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
Senate Democrats No. 1 Priority After the Recess? Gutting the First Amendment
When the Senate reconvenes today, the No.1 legislative priority of Democrats is to pass a resolution that would gut the First Amendment, one of the few times in American history an amendment has been proposed to cut back on part of the Bill of Rights. It’s probably no surprise they want to restrict political speech… -
news
Lawmaker Moves to Tax Sugary Drinks
A Connecticut lawmaker hopes to open another front in the war on childhood obesity and diabetes. On Wednesday, Rep. Rosa DeLauro, a Democrat, introduced a bill that would impose a national tax on sugary soft drinks. DeLauro’s legislation, the Sugar-Sweetened Beverage Tax Act, would levy a one-cent excise tax for every teaspoon of sugar within… -
news
Lawmakers Ponder Ways to ‘Get Politics Out of the IRS’
Could the IRS be governed by multiple commissioners? Some lawmakers hope so. The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee yesterday heard pitches for proposed reforms aimed at preventing future targeting scandals at the Internal Revenue Service. One proposal is to name multiple members from both major political parties to a commission to govern the agency…. -
news
Vitter’s Senate Bill Seeks to Stem Flow of Border-Crossing Children
As lawmakers debate how to stem the flood of unaccompanied minors across the southern border, The Daily Signal has learned that Sen. David Vitter, R-La., will introduce a bill this morning to modify the anti-trafficking law identified as a key factor in the surge of young illegal immigrants. In a statement to The Daily Signal,… -
news
Cruz Rips Senate Democrats’ Bill to Reverse Hobby Lobby Decision
Today on Capitol Hill, Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, had a message for President Obama and Senate Democrats voting to undermine the Supreme Court’s Hobby Lobby decision: “If you’re litigating against nuns, you have probably done something wrong.” Sixty votes were needed to debate the bill, which was sponsored by Sens. Patty Murray, D-Wash., and Mark… -
news
Lawmakers Throw Light on Secretive ‘Operation Choke Point’
Is “Operation Choke Point” about to get choked by Congress? Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., sure hopes so. Issa, chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, is calling for the dismantling of what he calls a secretive initiative launched by the Obama administration in early 2013. Critics say that Operation Choke Point, so dubbed by… -
opinion
Hobby Lobby Does Want Bosses Out of the Bedroom. Why Are These Liberal Senators Against That?
Obamacare has been on a collision course with Americans’ individual liberty and religious freedom from the beginning. Last week’s Supreme Court decision in the Hobby Lobby case prevented Obamacare’s Department of Health and Human Services mandate from careening into the religious freedom of family business owners, on the basis of the federal Religious Freedom Restoration… -
news
Lawmakers Split Over Busting Budget Cap to Fight Wildfires
In asking for $3.7 billion from Congress yesterday to combat the border crisis, President Obama attached another request that has nothing to do with illegal immigration. The president wants $615 million to fight wildfires. Acting on similar bipartisan proposals in Congress, Obama also requested a change that he says would treat spending to fight wildfires… -
news
Lawmaker Questions Whether Ex-Im Benefits Small Businesses
Proponents of the Export-Import Bank tout the agency as a champion of small businesses, but Rep. Andy Barr, R-Ky., yesterday challenged that claim during a hearing and told the story of of a small Kentucky company that was overwhelmed by related regulations. Ex-Im Bank, an 80-year-old agency that provides taxpayer-backed loans to foreign companies and… -
news
House Passes Measure to Assess Grid Vulnerability to Electromagnetic Pulse
Members of Congress want to know more about whether America’s adversaries possess the capability to shut down the nation’s power grid. The intelligence authorization bill passed by the House of Representatives on May 30 includes a provision mandating the director of national intelligence submit to Congress within six months of the bill’s passage “a report… -
opinion
House Committee Passes Temporary FSOC Reforms
The U.S. House of Representatives Financial Services Committee passed two good reform bills aimed at fixing the Financial Stability Oversight Council (FSOC). Both pieces of legislation address major problems with the council, but they provide only a temporary solution. The FSOC’s very existence perpetuates the too-big-to-fail problem. Future government bailouts are now more likely because… -
opinion
Senate’s Minibus Falls Short on Spending Reforms
The Senate’s “minibus” spending bill lumps together three appropriations bills—Commerce/Justice/Science, Transportation/Housing and Urban Development, and Agriculture—into one funding bill. The proposed minibus bill (which has recently stalled in the Senate) not only continues to fund programs that don’t work; it actually proposes to toss them more money in the process. Just consider the $51.2 billion… -
news
Mississippi’s U.S. Senate Race Presents Referendum on Federal Spending
Do Mississippians want more federal money or less government? That’s essentially the choice being offered to them in the June 24 U.S. Senate GOP primary runoff election between incumbent U.S. Sen. Thad Cochran and state Sen. Chris McDaniel. The winner faces Democrat and former U.S. congressman Travis Childers in November. Federal spending in Mississippi is not chicken feed. State Budget…