Political News
Reports on political developments, legislation, and leadership. The Daily Signal provides news and conservative analysis of American politics.
-
news
Biden Admin Using Same Authority to Build Border Wall GOP Senator Recommended 8 Months Ago
The Biden administration is using the authority of a 1996 statute to build a section of border wall in South Texas less than a year after a Republican senator proposed a bill to resume wall construction using the same legal authority. The Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 gives the secretary… -
news
Biden Administration Defends Building of Border Wall, Indicates It Was Forced
The Biden administration is defending its plan to construct 17 miles of border wall in South Texas. Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas announced in the U.S. Federal Register that a wall in Starr County, Texas, will be constructed to “deter illegal crossings in areas of ‘high illegal entry’ into the United States.” President Joe… -
news
Critics Assail Biden’s ‘War on American Energy’ on National Energy Appreciation Day
Sen. Cynthia Lummis sponsored a resolution establishing the first-ever National Energy Appreciation Day, and the Wyoming Republican had much to say about American energy at a panel discussion marking the occasion Wednesday. “As [the Biden] administration continues to put our domestic energy producers on the back burner with its war on American energy, it is… -
opinion
Justice Thomas and the Uneven Scales of Scrutiny
There is no worse example of a biased, tendentious mainstream media with ulterior motives than the castigation of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas during the past half year. The latest example stems from flyspecking Thomas’ amended financial disclosure reports, repeating what has never been disputed and attempting to cast a dark shadow on otherwise innocent,… -
news
EXCLUSIVE: President’s Watchdog Nominee May ‘Run to Hunter Biden’s Rescue,’ Chuck Grassley Warns
FIRST ON THE DAILY SIGNAL—Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, co-founder of the Senate’s Whistleblower Caucus, is raising concerns about President Joe Biden’s choice to run the government’s Office of Special Counsel. Biden on Tuesday nominated Hampton Dellinger, a former colleague of first son Hunter Biden at the Washington law firm of Boies Schiller Flexner LLP, to… -
opinion
In Special Session on School Choice, Texas Legislators Should Emulate Arizona
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has called a special legislative session to begin Oct. 9 to expand K-12 options for Texas families. In the past few years, nine states have made every K-12 student eligible for education choice. “Empowering parents to choose the best educational path for their child remains an essential priority,” said Abbott, who… -
opinion
Biden Administration Now Wants to Ban Furnaces
In an attempt to force Americans to conserve energy, the Department of Energy is banning a whole class of popular furnaces, eventually raising heating costs and reducing product choices for families and businesses alike. And it is using an outdated law to give itself the authority to do so. While the DOE did recognize many… -
opinion
The BorderLine: The Border Crisis by the Numbers
The BorderLine is a weekly Daily Signal feature examining everything from the unprecedented illegal immigration crisis at the border to immigration’s impact on cities and states throughout the land. We will also shed light on other critical border-related issues like human trafficking, drug smuggling, terrorism, and more. ———————————————————- Math was never my favorite subject, so it’s… -
opinion
The Biden Administration’s Very Selective ‘National Emergency’ to Free Americans Wrongfully Detained Abroad
The Biden administration has been praising itself in a Department of State press release for successfully bringing home American citizens who had spent years in Iran “imprisoned as part of the Iranian regime’s cruel practice of wrongful detention.” Secretary of State Antony Blinken even touted the administration’s commitment to ensuring it has “brought home every wrongfully… -
opinion
4 Billboards in Ohio and Pennsylvania: Whatever It Takes to Get Americans Talking About ‘Transing’ Children
In the 2017 movie “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri,” the character Mildred Hayes, played by the always-gripping Frances McDormand, is a driven mother seeking justice for her slain daughter. Feeling ignored, and with no arrests after seven months, Mildred puts up three roadside signs to prod Ebbing’s police chief to find her daughter’s killer. As… -
news
Wisconsin Court Sides With Parental Rights Over School District’s Gender Transition Policy
A school district’s policy “to enable and affirm a minor student’s transition to a different gender identity at school without parental consent violates parents’ constitutional right to determine the appropriate medical and health care for their children,” a Wisconsin court ruled Tuesday. “This victory represents a major win for parental rights,” said Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty Deputy… -
opinion
Oakland Crime Map Paints Troubling Picture
The crime map for Oakland, California, provides a telling glimpse into the reality that locals there live with on a daily basis. The colored dots indicate incidents of car thefts, assaults, drug-related crimes, robberies, and so on that have taken place in and around Oakland the previous week. The map is an indicator of what… -
opinion
The Job Ahead for Next House Speaker
The removal of Rep. Kevin McCarthy as speaker of the House of Representatives on Tuesday was historic, but now it’s time to talk about the future, one knowledgeable Capitol Hill watcher says. “We are at a critical juncture in this country,” says Ryan Walker, executive vice president of Heritage Action for America, an independent, nonprofit… -
news
Biden Admin Teams With Conservative Critic as Maine Defends Blocking Access to Voter Data
Maine heads to court Thursday to defend its policy of shielding voter registration records from public disclosure against unlikely allies—a conservative election integrity watchdog and the Biden administration’s Justice Department. The case could have far-reaching consequences for government transparency, press freedom, the First Amendment, and clean elections well beyond Maine, said J. Christian Adams, president… -
opinion
State Abortion Laws Being Reversed as State Courts’ Ideological Compositions Change
For 50 years, the Supreme Court’s 1973 decision in Roe v. Wade, which invented a fictional “right to abortion,” prevented most efforts to protect human lives before birth. Last year’s decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization corrected that egregious error, lifting that impediment to pro-life efforts in state legislatures and Congress. Pro-abortion forces,… -
news
EXCLUSIVE: Biden Nominee to Protect Son Hunter From Whistleblowers, Oversight Chair Says
FIRST ON THE DAILY SIGNAL—President Joe Biden has nominated a former colleague of his son Hunter Biden—they worked together at a law firm representing Ukrainian energy company Burisma—to run an internal watchdog agency in his administration. Biden tapped lawyer Hampton Dellinger on Tuesday to lead the Office of the Special Counsel, an agency that primarily… -
opinion
Even Starbucks Is Failing in Crime-Ridden San Francisco
First, Whole Foods closed and now Starbucks is shuttering a slew of locations in San Francisco. The Seattle coffee giant announced Tuesday that it would close seven of its 59 locations in the city, effective Oct. 22. The city’s “doom loop” is speeding up. Starbucks didn’t mention crime in its official reason for leaving the… -
opinion
What K-12 Schools Could Learn About Transparency for Families From Early-Childhood Education
Does anything compare with having the peace of mind of knowing that your child is safe, happy, and learning during the school day? While a parent is working, knowing that your child is getting the care and attention he or she needs while apart from the family is invaluable. Many early-childhood education and care providers… -
news
Stop Sanitizing Education: ‘If It’s Not Offensive to Anyone, It’s Probably Not Important Either’
The American education system used to be the envy of the world, and we need to return to the tried and true ways of traditional classical education, according to the founder of a standardized test for classical education that’s an alternative to the College Board’s SAT. “The mainstream education system is at fault in a… -
opinion
Supreme Court Sends Mixed Signals on Constitutionality of CFPB Funding in Oral Arguments
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau v. Community Financial Services, argued Tuesday before the Supreme Court, is nominally an industry challenge to the bureau’s payday-lending rule. But the challengers’ effort to invalidate that rule has called into doubt the constitutionality of the bureau’s independent funding scheme. Thus, the issues the court must decide are: (1) whether the…