FIRST ON THE DAILY SIGNAL—Chairman of the House Committee on Education and Workforce Tim Walberg has written a letter to Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz stating that Walz’s office has failed to adequately comply with its investigation into alleged improper payments and misuse of federal taxpayer childcare funds under the Child Care Assistance Program. The letter comes days after the Federal Bureau of Investigation raided over 20 daycares in Minnesota as part of the administration’s crackdown on taxpayer fraud. “The Committee on Education and Workforce (Committee) is continuing its investigation of alleged improper payments to, or improper use of public funds by, child care providers through Minnesota’s Child Care Assistance Program (CCAP), under the authority of the Child Care and Development Block Grant Act of 1990 (CCDBG),” the letter reads. In the letter, the committee accuses Walz’s office of not cooperating with the committee’s investigation through its lack of responses and unexplained redactions. The committee, which began work in January, described the governor’s silence as “both unacceptable and impeding the Committee’s oversight and legislative efforts.” “As you know, the Committee is charged with monitoring on a continuing basis the application, administration, execution, and effectiveness of federal laws and programs under its jurisdiction,” the letter continued. “Congressional oversight extends to implementation of CCDBG in Minnesota through the CCAP, the state program for carrying out childcare activities. The Committee’s review of alleged improper payments to or improper use of federal funds by childcare providers will help inform the Committee about the kinds of legislative changes to CCDBG that may be warranted.” Although Minnesota produced nearly 38,000 pages in response to a Jan. 5 oversight request, the committee says fewer than 75 pages were meaningfully responsive. More than 90% of the production consisted of repeatedly duplicated press releases and news articles unrelated to childcare funding, including materials about Walz’s decision not to seek reelection and gun control executive orders. Some of the same press releases were submitted dozens of times, creating what the committee calls a misleading appearance of compliance. The committee also criticizes Minnesota for asserting broad attorney‑client and work‑product privilege claims without identifying the specific basis for individual redactions, which in some cases obscure entire email bodies. Congressional leaders emphasize that the House does not recognize non‑constitutional privileges as binding on oversight requests. Citing these deficiencies, the committee reiterates and narrows its demands, ordering Minnesota to produce unredacted emails involving Walz, Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan, and senior staff that reference specific childcare centers under scrutiny, as well as records identifying providers that received more than $1 million in CCDF funds in a single fiscal year. Flanagan, who is now running for U.S. Senate, was endorsed by embattled Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., on Monday. Omar is the subject of a House Oversight Committee and potential House Ethics Committee probe over her recent rise in wealth and potential involvement in the Feeding Our Future fraud scandal. The committee says the information requested from Walz will inform proposed legislation aimed at strengthening anti‑fraud safeguards and protecting taxpayer dollars in federal childcare programs.

FIRST ON THE DAILY SIGNAL—Amid Police Week, the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) is targeting Democrat Senate candidates with a series of ads accusing them of being anti-law enforcement. The NRSC has produced eight new ads targeting Democrat Senate candidates in battleground states: former Gov. Roy Cooper of North Carolina, Graham Platner of Maine, Sen. Jon Ossoff of Georgia, former Rep. Mary Peltola of Alaska, Rep. Chris Pappas of New Hampshire, and former Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown. The campaign committee is also targeting three Democrat candidates in Michigan’s Senate primary: Rep. Haley Stevens, state Sen. Mallory McMorrow, and former health official Abdul El-Sayed.  Additionally, one of the ads take aim at two Iowa Democrat candidates: state Sen. Zach Wahls and state Rep. Josh Turek. “As Democrats prioritize dangerous illegal immigrants and threaten to abolish law enforcement agencies, Republicans are working to keep criminals behind bars and make communities safe again,” NRSC National Press Secretary Bernadette Breslin told The Daily Signal.  “Democrats’ soft-on-crime policies are too dangerous for American families,” Breslin added. In one such ad, a narrator highlights the administration’s work on crime before criticizing Cooper on issues of law enforcement. “Thanks to Republicans, violent crime is at all-time lows, and American communities are safer,” the narrator begins. “But Roy Cooper wants to turn back the clock and bring back Joe Biden and Chuck Schumer’s pro-crime agenda that vilifies law enforcement, denies them crucial resources, and prioritizes dangerous illegal immigrants,” the narrator adds. “Americans can’t afford another Democrat crime wave. Reject Roy Cooper and stop the anti-police agenda.” The ad features news clips highlighting recent drops in violent crime and Senate Democrats’ opposition to renewing Department of Homeland Security (DHS) funding. The ads come as Republicans in the Senate are moving to provide funding to immigration enforcement agencies through a party-line budget bill after a months-long shutdown of DHS. Democrats objected to providing funding to immigration enforcement agencies during the record-setting shutdown. The Daily Signal reached out for comment from the candidates mentioned in the ads. “While Roy spent his career putting rapists and violent criminals behind bars and securing raises for law enforcement and public safety officials, Michael Whatley spent his appointing a convicted child sex predator who served time in prison for multiple counts of felony child sex crimes to a powerful position within the North Carolina Republican Party,” a Cooper campaign spokesperson replied, referring to the Republican candidate for Senate in North Carolina. The spokesperson was speaking of Harvey L. West Jr., a convicted sex offender who held positions in the North Carolina Republican Party at the same time as Whatley was its chairman. In response to the Cooper campaign, Whatley told The Daily Signal in a statement, “Nineteen innocent North Carolinians are dead because Roy Cooper chose to let violent criminals walk free—including the brutal murderer of Iryna Zarutska. He won’t answer to the families. He won’t explain the releases. He didn’t even follow the law to notify victims.”Whatley added, “This was a deliberate, reckless choice that prioritized violent criminals ahead of innocent North Carolinians. Roy Cooper failed at his most basic duty as governor, protecting the people of North Carolina, and families paid the price.” A Peltola spokesperson also responded to The Daily Signal, rejecting the ad’s premise. “This ad from DC political operatives is a lie – Mary has always stood up to her own party to crack down on violent crime and secure the southern border, and that’s what she’ll continue to do when she gets to the U.S. Senate,” the spokesperson said in a statement. The spokesperson added, “Mary also called out Joe Biden for his failures at the southern border, and she voted for tougher enforcement and billions in funding for Border Patrol. In the Senate, Mary will work with anyone, including President Trump, to bring down crime, secure the border, and keep Alaska safe.” Related PostsSenate in a $1 Billion Ballroom Budget BattleSenate Republicans are advancing party-line legislation that would inject billions of dollars into immigration enforcement and border security. But complicating the debate is a disagreement over funding for “security adjustments and upgrades” that Democrat critics claim, despite the White House’s and Republicans’ denial, would fund President Donald Trump’s East Wing ballroom project. The House and…Emmer Lights the Capitol, Vows GOP Will ‘Always Back the Blue’During Police Week, GOP leadership will honor law enforcement officers who have lost their lives in the line of duty. Sunday night, Majority Whip Tom Emmer illuminated his office with blue lights shining out of his office windows on the ground floor of the U.S. Capitol. The visual tribute will last all week. “I am…South Carolina Republicans Reject RedistrictingDespite being newly empowered by the Callais v. Louisiana Supreme Court ruling, South Carolina’s Republican-controlled Senate rejected moving ahead with a redistricting plan that would have likely unseated the state’s sole Democrat in Congress, Rep. Jim Clyburn. On Tuesday, the state Senate voted by a 29-17 margin to allow for the General Assembly to work on…

President Donald Trump has lit the National Football League up several times this year. He made it clear that he’s not a fan of several rule changes. He slammed this year’s Super Bowl halftime show, saying that it was “absolutely terrible, one of the worst, EVER! It makes no sense, is an affront to the Greatness of America, and doesn’t represent our standards of Success, Creativity, or Excellence.” And on Sharyl Attkisson’s “Full Measure” show this Sunday, he called out the NFL’s policy of moving games behind paywalls: “They could be killing the golden goose… You have people that live for Sunday. They can’t think about anything else, and then all of a sudden they have to pay $1,000? It’s crazy.” The president speaks for tens of millions of Americans who are equally fed up with the NFL these days, as it moves to take more games off broadcast while still pushing more woke politics on and off the field. America’s sports fans reflect the broad diversity of this nation—rich and poor, rural and urban, Republican and Democrat. Yet the leagues that run the business of sports all too often are captured by the New York and Hollywood values that define our entertainment industries. The result is a disconnect that may have real consequences as the leagues now defend their profitable positions before an anti-woke Trump administration. The National Football League could be the first to face the music. Example A of the out-of-touch attitude that permeates sports management is the NFL’s Super Bowl halftime show featuring Bad Bunny. In the year that America celebrates its 250th birthday, selecting a Spanish-language performer to sing was wildly off-key. And things got even worse when Bad Bunny laced his lyrics with drug-use and sexual references for a show that draws millions of underage eyeballs.                  Bad Bunny’s performance drew a complaint to the Federal Communications Commission from U.S. Rep. Randy Fine, R-Fla., while his colleague, Rep. Andy Ogles, R-Tenn., called for a hearing by the House Committee on Energy and Commerce. The FCC and Congress are now turning their attention to sports broadcasting, with a particular focus on the migration of premium sports content behind streaming paywalls that are driving up costs for fans. As policymakers peel back the NFL’s approach to negotiating these distribution deals, they will find a league thoroughly committed to wokeism—Bad Bunny was symptomatic of a broader problem. As part of its embrace of “Black Lives Matter,” the NFL has painted its end zones with messages like “End Racism” and “Stop Hate.” These are part of a larger $250 million, 10-year campaign by the NFL “to combat systemic racism and support the battle against injustices faced by African Americans” launched in the wake of George Floyd’s death. The NFL’s approach to affirmative action—with interview quotas for hiring and extra draft picks for making “the right” hires—has it in hot water with Florida’s attorney general, James Uthmeier. At the end of March, Uthmeier wrote Commissioner Roger Goodell about the tension between the NFL’s race-based hiring policies and Florida’s civil rights laws.  There’s also the lack of respect when the leagues enthusiastically embrace gay pride without regard for players or fans who hold traditional religious views on sexuality. The NFL sponsors a leaguewide Pride effort, while 29 of 30 major league baseball teams hold a Pride Night every June with rainbow jerseys, etc. The NHL backed off its pride-jersey policy after a number of players publicly declined to suit up in them. And don’t forget the recent brouhaha when the NBA’s Chicago Bulls waived Jaden Ivey over the conflict between his faith and the team’s commitment to the LGBTQ+ cause. This is the record as the leagues now come before the FCC, which has opened an inquiry looking at sports broadcasting in general and the movement of sports behind fan-unfriendly paywalls in particular. Meanwhile, the U.S. Department of Justice has opened an investigation into the NFL in light of streaming shifts. As the leagues engage these regulatory reviews, they should expect skepticism from Trump Administration agencies that share the president’s strong aversion to DEI, wokeism, and higher consumer prices. The leagues need to start putting fans first, both by making games widely available and making the left-wing politics much less pervasive. We publish a variety of perspectives. Nothing written here is to be construed as representing the views of The Daily Signal.

The Christian faith includes belief in miracles. Miracles are extraordinary events caused by God’s intervention in the world. They can do more than merely manifest God’s goodness; miracles often help deliver a message God desires to proclaim to man. Some miracles involve Christ or His saints speaking to people, such as when, in the Book of Acts, Saul is temporarily blinded and hears the voice of Christ. Many Catholics believe that there have been many such miraculous appearances over the centuries, particularly of Mary, the mother of Christ. Our Lady of Fatima is one of the most famous. The apparitions of Our Lady of Fatima took place between May and October of 1917. Mary repeatedly appeared to three young shepherd children (Lucia, Jacinta and Francisco) in Portugal. It was during World War I—which was physically and spiritually devastating Europe—that she appeared. Mary appeared six times to the children, always arriving on the 13th of the month. Mary told the children to pray the Rosary daily, particularly for the repentance of sinners. She even showed them a terrifying vision of Hell in which they could see the torment that occurs to souls who reject God’s love. At its core, the appearance of the Blessed Mother in Portugal was about her message proclaiming the need for the world to cling to God, to prayer, and to conversion from sin. On July 13, Mary told the children that she would perform a great miracle. She said, “You must come here every month, and in October I will tell you who I am and what I want. I will then perform a miracle so that all may believe.” On October 13, roughly 70,000 people gathered to wait and see if the children’s message received from Mary would come true. Those in attendance ran the gamut. Some were devout, some were tepid believers, some were doubters, and some were completely opposed to the idea that a woman who lived nearly 2000 years before in the Middle East was appearing to shepherd children. As the crowds grew, so did the inclement weather. There were overcast skies and heavy rain. According to eyewitness accounts, all of a sudden the clouds broke free and the skies cleared. The sun appeared and began to act in a way that clearly defied the natural laws of physics. It was moving across the sky rapidly, spinning and changing direction. The eyewitnesses could even stare at the sun without hurting their eyes, simply feeling its warmth and light. The crowds were amazed and convinced that what they were seeing was supernatural. Since then, the event has been labeled “The Miracle of the Sun.” While the miracle of the sun was dramatic, the apparition had a more important purpose: to share messages that have become known as the “secrets” of Fatima because the children only divulged them years later. The first secret was the vision of Hell that the children saw. The second secret was that the only way to prevent the spread of Russia’s power and godless philosophies was to consecrate the world to Mary. Mary explained that, if this consecration did not occur, the errors spread by Russia would bring more wreckage than the current crisis of World War I. The consecration did not occur until decades later, in 1942. Finally, the third secret, which was unknown to the Vatican until 2000. It references a prophecy of a “bishop in white” who will walk through a large city and be shot and killed. On May 13, 1981 (the feast of Our Lady of Fatima), Pope Saint John Paul II was shot in an attempted assassination attempt in St. Peter’s Square. The pope later stated that he believed that one man shot the bullet and that another, “motherly hand,” guided it. Even some of the medical team involved in saving his life claimed that the bullet seemed to have been “deflected.” Ultimately, the miraculous appearance of Our Lady of Fatima serves as an invitation to consider the power and relevance of the Christian message. For what was just recounted is but one iota of the evidence for and power of Jesus Christ: the way, the truth and the life. We publish a variety of perspectives. Nothing written here is to be construed as representing the views of The Daily Signal.

Despite being newly empowered by the Callais v. Louisiana Supreme Court ruling, South Carolina’s Republican-controlled Senate rejected moving ahead with a redistricting plan that would have likely unseated the state’s sole Democrat in Congress, Rep. Jim Clyburn. On Tuesday, the state Senate voted by a 29-17 margin to allow for the General Assembly to work on redistricting ahead of the 2026 elections. This was short of the necessary two-thirds threshold, with five Republican senators defecting. BREAKING: South Carolina Senate kills Redistricting Resolution 29-17!5 Republicans joined all Democrats to kill it Sean Bennett (Dorchester)Chip Campsen (Charleston)Tom Davis (Beaufort)Greg Hembree (Horry)Shane Massey (Edgefield)Vote them ALL out— Adam Morgan (@RepAdamMorgan) May 12, 2026 Clyburn, who is black, represents the predominantly black 6th Congressional District. South Carolina was compelled by a previous interpretation of the Voting Rights Act to maintain the majority-minority district. “We’re at the moment of our state where we have to decide: Are we going to be a Republic state or continue to bow down to the Democrats?” Republican state Rep. April Cromer told The Daily Signal on Monday. Clyburn has been in Congress since 1992 and has distinguished himself as a kingmaker in national Democrat politics, as he provided a critical endorsement to Joe Biden in his 2020 bid for the party’s presidential nomination. It was a critical week for the redistricting effort. In order to be able to work on redistricting before primaries, the General Assembly had to pass a “sine die” resolution to allow it to return after May 14 to redistrict. Otherwise, the Legislature was set to return to session in January. Governor Henry McMaster could still call a special session, although he has opted against doing so. A sine die resolution requires a two-thirds vote in the chamber, meaning Republicans could only afford to lose three votes in the Senate. On Monday night, President Donald Trump took to Truth Social, urging the Senate to advance redistricting. “BE BOLD AND COURAGEOUS, just like the Republicans of the Great State of Tennessee were last week!” the president said, referencing the Tennessee Legislature’s pro-Republican redistricting that will likely flip the seat of its sole Democrat in Congress. On Tuesday, Republican South Carolina Senate Majority Leader Shane Massey maintained his opposition to redistricting despite the president’s pressure. Massey now recounting his conversations with President Donald Trump. "These people are crazy," Trump told him of national Democrats. "I agree, Massey responded. He hopes the home team can retain the majority. But if Democrats win, "they won't because of South Carolina." pic.twitter.com/DNwBilDUwS— Nick Reynolds (@IAmNickReynolds) May 12, 2026 “I have too much Southern blood in me to surrender,” Massey said in the Senate, arguing, should Democrats win control of the U.S. House, “they won’t because of South Carolina.” Massey argued that redistricting would make him part of “eroding federalism.” CJ Westfall, chair of the Dorchester County, South Carolina Republican Party told The Daily Signal on Monday that the state’s senators are more immune to Trump’s pressure, as they are not up for reelection until 2028. “There’s a lot of these guys that have been there maybe 30, 40 years who don’t take too kindly to folks from Washington, D.C., trying to tell them how to legislate here in South Carolina,” Westfall, who also works with Republican political campaigns in the state, said. Rep. Ralph Norman, R-S.C., who is running for governor in the state, told The Daily Signal before the vote that he did not expect progress on redistricting. “Do I think anything’s going to happen? No,” he said. “There’s going to have to be a massive campaign, and it needs to be led by the governor and others.” Massey has repeatedly expressed reservations about redistricting, arguing it could make all of the state’s Republican incumbents vulnerable and would also deprive the state of a Democrat advocate in Congress when a Democrat president is elected. “There’s going to be another Democratic president at some point,” Massey told reporters in the lead-up to the vote. “I hope that’s not the case, but it’s going to happen. It is important, I think, that there’s somebody from South Carolina who can make a call, and that somebody at the White House will answer it.” Democrats in the Senate made similar arguments. “I think it’s a pretty good chance that we pick up a seat [in Congress] if they want to really adopt this map,” Democrat state Senate Minority Leader Brad Hutto told The Daily Signal on Monday. “It gives us higher Democratic performance in four districts that we don’t currently have.” Hutto told The Daily Signal before the sine die vote that Democrats “fully expect to face this same map in January” when the Legislature returns, “even if we don’t take it up now.” South Carolina State Senate Majority Leader @shanemassey: "We are the most gerrymandered Republican state in the country already." pic.twitter.com/88ca7LJFZO— CSPAN (@cspan) May 12, 2026 Hutto asserts that Clyburn “is going to win reelection under either map,” whether South Carolina redistricts or not. Clyburn has similarly argued the redistricting could inadvertently benefit Democrats and that he can still win reelection, despite continuing to oppose the redistricting. Hutto also remained in opposition, saying Democrats “decry” the Supreme Court’s decision and think last-minute redistricting “is a terrible idea.” Former Rep. Adam Morgan told The Daily Signal that actions speak louder than words, and that Democrat legislators’ continued opposition to redistricting revealed the likelihood Republicans could secure a 7-0 map. “I think the proof is in the pudding,” Morgan said. “They’re freaking out about it because they know that they’re going to lose that seat.” Westfall similarly argued that Republicans are able to “very strongly win a 7-0 map with the current map that’s being considered” when assuming  the 2018 “blue wave” numbers, the 2022 numbers, or Republicans’ strong 2024 results. “Barring some kind of absolute disaster, I feel very confident in the maps that are being considered,” Westfall told The Daily Signal. Morgan had few kind words for Gov. McMaster, who he says sabotaged the redistricting effort by not calling a special session. The Daily Signal reached out to McMaster for comment. “The problem is we need a two-thirds vote because of … our weak, do-nothing governor who refused to call a special session,” Morgan told The Daily Signal. “If he called a special session, it would have been a simple majority vote on this.” Westfall, however, told The Daily Signal that the effort would be “completely dead” if the Senate did not pass the resolution. “President Trump, if he doesn’t win the midterms, we feel that he’ll be kneecapped and facing impeachment and won’t have the political capital to get something like this done in the future. So, we feel that this is the only time we can ever get this done,” he said. Related PostsVirginia Redistricting Fight Shifts to High Court After VoteAfter voters in Virginia approved a mid-decade redistricting plan Tuesday that will give Democrats a big edge for U.S. House races, the battle has now shifted to the state’s highest court. Yesterday, voters approved a constitutional amendment to redraw Virginia’s state congressional map, granting a likely 10-1 advantage for Democrats in future elections. On Wednesday,…Virginia Democrats’ Redistricting Gamble Succeeds in Special ElectionVirginians voted in favor of Democrat Gov. Abigail Spanberger and Democrats’ effort to completely overhaul the commonwealth’s congressional map to favor Democrats, the Associated Press reported Tuesday evening. The Associated Press called the race in favor of “yes” at 8:50pm eastern time with an estimated 81% of the votes counted. At the time of the…Republican Redistricting War Heats Up in MississippiAfter the Supreme Court struck down congressional redistricting done solely on the basis of race last week, Republican officials in Mississippi are split over whether to redraw the state’s congressional map ahead of the midterm elections. “It’s time for Mississippi to redraw the lines and eliminate the racially gerrymandered district that exists solely to protect…