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
This Aide Doesn’t Want Senate Filibuster Rules to Change. Will He Convince Paul Ryan to Stay Out of It?
Republicans in the U.S. Senate who are taking aim at filibuster rules in the upper chamber won’t find an ally in House Speaker Paul Ryan, if the speaker’s new chief of staff has his way. Although Ryan, R-Wis., has been silent on the issue since assuming the speakership Oct. 29, top aide David Hoppe consistently… -
opinion
Senate Democrats Take Military Funding Hostage
Today Senate Democrats voted for the third time this year to prevent the defense appropriations bill from moving forward. The Democrats did this for one simple reason: they want leverage to push their liberal priorities in all the other spending bills. In short, they are using military funding as a hostage. Just last week, the… -
news
House Votes Down Measure That Would Block Iran From Receiving Taxpayer-Backed Subsidies
The House today rejected an amendment that would have prohibited the Export-Import Bank from providing loans, loan guarantees, and credit to state sponsors of terrorism such as Iran. Rep. Ed Royce, R-Calif., chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee, introduced the amendment amid concerns that President Barack Obama would issue waivers to state sponsors of terrorism that… -
opinion
The Senate Has Passed a Resolution to Stop the EPA’s Water Rule: Now It’s the House’s Turn
The Senate has passed a Congressional Review Act disapproval resolution to repeal the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)’s and Army Corp of Engineers’ water rule that would seek to regulate almost every water “body” in the nation. The vote was 53-44. The House needs to follow suit. The Congressional Review Act creates an expedited process for… -
news
Why One Freshman Senator Waited a Year to Tell Congress ‘The People Despise Us All’
Sen. Ben Sasse, a 43-year-old conservative from Nebraska and former university president who possesses five college degrees, didn’t need to experience Congress very long to learn that the institution is broken. But Sasse, who refers to himself as a “historian by training,” decided he would reject the norms of today and return to tradition by… -
news
19 Million People Have Watched This Senator’s Speech. How Did It Go Viral?
Sen. Mike Lee’s Facebook post thanking Sen. Rand Paul for a floor speech fighting against the two-year budget deal is blazing across social media, reaching more than 55 million people in three days. The nearly 3-minute video of Paul, meanwhile, has 19 million views. Lee, R-Utah, slammed lawmakers for pushing through the budget deal at 3 a.m. Friday,… -
news
The Key Difference Between the Two Lawmakers Running for Paul Ryan’s Old Job
The two representatives jockeying for Speaker Paul Ryan’s old job as chairman of the powerful tax-writing House Ways and Means Committee are similar in many ways, but they have at least one distinguishing characteristic. The contenders, Reps. Kevin Brady, R-Texas, and Pat Tiberi, R-Ohio, voted differently on a controversial discharge petition paving the way for… -
news
Senator Defends Suspended Football Coach: ‘He Was Simply Kneeling Down to Pray’
Bremerton School District in Washington state has created a “faith-free zone,” according to Sen. James Lankford. Lankford was referring to the school district’s decision to suspend high school football coach Joe Kennedy for his post-game prayers on the 50-yard line. “Government does not have the authority to confine your faith to the location of government’s… -
opinion
Senate’s Highway Trust Fund Shenanigans Don’t Add Up
History proves that the U.S. Congress consistently excels in at least one thing: spending other people’s money. Lawmakers regularly budget to spend more than they collect, and it rarely occurs to them that they should spend less. The latest example is the U.S. Senate’s plan to “save” the highway trust fund. Congress has mishandled the fund—which, technically,… -
news
Cruz Attacks GOP Senate Leadership: McConnell ‘Very Effective Democratic Leader’
In a speech Thursday on the Senate floor, Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, sharply criticized the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2015, a budget deal between former House Speaker John Boehner and President Barack Obama. Cruz said the deal is yet another example of the failure of the “so-called Republican majority” to deliver on their promises to… -
news
Temporary Patch Gives Lawmakers More Time to Pass Long-Term Highway Bill
House Republicans introduced legislation late last week to temporarily extend federal transportation funding for three weeks, giving lawmakers more time to work on a long-term highway bill. The funding “patch,” H.R. 3819, authorizes federal transportation spending for an additional three weeks by pushing the current expiration date back from October 29 to November 20. The… -
opinion
Be Careful What You Wish For. Getting Rid of the Senate Filibuster Is a Bad Idea.
Republicans hold majorities in the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives. They got those majorities by making promises that, once elected, they announced they couldn’t keep. The ongoing leadership shake-up in the House is one outcome of broken promises. But another one may be in the works that has a much more significant and, in… -
opinion
How Conservative Lawmakers Could Govern Better
What is missed by the mainstream pundits about the conservative movement in America and in Congress? First, let us acknowledge that during the post-New Deal political era, Republicans have rarely been in control of one chamber of Congress, and even more rarely has the GOP controlled both the House and the Senate. During the reign… -
news
Conservative Lawmakers Ask the National Portrait Gallery to Remove Margaret Sanger Bust
Lawmakers have requested that a bust of Margaret Sanger, the founder of Planned Parenthood, be removed from the National Portrait Gallery. Sen. Ted Cruz and Rep. Louie Gohmert, both Texas Republicans, sent a letter to Kim Sajet, the director of the National Portrait Gallery, demanding the bust’s removal. Twenty-four House Republicans also signed the letter. In a… -
news
As US Begins to Admit More Syrian Refugees, Senators Seek to Know It’s Safe
As the United States begins to wade into the refugee crisis straining Syria’s neighbors, national security concerns competing against a swift resettlement response are dividing lawmakers along party lines. Obama administration immigration and refugee officials traveled to Capitol Hill Thursday to smooth security concerns at a congressional hearing as the U.S. begins to open its… -
opinion
Sentencing Reform Advances in the Senate
A powerful bipartisan group of senators announced their intention today to introduce The Sentencing Reform and Corrections Act of 2015. The bill addresses “front end” reform and contains some of key provisions (albeit in modified form) of what had been the Smarter Sentencing Act of 2015 (“SSA”), which had been introduced by Senators Mike Lee,… -
news
Why One State Lawmaker Is Criticizing GE for Using the Export-Import Bank as a ‘Scapegoat’
A Wisconsin state lawmaker is criticizing General Electric for blaming its decision to move out of the state on the Export-Import Bank’s expiration. Wisconsin state Rep. Scott Allen accused the company of using the embattled agency as a “scapegoat.” In a statement released Monday, Allen said GE spokesman Patrick Theisen encouraged him to blame the… -
news
Senators Reach Long-Elusive Deal to Reduce ‘Unjust’ Prison Sentences
A bipartisan group of senators have reached a long-elusive deal on criminal justice reform, with a proposal that would reduce mandatory minimum prison sentences for certain nonviolent drug offenses and allow well-behaved inmates to earn time off their prison terms. After months of negotiations, the Senate Judiciary Committee’s agreement — dubbed the Criminal Justice Reform… -
opinion
How Senate GOP Leadership Is Silencing Americans’ Voices With Procedural Tricks
As you may have heard, bad things are happening on Capitol Hill. Here’s the really bad news: it’s even worse than you probably think. In addition to GOP leadership caving on issue after issue, they are also stripping other members of Congress, and therefore the American people, of their ability and rights to have… -
news
Find Out How Your Lawmakers Voted on Government Spending Bill That Averts Shutdown, Funds Planned Parenthood
On the last day of the fiscal year, Congress approved a short-term spending measure that keeps the federal government operating through Dec. 11. The bill passed easily in the Senate, 78-20: The bill faced strong dissension in the House, where 151 Republicans voted against it because the bill does not cut off federal funding for…