Daily news coverage of politics, policy, and issues shaping the nation.
The Export-Import Bank’s path to reauthorization just got more complicated. Kevin McCarthy, the California Republican who will soon become House majority leader, said on “Fox News Sunday” that he opposes renewing the bank’s charter. Watch the part at 22 seconds where McCarthy explains one of the biggest problems with government.
A recent Gallup poll finds that Americans’ confidence in each of the three major media platforms—television news, newspapers and Internet news—has plummeted to record lows. When asked to identify from a list of 17 vital American institutes which they had a “great deal” or “quite a-lot” of confidence in, more than a thousand participants ranked…
A humanitarian crisis on the U.S.-Mexico border and a series of foreign policy challenges have left President Obama with his some of worst public opinion ratings ever on the two issues. Obama’s approval on immigration stands at 31 percent, which is one of the lowest since Gallup began tracking the issue in 2010. Two-thirds of…
Tension between federal and state powers over a permanent ban on Internet access taxes took the spotlight this week on Capitol Hill. Unless Congress votes to extend it, a moratorium banning state and local governments from taxing Internet access, first enacted in 1998, will expire Nov. 1. The Permanent Internet Tax Freedom Act the House…
LORETTO, Minn.—Doug Doboszenski moves tons of dirt in his excavation business, but that’s nothing like trying to move the mountain known as the federal government. Under the Affordable Care Act, Doboszenki and Sons must provide health coverage in employee medical plans that contradicts the owners’ religious beliefs—or face thousands of dollars in Internal Revenue Service…
Are millennials onboard with New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie’s new definition of what “pro-life” means? Speaking today at the Road to Majority conference in Washington, the potential Republican candidate for president made the case for valuing life “from the womb to natural death”—and that includes providing non-violent drug offenders with tools and treatment to get…
In a recent interview on POLITICO’s Open Mike with Mike Allen, Environmental Protection Agency administrator Gina McCarthy denied claims that the Obama administration is launching a “war on coal” with its new regulations. “No,” McCarthy said. “I don’t want to get complicated with my answer because when I do, people think I’m hedging. The answer…
Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, has stepped up efforts in his campaign to #MakeDCListen. Cruz sent a letter to the Department of Homeland Security yesterday asking the administration to allow Texas to secure its border during the present “humanitarian crisis.” In the letter, Cruz referred Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson to Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott’s…
Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz said he supports an increase to federal minimum wage even though it could have “traumatic effects” on small business owners and employees. In an interview with CNN Money’s Poppy Harlow, Schultz declined to say what he thinks the minimum wage should be, but he said the $15 minimum wage enacted in his…
Darrell Issa addressed his most recent summons to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. Seeking more information about Lois Lerner’s lost emails, the House Oversight Committee chairman has asked White House counsel Jennifer O’Connor to testify on Tuesday. Issa believes that O’Connor may have known about the missing emails long before lawmakers. Earlier this week, the Internal Revenue…
The House’s investigation of the Internal Revenue Service targeting scandal reached a fever pitch on Capitol Hill today. During a hearing of the Ways and Means Committee, Chairman Paul Ryan, R-Wis., laid into IRS Commissioner John Koskinen. Watch the part at 1:15 to see it get really heated.
On a hot, humid day in Washington, men, women and children from across the nation gathered near the Capitol to celebrate marriage as it has been historically and traditionally defined – as the union between one man and one woman. The event, March for Marriage, attracted people of diverse ethnicities and backgrounds. Although the rally and march…
Organizers call the March for Marriage an “indispensable vehicle” for showing the world — and mainstream media — that support for the preservation of marriage is alive and well. Yet, as thousands gathered in the sun today on Capitol Hill to rally behind the historic and tradition views of marriage — as the union of…
Three prominent Republican senators – all rumored presidential candidates in 2016 – today projected their visions for the future of the party during the first day of the Road to Majority conference in Washington. Utah’s Mike Lee, with perhaps the lowest public profile of the three, used his limited microphone time to say that, if…
Do Mississippians want more federal money or less government? That’s essentially the choice being offered to them in the June 24 U.S. Senate GOP primary runoff election between incumbent U.S. Sen. Thad Cochran and state Sen. Chris McDaniel. The winner faces Democrat and former U.S. congressman Travis Childers in November. Federal spending in Mississippi is not chicken feed. State Budget…
HOXIE, Kan.—These days, when Kyle Randa scouts a new location for an oil well, his schedule is a little different. He still gets up early to drive out to the spot. But rather than get right to work, he sits for a few hours and listens. And hopes he doesn’t hear the booming call of…
Kevin McCarthy of California defeated Idaho conservative Raúl Labrador in this afternoon’s Republican conference election for House majority leader. In the election to replace McCarthy as majority whip, Steve Scalise of Louisiana bested Peter Roskam of Illinois and Indiana’s Marlin Stutzman. Early vote counts had predicted McCarthy, 49, and Scalise, 48, would emerge victorious in…
A day after Christian groups rallied outside the White House seeking presidential action on behalf of a mother condemned to hang in Sudan because of her Christian faith, Secretary of State John Kerry posted a statement of “concern” about her persecution. Kerry appealed to the Sudanese government in the case of Meriam Yahia Ibrahim Ishag,…
Lois Lerner’s missing emails are likely gone forever because the Internal Revenue Service destroyed the hard drive she used at the time tea party groups were targeted, according to sources on Capitol Hill. “We’ve been informed that the hard drive has been thrown away,” Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, told Politico. Two other sources confirmed Hatch’s…
“We want out of Common Core.” With that pronouncement, Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal yesterday delivered a clear message to state residents. On the heels of similar moves by Indiana, Oklahoma, and South Carolina, Jindal acted to make the Bayou State the fourth state to exit the national education standards known as Common Core. Bypassing the…