White House News

The Daily Signal provides coverage of the White House agenda, press briefings, and policy decisions affecting the country at large.
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    • News

    Trump Notes ‘Respect’ for Obama After White House Meeting

    President-elect Donald Trump called President Barack Obama a “very good man” for whom he had “great respect,” and said he would continue to seek his “counsel” after the two met Thursday for more than an hour at the White House. For his part, Obama wished Trump success. Trump has called Obama the “worst president in…
    Fred Lucas
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    • News

    The Team That Will Transition Trump Into the White House

    As balloons drop and Donald Trump celebrates his hard-fought victory, a select group of political and policy experts will hit the ground running, laying the groundwork for a full-on Trump administration. For the next three months, Trump’s transition team—separate from his campaign team—will guide the president-elect on his future administration. From budgeting decisions to agenda…
    Kelsey Bolar
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    • News

    White House: US Is in a ‘Narrative Fight’ With ISIS

    The U.S. is in a fight with the Islamic State, but according to the White House it is a fight of words, not arms. “When it comes to ISIL, we are in a fight—a narrative fight with them. A narrative battle,” said White House press secretary Josh Earnest while appearing on CNN Monday, the day after…
    Russ Read
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    • News

    Obama White House Eyes Hacking Threat as Rationale to ‘Protect’ Elections

    The federal government is mulling a decision to protect state election systems on par with national defense and the power grid, citing recent hacking efforts. But state officials and other critics worry this move, under the guise of thwarting cyberterrorists, would be a back-door means of nationalizing local election functions. Neither the Constitution nor Congress…
    Fred Lucas
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    • News

    3 Women Explain Why They Called White House to Complain About Obama’s Bathroom Mandate

    Individuals around the country called the White House comment line on Tuesday to say “no” to President Barack Obama’s transgender bathroom mandate. The “United We Stand” campaign was organized in response to the Obama administration’s “Dear Colleague” letter on transgender students. The letter sent to schools in May from the departments of Education and Justice…
    Leah Jessen
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    • News

    White House Opens Restrooms Based on Gender Identity, but Not Sure of Other Federal Buildings

    The National Park Service says park visitors can use the restroom that matches their gender identity, but the White House isn’t sure whether the Obama administration is applying that policy to all federal government buildings. The decision on use of public restrooms under federal control might in fact be left to individual government agencies, White…
    Fred Lucas
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    • Opinion

    Loading…. Obama’s Cyber Executive Order Remains Unused

    In April 2015, President Obama signed Executive Order 13964, “Blocking the Property of Certain Persons Engaging in Significant Malicious Cyber-Enabled Activities.” Executive Order 13964 took two significant steps toward safeguarding cybersecurity: Declaring a state of “national emergency” to deal with the “increasing prevalence and severity of malicious cyber-enabled activities”; and Creating a framework for the…
    Alton Martin
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    • News

    White House Spin on Iran Omissions Doesn’t Include Denial of Deception

    The Obama administration is spinning its own spin on the Iran nuclear deal, explaining two omissions from official records of public press briefings regarding questions on the U.S.-led multilateral agreement. White House press secretary Josh Earnest this week did not categorically deny that any official in the Obama administration misled the public regarding the Iran…
    Fred Lucas
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    • News

    Daily Signal Adds White House Correspondent Fred Lucas

    Fred Lucas, who has covered the presidency and national politics from Washington for almost a decade, this week joined The Daily Signal as White House correspondent. “As we mark the second anniversary of @TheDailySignal, I’m delighted to expand our reporting team with @FredLucasWH,” @RobertBluey says. The addition of Lucas, who is an independent contractor, comes…
    Ken McIntyre
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    • Opinion

    Ben Sasse: Are Americans OK With White House Propaganda?    

    The New York Times Magazine recently profiled President Barack Obama’s deputy national security adviser, Ben Rhodes, in an article titled “The Aspiring Novelist Who Became Obama’s Foreign-Policy Guru.” In it Rhodes openly brags about how the administration manipulated the media in the run-up to Obama’s nuclear deal with Iran. I want to explain very briefly why…
    Sen. Ben Sasse
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    • Opinion

    New Pro-Amnesty Lawsuit Undermines Obama’s Case for His Amnesty Executive Order

    Next month, the Supreme Court of the United States will hear oral argument in United States v. Texas, which is the legal challenge by Texas and numerous other states to the Obama administration’s “Deferred Action for Parents of Americans and Lawful Permanent Residents” (DAPA) program. That program sought to provide amnesty for 5 million illegal…
    Andrew Kloster
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    • News

    White House ‘Shirks Responsibility’ for Renewed Border Crisis, Senator Says

    The Obama administration isn’t prepared for a revived wave of unaccompanied children crossing illegally into the United States, Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, said Tuesday. In opening remarks before a Judiciary Committee hearing, Grassley criticized the White House for “shirking responsibility” while the influx of Central American children fleeing across the U.S.-Mexico border threatens to outpace 2014’s crisis. “We…
    Natalie Johnson
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    • News

    Oregon Bakers Get New Legal Representation From Former H.W. Bush White House Counsel

    Aaron and Melissa Klein, the Oregon bakers who were ordered to pay $135,000 for refusing to make a cake for a same-sex wedding, have assembled a new legal team to take their case through the appeals process.   The Kleins are now being represented by attorneys at First Liberty, a law firm that specializes in…
    Kelsey Bolar
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    • News

    White House Sends Nominee to Export-Import Bank’s Board of Directors, But It’s Unlikely to Go Anywhere

    President Barack Obama named a new nominee to the Export-Import Bank’s Board of Directors Monday. But the nominee is likely to move slowly, if at all, through the Senate Banking Committee, which hinders the controversial agency’s ability to extend financing to some of its largest beneficiaries. In a statement released Monday, the White House said…
    Melissa Quinn
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    • News

    White House Issues Correction to Obama’s Terrorism Speech

    In his Oval Office address to the nation Sunday night, President Obama incorrectly claimed that one of the San Bernardino terrorists arrived in the United States under the visa waiver program. The White House acknowledged the mistake shortly after the speech. White House issues correction to Obama's speech tonight pic.twitter.com/EgIBgVIKBR — Ben Jacobs (@Bencjacobs) December…
    Rob Bluey
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    • Opinion

    Time for the White House to Develop a Serious Arctic Agenda

    Washington is waking up to the fact that America is an Arctic nation. But, as in a doomed polar expedition, the administration seems to be aimlessly wandering in the policy tundra. President Obama’s recent trip to Alaska only raises more questions over whether the White House really has a serious Arctic agenda. Shifts in the…
    James Carafano
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    • News

    Obama Issues Executive Order Requiring Paid Sick Leave for Federal Contractors

    President Barack Obama took Labor Day to sign an executive order that will require federal contractors to provide employees with up to seven days of paid sick leave, condemning Republicans for a “constant attack on working Americans.” The White House estimated that the order will impact more than 300,000 workers who currently do not receive such…
    Natalie Johnson
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    • News

    Petition for White House to Watch Planned Parenthood Videos Needs Over 80,000 More Signatures

    A recent “We the People” petition is pushing for the Obama administration to watch the Planned Parenthood videos released by the Center for Medical Progress. It still needs over 80,000 signatures for a response from the administration. The online petition forum on the White House website, We the People, has 16,374 people as of Friday afternoon who…
    Leah Jessen
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    • Opinion

    White House Gets It Right on Occupational Licensing

    Free-market advocates have long criticized excessive occupational licensing as a drag on the U.S. labor market and an impediment to growth. The Obama administration, it seems, is finally listening. The White House Report In a major report published in July, the White House acknowledged the growing costs of occupational licensing and called on state leaders…
    David Allen
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    • News

    Conservatives, White House Upset With Education Law Rewrite for Different Reasons

    The House passed a rewrite of the No Child Left Behind Act in a razor-thin vote Wednesday night, ignoring a White House veto threat and pushing on with legislation that would ease the federal government’s role in public education. The bill passed by a mere five votes in the final 218-213 roll call. No Democrats…
    Natalie Johnson
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