U.S. Senate News

Senate Republicans are heading into four votes this week to confirm appeals court judges. Majority Leader Mitch McConnell served notice late last week that the Senate will consider four of President Donald Trump’s nominees to federal circuit courts, the powerful appeals panels that give the final word on the overwhelming majority of cases in U.S….

This is a transcript of an interview Sen. David Perdue, R-Ga., gave The Daily Signal on Tuesday.  Rachel Del Guidice: Hello, everyone, and welcome to The Daily Signal’s Facebook Live. I’m Rachel del Guidice and I am joined today by Sen. David Perdue from the great state of Georgia. Senator, thank you for joining us…

Conservative lawmakers said any tax reform plan needs to benefit the middle class and begin to address the national debt. “Let’s just focus on designing a tax code that does those three things: allows families to keep more of their money, simplifies a totally cumbersome and ridiculous code, and one that will foster and promote…

Conservative lawmakers say they oppose the Alexander-Murray health care legislation because it would bail out health insurance companies. The congressmen discussed the issue Tuesday at the monthly Conversations With Conservatives panel on Capitol Hill. The health care legislation was introduced by Sens. Patty Murray, D-Wash., and Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., after multiple attempts by Senate Republicans…

If Congress doesn’t pass tax reform, there could be significant economic consequences, a leading senator and business leader said Tuesday. “We are doing things differently with this bill than we did on the health care bill that ended up in disaster, so I feel like we’ve got a shot at getting it done this year….

More than 30 Senate Democrats voted for President Ronald Reagan’s Tax Reform Act of 1986—including one still in office today—and conservatives say Democrats today have no reason to vote against a similar tax reform package now before Congress. “If I hear any more Democrats talking about ‘the bottom rate is going up,’ I’ll remind them…

Eleven GOP senators wrote a letter asking Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to extend the chamber’s work hours to a 24/7 schedule “ to advance the president’s agenda.” “1,200 nominations are subject to Senate confirmation,” said Caroline Vanvick, deputy communications director to Sen. David Perdue, one of the signers of the letter, in an email…

As two Senate lawmakers float yet another plan to fix problems with Obamacare, another wants to revisit legislation that he says would more substantially repeal the health care law. “Actually, we could have more coverage under Graham-Cassidy than under the status quo,” Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., said Wednesday at an event hosted by online media…

Sixty-nine Republican lawmakers voted against a $36.5 billion bill for disaster relief, citing concerns about the growing national debt and the lack of reforms for the National Flood Insurance Program. “I voted to provide more money for emergency hurricane relief a few weeks ago, and I’m happy to provide additional aid for Puerto Rico in…

Some House lawmakers are calling for a change in policy to help prevent wildfires. “Active forest management is needed to stop the spread of catastrophic wildfires,” Rep. Bruce Westerman, R-Ark., said in a recent statement. “Irreplaceable natural resources and human lives are at stake, and we must focus on the immediate solutions available. It is time…

Republicans are set to release further details of their tax reform plan this week, and lawmakers in the House’s most conservative caucus says the plan must lower the tax rate and simplify the code. “Our leadership has to stay strong and so the must-haves are just the basic pieces, deep cuts so we get the…

After failing to stop what he called an “earmark,” one Republican lawmaker is preparing to fight the possible return of pork-barrel spending in Congress. Rep. Ted Budd worked to block $900 million in a transportation funding bill bound for an Amtrak project in New Jersey, saying the funding violated the House’s ban on earmarks. The…

A North Carolina congressman is working to stop $900 million in a transportation funding bill bound for an Amtrak project in New Jersey that he says violates the House’s ban on earmarks. “We are in the era of no earmarks and we certainly see one, essentially a $900 million earmark … called the Gateway Project,”…

Sen. Cory Booker plans to propose a bill to remove all Confederate statues from the United States Capitol building, he announced Wednesday. “I will be introducing a bill to remove Confederate statues from the US Capitol building,” Booker, D-N.J., tweeted. “This is just one step. We have much work to do.” He did not offer…

Five high-ranking House Republicans have asked formally that the Trump administration end Operation Choke Point, an Obama administration program that critics say unfairly targets politically unpopular industries such as firearms sellers and payday lenders. In a letter sent Thursday to Attorney General Jeff Sessions, the four lawmakers request that the Justice Department “repudiate” the program…