Democrat Party News
The Daily Signal provides Democrat Party news with reporting, analysis, and commentary on elections, legislation, and progressive agendas.
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news
Fearing Late Action by Obama, Republicans Consider Curbing Presidential Power to Declare National Monuments
President Barack Obama is using his executive power to issue a broad swath of environmental protections during his last weeks in office, guarding himself against a successor who has vowed to roll back parts of that agenda. As part of this effort, Obama has made historic use of a 110-year-old law signed by Theodore Roosevelt… -
opinion
Obama’s Last-Minute Monument Plan Is Wrong for Utah
Many of you have been fighting with me over the past six years to prevent President Barack Obama from designating additional national monuments in Utah. Now, unfortunately, we are hearing that the president is planning to follow through with the threat to designate the Bears Ears National Monument. In her confirmation hearings, Secretary of the Interior… -
news
Here’s How Low-Income Americans Feel About the Obama Administration’s New Lending Regulations
In order to crack down on what’s known as “predatory lenders,” the Obama administration proposed new rules that require short-term lenders to ensure customers have the ability to repay their loans. In requiring lenders to assess their financial background—including their monthly income, cost of living, and other major expenses—the Obama administration says it can protect… -
news
Obama Breaks Single-Day Record With 78 Pardons
President Barack Obama granted 153 commutations and 78 pardons Monday, the most individual acts of clemency granted in one day by any president in American history. The president has now commuted the sentences of 1,176 individuals, including 395 life sentences, and he has pardoned 148 individuals. “Today’s acts of clemency, and the mercy the president has shown… -
news
Here’s the Tool Congress Can Use to Curtail Obama’s Regulation Legacy
Conservatives in Congress have a plan to undo a large number of regulations from the last few months of President Barack Obama’s time in office. The recently imposed regulations include a new rule from the Department of Health and Human Services that protects federal funding for Planned Parenthood as well as regulations from the Department… -
opinion
Obama’s Last Gift to Planned Parenthood
President Barack Obama has given Planned Parenthood a parting gift in the final weeks of his administration. As reported by The Daily Signal’s Kelsey Harkness, the Department of Health and Human Services proposed a rule that would prohibit states from blocking Planned Parenthood from receiving Title X family planning services grant money for reasons “unrelated”… -
news
Obama’s Education Secretary: ‘We Should Welcome Good Public Charter Schools’
During one of his final weeks on the job, President Barack Obama’s secretary of education called for education leaders to unite around support for charter schools. “If we believe that public schools will always be the bedrock of American democracy and opportunity—as I do—we should welcome good public charter schools as laboratories for innovation that… -
opinion
The Obama Administration Just Sent the Arms Trade Treaty to the Senate. Here’s Why It Doesn’t Matter.
Last week, the Obama administration took a step that conservatives have been anticipating for three years: it transmitted the Arms Trade Treaty to the Senate for ratification. This move doesn’t matter. The treaty is supposedly designed to control the international trade of weapons. It was adopted through the United Nations in 2013, and 91 nations have… -
opinion
Obama’s Terrorism Claim Hides an Inconvenient Truth
On Tuesday, President Barack Obama stated that “Over [the] last eight years, no foreign terrorist organization has successfully planned and executed an attack on our homeland.” Talk about something actually deserving of being labeled as “fake news.” Obama’s statement obscures the reality that the U.S. has faced 66 Islamist terrorist plots against the U.S. homeland… -
news
Obama Administration Not Finished Yet With Executive Actions, Regulations
On Monday, President Barack Obama issued his fifth executive order since the Nov. 8 election. In this case, it was to create a National Invasive Species Council to compile a report by 2020 on how to prevent such species from affecting climate change, food safety, and even military readiness. Citing national security concerns, Obama issued… -
news
Obama Administration Sides With Protesters, Halting Construction of Dakota Access Pipeline
The Department of the Army handed protesters of the Dakota Access oil pipeline a victory Sunday when it announced the project would be re-routed. The decision came on the eve of the government’s Monday deadline for protesters to evacuate their encampment. For the past several months, members of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe have waged a… -
news
Obama Could Expand ‘Unprecedented’ Clemency Push for Prisoners
President Barack Obama has overseen a dramatic reshaping of the federal prison system, as the most visible leader of a bipartisan movement to overcome the age of harsh punishment during the war on drugs. Indeed, Obama is on pace to be the first president in 50 years to leave office when the federal prison population… -
news
Payday Lenders Accuse Obama Administration of Last-Ditch Effort With Operation Choke Point
Short-term lenders say the Obama administration is attempting a last-ditch effort to use Operation Choke Point to crack down on their industries, causing an “urgent” situation where businesses are unable to perform basic functions like pay their employees. After losing dozens of more banking relationships in recent weeks, a group of payday lenders asked a… -
news
Obama Administration Shuts Down Aerial Surveillance on Border
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security quietly shut down Operation Phalanx, an aerial surveillance program that intercepts drugs and illegal crossings along the Mexican border. Rep. Henry Cuellar, D-Laredo, vows to challenge DHS’ move, saying Congress provided “full funding” for 2017. Cuellar, a member of the House Appropriations Committee and the homeland security subcommittee, is… -
opinion
Obama’s Contribution to Our Identity Politics Climate
While in Greece this week, President Barack Obama called the anxieties about national, cultural, and ethnic identities that impacted this election a “volatile mix.” He attributed this angst, though, to impersonal forces such as globalization, deindustrialization, and social media. It wasn’t him. For eight years, the president said, he’s been working hard against approaches “that… -
news
‘Not Over’: 4 Legal Probes Hillary Clinton Still Faces
Hillary Clinton would have been a bigger target for investigators if the presidential election had gone differently, but that doesn’t mean the Democratic nominee and former secretary of state can put such legal questions behind her. The FBI is conducting an ongoing investigation into potential “pay to play” at the Clinton Foundation, although it appears… -
opinion
Obama’s 7 Biggest Foreign Policy Mistakes
How will history judge the national security and foreign policy of President Barack Obama? From the Iran deal to the Russian reset, the world is not a better or safer place after Obama’s eight-year tenure. -
opinion
Elizabeth Warren Has It Wrong on Voter Fraud
Last week, Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., penned an op-ed for The Washington Post equating loose rhetoric by a political opponent with legitimate concerns expressed by many about inadequate safeguards in our electoral system. The op-ed is a classic sleight of hand, reducing a discussion about a topic as serious as election integrity to an ad… -
opinion
Obama May Veto the Defense Bill, Again
This week the White House signaled that it might veto the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) if a religious freedom amendment remains in the final package. While this may just be political posturing, it fits a clear pattern of President Barack Obama’s willingness to use national security, and the defense bills in particular, as hostages…