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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opinion
Why McConnell’s ‘Filibuster Fix’ Won’t Cure the Senate
After another year of a messy appropriations process, which left only Democrats happy, Senate Republican leadership is proposing to eliminate a senator’s right to filibuster whether or not the Senate ought to consider an appropriations bill. This is no small thing. Appropriations bills control the amount of money that the federal government spends every year,… -
opinion
Important Lessons One Senator Has Learned After First Year in Congress
Almost a year ago, I stood next to my wife Bonnie, put my hand on my Father’s Bible, and swore to uphold the Constitution and represent the people of Georgia in the United States Senate. This is a role I never imagined, but one I take very seriously. To emphasize the magnitude of this responsibility,… -
news
State Lawmakers Urged to Question Taxpayer-Subsidized Climate ‘Alarmists’
HOT SPRINGS, Va.—Conservative lawmakers, scholars, and activists say it’s time for the Virginia General Assembly to look into the taxpayer funding of academics and scientists who don't want President Obama to tolerate dissenting views on climate change. The question, they told The Daily Signal, is why taxpayers should pay for the work of radical academics and… -
news
Find Out How Your Senators Voted on the Government Spending Bill
Just before going home for the holidays, Congress passed a $1.8 trillion tax and spending package to fund the federal government and avoid a shutdown. On Friday afternoon, shortly after the House approved accompanying legislation, the Senate passed the massive budget bill by a vote of 65-33. >>> Here Are the 95 Republicans Who Opposed the… -
news
Despite Earmark Ban, Lawmakers Find a Way to Include Pet Projects in Spending Bill
Four years after the House passed a ban on earmarks, lawmakers have found a way to skirt the prohibition and incorporate their own pet projects into massive pieces of legislation, and the $1.1 trillion omnibus passed today is no different. The House first approved a ban on earmarks in 2011, with the Senate soon after… -
news
Lawmakers Won’t Have Much Time to Read Spending Bill Topping 2,000 Pages
Like shooting a starting gun, House GOP leadership will set off a staffer scramble when they post the text of their proposed omnibus spending bill Tuesday night. Though some lawmakers have debated specifics for weeks, they won’t know what’s in the package until the last minute. It’s still up in the air if they’ll even… -
news
These Senators Say Their Bill Would ‘Unleash’ Lifesaving Drugs
The process of approving new drugs and medical devices would be sped up under a bill offered by two conservative senators. Sens. Ted Cruz , R-Texas, and Mike Lee, R- Utah, introduced legislation Thursday to accelerate how fast the Food and Drug Administration OKs drugs and devices. Before a drug can reach the U.S. market, it undergoes… -
opinion
What Lawmakers Should Do Before Considering Puerto Rico Bailout
With over $42 billion in debt, a five-percent decline in population over just five years, and only half of all working-age residents actually working, Puerto Rico faces a severe economic and financial crisis. Some have even alluded to a potential humanitarian crisis. Attempting to ward off such a crisis, a number of Puerto Rican and… -
news
In Time for Christmas, Lawmakers Eye New Internet Sales Tax
On the eve of Congress’ Christmas recess, two lawmakers have renewed an effort to give states the power to collect online sales taxes from out-of-state vendors. That legislation likely will prove heavy lifting, though, for Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., and Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, as a preoccupied Senate and House scramble to hammer out a… -
news
Tax Extenders Demystified: Making Sense of Lawmakers’ Permanently Temporary Measures
On Capitol Hill, the tax-extender scramble is a Christmas tradition. And now, again, just weeks before lawmakers head home for the holidays, Congress is trying to reauthorize a package of these tax provisions. At issue are many of the tax credits and reductions that individuals and businesses unwrap come tax season in April. Known as… -
opinion
The EPA’s Water Power Grab: Lawmakers Can Use the Appropriations Process to Stop It
As Congress figures out what policy riders, provisions in appropriations bills that prohibit or direct the use of funds for certain purposes, will be included in any omnibus appropriations bill, there are several that should make the list, including one to prohibit the Environmental Protection Agency and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers from using funds to… -
opinion
Lawmakers Vote in Favor of Cronyism, but It Won’t Be Business as Usual for the Ex-Im Bank
By restoring the corporate welfare doled out by the Export-Import Bank, a majority of Congress on Thursday demonstrated yet again their stubborn allegiance to special interests over the public interest. But the bank won’t be back to business as usual—i.e., financing foreign deals for some of America’s most successful conglomerates—until a vacancy on the board… -
opinion
Senate Cuts 5 Times More Spending Than House in Reconciliation Bill
The Senate will vote this week on a reconciliation bill that repeals the budgetary heart of Obamacare and restricts funding for Planned Parenthood. This is a vast improvement over the House-passed bill, which restricts Medicaid funding for abortion providers but neglects to repeal the core provisions in Obamacare. The Senate bill repeals most of the… -
news
17 of the 100 Ways This Senator Says the Government Wastes Your Money
The federal government has “dropped the ball” by failing to curb wasteful spending of taxpayer dollars, Sen. James Lankford says. In a new report, he cites 100 examples. “With a massive $19 trillion federal debt and a half-a-trillion-dollar deficit, we must tackle our federal budget and root out inefficiencies, duplication and wasteful spending wherever they… -
news
In ‘First Step’ to Address Terrorism Fear, House Easily Passes Bill to Toughen Screenings of Syrian Refugees
Wanting to show assertiveness in the aftermath of the Paris terrorist attacks, the House overwhelmingly passed a bill to block Syrian and Iraqi refugees from entering the U.S. unless they pass strict background checks. In a rush before Thanksgiving to comfort nervous constituents back home, Republicans were boosted by the support of 47 Democrats, who… -
news
GOP Lawmakers Prepare to Order ‘Pause’ to Syrian Refugees Entering US
Feeling pressure to respond to President Barack Obama’s ongoing plan to resettle Syrian refugees to the United States, House and Senate Republican lawmakers on Tuesday united around the idea of pausing such admissions into the country. After more than half of the nation’s governors voiced opposition to taking in Syrian refugees into their states, both… -
opinion
Auditing the Fed and 3 Other Monetary Policy Reforms Lawmakers Slated to Vote on This Week
Proponents of monetary policy reform and financial deregulation have had very little to cheer about during the last few years. Even many of the positive reform efforts in the U.S. House have been largely isolated to the Financial Services Committee, with little hope of even receiving a vote in the House, much less becoming law…. -
opinion
The Senate’s Dysfunction Helped Administrative State Grow
It’s billed as “the world’s greatest deliberative body.” But at a time when public polls routinely place the popularity of federal lawmakers in single digits, it’s time to ask: What happened to the U.S. Senate? That’s a question that has troubled many, both inside and outside Washington, for a long time. The dysfunction has reached… -
opinion
These Lawmakers Are Breaking Down Establishment Power Structures
A few weeks ago, the House Freedom Caucus was being roundly pummeled by the media, liberal and pseudo-conservative alike. This small band of conservative House members had the audacity to challenge the status quo in Congress, and in the eyes of Washington’s comfortable elites, that’s a serious offense. For years, Washington’s chattering class has guarded… -
opinion
What Americans Want Paul Ryan (and Other Lawmakers) to Do
A year ago, no one would have thought this was possible. The newly elected House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., has verbally agreed to change the way leadership distributes power and authority in Congress. Before, many key deals would be pre-negotiated between House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, and Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and passed with…