Last week’s overturning of Roe v. Wade (1973) by the U.S. Supreme Court was made possible, at least in some small ways, by what then-Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D–Nev.) did in November 2013. Seeking a short-term political win, Reid followed through on what both Democrats and Republicans had taken turns threatening to do for the better […]
For a sixth time, the Secure and Fair Enforcement (SAFE) Banking Act has been scrapped by the U.S. Senate just before earning a vote. The proposal would grant state-legal marijuana businesses access to federally insured banks. The latest blow to the SAFE Banking Act came Thursday when senators stripped the proposal out of the America […]
Five states are running primaries today to choose candidates for the November midterms. In Utah, Republicans will go to the polls to decide whether to renominate Sen. Mike Lee or choose one of his two challengers. Notably, Democrats do not face the same task. Even with a declared candidate, Kael Weston, Utah Democrats voted not […]
Senate negotiators unveiled a bipartisan gun control bill yesterday, hours before it survived a preliminary vote with enough support to overcome a filibuster. Sixty-four senators voted to advance the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, which expands background-check requirements for gun buyers younger than 21, widens the categories of people who are not allowed to buy firearms, […]
As a bipartisan group of negotiators hammers out a gun control package that will have enough support to pass the Senate, one seemingly uncontroversial proposal—closing the “boyfriend loophole” for firearm purchases—has proven unexpectedly contentious. Democrats want to expand the disqualification for people convicted of misdemeanors involving domestic violence beyond the current categories, while Republicans worry […]
There is a rising concern among politicians on both the left and right to rein in “Big Tech.” While specific complaints vary, there is a general agreement among lawmakers that the very largest tech companies, like Apple, Alphabet (which owns Google), Meta (which owns Facebook), and Amazon, simply exercise too much power. One bill, the […]
As he pitched his Senate colleagues on a plan to balance the federal budget in 2018, Sen. Rand Paul (R–Ky.) warned that rising inflation would be one of the consequences of a failure to bring deficit spending under control. At the time, Paul was pushing a bill that would have required a spending cut equal […]
Last week, the House passed a “gun reform” package that’s unlikely to pass the Senate. Then, a bipartisan group of senators struck a deal on modest “gun reform” proposals with better prospects. Whatever your take on the merits of these bills, describing legislative proposals for restrictive measures as “reform” is a jarring use of the […]
It is easy to understand the bipartisan appeal of a policy that promises to reduce gun violence by targeting dangerous individuals instead of imposing broad limits that affect millions of law-abiding Americans. So it’s not surprising that the Senate gun control deal announced on Sunday includes federal grants aimed at encouraging states to pass and […]