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
GOP Senators Cautioned on More Funding for IRS in ‘Infrastructure’ Deal
The $1.2 trillion bipartisan infrastructure deal—with as many as 11 Republican senators on board—isn’t limited to building roads, bridges, and broadband. It also includes building up the Internal Revenue Service by $40 billion over 10 years. If passed, it would get President Joe Biden halfway to his goal of $80 billion over a decade in… -
news
Big Salaries at Conservation Group Created by Congress Raise Eyebrows
While working to restore wildlife and plant habitats, a federally chartered conservation foundation pays lavish salaries to officers at the expense of environmental initiatives that are central to its mission, policy analysts and former employees say. Compensation figures in Form 990 tax records prepared for the IRS ought to raise questions about the National Fish and… -
news
Senate Unanimously Passes Bill Making Juneteenth a Federal Holiday
The Senate unanimously passed legislation Tuesday making Juneteenth a federal holiday. Juneteenth, already celebrated in the majority of states on June 19, commemorates the official end of slavery in Confederate states on that day in 1865. Though President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation on Jan. 1, 1863, hundreds of thousands of slaves did not… -
opinion
Will Liberals in Congress Give Health Insurance Industry $200 Billion Windfall?
Liberals have long aspired to a single-payer health care system that would eliminate private health insurance companies altogether. As such, it’s incongruous that 113 sponsors of so-called “Medicare for All” voted to increase government payments to profitable health insurers through the end of next year. Those same members of Congress appear ready to embrace a… -
news
North Carolina Senate Sends Bill Banning Abortions Based on Down Syndrome, Sex, Race to Governor’s Desk
North Carolina lawmakers have sent a bill banning abortions based on a diagnosis of Down syndrome to the governor’s desk for signing. House Bill 453, or the Human Life Nondiscrimination Act/No Eugenics, not only bans abortions based on Down syndrome but also prohibits the procedure based on the unborn baby’s sex or race. If a mother… -
opinion
What Being a New Congresswoman Is Really Like: Rep. Kat Cammack Explains
From fighting against the far-left agenda, to policy review sessions early in the morning and late at night, to baseball practice with colleagues, Rep. Kat Cammack, R-Fla., says her first six months as a House member have been anything but boring. There is a “side of being a member of Congress that a lot of… -
news
GOP Congresswoman’s Home Vandalized With Antifa Symbols on Memorial Day
South Carolina Rep. Nancy Mace’s home was vandalized with Antifa symbols and profanity on Memorial Day, the freshman congresswoman announced on Tuesday. Multiple circle-A anarchist symbols and messages such as “all politicians are bastards,” “no gods no masters,” “f— you Nancy,” and “pass the pro act” were spray-painted on Mace’s home and sidewalk, according to… -
news
FSU Settles Discrimination Suit With Student Senate President Ousted for Criticizing BLM
Florida State University settled a case with its former student Senate president who alleged he had been discriminated against because he is Catholic. Jack Denton settled with Florida State University on Tuesday, nearly one year after he was ousted from his student government leadership position for criticizing progressive groups like Black Lives Matter, his lawyers told The… -
opinion
Another Bill in Congress to Give Partisan Bureaucrats Control Over State Election Laws
One of the false narratives constantly pushed by liberals is that the efforts of states to reform and fix vulnerabilities in their election systems are somehow examples of “voter suppression.” Nothing could be further from the truth. Making sure that every eligible citizen is able to vote and that their vote is not lost or… -
opinion
Congress Needs to Undo EPA’s ‘Science Massacre’
For many on the left, sound science is sound only when it supports their ideological preferences. We saw that during the Trump administration, when leftists opposed an Environmental Protection Agency transparency rule that would have helped the public to evaluate the credibility of the science used in rulemaking. Now we are seeing it in the… -
news
7 Points From Homeland Secretary’s Senate Grilling on Border Crisis
Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas gave many I-don’t-know responses Thursday to senators on both sides of the aisle while blaming the Trump administration for the surge of illegal immigrants at the southern border. Mayorkas boasted of success, made a political reference to “build back better,” and accused former President Donald Trump of having “dismantled” border… -
opinion
Cruz: Senate Bill ‘Designed to Ensure Democrats Never Lose Another Election’
Editor’s note: At a Senate Rules Committee meeting Tuesday when senators met to consider amendments to the For the People Act, legislation that would affect election laws across the nation, Sen. Ted Cruz spoke about the bill, saying it would suppress “millions of votes … by allowing millions of people to vote illegally.” Read the… -
opinion
Heritage Scholars Sound Off on Biden’s Address to Congress
President Joe Biden is addressing a joint session of Congress this evening, and experts from The Heritage Foundation are weighing in. Here’s what they have to say. >>> The Daily Signal is the multimedia news and commentary outlet of The Heritage Foundation. Economy Education Foreign Policy Health Care Law Welfare Economy Infrastructure Biden’s speech began… -
news
6 Key Points From Senate Democrats’ Hearing on ‘Jim Crow 2021’
Liberal star Stacey Abrams said she supports voter ID, two senators debated the history of the Jim Crow era, and a Democrat secretary of state pleaded for his party not to pass a federal takeover of elections. These and other interactions occurred Tuesday at an eventful Senate Judiciary Committee hearing that the Democrat majority titled… -
news
Fact-Checking 3 Claims From Senate Hearing on Voting
Voting rights and election integrity have become significant issues in 2021 as Democrats in Congress attempt to pass a sweeping federal election overhaul bill at the same time as many states pursue election integrity laws. On Tuesday, the Senate Judiciary Committee, controlled by Democrats, held a hearing on state election integrity laws provocatively titled “Jim… -
opinion
Senate Hearing Pushes Odious ‘Jim Crow’ Comparisons to Cement Liberal Power
Having been caught exaggerating and misrepresenting Georgia’s new election integrity law, Democrats have decided to double down and throw the weight of the U.S. Senate behind their dishonest and offensive propaganda campaign. In a hearing hyperbolically titled “Jim Crow 2021: The Latest Assault on the Right to Vote,” the Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday became… -
opinion
What to Expect at Senate Panel’s Hearing on Election Integrity Law Cast as ‘Jim Crow’
The Senate Judiciary Committee will hold a hearing Tuesday to discuss a purported “assault on the right to vote.” The hearing, dubbed “Jim Crow 2021: The Latest Assault on the Right to Vote,” comes as the far left continues to criticize Georgia’s new election integrity law. Stacey Abrams, the Democrat who lost the 2018 governor’s… -
opinion
Congress Failed Once to Use Its Power on Iran Nuclear Agreement. It Shouldn’t Fail Again.
Over the past two months, the Biden administration has shown a willingness to revive negotiations with Iran on the flawed Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, better known as the Iran nuclear agreement. Thus far, negotiations haven’t taken place. Iran wants sanctions lifted before coming to the negotiating table, while the U.S. demands that Iran return… -
news
9 Highlights From Senate Hearing on Federal Takeover of Elections
Lawmakers listened to ominous references to the South’s Jim Crow era and Maoist China as the Senate held its first hearing on Democrats’ legislation to nationalize elections while eliminating voter ID and most other state election safeguards. “This bill has rightly been called the Corrupt Politicians Act because it is designed to keep corrupt politicians… -
opinion
This Senate May Smile on Faulty Law of the Sea Treaty
Now that President Joe Biden is in the White House and a fellow Democrat is chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, will the United States finally ratify the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea? Republicans’ past support for this U.N. convention, also known as the Law of the Sea Treaty, has…