The Laken Riley Act Reminds Us: If a Law Is Named After Someone, It's Probably Bad
Riley's murder was an atrocity. But the law bearing her name is a grab bag of authoritarian policies that have little to do with her death.
Senate
These Lawmakers Actively Use TikTok Even After Voting To Ban It
With just hours to go before it is set to shut down, many senators and representatives are still posting on the app they claim is too dangerous for the rest of us to use.
Hegseth Faces the Senate
Plus: L.A.'s price gouging crackdown, more Rachel Maddow in your life, and more...
Kamala Harris' Long Day
Plus: Evading congestion pricing, expelling Hondurans (and the U.S. military), and more...
Even Without the Sex and Drug Allegations, Matt Gaetz's Nomination Should Have Been Doomed
The House Ethics Committee's findings, combined with Gaetz's lack of relevant experience, again raise the question of why Donald Trump picked him for attorney general.
Cancerous Politics
Plus: Taking gerontocracy to new heights, a real life Arc Reactor, Happy Festivus, and more...
Social Security Is Deeply Unfair. The Social Security Fairness Act Won't Fix That.
What is paid out to Social Security beneficiaries is not a return on workers' investments. It's just a government expenditure, like any other.
Senate Tees Up $200 Billion Social Security Giveaway to Public Sector Workers
The Social Security Fairness Act will boost payouts to public sector workers who receive pensions and did not pay taxes to support Social Security.
Kash Patel's QAnon Dalliances Reflect an Outlook That Pits Trump Against Evil Conspirators
The president-elect's pick for FBI director says he rejects some of the right-wing sect's bizarre beliefs but agrees with "a lot of what the movement says."
Kash Patel's Threats Against Journalists Make Him an Alarming Choice To Run the FBI
"We're gonna come after the people in the media," the Trump stalwart warns. "Whether it's criminally or civilly, we'll figure that out."
The Gaetz Flop Suggests That Trump Is Still His Own Worst Enemy
The nomination, which fell apart in record time for predictable reasons, reflected a pattern of impulsiveness that may yet defeat the president-elect's worst instincts.
The Last Chance To Curtail Trump's Tariff Powers?
Sen. Rand Paul's bill to require congressional consent for tariffs is getting new attention in the final weeks before Trump's return to power.
We Are Going To Learn More About Matt Gaetz's Sex Life Than We Wanted
Trump's pick for attorney general is manifestly unqualified for the job, even without considering the salacious details of the ethics charges against him.
The Math Does Not Favor Avoiding Senate Scrutiny of Trump's Bizarre Cabinet Picks
Several Republican senators have said they are not inclined to abdicate their "advice and consent" role in presidential appointments.
Trump's First Term Wasn't Fiscally Responsible. Will His Second Be Different?
Even before the pandemic spending increase, the budget deficit was approaching $1 trillion. The GOP has the chance to embrace fiscal sanity this time if they can find the political will.
Democrats Are About to Rediscover the Value of the Filibuster
Rep. Pramila Jayapal perfectly demonstrates the shamelessness of those who support ending the filibuster.
In Michigan, the CIA Beat the FBI
Michiganders had to choose between a hawkish Democrat with an intelligence background and a hawkish Republican with an intelligence background for Senate.
GOP Despair
Plus: FEMA threat-related arrest, incentives for babymaking, "men" for Harris/Walz, and more...
The First Real Judicial Filibuster
Remembering the first time a partisan Senate minority blocked a judicial nomination that enjoyed majority support.
J.D. Vance Is Wrong: Congress Is Indeed 'a High-Class Debating Society'
While congressmen hold performative hearings to win political points, they delegate policymaking to the administrative.
Rand Paul's Plans To Balance the Budget Are a Useful Illustration of Congress' Addiction To Borrowing
The budget could be balanced by cutting just six pennies from every dollar the government spends. It used to require even less.
Tim Scott Wants to Deregulate Manufactured Housing
Plus: An alleged slumlord gets a "tenant empowerment" grant, Seattle's affordable housing mandates lead to less housing, D.C.'s affordable housing crisis.
Raphael Warnock Admits Laws Won't Stop School Shootings but Wants More Anyway
Often, the best thing for lawmakers to do is nothing.
Court Rules That the Government Can Hide Its Own Report on CIA Torture
The executive branch and the Senate have played hot potato with an infamous torture report, allowing the CIA to evade the Freedom of Information Act.
Secret Service May Get Even More Money After Failing To Protect Trump
Government agencies are expensive, incompetent, and overreaching. The Secret Service is no exception.
KOSA Moves Forward in Congress, Threatening Free Speech and Encryption
Only Sens. Paul and Wyden are expected to vote "no" on Tuesday. Power to stop KOSA now resides with the House.
'The Problem Is Spending': Libertarian Presidential Nominee Chase Oliver's Vision for the Future
The candidate supports gun rights, wants to privatize government programs, and would radically reduce the number of federal employees.
He Immigrated to the U.S. as a Child. He Was Just Kicked Out—Despite Coming Here Legally.
"Documented Dreamers" continue to have to leave the country even though this is the only home many have ever known.
'I Don't Support Mandates From Government': John Stossel Interviews Libertarian Presidential Nominee Chase Oliver
The candidate makes the case against the two-party system.
Marco Rubio Used To Know How Tariffs Work. What Happened?
The economics of tariffs have not changed in the past eight years. Marco Rubio has.
Justin Amash on Why Congress Is Broken
"Today it is highly centralized, where a few people at the top control everything," the former five-term congressman tells Reason's Nick Gillespie.
TikTok Gets 9 Months
Plus: Masking protesters, how Google Search got so bad, Columbia's anti-apartheid protests of the '80s, and more...
If They Ban TikTok, Is Apple Next?
Banning companies for doing business with China is a bad path to start down.
How the FISA Reauthorization Bill Could Force Maintenance Workers and Custodians To Become Government Spies
"This bill would basically allow the government to institute a spy draft," warns head of the Freedom of the Press Foundation.
Revised Section 702 Surveillance Authority Poses More Danger Than Ever
New language could make almost anybody with access to a WiFi router help the government snoop.
J.D. Vance Thinks U.S. Steel's Shareholders Weren't Adequately Warned of J.D. Vance's Efforts To Block Sale
Vance's latest gambit is pretty nonsensical, intellectually embarrassing, and obviously self-serving. But that doesn't mean that it's not dangerous too.
Congress Could Overturn a New Rule Limiting Credit Card Late Fees. Good.
Sen. Tim Scott introduced a bill Monday to block the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's action by invoking the Congressional Review Act.
Congress Could Swipe Your Credit Card Reward Points
Sens. Dick Durbin and J.D. Vance want to put the Federal Reserve in charge of credit card reward programs.
Are New Jersey Voters Too Dumb for Normal Ballots?
Democratic Party bosses in the Garden State say that a court order to design better ballots will make it harder to tell voters what to do.
Is This It for New Jersey's Corrupt Primary System?
The race to replace accused bribe-taker Sen. Bob Menendez could bring an end to one of the state's most egregious political practices.
Democrats Are Once Again Boosting MAGA Republicans
Even if successful, the strategy demonstrates how little interest politicians have in standing for something, rather than against something else.
Senate Race Revealed Shortcomings of California's 'Top Two' Primary Reform
A change that promised to be a moderating influence on politics has instead made campaigns more vicious than ever.
Rank Choices
Plus: A listener asks the editors for short quotes from fictional works that are representative of libertarian ideas.
Looming Deadline
Plus: Nuclear reactors, space firsts, Fani Willis' love life, Trump sneakers, and more...
Expanding the Child Tax Credit Would Perpetuate Systemic Poverty
The policy is a true budget buster and is ineffective in the long term.
Justin Amash: 'I'd Impeach Every President'
Former Rep. Justin Amash says "the idea of introducing impeachment legislation suggests there's other people who will join you. Otherwise, it's just an exercise in futility."
California Senate Hopeful Barbara Lee Wants $50 Per Hour Minimum Wage
If you’re going to set arbitrary prices for labor, why not shoot for the moon?
