Daily news coverage of politics, policy, and issues shaping the nation.
KYIV, Ukraine—It’s cold, and I’m alone. I walk along Khreshchatyk, this city’s main boulevard. The street lights cast shadows on the ground, concealing patches of slippery ice and trampled snow. I walk thoughtfully and carefully, unable to clearly see the obstacles in my path. As is so often the case in a foreign country, even…
For Americans hitting the drive-thru at their local McDonald’s, a $15-an-hour minimum wage could hit them in their wallets. According to a January report released by James Sherk, a former research fellow in labor economics at The Heritage Foundation, fast-food prices would rise by 38 percent under a $15-an-hour minimum wage and cause a 36…
President Donald Trump went toe-to-toe with the media at a White House press conference Thursday, using terms such as “fake news” and “failing” to describe many of the recent stories about his administration. “The public doesn’t believe you people anymore,” @POTUS says. “I turn on the TV, open the newspapers, and I see stories of…
President Donald Trump’s first weeks as commander in chief have been challenged by upheaval within his National Security Council, the White House group tasked with coordinating and implementing foreign policy and counterterrorism strategy. The resignation of Michael Flynn as national security adviser—head of the National Security Council—comes at a time when acute foreign policy decisions…
“I am the guy that runs to the fight.” For Michael Farris, the decision to lead one of the biggest organizations advocating religious liberty was motivated by thinking that threats to religious liberty were reaching a crisis point in America. “If religious freedom falls, then other rights [will fall],” Farris tells The Daily Signal. “Free…
House Republican leaders mapped out their proposal for how Obamacare will be repealed and replaced in a closed-door meeting Thursday, outlining plans for Medicaid reforms and refundable tax credits for Americans. Joined briefly by newly confirmed Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price, House Speaker Paul Ryan, Ways and Means Committee Chairman Kevin Brady, and…
The Senate voted 51-49 Thursday to confirm Rep. Mick Mulvaney, R-S.C., who will be tasked with addressing the nation’s $20 trillion in national debt, as director of the Office of Management and Budget. Mulvaney, a Republican representing South Carolina’s 5th Congressional District in the House since 2011, will be responsible for directing the budget process…
An appellate court unanimously ruled against Barronelle Stutzman, the Washington florist who declined to make flower arrangements for a same-sex couple’s wedding because of her religious beliefs. Lawyers for Stutzman told The Daily Signal they plan to appeal the Washington state Supreme Court ruling to the U.S. Supreme Court. The ruling, issued on Thursday by Washington’s nine…
President Donald Trump picked R. Alexander Acosta to lead the Department of Labor Thursday, just one day after CKE Restaurants CEO Andy Puzder withdrew his name from consideration. Acosta is a former federal prosecutor and the dean of the Florida International University College of Law in Miami. “After careful consideration and discussions with my family, I…
“We as conservatives can make a case for a unified, principled, and populist agenda that puts the federal government back on the side of the forgotten Americans.” That was the message Republican Sen. Mike Lee of Utah delivered at a Heritage Foundation event Wednesday titled “Conservatism for the Forgotten Man.” Lee urged conservatives to consider…
In the four weeks since President Donald Trump was inaugurated, congressional lawmakers have moved to address some of the 22,700 regulations adopted under President Barack Obama. “There has not been nearly as much attention paid to this issue as there should have been,” Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, told The Daily Signal in a phone interview….
President Donald Trump said he wants Israel to “hold back” on additional settlements during a joint press conference Wednesday with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. “It might be a bigger and better deal than people in this room even understand,” @POTUS says. “As far as settlements, I’d like to see you hold back on settlements…
Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., and Rep. Mark Sanford, R-S.C., introduced a bill to replace Obamacare on Wednesday, increasing the pressure on GOP leaders who continue to discuss moving the law’s replacement at the same time as its repeal. The legislation already has the full support of the House Freedom Caucus, a group of roughly 40…
Republican leaders in the House and Senate don’t want to stand up for life by rejecting the legalization of physician-assisted suicide in the nation’s capital, a prominent conservative lawmaker said Tuesday. “We disagree with the law,” Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, said. “We disagree with the premise of what D.C. did, and we have the constitutional…
President Donald Trump hasn’t yet repealed and replaced Obamacare, or achieved 4 percent economic growth just shy of one month in office. But the new president has begun to deliver on several other campaign promises. Trump issued executive orders to begin constructing the border wall and curb burdensome Obamacare regulations until the law is replaced….
Conservatives in the House are drawing a hard line with party leadership on what legislation repealing Obamacare they’ll support and making it clear they won’t accept anything less than a bill dismantling the health care law that passed last year. “The commitment for Republicans in 2010, 2012, 2014, 2016 has been repeal and replace, not…
Congress is taking aim at a 1950s-era law that restricts the free speech of churches and other nonprofits after President Donald Trump recently condemned it. "The IRS has used the Johnson Amendment to silence and threaten religious institutions and charitable entities," @CongressmanHice says. Trump pledged at the National Prayer Breakfast earlier this month, “I will…
Conservative House lawmakers who came to power during the tea party’s rise acknowledge the makings of an emerging liberal protest movement in the age of Donald Trump, but reject comparisons to it. “Maybe some of the actions they take are similar, but this is a very different operation than one that came out of somebody’s…
Wall Street Journal Editor-in-Chief Gerard Baker told his reporters Monday the paper would not abandon objectivity in its coverage of President Donald Trump, and directed them to find work somewhere else if they want to adopt a more oppositional tone. “It’s a little irritating when I read that we have been soft on Donald Trump,”…
President Donald Trump is considering three former high-ranking military officials for the post of national security adviser, after the Monday resignation of Michael Flynn. Flynn stepped down after reports indicated he misled Vice President Mike Pence on his discussions during the presidential transition with Russian Ambassador to the U.S. Sergey Kislyak. Trump is considering retired Lt….