Daily news coverage of politics, policy, and issues shaping the nation.
While away from Washington on August recess, House Freedom Caucus members are rethinking their relationship with the Republican Study Committee. Some are considering whether to call it quits and cancel their membership. Rep. Mark Meadows, R-N.C., confirmed the possibility of the breakup, telling The Daily Signal that as many as 20 members could allow their…
As federal courts wrestle with voter ID laws in several states just months before a national election, there is considerably less attention being brought to other constitutional rights that require ID. Proponents of voter ID have argued that retailers require ID to buy liquor, M-rated video games, prescriptions, or even nail polish. But these arguments aren’t…
Fresh after Congress and the White House scored the largest transportation spending package in a decade, both presidential candidates this year are proposing billions in funding to rebuild the nation’s infrastructure. While both Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump—and the parties they represent—agree the nation’s roads, bridges, airports, rail system, and ports are in need of…
Before his last day in office, President Barack Obama wants to impose new fuel-efficiency standards and establish a green energy plan for North America to top off an environmental legacy including major international agreements and a massive expansion of regulations and subsidies. “He will be leaving office with a very strongly negative legacy,” predicted Nick…
Are you concerned about the plight of international refugees? Would you like to see the U.S. government take decisive, constructive action on behalf of displaced persons across the globe who have been forced to flee their homes? If so, you’re invited to “stand up against the voices of intolerance” this Sunday in Washington, D.C., where…
Consumers in 19 states will see increases to their health insurance rates, most in the double digits, for 2017, according to publicly available data filed with state insurance regulators. Since June, insurance companies have been submitting proposed rate requests to state departments of insurance for the 2017 plan year. The U.S. Department of Health and Human…
The next fight looming in Washington is all about scheduling, and conservatives already are struggling for control of the congressional calendar. The aim of their tussle over timing is to keep any major legislation from taking flight during the lame-duck session of Congress. A natural part of every legislative progression, the lame duck occurs every…
Under a revamped Obama administration program intended to encourage greater cooperation from local law enforcement agencies in helping deport illegal immigrants who the government considers “a danger” to public safety, fewer people are being taken into custody for eventual removal from the country. In November 2014, the administration introduced the Priority Enforcement Program (PEP), a…
Five states and a group of religiously-affiliated hospitals and physicians are suing the Obama administration over a federal mandate that forces doctors to perform gender transition procedures on adults and children against their medical judgment. The lawsuit, filed Tuesday in a Texas federal court, attempts to roll back a rule imposed by the Department of…
A Chicago restaurant abruptly closed this week, with ownership blaming the “rapidly changing labor market” and a 27 percent increase in base minimum wage costs over the last two years as culprits for the collapse. Cantina 1910, a farm-to-table Mexican restaurant located in Chicago’s Andersonville neighborhood, opened in September 2015. Former Cantina 1910 employees said…
Five states will be down to just one health insurer on the Obamacare marketplace next year, and consumers in 664 counties are projected to face that same situation under a law sold as providing “choice and competition.” The five states that will have no choice are Alabama, Alaska, Oklahoma, South Carolina, and Wyoming. Two more…
Restrooms, locker rooms, and showers in public schools nationwide are allowed to remain separated by biological sex for the foreseeable future, a federal judge in Texas has ruled. U.S. District Judge Reed O’Connor blocked President Barack Obama’s administration’s bathroom mandate on Sunday evening, hours before students in the state woke up for their first day…
MARIUPOL, Ukraine— For more than two years, Ukraine’s military has been fighting a ground war against a combined force of pro-Russian separatists and Russian regulars in the Donbas, Ukraine’s embattled southeastern territory. As Ukraine prepares for the 25th anniversary of its independence from the Soviet Union this Wednesday, the ongoing war in the Donbas highlights…
Following legislation in New York and California raising their statewide minimum wages to $15 an hour, a new study has found that such statewide mandates would lead to hundreds of thousands of job losses. According to a new study from The Heritage Foundation, proposals at the state and federal levels to raise the minimum wage…
Target plans to spend $20 million adding single-stall, lockable bathrooms to all store locations after a controversy over a new policy that allows transgender people to use the restroom and fitting room that correspond with the gender they self-identify with. “Across the board, our goal is to make sure that everyone feels welcome at Target,”…
Biological sex will no longer determine restroom accessibility in thousands of federally operated facilities across the country. A new regulation from the Obama administration allows individuals to use whatever bathroom they decide is consistent with their gender identity when visiting or working at properties managed by the General Services Administration, the government agency responsible for…
A star athlete poised to win gold in the women’s 800-meter race at the Rio Olympics has sparked an ethics debate over gender and sex in competitive sports. “Semenya has been nearly unbeatable, prompting speculation that she had been suppressing her testosterone with medication.”—@SITimLayden @SInow Caster Semenya, of South Africa, has her eyes on the…
Ask 68-year-old Gavin Braithwaite how he feels about the amount he and his wife, Louellen, are expecting to pay for health insurance next year, and he’ll tell you he’s horrified, but not exactly surprised. Since 1992, Gavin said, he’s watched the cost of their coverage increase over the years. In the past few years, the…
Successful computer hacks at major federal agencies, large corporations, and the Democratic National Committee have sparked concern that clever infiltrators from outside the country might attempt to tinker with the 2016 election results. The Department of Homeland Security asserts there is no credible cyberthreat to the 2016 election results, and state election officials and other…
Over the last 20 years, welfare reform has reduced poverty trends, national welfare experts say. President Bill Clinton signed into law the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act in 1996. This comprehensive, bipartisan welfare reform act contains work requirements and supports families moving from welfare to work. After the law went into effect, welfare…