Washington Politics & News
The Daily Signal covers Washington state politics with reporting on progressive Seattle policies, rural-urban divides, tax debates, and political divisions between Western and Eastern Washington.
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opinion
Washington Is Mismanaging Your Gas Tax Dollars. Here’s Why States Should Have Control.
Transportation funding could hit a dead-end at the end of the month. On May 31, the Highway Trust Fund’s authorization to pay for the nation’s highway and mass transit projects will expire. Even worse, the fund is running a $13 billion cash flow deficit this year and is expected to exhaust all its money sometime… -
news
K-12 School Removes Washington Post Profile of Ryan T. Anderson From Its Facebook Page. Here’s Why.
Yesterday, The Heritage Foundation’s leading scholar on marriage policy was featured on the front page of The Washington Post as the right’s “fresh voice on same-sex marriage.” The premise of the article was this: A day in the life of Ryan T. Anderson, whose work reflects the belief that marriage should only be between a… -
news
Public Citizen Earned Four Pinocchios from The Washington Post’s Fact Checker
We all know the story Pinocchio: Every time he told a lie, his nose grew. The same thing has happened to Public Citizen, which is often considered “influential on the left in the trade debate.” A March 13 press release on trade-related job-loss statistics by Public Citizen failed the Washington Post’s famous Pinocchio test. The… -
news
Rand Paul Assails Corrupt ‘Washington Machine’ as He Opens White House Bid
Sen. Rand Paul today entered the race for president by urging voters to join him in fighting for “restrained” government and “maximized” freedom. “Too often Republicans have squandered our victory by becoming part of the Washington machine,” @RandPaul says. Asking help from God and “lovers of liberty,” the Kentucky Republican pledged if elected to shut down “the… -
opinion
Cartoon: Washington’s Idea of ‘Budgeting’
Interested in learning more about the budget? Check out The Heritage Foundation's analyses of the Republican House and Senate budgets—and whether Republicans were willing to make the tough cuts or not: • How Does the House Budget Measure Up? • How Does the Senate Budget Measure Up? -
news
GOP White House Hopefuls Welcome Israeli Leader’s Washington Visit
A much-anticipated speech by Israel’s prime minister to a joint meeting of Congress on the nuclear threat posed by Iran gave prospective Republican candidates for president an opportunity, and many of them took it. By the time Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu begins his address today at 11 a.m. EST (about 6 p.m. in Israel), these White House… -
opinion
Why Washington Shouldn’t Control Transportation Decisions
Predictably, President Barack Obama’s 2016 budget request calls for higher taxes to partially finance a $4-trillion spending tsunami. One of the more senseless tax hikes would fall on multinational businesses and is sought to pay for a transportation budget more lavish than necessary. It’s baffling why Obama would propose this tax on businesses’ foreign income,… -
opinion
Washington Might Not Be Pushing Tax Cuts, But Republican Governors Are
While the prospects for tax reform in Washington are dim, as many as 20 Republican governors are moving forward with their own pro-growth tax-relief initiatives. This is on top of the 14 states, including Florida, Michigan, Ohio and Wisconsin, whose 2014 tax cuts will take effect this year. Arizona’s new Gov. Doug Ducey says his… -
news
Border Patrol Union Leader Blasts Washington: ‘We’re in the Middle of Political Football’
A union leader for U.S. Border Patrol agents spoke out today to voice concern about the political haggling over funding for the Department of Homeland Security. “We don’t want our border left unguarded,” says @Shawn_Moran Shawn Moran, vice president for the National Border Patrol Council, says the congressional showdown over President Obama’s executive actions and… -
news
Washington State Might Hike Legal Smoking Age to 21
Washington state may become the first state to make the legal smoking age the same as the legal drinking age: 21. State Attorney General Bob Ferguson, a Democrat, is behind the new proposal, according to Fox News. In a statement, Ferguson said, “The harmful consequences of tobacco are clear. Smoking kills 8,300 Washingtonians every year,… -
opinion
Washington Needs to Stop Being Clueless About the Internet, Cybersecurity
On Monday, U.S. Central Command lost control of its Twitter and YouTube accounts. It serves as yet another reminder of irresponsible social networking practices by federal agencies. The Internet is used for everything from downloading Taylor Swift to waging war, yet Washington seems hopelessly inept at finding its way in the cyber world. The Central… -
news
Republican’s Plan to Fix No Child Left Behind Fails to ‘Limit Washington Overreach’
Local education needs are being ignored in a proposed rewrite of the federal No Child Left Behind law, an education policy expert says. Association of American Educators member Tracie Happel, a second-grade teacher at Northside Elementary in La Crosse, Wis., which has a high number of students from disadvantaged families, says students from low-income families… -
opinion
Why Washington Politicians Want to Hike the Gas Tax
Suddenly everyone in Washington wants a gas tax hike—apparently so consumers don’t save too much money at the pump. As prices keep falling, the politicians and the moochers in Washington want a piece of the action. Rather than raise the federal gas tax, a better policy would be to repeal the federal tax and let… -
news
The Real Story of George Washington’s Decisive Christmas Attack at Trenton
TRENTON, N.J.—We all know the story from high school history. Or think we do. Gen. George Washington and his tired and tiny Continental Army scored one of the most significant battlefield victories in American history at Christmas in 1776. The Continentals launched a surprise attack on the Hessians—mercenaries from Germany who were protecting Trenton, N.J.,… -
news
Ted Cruz: ‘I’m Not Trying to Play the Washington Rules, I’m Trying to Change the Rules’
Facing a series of tough questions from Fox News’ Bret Baier tonight, Sen. Ted Cruz defended his actions over the weekend to force a Senate vote to defund President Obama’s executive actions on immigration. “Every single Senate Democrat is now on record supporting the president’s unconstitutional amnesty,” says @SenTedCruz The rare weekend session drew complaints… -
opinion
Cartoon: Tree Trimming…Washington Style
The spending bill, released and passed this week, wasn't exactly the greatest holiday gift for taxpayers … From Heritage budget expert Romina Boccia's column earlier this week: At more than 1,600 pages, Congress’s $1.1 trillion behemoth spending bill funding almost all government agencies through September 2015 has arrived. … The “CRomnibus” spending bill represents a strange… -
opinion
Why Does Washington Want to Hide Science Data From the Public?
When federal bureaucrats drive up costs for American families and businesses through heavy-handed regulation, it shouldn’t be too much to ask for a solid scientific underpinning for that regulation. And it shouldn’t be too big of a burden for the federal government to make its data available to the public. Congressman David Schweikert’s, R-Ariz., Secret… -
news
Beyond Washington, Republicans Seize Control of State Capitals
The Republican takeover of the U.S. Senate may have been the biggest election news. But the most consequential storyline resonates beyond Washington and into the heart of the country, as Americans delivered Republicans firm control of the nation’s state capitals. Republicans picked up Democratic-held governorships in traditionally liberal states such as Massachusetts, Maryland and Illinois,… -
opinion
The Washington Post Misses the Point on Immigration Enforcement
Last week, The Washington Post’s editorial board criticized the GOP for trying to “frighten” voters about a wide-open border. The Post points to substantial increases in border security in the past decade as an indicator that the U.S. is already doing a great deal to stop illegal immigration. Yet, the article misses the real issues… -
opinion
Washington Shouldn’t React to White House Fence Jumper By Making Government Buildings Less Accessible
Since this article was originally published, it has been reported that the fence jumper, Omar Gonzalez, got further inside the White House than was known. Courtesy of Mashable, here's an image showing how far Gonzalez got. Image: Mashable Composite, WhiteHouse.gov Last Friday, a troubled Army veteran jumped the White House fence and dashed across the…