Daily news coverage of politics, policy, and issues shaping the nation.
After more than six years of Republican pledges to repeal and replace Obamacare, House Speaker Paul Ryan today rolled out a plan to deliver on that promise by abolishing the 2010 law. The 37-page Republican plan creates a blueprint for rolling back President Barack Obama’s more than 3,000-page marquee health care law. It’s the fifth…
Hours after the Senate failed to advance another round of measures aimed to limit gun sales, a bipartisan group of senators today introduced what they call compromise legislation to bar some terrorism suspects from buying firearms. They say their bill intends to achieve the delicate balance of preventing those suspected of having terrorist ties from…
To put Washington’s fiscal house in order, an organization inside the conservative Koch network is pushing Congress to skip a budget and move straight to a two-year spending bill instead. Dubbed “Stop, Cut, and Fix,” the plan calls for a continuing resolution that would fund government in fiscal years 2017 and 2018 at current spending…
How does one explain the election and political environment of 2016? National Affairs editor and conservative thinker Yuval Levin, whose latest book is titled, “The Fractured Republic: Renewing America’s Social Contract in the Age of Individualism,” sat down with The Daily Signal to answer that question. He spoke about how individualism is changing the landscape…
President Barack Obama plans to make smart gun technology a primary part of his push to control firearms, but an expert warns that the new high-tech weaponry poses a danger to constitutional rights—and he’s not talking about the Second Amendment. In April, Obama posed the question, “If we can set it up so you can’t…
The Senate shot down a series of gun control measures Monday, all brought up for debate after the worst terrorist attack on American soil since 9/11. The four gun control bills—two proposed by Republicans and two by Democrats—were torpedoed after the sides were unable to come to an agreement. The votes came less than a…
No one displaced from their homeland has it easy, but targeted religious minorities, such as those persecuted by the Islamic State, have faced a worse crisis, said Andrew Walther, vice president of the national Knights of Columbus. “It’s very hard to be any refugee, but to be targeted for extermination because of your religious beliefs…
Opponents have been swimming upstream for years in an effort to sink a federal catfish inspection program that they argue wastes millions of taxpayer dollars. The Senate last month sent legislation to the House that would block the Agriculture Department from inspecting catfish. But three weeks later, the House’s Republican leadership has left that bill…
House Republicans are pressing efforts to safeguard the First Amendment rights of scientific skeptics who dissent from what they consider the Obama administration’s alarmist position on climate change, according to letters to 17 state attorneys general. The series of letters, sent Friday and signed by 17 of the 22 Republican members of the House Science,…
California Gov. Jerry Brown signed a bill to expand Obamacare to cover illegal immigrants, but now it’s up to the Obama administration to determine if the nation’s largest state will get an exemption related to a specific promise the president made when trying to sell the health care law. The Golden State will be asking…
On May 25, officials in 11 states filed a federal lawsuit against the Obama administration’s transgender bathroom directive issued to public schools nationwide. Leading that charge is Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, who sat down with The Daily Signal to explain his case. Watch the interview to hear about the legal strategy Paxton intends to…
No historical evidence locates Confederate Gen. Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson on what is now Liberty Farm in Fauquier County, Virginia, on the evening of July 18, 1861, three days before the First Battle of Bull Run. So why would a prestigious state preservation group represent that as a fact? The current owner of the farm, Martha…
As the world marked the 27th anniversary of the massacre of students in Tiananmen Square, a group gathered at the Victims of Communism Memorial to remember the casualties of oppressive Marxist regimes and to honor those who have worked tirelessly on their behalf. Representatives from nonprofit groups and more than 20 embassies laid commemorative wreaths…
Gov. Nikki Haley, a Republican, signed a South Carolina House bill into law that implements the study of U.S. founding documents into the state’s public high schools. The South Carolina Founding Principles Act requires the study of the United States Constitution, the Federalist Papers, and “the structure of the government and the role of separation…
Changes in the definition of marriage, open service in the military, and an expanded hate crimes law are some of the advancements for LGBT Americans that have become a key part of President Barack Obama’s legacy. “I am grateful for all that you’ve done to work with us to accomplish some amazing transformations over these…
Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., seized control of the Senate floor Wednesday morning in an effort to force lawmakers to agree on legislation that would enforce a universal background check system and stop suspected terrorists from purchasing guns. The Connecticut Democrat didn’t yield back the floor until just after 2 a.m. Thursday. He spoke for more…
Kaeley Triller Haver is no stranger to the transgender bathroom debate. After being sexually assaulted as a child and going public with her story, the single mom from Washington state now opposes shower, locker room, and bathroom policies that she believes leave her and her daughter vulnerable and unsafe. So earlier this month, when she found…
On multiple fronts, conservatives are challenging Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe’s executive order to restore voting rights to ex-felons who have completed their prison sentences. This week, Judicial Watch, the conservative advocacy group, filed a lawsuit in the Circuit Court of Bedford County, seeking to prevent ex-felons who gain from McAuliffe’s April 22 order from voting…
Petitions delivered by LGBT activists to the North Carolina governor’s office, calling for a repeal of the state’s “bathroom bill,” were mostly signed by out-of-state individuals, the North State Journal reported. In March, North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory, a Republican, signed House Bill 2 that established public restroom facility accessibility be based on biological sex….
Using the phrase “radical Islam” to describe the Islamic State or other jihadist groups will not win the war, but is nonetheless relevant in identifying the ideology—not the religion—that America is fighting, experts said. “I don’t believe the phrase “Islamist extremism” or “Islamist terrorism” is some sort of incantation that’s going to fix everything,” Walter…