Daily news coverage of politics, policy, and issues shaping the nation.
Conservatives may be lamenting the absence of measures in the omnibus spending bill addressing Syrian refugees and Planned Parenthood, but the massive legislation notably left out a campaign finance measure opposed by both conservative lawmakers and Democratic groups. Absent from the $1.1 trillion spending is a measure backed by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky.,…
The magic of Christmas will still be alive for thousands of needy children despite the theft of thousands of dollars’ worth of presents from a Salvation Army warehouse in Washington, D.C. Lewis Reckline, area commander for the Salvation Army National Capital Area, estimates it will cost $50,000 to replace stolen items from the Angel Tree…
Republicans upset with President Barack Obama’s international climate change agreement remain committed to the few options they have to do something about it. “Honestly, I never feel helpless,” insisted Rep. Mike Kelly, R-Pa., one of the leaders in the House opposing Obama’s climate change plans. “Whatever is going to happen today is going to happen…
Democrats are claiming they scored significant policy victories in the $1.1 trillion omnibus spending bill. Hours after the mammoth spending bill dropped, Democrats are counting their triumphs, outlining conservative policy riders and priorities that were not included in the final spending bill. A top Democratic Senate aide summed it up in a single tweet. Adam…
Congressional leaders announced the details of a $1.1 trillion spending bill to fund the government on Tuesday night. But with spending levels already predetermined, lawmakers were more concerned with what policy provisions were attached to the legislation. The spending legislation will be introduced with a package renewing billions of dollars in tax breaks for businesses and…
Weeks after the University of Missouri’s president resigned in the wake of protests following racially charged events, the faculty and staff at New York’s Ithaca College have expressed no confidence in its own president because of his response to a handful of race-related incidents. The faculty at Ithaca College on Monday cast overwhelming votes of…
Like shooting a starting gun, House GOP leadership will set off a staffer scramble when they post the text of their proposed omnibus spending bill Tuesday night. Though some lawmakers have debated specifics for weeks, they won’t know what’s in the package until the last minute. It’s still up in the air if they’ll even…
Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine discussed on Fox News Tuesday his office’s allegation that Planned Parenthood has disposed of aborted babies in landfills, which has prompted a lawsuit from Planned Parenthood. Asked to respond to Planned Parenthood’s statement that the allegations were “flat-out false,” DeWine said, “It’s rather strange, because Planned Parenthood’s own lawyers told…
House Speaker Paul Ryan became the unwilling engineer of the spending locomotive that John Boehner built. But he says the appropriations process established by his predecessor “is no way to run a railroad” and promises sweeping reforms. Before a packed crowd gathered Tuesday for a breakfast event hosted by Politico, Ryan promised that the “number-one”…
The high school football coach who was removed from his job for praying at the 50-yard line after games filed a federal complaint today with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, arguing the school discriminated against him based on his faith, The Daily Signal has learned. “I just don’t think it’s right, what the school district…
Rep. Tim Huelskamp is back in the saddle. Three years after being stripped of his committee seats for disobeying House leadership, the Kansas Republican has a seat on his party’s influential conference steering committee. An outsider now inside, Huelskamp’s appointment Thursday is just the latest shakeup rocking Congress as the House moves slowly back to…
Stymied by Republicans in Congress, President Barack Obama is expected to act alone to take executive action to tighten restrictions on gun sales. White House adviser Valerie Jarrett, speaking at a vigil last week for victims of the 2012 Newtown, Conn., shooting, confirmed that the president has asked his staff to complete a proposal that…
The process of approving new drugs and medical devices would be sped up under a bill offered by two conservative senators. Sens. Ted Cruz , R-Texas, and Mike Lee, R- Utah, introduced legislation Thursday to accelerate how fast the Food and Drug Administration OKs drugs and devices. Before a drug can reach the U.S. market, it undergoes…
Americans on edge following the terrorist attacks in Paris and San Bernardino, Calif., view terrorism as the biggest issue facing the nation, according to a new Gallup poll. Nearly one in six Americans—16 percent—cited terrorism as the most pressing problem in the U.S., surging fivefold from 3 percent at the beginning of November, before the two deadly massacres….
A revision to Liberty University’s weapons policy will allow concealed carrying of firearms in dorms—the only area on campus where concealed carry wasn’t already permitted. Liberty President Jerry Falwell Jr. said students of the Christian university in Lynchburg, Va., will be required to have a concealed carry permit and obtain approval from the university’s police department. He announced…
PARIS—Competing national interests and even personal rivalries have cast a cloud over the international summit on climate change meeting here, and the issue of “climate justice” has proven to be a significant stumbling block in the way of any meaningful deal. At various points during the two-week conference, realpolitik took over, overshadowing the summit’s larger objectives. "You don’t come…
If you ask Tom Loventhal, a deli is no more than a place to provide customers with comfort food. Whether it’s breakfast—served all day—soup or a sandwich, Loventhal’s motto has always been that at his Nashville, Tenn.,-based deli, “anyone is welcome here from ages 0 to 99, because you’ll find something on the menu.” And…
Do special rights for some get in the way of civil liberties for others? A prominent voice for the historic view of marriage, Ryan T. Anderson, agreed to disagree while speaking at a summit Thursday in Washington, D.C., addressing issues of importance to lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transsexual activists. “What we want here is equality under the law,…
More than a trillion taxpayer dollars are on the table as House Speaker Paul Ryan and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi negotiate a massive spending deal. But while those talks drag on between Pelosi, D-Calif., and Ryan, R-Wis., many House Republicans say they’re growing frustrated by the secrecy surrounding the process and the lack of…
Despite no one believing them, members of the conservative House Freedom Caucus have insisted that their votes could be had on a forthcoming government spending bill even though they believe it spends too much money. The way to their votes, some members claim, is for negotiators to tack on always-contentious policy provisions to the spending…