On April 14, Congressional Democrats proposed legislation that would expand the Supreme Court to 13 justices, as opposed to nine – the longstanding standard since 1869. This proposal is the first significant effort to overhaul the Supreme Court since President Roosevelt attempted to expand it in his second term. The…
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Democrats debate student loan forgiveness
Student loan debt in the United States has swelled to over $1.5 trillion collectively held by over 42 million borrowers. The massive size of this debt and the scale of the borrowers affected have prompted contentious conversations regarding what to do about it, including potential options for relief. The idea…
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Opinion: Abolishing the filibuster won’t fix the Senate
The United States Senate is in a state of crisis. Many serving senators of both parties have lamented that the Senate is a broken institution. Seventy former senators have decried the way the chamber acts or, rather, fails to act. Though blame for this crisis has been attributed to a…
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Election preview: Congressional races in Missouri and Kansas
The 2018 midterm elections have nearly arrived, and The Hilltop Monitor is going to have a series of articles previewing elections in the local area. The first set of races to analyze are the congressional races in local Missouri and Kansas districts. In Missouri, the race for Senate has focused…
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Speaker of the House Paul Ryan announces decision not to run for re-election
Speaker of the House Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) took office in January 1999. Before becoming Speaker of the House in 2015, Ryan served on the Budget Committee and served a brief tenure as Chairman of the Ways and Means Committee, which is widely regarded as the most powerful committee in the…
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Facebook faces controversy over Cambridge Analytica scandal
The recent Facebook and Cambridge Analytica scandal resulted in millions of Facebook users’ data being sold to the latter company without their knowledge or consent. The breach affected 87 million users and has raised concerns about how to protect individuals’ personal privacy and data online. The concern about how Facebook…
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Headlines: Immigration
Congress’ inaction led President Obama to take action in order to build more accountability into the system’s immigration enforcement policy, especially in regards to unauthorized immigrants being allowed to stay in the United States and more comprehensive and punitive action for those who are not. “When I took office, I committed to…
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Hilltop Voices: Dylan Jones on Compromise in Congress
The 2014 Senate midterm took place Nov 4. The results of Election Day indicate that the GOP is retaking the Senate. The current results are as follows: 53 Republicans, 46 Democrats and one seat in Louisiana still up for a run-off election in December. Now that the Republicans have a…
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Headlines: results of the race that unseated Eric Cantor
Eric Cantor resigned from his congressional seat and position as speaker of the house after Dave Brat received the Republican nomination for Virginia’s 7th District congressional seat June 10, 2014. Brat went on to win the midterm election. (Photo: Paul Morigi/Getty Images) Tuesday, Nov. 4, Dave Brat defeated Jack Trammell…
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