Daily news coverage of politics, policy, and issues shaping the nation.
KYIV, Ukraine—The two-year-old Ukraine war has hit a grim milestone amid the longest and most durable lull in fighting since the conflict began. Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko last week said 2,269 Ukrainian soldiers have died since the conflict in eastern Ukraine began in spring 2014. That toll almost matches the 2,381 American troops killed during roughly…
The House of Representatives concluded a tense debate Thursday by voting 250-169 to end a controversial Obama administration program called Operation Choke Point. Critics say the secretive program, run by the Department of Justice, has been used to target politically unpopular industries such as gun sellers. “We’re elated,” Rep. Blaine Luetkemeyer, R-Mo., one of the bill’s co-sponsors, told The Daily Signal after…
The pro-life activist behind a series of undercover videos exposing the practices of Planned Parenthood emerged Thursday from court appearances in Texas vowing to continue his fight for unborn children despite being charged with breaking the law through his tactics. “We’re out here to send a strong message that Houston’s children and their body parts…
American leaders expressed the role faith plays in shaping people’s lives at the National Prayer Breakfast this morning. The bipartisan event is traditionally held the first Thursday of February at the Washington Hilton and has been organized by The Fellowship Foundation since 1953. The following are some of the statements made by this year’s speakers:…
A Colorado mother got caught in a legal battle after buying two ads in a local newspaper to encourage voters to brush up on the candidates running for school board. Terry Holland says she wanted to make other parents aware of their options because no one had run against an incumbent in the previous election. To spread the word, she placed the ads,…
The House Freedom Caucus rallied against Speaker Paul Ryan Wednesday after he suggested that the conservative members rein in their goals while Democrats control the executive branch. “When voices in the conservative movement demand things that they know we can’t achieve with a Democrat in the White House, all that does is depress our base…
University of Alabama football player and Heisman Trophy winner Derrick Henry will be giving the closing prayer at the National Prayer Breakfast held in Washington, D.C., Thursday. Rep. Robert Aderholt, R-Ala., co-chairing the event this year with Rep. Juan Vargas, D-Calif., made the announcement Monday that 21-year-old Henry will give the prayer. “I’m pleased we…
Rep. Mark Walker, R-N.C., addressed the elephant in the room: Conservatives, he said, aren’t doing well on the social issues. “I’m not going to paint a rosy picture,” Walker said Wednesday at the 2016 Conservative Policy Summit, hosted by Heritage Action for America. He added: Our culture has been inundated and continues to be inundated…
House Speaker Paul Ryan’s call for unity is facing a familiar challenge that tripped up Republican leaders before him: the budget and spending. In October, in his effort to “clear the barn” for Ryan, then-Speaker John Boehner helped negotiate a two-year budget deal with President Barack Obama and Democrats. It raised the 2017 spending level…
A federal court delivered a victory to a North Carolina convenience store owner from whom the IRS had seized $107,700, directing the government to reimburse him for more than $20,000 in legal fees and expenses. Lyndon McLellan, who owns a convenience store in Fairmont, N.C., already had won back the $107,700 the Internal Revenue Service…
Sen. Ben Sasse issued some tough love today at the Conservative Policy Summit in Washington, D.C.: Electing a Republican president, he said, won’t solve America’s problems. “The idea that a ‘strong man’ can save us isn’t true,” Sasse, R-Neb., said. “What America needs is a constitutional recovery, not a Republican Barack Obama.” If Sasse disappointed…
Standing beneath a painting of the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia, Sen. Mike Lee and Rep. Jeb Hensarling unveiled their Article I Project to revitalize Congress. Appealing to the memory of the Founders pictured, the Republican duo said Wednesday their project is meant to encourage the legislative branch to reflex old constitutional muscles and to reassert…
The Obama administration’s strategy against ISIS “is not working, ” Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, told a gathering of conservative lawmakers and policy wonks, and in 2016, conservatives must develop one that allows the U.S. military to engage the terrorist army “no matter where they are.” “This administration has been so intent on containing it, on…
President Barack Obama bound the United States to an international agreement on climate change, but the administration’s decision to circumvent Congress to implement the deal has lawyers questioning its constitutionality. Despite legally binding elements in the Paris Protocol, which require Senate ratification, negotiators worded the deal in a manner that enables Obama to handle it…
Huge crowds marched in Rome over the weekend to protest national legislation granting legal recognition to same-sex couples in Italy. The measure also would allow either partner in a same-sex couple to adopt the other’s biological children. Italians rallied at Circus Maximus, the ancient stadium that has a capacity of 350,000, Reuters reported. Organizers estimated that approximately 2…
Speaking at an event hosted by the conservative Heritage Action, House Speaker Paul Ryan urged conservatives to unite around a “bold, pro-growth agenda” but to be realistic in what the party can achieve while President Barack Obama remains in office. Ryan believes that Republicans can capture the White House in 2016 if they are “inclusive”…
Investigative tactics featured on CBS News’ “60 Minutes” bear an eerie resemblance to the undercover sting operation of a pro-life activist indicted last week for his role in secretly recorded videos in which Planned Parenthood officials talk about harvesting aborted babies for tissue and organs. A report called “Anonymous Inc.,” which aired Sunday night, focused…
The House on Tuesday failed to override a veto from President Obama striking down a bill that repealed key provisions of his signature health care law and placed a one-year moratorium on federal funding for Planned Parenthood. The Republican-led House lacked the two-thirds majority needed to override the president’s veto of the legislation, which he…
South Dakota could soon become the first state in the nation to pass legislation that would ban students from using public school bathrooms, locker rooms and showers that are opposite from their biological sex. “I’m concerned about what I see happening in schools across our country,” said Rep. Fred Deutsch, a Republican from Florence who…
Two dozen members of Congress will tackle aspects of “a blueprint to take back America” during the annual Conservative Policy Summit, set for Wednesday at The Heritage Foundation. Headlining will be House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., scheduled to deliver a keynote address at the summit, hosted by Heritage Action for America, the think tank’s lobbying…