House Speaker Mike Johnson and fellow Republicans are gearing up to vote on four major funding bills left undone until the last minute. The lawmakers are considering multiple road maps for election security ahead of their monthlong recess that begins Friday. Aiming to pass everything under one rule, the bills will address a ban on congressional stock trading, a budget resolution to tee up the long-awaited reconciliation 3.0, a continuing resolution to avoid a government shutdown, and the yearly National Defense Authorization Act. In three out of the four, they hope to include provisions of the SAVE America Act to secure elections by requiring voter ID and proof of citizenship. Long-Awaited Ban on Insider Trading In 2026, members of Congress, who have unparalleled inside access to private sector business dealings, are allowed to participate in the stock market. However, the Stop Insider Trading Act would end their ability to profit from the market while they are in office. Specifically, the bill would block members, their spouses, and children from buying stocks while in office. If they wish to make a sale, they must notify the public up to 14 days before the sale. The Stop Insider Trading Act also would require voters to provide a photo ID when casting a ballot in elections, a provision of the SAVE America Act. Trump’s Preferred Road to SAVE The $95 billion narrow budget resolution is the first step to reconciliation 3.0. This is President Donald Trump’s preferred path to enact voter ID and proof of citizenship at the polls. The budget resolution instructs four committees to write reconciliation legislation: the House Administration Committee, at $10 billion for SAVE America; the House Armed Services Committee, at $60 billion; the House Intelligence Committee, at $13 billion, both for defense and Iran spending; and the House Agriculture Committee, at $12 billion for farmers. Missing from the long-awaited package were instructions to ban abortion funding, address fraud prevention, and promote affordability in housing- and energy-related policies. Johnson’s pain point will be convincing conservatives that having zero offsets to the almost $100 billion is still worth it to grant emergency defense funding and pass SAVE America. A Government Funding Bandage Last week, Johnson added a continuing resolution to the already crowded schedule. That resolution aims to fund the government through the midterm elections, avoiding a potential government shutdown on Sept. 30. The clean continuing resolution would fund the government through Dec. 4. It does not create any new programs or appropriate new funds; rather, it continues 2026-approved funding through the end of the year. While Democrats are not expected to stall the party-line bill, passing it would help Republicans avoid another barrier during the election season. More Defense Funding The more than $70 billion in defense spending in the budget resolution isn’t enough. The House still must pass the 2027 National Defense Authorization Act to set defense policies and recommend funding areas. The Senate has had difficulties passing its version because Democrats oppose military actions in the Middle East. Among Pentagon directives for defense, the NDAA is set to include multiple amendments to appease Democrats, including environmental policies. It will likely address rising electricity bills, critical minerals, and nuclear energy policy. Unrelatedly, it also could include SAVE America voter ID requirements. Actions on these four major bills are expected on Tuesday and Wednesday; Johnson said he hopes to have them passed before members go home Friday.

As Democrat U.S. Senate candidate James Talarico continues to say he supports “commonsense” firearm laws, a look into his voting record shows a different story. Talarico served as a Texas House representative for District 50 from 2018 to 2025. During his time in the Legislature, he repeatedly voted against measures that would have expanded or protected Texans’ Second Amendment rights. According to Talarico’s campaign website, he says he wants to protect the Second Amendment while also protecting citizens from gun violence. He proposes establishing universal background checks for gun sales and raising the age to “purchase semi-automatic rifles with certain military-style features like high-capacity magazines.” However, Talarico has a history of opposing several measures supported by pro-gun advocates. During the 86th Legislative Session, Talarico voted on a host of gun bills. House Bill 1177 allowed residents to constitutionally carry handguns after a natural disaster. Talarico voted against the measure. He likewise voted against House Bill 1791, which allowed Texans who are license holders to carry on property owned or leased by a government entity; he also voted against House Bill 302, which protected Texans’ Second Amendment right by banning “No Firearms” clauses by certain persons on certain residential or commercial property. Finally, Talarico voted against House Bill 3231, which modernized firearm preemption statutes at the county and municipal level. During the 87th Legislative session, Talarico continued his record of voting against Second Amendment measures.  He voted against House Bill 2622, which declared Texas a “Second Amendment Sanctuary” and blocked the enforcement of certain federal gun regulations. Talarico also voted against House Bill 957, which exempted Texas-made firearm suppressors from certain federal regulations. He also voted against House Bill 1927, which established constitutional carry for most Texans to carry handguns in public without a permit or training. During the 89th Legislative Session, Talarico continued the pattern. He voted against House Bill 1794, which allows license-to-carry holders to legally bring concealed firearms into polling locations during voting hours. He also voted against Senate Bill 706, which provides universal recognition in Texas of a handgun license issued by another state. Talarico’s voting record is not the only indication of his position on gun rights.  During a 2020 townhall meeting, Talarico explained his reasoning for supporting restrictive gun control laws, noting why he thinks they’re constitutional. “A lot of politicians like to talk about the Second Amendment,” Talarico said. “Very few have actually read the Second Amendment because, if they did, they would know that the words ‘well regulated’ are right there in the text of the amendment itself.” In the same video, Talarico also expressed support for banning semi-automatic firearms and restricting large firearm purchases. He favored an assault weapons ban, a large capacity magazine ban, and said the state “should start to think about handgun design safety standards.” “So, probably in that order, are the things I’m most interested in championing and working on,” he said. Additionally, during his first year as a state representative, Talarico hired Ana Lopez, the former leader of the University of Texas “Cocks Not Glocks” protest movement in 2016.  The movement gained attention at the university after students distributed thousands of sex toys on campus to protest Texas’ campus carry law. Talarico hired Lopez as a legislative aide to help him craft gun control legislation. During her time in his office, Lopez reportedly helped craft three firearm restriction bills.  The bills included ending concealed carry reciprocity in Texas, requiring background checks to rent firearms at sport shooting ranges, and tightening the requirements to obtain a firearm license. Talarico’s campaign did not immediately return the Daily Signal’s request for comment.

The American Federation of Teachers, a union that bankrolls Democrat candidates and left-leaning causes, endorsed “gender-affirming care” Sunday, despite growing concerns about the negative effects of experimental transgender medical interventions. While some Democrats and progressives have suggested the party should move away from its commitments to “woke” litmus tests such as transgender ideology, the AFT’s move arguably makes that more difficult. “Because the AFT is effectively just a branch—a wealthy branch—of the Democratic Party, the union’s latest endorsement of so-called gender-affirming care means the party will almost certainly maintain its rigid support for transgender ideology, even if that threatens both children’s health and the party’s electoral chances,” Scott Walter, president of the right-leaning Capital Research Center, told the Daily Signal in a statement Monday. The AFT Resolution on Transgender ‘Care’ The AFT, America’s second-largest teachers union with 1.8 million members, held its annual convention from July 16 to July 19, featuring many prominent Democrat speakers and passing 38 resolutions. The resolution titled “Protecting Medical Research, Healthcare Access and Health Equity for LGBTQIA+ Communities” condemns the administration of President Donald Trump for attacking “evidence-based healthcare and scientific inquiry” on LGBTQ+ issues. The resolution supports medical research into LGBTQ+ issues and pledges that AFT “will support policies that protect and expand access to affordable, evidence-based healthcare, including … gender-affirming care.” It states that AFT will support “legal advocacy efforts to defend access to evidence-based healthcare.” The Daily Signal reached out to the American Federation of Teachers for comment but did not receive a response by publication time. Are Sex-Rejecting Procedures ‘Evidence-Based?’ The AFT resolution comes at a rather turbulent time for the experimental interventions euphemistically called “gender-affirming care.” The Department of Health and Human Services conducted a peer-reviewed study last year finding little evidence for positive impacts from sex-rejecting procedures for minors. Studies have suggested these interventions cause harm, from increased cancer risks to a higher risk of suicidal thoughts. A jury awarded a detransitioner $2 million in a medical malpractice lawsuit in February, and psychiatrists reportedly agreed to settle another detransitioner’s medical malpractice claim in January. Hospitals have distanced themselves from the Human Rights Campaign, a major transgender activist group that rates medical entities. A Leftist Funding Hub The AFT’s political action arm has contributed to a wide swath of Democrat candidates in races across the country, according to public records analyzed by the parental rights group Defending Education. It contributed $500,000 to Democrat Abigail Spanberger’s 2025 gubernatorial campaign in Virginia, for example. AFT contributed $525,000 to the Center for American Progress, an influential left-leaning think tank, between 2017 and 2025. It gave $335,000 to the center’s political action arm during the same period. The union gave $321,500 to New Venture Fund, a dark money pass-through foundation that supports left-leaning causes and was formerly affiliated with Arabella Advisors, between 2016 and 2023. It gave $983,000 to Sixteen Thirty Fund, another dark money pass-through foundation formerly affiliated with Arabella, between 2016 and 2024. The Daily Signal reached out to the Democrat National Committee, the Center for American Progress, New Venture Fund, and Sixteen Thirty Fund for comment but did not receive a response by publication time.

As Ohioans begin thinking about whom they want to serve as the state’s next governor, statements Dr. Amy Acton made as Ohio’s former health director could come back to haunt her. Before running as the Democratic nominee for governor, Acton led the Ohio Department of Health under Gov. Mike DeWine from 2019 to 2020. Her response to the pandemic was especially unpopular, and she’s had to walk back multiple statements about the threat to public health. Most recently, comments she made during an appearance last fall on Fox News’ “Better Bad Ideas w/Sean O’Brien” have resurfaced, drawing fire from Republican gubernatorial candidate Vivek Ramaswamy. “In those early days, the mortality rate was 50%. I started with that in March. By June, when we reopened, it was because we took swift, decisive action. The mortality rate had gone down to 5%. We learned how to save lives,” Acton claimed. Numbers from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention tell a different story. Provisional mortality data for 2020 shows an estimated age-adjusted death rate of 15.9%. When COVID-19 was the underlying cause of death or a contributing cause, it was an estimated 11.3% of those deaths. Acton’s office said her comments were limited to hospital rates, and that Ramaswamy made recommendations that were imprudent and self-interested. “While Dr. Acton was working hand in hand with Gov. DeWine to keep Ohioans safe, Vivek Ramaswamy was calling for mandatory COVID-19 testing, making more than $2 billion off of the COVID vaccine and recommending segregating Ohioans based on biomarker status,” Addie Bullock, a spokesperson for Acton’s campaign, told Fox News. But, throughout his campaign, Ramaswamy has pointed to the shutdowns as evidence that Acton isn’t fit to serve as governor. During a Young Republican event in January, Ramaswamy referenced the early public-school closures in Ohio under Acton’s orders, while his alma mater, St. Xavier High School, barely shut down at all. Acton’s shutdown of schools and businesses has been questioned by others, as well. “It pained me during COVID under the failed leadership of Amy Acton, to see so many of these small businesses that have been around for generations shuttered across the state,” Ohio Senate candidate Zac Haines said, speaking last Tuesday at a campaign event for Ramaswamy, where Acton’s opponent was touting his endorsement from the Ohio Chamber of Commerce PAC. “We were the first state to shut down schools, creating a tremendous learning deficit,” Haines continued, adding that he is “a parent of young children.” The issue has cropped up in other media. Last Thursday, the Columbus Dispatch posted a letter to the editor from a Columbus resident, who wrote, “Amy Acton hurt my sons. I am still fuming.” “The reality is that Amy Acton was responsible for the orders that shut down our state. Under her express order, Ohio became the first state in the nation to shut down our public schools, which affected both my sons,” Andrew Warner wrote. “I watched how it negatively affected their social development, a problem that took years to remedy. Furthermore, her actions restricted families from seeing their loved ones in senior homes and hurt Ohio’s small businesses.” The Ramaswamy campaign claims opinions like these illustrate why Acton isn’t fit to lead. “Liberal Amy Acton’s outrageous claims just confirm what we already know: she’s an incompetent, failed government bureaucrat who ran our state into the ground and is wholly unqualified to lead Ohio,” campaign spokeswoman Connie Luck told the Daily Signal. Other Republicans are pointing to how Acton’s decisions as health director were incoherent or biased, or showed favoritism toward liberal groups. State Rep. Adam Mathews, sharing his views with The Columbus Dispatch, wrote on Monday, “Amy Acton closed churches, kept abortions going. I am Catholic. That’s what matters.” “County fairs, homecoming dances and hospital visits were banned, yet Ohio’s abortion clinics stayed open [after suing],” Mathews wrote. He also noted that support for Acton “is simply incompatible with church teaching,” and that abortion “is still the top Catholic issue,” citing official guidance from bishops. The Ohio GOP, however, has run ads focused on Acton’s personal life, making accusations about alcohol and drug use. As each candidate ramps up attacks with an eye toward general election in November, which issues ultimately gain traction may come down to how the average Ohioan feels about Acton’s impact on the state as health director. The Acton campaign did not respond to the Daily Signal’s request for comment.

The South Carolina race to replace former U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham, who died of heart complications in July, intensified Monday as Graham’s sister announced she’s running for a full-term and a second U.S. Representative tossed his hat into the ring. Darline Graham Nordone, who was sworn in last Monday to serve the remainder of Graham’s term after her appointment by Gov. Henry McMaster, told Fox News’ Sean Hannity that she would also be running for the seat in the August 11 special Senate election. “I’ve made a decision,” Graham said. “I’m in.” Her announcement comes after President Donald Trump endorsed her for the seat. “I hope Darline does this, in that there would be nobody better to honor the legacy of her beloved brother, Lindsey,” Trump said in a post to social media. “RUN, DARLINE, RUN!” Sen. Tim Scott, chair of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, mirrors the president’s support. Nordone now faces a crowded primary race.Rep. Russell Fry, R-S.C., announced his candidacy earlier Monday. “There is no other way to put it: Lindsey Graham was one of a kind,” Fry said in a statement. “There is no replacing him. But I believe the best way to honor his legacy is to fight alongside the President just as steadfastly as he did.” “There’s too much at stake to take a chance, so I’m answering the call,” Fry added. “I will be your conservative MAGA candidate in this summer’s special Republican primary for the United States Senate.” Fry was first elected to serve in the chamber after he primaried Rep. Tom Rice, R-S.C., one of the 10 Republicans to vote to impeach Trump in 2021. Before serving in Congress, Fry, the former Chief Majority Whip in the South Carolina House, championed “America First” priorities by helping pass the Open Carry Act and the strict Fetal Heartbeat Bill. Rep. Ralph Norman, R-S.C., who also announced his bid for the seat, responded to the statement, saying in a social media post, “I’m fighting to SAVE America! I respect Russell Fry, and I have enjoyed serving with him in the House, but the reality is, his candidacy could leave his seat vacant until May 18th.” “This would leave his constituents unrepresented, jeopardize President Trump’s agenda, and put the House at risk of being led by a Speaker Hakeem Jeffries. We can’t let that happen!!” According to reports, Fry will not resign from his seat to run for office, and if he were to lose the special Senate election, Fry would once again run for his House seat in November. Norman has also championed America First accomplishments during his time in the lower chamber. Heritage Action has awarded Norman with a 98% score, as he championed Trump-backed legislation like the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act.The winner of the special primary will face Democrat Annie Andrews in the November general election.