'We'll be ready'

'It wasn't true then, and it isn't true now'

'Free exercise of religion principles'

'Striking 52 sections from the initial draft bill'

The One Big, Beautiful Bill Act—the main legislative vehicle for fulfilling President Donald Trump’s campaign promises—would not prevent taxpayers funds from going to transgender surgeries, unless Senate Republicans take action. Democrats on the Senate Committee on the Budget announced Thursday that Senate parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough—essentially, the chamber’s rules referee—had tossed out a provision that “prohibits federal Medicaid and CHIP funding for gender-affirming medical care.” MacDonough did so under the Byrd Rule, a Senate rule meant to block provisions in 10-year budget packages that are more policy-oriented than budgetary. The rule is named for then-Sen. Robert Byrd, D-W.Va., who was the rule’s main sponsor when it was adopted in 1985. That has outraged Rep. Dan Crenshaw, R-Texas, who has accused MacDonough of inconsistency and called for her dismissal. “She allowed a $50 million grant program for environmental justice, whatever that means … but denied my prohibition on Medicaid funds for transgender surgeries, because it didn’t have a direct enough budget impact. Of course that’s not true, it had a $2.5 billion budget impact.” Why are so many Republicans—including myself— calling for the Senate parliamentarian to be fired? Here’s everything you need to know. pic.twitter.com/tArs4ZhSLr— Dan Crenshaw (@DanCrenshawTX) June 27, 2025 But like all rules in the Senate, the Byrd Rule is not self-enforcing. MacDonough’s ruling is essentially an advisory that the Senate ought to reach a 60-vote threshold in order to waive her recommendation against the provision. That’s exceedingly unlikely given the Senate’s sharply partisan divide, so Republicans are now broadly calling to push back on MacDonough’s rulings. “It’s time to fight,” Rep. Ralph Norman, R-S.C., who is closely watching the Senate’s deliberations, told The Daily Signal on Thursday, adding: If we have to sit up here through July 4 and have to sit up here in all of August on our break, we need to do it. This bill is that important. MacDonough has drawn the wrath of prominent Senate Republicans, such as Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala. “Her job is not to push a woke agenda,” Tuberville wrote Thursday after she nixed a provision that was meant to prevent illegal immigrants from receiving Medicaid benefits. “THE SENATE PARLIAMENTARIAN SHOULD BE FIRED ASAP,” he added, in all-uppercase letters for emphasis. Firing the parliamentarian is a rather extreme measure, but it would not be unprecedented.  Then-Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott, R-Miss., did so with then-parliamentarian Robert Dove in 2001 over his frequent overruling of Senate budgetary proposals. There is also the option of amending the provision and resubmitting it to MacDonough in the hope that she would approve it.  An important fact is that the Senate parliamentarian is not enforcing law, but rather the generally agreed-upon rules of the chamber. Vice President JD Vance could technically overrule her as presiding officer of the Senate, although that would break with precedent.  Vice President JD Vance (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images) Some Democrats urged just such an action during President Joe Biden’s administration, when MacDonough struck down items on their progressive wish list. In 2021, Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., urged then-Vice President Kamala Harris to overrule MacDonough striking a $15 minimum wage provision from the American Rescue Act, a budget-reconciliation package during the Biden administration. “I’m sorry—an unelected parliamentarian does not get to deprive 32 million Americans the raise they deserve,” Khanna said at the time. “This is an advisory, not a ruling. VP Harris needs to disregard and rule a $15 minimum wage in order.” Harris ultimately did not do so. Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., called for MacDonough’s firing at the time. “Abolish the filibuster. Replace the parliamentarian,” she said on social media. “What’s a Democratic majority if we can’t pass our priority bills? This is unacceptable.” Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, however, says that the parliamentarians’ rulings are no excuse for backsliding on conservative priorities. “Look, maybe the parliamentarian isn’t doing exactly what she should do, but stop hiding there,” Roy said Thursday. “Go make the right arguments and go do what you need to do to get the bill delivered.” The Senate should stop hiding behind the parliamentarian to protect swamp interests. Use the majority. Lead. The House Bill was baseline with room to improve. No going backwards. pic.twitter.com/LIovkWUJ4D— Chip Roy (@chiproytx) June 27, 2025 The post Move to Bar Medicaid Funding of Trans Surgeries Nixed by Senate Parliamentarian, Drawing GOP Wrath appeared first on The Daily Signal.

New York City’s economy faces devastating prospects if an avowed socialist wins the general mayoral election in November. That isn’t out of the picture, as Zohran Mamdani, winner of Democrats’ primary on Tuesday and a member of the Democratic Socialists of America, pledges to run my former home into the ground, transforming it into an East Coast version of San Francisco. As someone who lived in New York City for nearly 10 years, it’s sad for me to witness the city’s downward spiral—a spiral that started under Bill de Blasio and which will only accelerate if Mamdani is elected. Mamdani embraces a litany of alarming proposals like no rent collection, government-owned grocery stores, freezing rent prices, social workers to replace police, $70 billion of debt to fund “affordable” housing, and a $30 minimum wage. He also promises “free” buses and child care—even though any honest telling acknowledges such benefits aren’t “free,” but rather a burden shouldered by taxpayers at every income level through personal income, sales, and other taxes.  At age 33, having never personally managed an organization with any complexity, Mamdani is unqualified to run the world’s largest, most powerful economy. He lacks a basic grasp of the economic principles like scarcity and the role of competition and innovation to drive prices lower. Instead, he’d rather shift economic production and control to government—a recipe for quagmire and bond downgrades, which would spike borrowing costs for New York City’s municipal bonds, or munis.  In his Thursday “On The Money” email newsletter, Charlie Gasparino, a financial journalist at Fox Business, explained the problems with Mamdani’s plans to load the city up with debt: Here’s where things can get dicey if you’re a muni holder. It’s rare but municipalities have been known to file for bankruptcy and screw bondholders. Puerto Rico did that not too long ago, same with Detroit and Orange County, Calif., back in the 1990s. NYC came close in the 1970s during the infamous financial crisis, but it avoided a full-on default. The city’s budget under Eric Adams is pretty solid today for all Gotham’s problems. But remember defaults do occur when fiscal leaders spend more than they have. Mamdani, if you take him at his word, wants to spend money like crazy and tax rich people and businesses so much that they will have little choice but to keep moving to Florida. It should be a recipe for default, and at least lower muni-bond prices following downgrades in ratings by bond-monitors like Fitch, S & P and Moody’s. What’s telling is that even though Mamdani claims to speak for less wealthy New Yorkers, they resoundingly rejected him. Exit polls show Mamdani won by double digits among primary voters earning $100,000 or more, as well as among those earning $50,000 to $100,000. But Mamdani lost heavily to primary rival Andrew Cuomo—by double digits—among voters earning under $50,000. Mamdani often garnishes his speeches with references to his life as an immigrant born in Uganda who came to the United States at age seven. But it’s striking that voters who are disproportionately poorer than average New Yorkers reject his message. The New York City government reported, “In New York City, U.S.-born residents have significantly greater median household earnings; foreign-born residents have a median income of $42,820 while U.S.-born residents have a median income of $61,171.” Could it be that poorer, immigrant New Yorkers had enough of the socialist scam promises from leaders in the places they fled? New York’s dilemma isn’t happening in a vacuum. People fleeing California took more than $24 billion in income with them as the Left Coast adopted many of the same policies Mamdani seeks to implement. Two years ago, Chicago Democrats also elected a charismatic socialist mayor in Brandon Johnson, who has since overseen masses of people fleeing Illinois for other states like Florida and Texas due to the city’s high taxes, high crime, and low respect for private property and economic opportunity. There’s still time between now and November for all voters—not just the hard-core progressive activists who voted this week—to reject this turn toward socialism and instead choose a candidate who will bring economic opportunity, safety, and freedom to the Big Apple. Carrie Sheffield is a senior policy analyst for the Center for Economic Opportunity at Independent Women’s Forum. The post Mamdani as NYC Mayor Would Devastate Economy, Spike Borrowing Costs appeared first on The Daily Signal.

If you're tired of censorship and dystopian threats against civil liberties, subscribe to Reclaim The Net. Under pressure from a First Amendment lawsuit, Chappaqua Central School District has implemented a sweeping new regulation that strengthens protections for student speech, leading to the dismissal of a high-profile legal case filed by the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE). The dispute began when a student, O.J., was suspended after his friend posted a rap song online that included lyrics deemed offensive by school officials. The track, created off school grounds and outside of class time, featured the refrain “faggot, fart, balls” and incorporated another contributor’s verses containing graphic themes. Three complaints prompted school administrators to discipline O.J. under their existing “hate speech” policy. The student’s father argued the school had overstepped its authority, invoking the US Supreme Court’s 2021 ruling in Mahanoy Area School District v. B.L., which established that schools cannot regulate student expression that occurs off campus and causes no disruption to school operations. When those arguments failed to reverse the punishment, he reached out to FIRE, which filed suit in April 2024 in federal court. “The Supreme Court’s decision in Mahanoy Area School District v. B.L. clearly states that students’ off-campus, nondisruptive speech is protected by the First Amendment,” said FIRE attorney Colin McDonell. “That is true even when the speech receives criticism.” Following months of negotiations, the district and FIRE reached a resolution. The school board formally adopted a First Amendment regulation aligning its code of conduct with constitutional standards and state law. The agreement also required the removal of O.J.’s suspension from his record and included a $70,000 payment from the district’s insurer to cover FIRE’s legal expenses. In a press release, FIRE attorney Greg H. Greubel emphasized the broader implications of the agreement: “With its adoption of a First Amendment regulation, the board of education has affirmed the rights of its students to engage in protected speech on and off campus,” he said. “We’re pleased that we could work with the board to avoid further litigation and turn this situation into a positive outcome for our client and all students in the district.” We obtained a copy of the agreement for you here.  If you're tired of censorship and dystopian threats against civil liberties, subscribe to Reclaim The Net. The post Chappaqua School District Strengthens Student Speech Protections After Lawsuit Over Off-Campus Rap Suspension appeared first on Reclaim The Net.

If you're tired of censorship and dystopian threats against civil liberties, subscribe to Reclaim The Net. A legal dispute between Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) and two outspoken residents has ended in a costly resolution for the district, as America First Legal (AFL) announced a six-figure settlement secured on behalf of journalist Matthew Foldi and author Bethany Mandel. The case stemmed from MCPS’s decision to suppress dissenting voices online, specifically, Mandel’s, after she condemned the district’s removal of parental opt-outs from curriculum centered on “LGBT themes.” A federal judge in Maryland ruled that MCPS’s “Staff Pride” group may have infringed on Mandel’s constitutional rights when it blocked her from viewing and engaging with its content on X. The court rebuked the group’s attempt to shield its actions with qualified immunity, writing that such a defense “flies in the face of binding precedent available to [them] at the time.” The ruling also emphasized the discriminatory enforcement of MCPS’s social media engagement, stating, “Mandel was iced out while others who shared the Pride Members’ views and supported the MCPS policies were not similarly restricted.” AFL initiated the suit in late 2023, arguing that MCPS retaliated against Mandel’s viewpoint because it diverged from that of the school’s internal affinity group. The resulting settlement not only includes financial compensation but also forces tangible policy reforms. The “Staff Pride” group must unblock Mandel, and MCPS employees are now subject to a revamped social media code that bans censorship based on differing opinions. Staff will also be obligated to certify their compliance with the new rules. This censorship episode is part of a larger conflict over parental rights and ideological control in public education. Mandel’s opposition to the district’s LGBT curriculum policy change mirrors arguments raised in a separate lawsuit, Mahmoud v. Taylor, now before the US Supreme Court. In a press release, AFL positioned the settlement as a victory for those pushing back against ideological overreach in schools. “America First Legal is proud to have represented Matthew Foldi and Bethany Mandel in their righteous efforts to hold Montgomery County Public Schools accountable to its constitutional obligations and its fiduciary duties to the public,” said Ian Prior, the group’s senior advisor. “The right to speak on matters of public concern, and especially on the performance of the government, is paramount in the United States of America. We are pleased that we were able to achieve this result for our clients and all those who have and will speak out and continue to hold Montgomery County Public Schools accountable. Those with radical agendas may be in charge of our public school systems, but the vast majority of Americans oppose their enforced ideology and their ability to speak critically on these issues is the key to returning our schools to normalcy.” Bethany Mandel reflected on the case’s broader significance: “This settlement sent a message to MCPS and other school districts across the country. Citizens demand transparency and accountability, and a refusal to provide that to journalists and residents has consequences. It’s a shame that it came to this point, but it’s an important victory for common sense in our county.” If you're tired of censorship and dystopian threats against civil liberties, subscribe to Reclaim The Net. The post Montgomery County Schools Settle Lawsuit Over Blocking on X appeared first on Reclaim The Net.

If you're tired of censorship and dystopian threats against civil liberties, subscribe to Reclaim The Net. If you’re tired of censorship and dystopian threats against civil liberties, subscribe to Reclaim The Net. Esther Salas was downstairs when she heard the doorbell. It was a Sunday afternoon in New Jersey, in July 2020. Her son Daniel, twenty years old and home from college, went to answer it. Become a Member and Keep Reading… Reclaim your digital freedom. Get the latest on censorship, cancel culture, and surveillance, and learn how to fight back. Email Subscribe Already a supporter? Sign In. If you're tired of censorship and dystopian threats against civil liberties, subscribe to Reclaim The Net. The post Data Brokers, Deadly Consequences, and the Wild West of Information Trade appeared first on Reclaim The Net.

Guess Who Can't Pay His Legal Bills...