Government Spending & Fiscal Policy News

The Daily Signal examines federal and state spending, efforts to cut waste and deficits, and the role of the DOGE initiative, with in-depth reporting, analysis, and conservative commentary on taxpayer dollars and government efficiency.
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  • exclusive

    ‘Systemic Marginalization’ of ‘Transgender Women’: Inside the Woke NIH Grants Trump Slashed
    FIRST ON THE DAILY SIGNAL—The National Institutes of Health under the Trump administration has slashed more than $1 billion of woke Biden-era grants studying “economic-based empowerment” for “transgender women,” lowering “transgender men’s” voices, and more, the Daily Signal has learned. The NIH has terminated about 1,000 grants, adding up to $1,020,711,506 in savings. Another approximately…
    Elizabeth Troutman Mitchell
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  • analysis

    ‘ANTI-DEMOCRATIC’: Nonprofits That Received Tax Dollars Unite to Oppose Rules Cracking Down on Waste, Fraud, and Abuse
    Organizations that received federal funding under President Joe Biden and previously sued President Donald Trump’s administration have now joined a coalition letter opposing the White House’s proposed grantmaking reforms. The White House Office of Management and Budget proposed the reforms to crack down on the wasteful and ideological spending of taxpayer dollars exposed by the…
    Tyler O’Neil
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  • news

    Trump Set to Use $400 Million War Chest to Secure Republican Majority
    President Donald Trump officially announced his plans to spend in the midterm elections to ensure Republicans hold and grow their majority in Congress this November. While the president isn’t on the ballot this year, he will open his more than $400 million war chest for 35 Republicans running in key races. Speaking at a dinner…
    Virginia Grace McKinnon
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  • news

    Buried NIH Trans Report Did DEI Search for ‘Youth of Color’ and Males for Study
    Researchers examining the effects of puberty blockers and transgender hormones for ages 8 through 20 set a goal of enrolling “additional youth of color” and more “assigned male at birth” participants for a taxpayer-funded study. This is because the participants getting these treatments skewed overwhelmingly white, as well as toward a majority of young females…
    Fred Lucas
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  • news

    ‘Grifting Grandmothers,’ COVID-19 Scammers Among Families That Cost Taxpayers $50 Million
    About $50 million in federal fraud could have been avoided if grants were blocked for people living with convicted fraudsters, according to a new Senate report. The office of Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, chairwoman of the Senate Small Business Committee as well as the Senate DOGE Caucus, identified 15 “fraudster families” that received millions in…
    Fred Lucas
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  • opinion

    Social Security’s Countdown Clock Just Got Louder
    Somewhere inside the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget this week, an analyst hit “publish” on a paper that should have led the evening news. The finding: no single change to how Washington taxes Social Security benefits will save the program. Reforming benefit taxation could help, the group said, in its July 30 paper on the subject, but only as…
    Jay Rogers
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  • opinion

    The Case for Capitalism
    I’ve failed! I make the case for free markets … young people elect socialists! What are they thinking? Do they even think? Do they pay any attention to history? Or economics? Socialism always fails. Only markets create environments that let people prosper. “Getting the right environment—this country’s done it better than anyone else,” says Steve…
    John Stossel
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  • news

    $50M in REAL ID Grants Could Provide Path for Passing SAVE Act
    A $50 million federal grant program to help states implement REAL ID could be a way to pass parts of the SAVE America Act, a sweeping election integrity proposal. “We are using every tool to get the SAVE America Act passed,” Rep. Julie Fedorchak, R-N.D., told the Daily Signal, a co-sponsor of the proposal. “This…
    Fred Lucas
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  • news

    Watchdog: Maryland’s Weak Controls Put Millions of Federal Tax Dollars at Risk
    FIRST ON DAILY SIGNAL—Maryland officials struggled to keep track of hundreds of millions of dollars in federal funding, according to an analysis of state financial data. An audit found the state’s transportation department misreported $417 million, the Department of Human Services poorly tracked more than $200 million in funding, and other agencies committed similar accounting…
    Fred Lucas
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  • opinion

    SNAP’s Updated Work Requirements: A Needed Makeover for Upward Mobility
    The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program’s new work requirements are now on display across all states as of June 1. California, the country’s last holdout, began implementing the updated work requirements set forth in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act passed last July. The work requirements were rolled out in waves across the country.   Some politicians on the left and several media outlets claim the work requirements are harmful. New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani is among those sounding the alarm, with a recent X post stating: “Food stamp work requirements don’t create jobs, they create…
    Camilla Cort
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  • news

    DHS Secretary Blasts Senator for Calling ICE Unconstitutional: ‘If You Don’t Like the Laws, YOU Can Change Them’
    Department of Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin fired back at Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., during a Senate Appropriations subcommittee hearing over claims that Immigration and Customs Enforcement is lawless, dangerous, and unconstitutional. “We’re doing the job that Congress gave us the authority to do,” Mullin said. “If you don’t like the laws, you can change…
    Joseph Buff
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  • news

    A New Congressional Plan to Save $1.5 Trillion and End Abortion Funding
    The Heritage Foundation released its version of Reconciliation 3.0, a new plan to end federal funding for abortion, combat fraud, and save America $1.5 trillion. The leading conservative policy institute on Wednesday unveiled “Setting the American Opportunity Agenda,” a special budget and spending report for Congress, and House Speaker Mike Johnson said he is ready…
    Virginia Grace McKinnon
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  • opinion

    Reconciliation 3.0 Is the Best 250th Birthday Present Congress Can Give America
    Leave it to the legacy media to turn a commemorative currency proposal into a five-alarm constitutional crisis. By now, you’ve probably heard about the scene at last week’s White House press briefing when CNN’s Kaitlan Collins confronted Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent about a proposed $250 bill featuring President Donald Trump. “Do you think politically it’s…
    Robert B. Bluey
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  • opinion

    Making Government Lean Again: The DOGE Effect
    As of Jan. 1, 2026, the Department of Government Efficiency reports $215 billion in savings, or roughly $1,335 per taxpayer. Established in the early months of the second Trump administration and initially led by Elon Musk, DOGE set out to eliminate waste, fraud, and inefficiency in federal spending. Early results suggest those efforts are not…
    Nicole Huyer | Christopher Lynch
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  • analysis

    How Can Ohio Pull Itself Up for Family Status Ranking?
    Ohio is below average in family rankings, according to a recent report that measures family strength and stability across all 50 states. But two top elected officials in the Buckeye State say promoting fatherhood and lowering the tax burden could help improve the situation. Last month, the Center for Christian Virtue released its 2026 Family…
    Rebecca Downs
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  • news

    $1.3 Billion Frozen in Sweeping California Hospice Fraud Crackdown
    More than $1.3 billion in federal health care reimbursements have been halted, and 800 hospices have been suspended amid a sweeping crackdown on California hospice fraud. These efforts have been led by Vice President JD Vance and Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz, who President Donald Trump selected to lead the…
    Angelina Delfin
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  • opinion

    1 in 3 Dollars Earned Goes to Taxes. Why?
    Most Americans were glad to get another Tax Day behind them this month. It’s galling to hand over a third of everything you earned last year to government to waste, fraud, and abuse. Consider the raw numbers. Last year, the federal government took just over $5 trillion. States and localities took another $2.5 trillion. Out…
    Peter St. Onge | EJ Antoni
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  • opinion

    A Modest Proposal for SNAP Amid the Schumer Shutdown
    Democrats are warning that thousands of children may go hungry if Republicans don’t cave in to Democrats’ demands and agree to fund COVID-19-era Obamacare subsidies for wealthier Americans. Meanwhile, Republicans have filed a bill just to fund the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, better known as food stamps, during the shutdown. If the impasse…
    Tyler O’Neil
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  • news

    New Report Exposes Billions in Funding for the ‘Homeless Industrial Complex’
    Americans spend billions of dollars to combat homelessness, through donations and taxpayer funding, but the “Homeless Industrial Complex” uses this money for political activism that actually demonizes the policies more likely to solve the crisis, according to a new report. “Fringe groups in the Homeless Industrial Complex like to characterize homelessness as a symptom of…
    Tyler O’Neil
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  • news

    Nonprofits Are Becoming Taxpayer-Financed Instruments of Government
    Nonprofits are the beating heart of America’s civil society. Neighbors helping neighbors, churches serving the needy, communities coming together to solve problems without waiting for Washington. Alexis de Tocqueville marveled at this spirit nearly two centuries ago, calling it essential to our democracy. That independence also relies on separation from the state. Yet today, almost…
    Jack Salmon
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