Daily news coverage of politics, policy, and issues shaping the nation.
The Obama administration’s careful reaction to Iran’s latest round of ballistic missile tests showcases the difficult balance the United States and its allies face in deciding how forcefully to push back, without undermining last summer’s nuclear deal. Tuesday’s and Wednesday’s missile tests conducted by the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps of Iran did not violate the…
The Obama administration ignored warnings from a private consulting firm about the viability of nonprofit insurance companies created under Obamacare, which could ultimately cost the taxpayers $1.2 billion doled out in loans to 12 of the insurers. According to the study from Republicans on the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, Deloitte Consulting evaluated loan applications…
Republican opposition to any Supreme Court nominee by President Barack Obama may be politically popular, a new poll claims. Majority Whip John Cornyn, R-Texas, distributed the poll findings in a memo to members of the Republican Senate Conference to show public perceptions on filling the current Supreme Court vacancy, Politico reports. The opinion poll was conducted…
A Senate Judiciary Committee hearing turned into a slugfest Thursday as Republicans and Democrats traded jabs over the GOP’s blockade of President Obama’s nominee for the Supreme Court. Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, accused Senate Democrats of allowing “raw politics to infect the process” by stirring up a frivolous partisan fight. “Everybody knows any nominee…
The Environmental Protection Agency has overstepped its legal authority by imposing a regulatory agenda on the states, environmental officials at the state level testified Wednesday to a Senate committee. Randy Huffman, cabinet secretary at the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection, testified that the EPA’s flood of environmental regulations since President Barack Obama took office…
Business groups Tuesday criticized Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf, a Democrat, for his decision to raise the minimum wage for state employees and contractors from $7.25 to $10.15 an hour. The increase, authorized by Wolf through an executive order Monday, would elevate the wages of workers in Pennsylvania state government and certain businesses that contract with…
As a method to control spending, conservative lawmakers often propose imposing a balanced budget amendment to the United States Constitution that would require the federal government not to spend more than it earns. This effort has always failed. Such an amendment has never been enacted at the federal level. But that isn’t stopping one freshman…
Major corporations, including Google and Twitter, are coalescing in opposition to legislation in Georgia that would protect the right of individuals and institutions to practice their religion. Part of the state legislation prevents clergy from being required to perform same-sex marriages if doing so violates their religious beliefs. The state House and Senate last month…
Despite opposition from former educators, school boards, and public officials for his “blind commitment” to Common Core, a Senate panel Wednesday voted in favor of confirming John King Jr. to serve as the secretary of education through the end of President Barack Obama’s term. The Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee approved Obama’s…
Sen. Mike Lee is willing to drop his objection to the Flint, Mich., federal aid package under one condition: It can’t add to the deficit. The Utah Republican would lift his hold on the legislation, an aide told The Daily Signal Wednesday, if the bill is “budget neutral,” and if relief dollars are paid for…
SHCHASTYA, Ukraine—The late winter weather in Ukraine alternates among frigid, cool, snow, and rain—teasing the arrival of spring. The 2-year-old war, which has ravaged eastern Ukraine, killing more than 10,000 and displacing more than 1 million, is as fickle as the weather—teasing the possibility of peace without ever achieving it. Both sides of the conflict renewed…
If you give a city a bailout, it’s bound to ask for another. That’s the philosophical foundation of Sen. Mike Lee’s opposition to federal aid for Flint, Mich., the city with contaminated drinking water. “Washington politicians are using the crisis in Flint as an excuse to funnel taxpayer money to their own home states,” says…
Campus protests swept the nation last fall, costing some college presidents their jobs. But at Oklahoma Wesleyan University, Everett Piper didn’t cower and quit. He stood up to what he calls “ideological fascism.” Piper, the university president, received the Kirkpatrick Award for Academic Freedom at last week’s Conservative Political Action Conference. He spoke to The…
Americans across the country are paying higher health care deductibles under Obamacare. Freedom Partners, a nonprofit dedicated to protecting freedom and expanding opportunity, released an analysis of data tracking the weighted average of 2016 Obamacare deductibles in all 50 states. A total of 41 states saw an average increase in deductibles. “Higher Obamacare deductibles increase,…
The Virginia Tech professor who discovered toxic lead levels in Flint’s drinking water said he finds a federal aid bill for the Michigan city “disappointing.” Marc Edwards, an environmental and water resources engineer, told C-SPAN’s Washington Journal in an interview aired last week that the legislation does little to help Flint. Worth more than $100…
Nona Ellington was 15 years old when she found out she was pregnant. A victim of rape, Ellington felt alone, ashamed, and desperate for help. After a free pregnancy test came back positive, showing that Ellington was five weeks pregnant, she went forward and scheduled an abortion. Around October 1983, Ellington, who was still in…
Conservative criminal justice reform advocates are making the case that reducing the prison population, treating drug addiction, and giving a second chance to lawbreakers are policy prescriptions that mesh with conservative ideals. While advocates cite polls that show that most conservatives support ideas like providing alternatives to prison for low-level drug offenders, GOP leaders on…
Former first lady Nancy Reagan’s life was remembered and celebrated after news of her death Sunday. The wife of Ronald Reagan, the nation’s 40th president, died of congestive heart failure at her home in Los Angeles, a spokeswoman said in a formal statement. She was 94. Here are just some of the initial remembrances of Nancy Reagan:…
Three of the four remaining Republican presidential candidates made their policy pitches Friday and Saturday to conservative grassroots voters at a conference outside Washington, D.C. Ohio Gov. John Kasich and Sens. Marco Rubio of Florida and Ted Cruz of Texas took their turns at the Conservative Political Action Conference, or CPAC, in separate speeches. The fourth…
The Daily Signal organized a series of debates during this year’s Conservative Political Action Conference about seven hot-button issues. Our reporters and editors moderated these debates. Now we’re asking you to pick the winners. Watch the videos below and vote. Then share with a friend on Facebook and Twitter.