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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    • News

    ‘Accountability Is Coming’: Iowa’s Ernst Sends Musk’s DOGE $2T Worth of Ways to Gut Government Spending 

    DAILY CALLER NEWS FOUNDATION—Sen. Joni Ernst sent Department of Government Efficiency cochairmen Tesla CEO Elon Musk and former Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy a letter Monday with ideas for budget cuts that could save the federal government more than $2 trillion. Trump named Musk and Ramaswamy as cochairmen of DOGE on Nov. 12. In the seven-page letter, Ernst’s…
    Harold Hutchison
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    • News

    $7M BUDGET HOLE: Teachers Union Halts School for 2 Weeks Over ‘Unreasonable’ Demands

    The Massachusetts Education Association apparently pushed three neighboring teachers unions to go on strike at the same time, sources close to the unions say. Because of the strikes, schools in three districts in Massachusetts have been closed for over two weeks, leaving working parents in the lurch without child care and extending the school year…
    Elizabeth Troutman Mitchell
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    • Opinion

    GO WOKE GO BROKE: The Ultimate DEI Hire Is Out of a Job, Despite Spending More to Win

    It was the worst of times, it was the worst of times. Seriously, it was the worst of times! How could a half-black, half-Asian, comparatively young woman lose so handily to a straight white male?! Hasn’t Donald Trump learned that he’s the recipient of a veritable mountain of privilege? In the name of justice, he…
    Tyler O’Neil
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    • News

    NASA Spent Millions on ‘Environmental Justice’ and ‘Equity’ Grants Despite Budget Woes

    DAILY CALLER NEWS FOUNDATION—The National Aeronautics and Space Administration has shelled out millions in awards to advance diversity, equity, and inclusion as well as “environmental justice,” despite recently laying off staff and shuttering space programs due to budgetary shortfalls. NASA has allocated roughly $10 million to pay out dozens of grants and contracts aimed at…
    Robert Schmad
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    • Opinion

    America’s Bipartisan Spending Suicide Pact

    The greatest moral hazard in American life is politics. Many of you probably remember 2012 GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney being secretly recorded by a Democratic operative telling donors that “47% of the people who will vote for the president no matter what” because they are “dependent upon government … believe that they are victims…
    David Harsanyi
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    • News

    BACK TO THE DRAWING BOARD: Speaker Johnson’s Next Move in Spending Fight

    It’s back to the drawing board for House Speaker Mike Johnson. On Wednesday, the House failed to pass the continuing resolution spending bill, with the SAVE Act attached, that would have funded the federal government beyond the end of the fiscal year ending Sept. 30 and through March. Wednesday evening’s vote failed 202-220. Three Democrats—Reps….
    Bradley Devlin
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    • Opinion

    Stopgap Spending Bill Disproportionately Hampers Military Funding

    With less than two weeks until the end of the fiscal year, a long-term continuing resolution is currently the best and most realistic option to constrain out-of-control government spending and avoid another lame-duck omnibus appropriations bill. However, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin recently sent a “parade of horribles” letter to Congress outlining the dangers of…
    Jeremy Hayes
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    • News

    House to Vote on Stopgap Spending Bill With SAVE Act Wednesday

    House Speaker Mike Johnson announced Tuesday morning that the House will move forward with a vote on Wednesday on a continuing resolution to fund the government beyond the end of the fiscal year on Sept. 30. The continuing resolution would fund the government for six months and avert the looming government shutdown. Johnson has also…
    Bradley Devlin
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    • Opinion

    Reckless $15 Billion Budget Shortfalls Risk VA Benefits. These Low-Hanging Fruits Could Prioritize Veterans’ Well-Being.

    The men and women who’ve defended our nation should not have the veterans benefits they earned threatened by fiscal mismanagement. That’s why Republican lawmakers introduced a supplemental appropriations bill to provide an additional $2.9 billion to cover shortfalls in the Department of Veterans Affairs’ budget for fiscal year 2024.    However, this supplemental spending bill…
    Rachel Greszler
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    • News

    Speaker Johnson Pulls Spending Bill Vote Amid GOP Opposition

    House Speaker Mike Johnson has deferred the vote on a bill to fund the government through March. The temporary government-funding mechanism, called a continuing resolution, would have included the SAVE Act, an election-integrity measure meant to prevent illegal immigrants from voting in federal elections. Johnson has pulled the bill until next week in hopes of…
    Bradley Devlin
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    • Opinion

    This Calculator Tells You the Size of Inflation’s Bite Into Your Household Budget

    While many economic pundits point to cooling inflation, The Heritage Foundation’s new Personal Inflation Calculator showcases the cumulative effect of inflation on the average American.   Since the Biden-Harris administration took office in January 2021, Americans have felt the pain of rising prices. The federal government’s excessive spending and borrowing habits led to record-high inflation….
    Nicole Huyer
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    • News

    These 2 Freedom Caucus Lawmakers Say They Won’t Support Spending Package Without SAVE Act

    Reps. Ralph Norman, R-S.C., and Chip Roy, R-Texas, said they will only vote for the continuing resolution to fund the federal government beyond the end of the fiscal year on Sept. 30 if it includes the SAVE Act, which would require proof of citizenship for voting. “It’s not enough to say it’s illegal,” Roy told…
    Elizabeth Troutman Mitchell
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    • Opinion

    Mike Johnson’s Opening Salvo in Upcoming Spending Fight

    Former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris are running out of time to court voters before Americans go to the polls on Nov. 5. But time is running out on another deadline before Election Day that has the potential to significantly affect the election and beyond. On Sept. 30, the end of fiscal…
    Bradley Devlin
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    • Opinion

    Congressman Calls on Fellow GOP Lawmakers to Quit Jogging Toward ‘Fiscal Cliff’

    The House of Representatives returns next week to Washington, and a budget fight showdown is expected. The fiscal year ends Sept. 30, and Congress is tasked with having the fiscal 2025 budget ready to go by then, but it’s all but guaranteed it won’t be.  “What usually happens at this time is, we’ll get to…
    Virginia Allen
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    • News

    ‘Stop Illegals From Voting’: House Freedom Caucus Urges Amendment to Omnibus Spending Bill

    The conservative House Freedom Caucus is calling for Republican leadership in Congress to tie appropriations to fund the government next year to a recently passed House bill to prevent foreign nationals from voting in U.S. elections. In July, the House passed the SAVE Act—short for the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act. If enacted and signed…
    Fred Lucas
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    • News

    ‘Slightly Less Bad Version of Democrats’: Chip Roy Rips House Republicans for Enabling Big Government Spending

    ATLANTA—For too long, Republicans have caused the things they campaign against, like big government spending, Rep. Chip Roy said Saturday. “Republicans give lip service to wanting to … shrink the size of government,” the Texas Republican said at Erick Erickson’s The Gathering conference in Atlanta, “and they won’t do it.” Many Republican members of the…
    Elizabeth Troutman Mitchell
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    • Opinion

    House Spending Bills Bring Conservative Wins, But Face Thorny Path Ahead

    While Americans attempt to grapple with the ongoing chaos of the 2024 election, House Republicans have been quietly doing the work of putting together and passing spending bills for the next fiscal year. What the endgame for those bills will be remains an open and important question—one that could last into next year. With the gross national…
    David Ditch
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    • News

    EXCLUSIVE: Department of Defense Spending MILLIONS on Lab-Grown ‘Meat’

    U.S. troops could be used as “guinea pigs” in a Defense Department-funded lab-grown “meat” initiative, an environmental watchdog group warns. BioMADE, described as a “public-private bio-manufacturing consortium sponsored by the U.S. Department of Defense,” announced an opportunity for alternative-protein producers and labs to qualify for a series of grants ranging from $250,000 to $2 million…
    Tony Kinnett
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    • News

    House Armed Services Panel Touts Removal of Leftist Policies From Defense Spending Bill

    Republicans on the House Armed Services Committee are touting provisions to the annual defense spending bill that would remove several left-wing policies and initiatives, according to a memo on the bill’s provisions obtained by the Daily Caller News Foundation. The Armed Services Committee passed on May 22 the draft of the National Defense Authorization Act, an…
    Jake Smith
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    • Opinion

    How Federal ‘Science’ Spending Helps Radicalize College Students

    Americans are watching as hordes of anti-American and anti-Israel activists have seized public spaces, occupied university buildings, denied access to reporters, and clashed with police and counterprotesters (all while demanding free food). The latest wave of often anti-Western and antisemitic protests is more intense than the initial wave of activity during the fall in part…
    David Ditch
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