Daily news coverage of politics, policy, and issues shaping the nation.
This article has been corrected to reflect that Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton suggested that up to 15 percent of the United States population is noncitizens. That number bore no relation to the number of noncitizens voting. The Obama administration opposes states verifying citizenship status of registered voters. Inquiries into voter fraud are typically met with…
The effort to hold the fetal tissue procurement company StemExpress in contempt of Congress moved forward Wednesday, despite Democrats walking out of the vote. After the six Democrats on the special House panel physically exited the room in protest, the Republicans investigating the fetal tissue market voted unanimously to take legal action against StemExpress for…
KYIV, Ukraine—In Mariupol, a Ukrainian port city on the Sea of Azov only about 10 miles from the front lines, you can frequently hear artillery exploding from inside the city. Sometimes it sounds like tree branches knocking in the wind. Sometimes it’s loud enough to rattle windows. I was at dinner with a group of…
The next Supreme Court term is beginning Oct. 3—and there’s plenty of contentious issues on the docket for the eight justices to rule on. “The cases this term may be hard-pressed to match the excitement and media flurry that accompanied highly anticipated rulings in recent years, such as cases involving same-sex marriage, immigration, abortion, and…
After the terrorist attacks this weekend, President Barack Obama acknowledged a link between the central Islamic State and lone bad actors, even as the administration has frequently drawn a distinction in the past. National security experts believe terror attacks “inspired” by the radical groups are just as dangerous—potentially more so—than if ISIS draws up the…
Republicans on a special House panel are recommending that StemExpress and its CEO be held in contempt of Congress for refusing to hand over accounting records. The company came under scrutiny after last year’s undercover videos of Planned Parenthood, the nation’s top abortion provider. Republicans on the panel, which is investigating the market for tissue…
Bemoaning “insurer bailouts,” conservative groups warn of a possible fight in a lame-duck session of Congress over two programs written into Obamacare to give extra money to insurance companies. Freedom Partners, a nonprofit chamber of commerce, launched a campaign last week urging lawmakers to allow the two Obamacare programs to expire, as they are set…
As President Barack Obama used his final address before the United Nations General Assembly to urge world leaders to help protect refugees, Republicans in Congress threatened to use their budget powers to restrict who is admitted into the U.S. While refugee resettlement has enjoyed bipartisan support in Congress historically, some Republicans want confirmation from U.S. intelligence leaders that…
A last-minute deal between House conservatives and Republican leadership delayed a floor vote to impeach the head of the IRS last week. But the top taxman isn’t in the clear just yet. For the first time, IRS Commissioner John Koskinen will come under oath to plead his case, appearing before the House Judiciary Committee on…
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…
As President Barack Obama’s time in office nears its end, the Senate Judiciary Committee has advanced another one of his judicial nominees toward a lifetime post. She may not get to the finish line, though. While the Senate has entered that part of the political calendar when confirmations traditionally halt, the Judiciary Committee on Thursday voted…
A male high school student in a Virginia suburb has told the state’s highest court that he became “distressed,” “nervous,” and “terrified” after the school board instituted a policy for transgender students. The student and his parents unsuccessfully sued the Fairfax County School Board, and last week the Virginia Supreme Court agreed to take up their appeal….
It was 9 o’clock at night when Bill Meierling, a top official at the American Legislative Exchange Council, received the word from NPR’s “The Diane Rehm Show.” ALEC’s newly appointed CEO, Lisa Nelson, was scheduled to appear the next morning on Rehm’s long-running, Washington-based radio show. But ALEC’s critics on the left had posted their…
California Gov. Jerry Brown is considering whether to sign a bill that would allow tens of thousands of incarcerated felons to vote, while continuing to deny the vote to others. The Legislature sent a bill to Brown’s desk that would restore voting rights to an estimated 50,000 convicted felons who are behind bars in county jails, but not…
In 1991, Connecticut Gov. Lowell Weicker decried the state’s “orgies of spending,” and said his income tax proposal—which would include fiscal discipline—would balance the books. Connecticut recently marked the 25th anniversary of the income tax, which has resulted in little to no spending restraint. State spending grew 71 percent faster than inflation from 1991 to 2014…
Fears are mounting among some conservatives that under a Republican-controlled Congress, Planned Parenthood could soon be getting a raise. “I hope that pro-lifers will wake up and realize that we have major issues when it comes to the U.S. Senate, when we have our ‘friends’ put us in very tough positions,” Tom McClusky, vice president…
Late Wednesday night, the House Freedom Caucus was just hours away from forcing a historic vote on impeaching IRS Commissioner John Koskinen. Instead, the conservative lawmakers brokered a deal with the House’s Republican leadership to postpone a vote and hold a hearing. Before the agreement, the pack of rabble-rousers warned their GOP colleagues that they…
Conservative lawmakers and groups who oppose the Export-Import Bank are squaring off against their Republican and Democratic counterparts who want to use a must-pass funding bill to restore the Export-Import Bank to its full operations. For more than a year, the controversial agency has not been able to approve transactions of more than $10 million…
Before leaving office, President Barack Obama could commit the United States to two actions affecting its nuclear arsenal, and a third on much smaller weapons. “We will continue to review … steps to reduce the role of nuclear weapons in our security strategy,” @StateDept says. Ahead of Obama’s final trip to the United Nations General…
The internet, an “oasis of freedom,” could become much less free if the United States doesn’t keep guardianship over it, Sen. Ted Cruz said Wednesday during a hearing on Capitol Hill. “The internet is one of the most revolutionary forces ever unleashed on the world,” Cruz, R-Texas, said during the Senate Judiciary subcommittee hearing. “People…