Daily news coverage of politics, policy, and issues shaping the nation.
A trio of conservatives said they want to see Congress move faster with their efforts to repeal Obamacare and are worried that adding the law’s replacement to the repeal bill could drag down their dismantling of the health care law. During a breakfast with reporters held Wednesday at The Heritage Foundation, Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah,…
Sen. Cory Booker, who has been an outspoken critic of Betsy DeVos, once spoke at an event organized by a school choice group she led. In 2012, during a keynote address for an event hosted by the American Federation for Children, an organization DeVos chaired at the time, the New Jersey Democrat made the case for…
Facebook Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg recently made headlines when she donated $1 million to Planned Parenthood. Now, pro-life groups across the country are voicing their disappointment in the tech billionaire’s decision to support the nation’s largest abortion provider. Girls aborted by Planned Parenthood “will never get the chance to, in Sheryl’s words, ‘lean in,’”…
Hours after staging a 24-hour talkathon against Betsy DeVos’ nomination for education secretary, Senate Democrats were back at it Tuesday night. This time, Republicans had the last word. As the Senate debated the nomination of Sen. Jeff Sessions for attorney general, Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., delivered a blistering critique. She accused Sessions of trying to…
President Donald Trump will use his business skills to negotiate lower prices and foster more competition in the health care market—but he doesn’t want to rush things, White House press secretary Sean Spicer said Tuesday. “We’ve got to make sure we do this right. We don’t want to end up with the same results the…
Since the Senate started holding hearings on President Donald Trump’s Cabinet and Cabinet-level nominations, Senate Democrats have employed a variety of tactics to delay the votes needed for Trump to put the government’s leaders in place. Republicans have called Democrats’ actions “unprecedented,” but are they? A review by The Daily Signal of committee actions for…
Two Republican senators voted Tuesday against President Donald Trump’s secretary of education nominee, Betsy DeVos, forcing Vice President Mike Pence to cast a historic vote to break the tie to confirm her. Republican Sens. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Susan Collins of Maine sided with every Democrat and two independent senators to oppose DeVos. Pence then cast the…
Environmental Protection Agency employees joined a street protest organized by environmentalists opposing President Donald Trump’s pick to lead the agency. Around 30 employees at the EPA’s Chicago office joined a protest organized by the Sierra Club and the American Federation of Government Employees to protest Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt’s nomination. They argue that Pruitt, a critic…
When the 115th Congress arrived Jan. 3, the majority had an ambitious agenda. With Republicans in control of the House and Senate, and soon the White House, it was the first time in 10 years they could advance their policy agenda unobstructed by Democrats. Yet a month later, the GOP-led Congress has produced just three bills…
After the president scolded judges for not ruling his way, some critics accused him of seeking to intimidate an independent judiciary. “If a judge oversteps that constitutional role and acts as a super legislature, then that judge should be criticized,” @HvonSpakovsky says. That was in 2010, after the State of the Union address when President…
The writings of Judge Neil Gorsuch, President Donald Trump’s nominee for the Supreme Court, make clear his skepticism about government regulation and executive power. If confirmed as a member of the Supreme Court, Gorsuch could push to limit or overturn a 33-year-old legal doctrine, known as Chevron, which says the courts should defer to executive…
Recent scandals in the Department of Veterans Affairs and the Internal Revenue Service demonstrated that it’s almost impossible to fire federal employees, many of whom reportedly intend to go rogue by not implementing President Donald Trump’s agenda. “It’s hard to argue we have an accountable government when someone can’t be fired for years at a…
Two conservative advocacy organizations hope to stop Senate Democrats from blocking President Donald Trump’s Supreme Court nominee. “The focus is to put pressure on Democratic senators to decide between following the will of American people and the voters in their state or to follow Sen. Chuck Schumer and the radical left down a path of…
After a draft of a religious freedom executive order from President Donald Trump was leaked to the media, a group of Catholic nuns have once again found themselves in the spotlight. “I am aware of the draft executive order that seems to be circulating as of the last couple of days,” Sister Constance Veit, director of communications for…
Conservatives and religious groups are calling on President Donald Trump to stand firm on a draft executive order asserting the federal government recognize religious freedom as not only the right to worship but the right to express one’s religion. The draft of the executive order, reportedly called “Establishing a Government-Wide Initiative to Respect Religious Freedom,”…
In mid-November, just after Donald Trump was elected president, the outgoing Obama administration reached an agreement with Australia to resettle hundreds of refugees to America. Australia’s hard-line policy to deter illegal immigration had banished thousands of asylum-seekers, most from the Middle East, to offshore detention centers on the Pacific island nation of Nauru and Papua…
In the final months of the outgoing Obama administration, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials began quietly hiding evidence revealing a huge increase in the number of apprehended and incarcerated illegal aliens allowed to go free, rather than face detention or deportation. In addition to drastically increasing sanctioned catch-and-release cases during the latter part of…
Pro-life advocacy group Live Action, joined with members of Congress, called Thursday for the ending of taxpayer funding of Planned Parenthood, the nation’s largest abortion provider. “I hope that the sands of time blow over that Capitol dome before we ever give one more dime of taxpayer dollars to this insidious, deceptive, and evil enterprise,”…
More than 100 sanctuary cities across America received a total of $27 billion in federal funds in one year, according to a new study. President Donald Trump has promised to withhold at least some of that money if such jurisdictions don’t change their policies on illegal immigrants. Nearly 300 jurisdictions—states, counties, or cities—have some form…
Several Democrat senators are sending mixed signals as to whether they will support an up-or-down vote on President Donald Trump’s nominee for the Supreme Court. The uncertainty could complicate or delay the confirmation of Judge Neil Gorsuch. With liberal activists calling on Democrats to block Gorsuch’s confirmation, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., is demanding…