraine, $14 billion for Israel, $13 billion for border security, $10 billion for global humanitarian… -
news
Biden Admin Using Same Authority to Build Border Wall GOP Senator Recommended 8 Months Ago
The Biden administration is using the authority of a 1996 statute to build a section of border wall in South Texas less than a year after a Republican senator proposed a bill to resume wall construction using the same legal authority. The Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 gives the secretary… -
news
Citing Congress’ ‘Complete Absence of Leadership, Vision, and Spine,’ Lawmaker Threatens to Quit
“I’m sick and tired of the gamesmanship when we’re dealing with people’s lives,” a Republican congresswoman from Indiana says, threatening to quit over the GOP House leadership’s inaction on the national debt, the open southern U.S. border, and Ukraine war funding. Rep. Victoria Spartz, in her second term representing Indiana’s 5th Congressional District, joined The… -
opinion
Did This ‘Squad’ Member Really Think There Would Be No Consequences to Pulling an Alarm as Congress Voted?
“You’ve got to put your bodies upon the gears and upon the wheels, upon the levers, upon all the apparatus—and you’ve got to make it stop,” activist Mario Savio said during the Berkeley, California, counterculture protests of the 1960s. On Saturday, Rep. Jamaal Bowman, D-N.Y., a socialist member of “the squad” in Congress, appeared to… -
opinion
Why Conservatives in Congress Voted Against the Spending Bill
The budget showdown on Capitol Hill has been put on pause. On Saturday, just hours before the government shutdown deadline, Congress by a bipartisan vote passed a continuing resolution. It passed by a tally of 335-91 in the House and 88-9 in the Senate. President Joe Biden signed the bill on Saturday night. The bill keeps agencies… -
news
Senate Republican Leaders Silent as Democrats Undermine House Efforts to Fight Border Crisis Amid Shutdown Battle
Senate Republican leaders have declined to comment on the bill that Senate Democrats introduced to fund the government through Nov. 17 that avoids a government shutdown but that also fails to address the crisis at the U.S.-Mexico border. In introducing the bill, the Democrats undermine House Republican efforts to convince President Joe Biden to address… -
opinion
NJ’s Menendez Rejects Calls to Quit Senate Amid Corruption Indictment
The U.S. Justice Department on Friday released an indictment, which accuses New Jersey’s senior Democratic U.S. senator, Bob Menendez—along with his wife and several others—of engaging in a corrupt scheme to benefit himself, potentially at the expense of U.S. national security interests. Based on the serious allegations in the indictment, many in Menendez’s own party…