Outside the Beltway

Republicans on Capitol Hill are openly disagreeing with a proposed strategy to threaten a government shutdown if Obamacare isn’t repealed.

The two ends of Pennsylvania Avenue are clashing on defense appropriations.

Lindsey Graham is playing cynical political games with a dangerous part of the world.

Americans tell pollsters that hate Congress, but they never seem to do anything about it.

Senators John McCain and Carl Levin have demanded answers from General Martin Dempsey on Syria. Can they handle the truth?

There are over 1,000 Executive Branch positions requiring Senate approval. That seems excessive.

Once again, the threat of the “nuclear option” appears to have had less megatonnage than some expected and others hoped.

The Senate may be headed for an historic confrontation today if an 11th hour deal isn’t reached.

The GOP’s chances to take over the Senate became much better over the weekend.

The 10th anniversary of McCain-Feingold teaches a lesson we should already have learned.

There are many fallacies contained within the GOP’s insistence that immigration reform must begin and end with “border security.”

The latest House GOP pronouncements on immigration reform make it exceedingly unlikely that any bill will pass this year.

Harry Reid is supposedly making another run at filibuster reform.

Words don’t always mean what you think they mean.

Forget about the budget deficit and spending. The Tea Party apparently now considers stopping immigration reform to be its most important task.

Not surprisingly, Lois Lerner’s attorney is saying his client will only testify under a grant of immunity.

Lois Lerner is likely headed back to Congress over the largely phony charge that she waived her Fifth Amendment rights.

Doesn’t pass the smell test.

The Senate passed an immigration reform bill today, but it’s not going to go anywhere.

One Congressman apparently thinks that asserting your Constitutional rights should be grounds for losing a government job.

Marco Rubio has suffered a reversal of fortune among Republicans thanks to his role in the immigration reform debate.

The Supreme Court accepts what will likely be one of the most important cases of its upcoming term.

It looks for all the world as if the House GOP Caucus isn’t really under the control of the leadership.

Opponents of immigration reform are using “border security” as a shield to hide their true desire to kill the very idea of immigration reform.

Why did House Republicans vote overwhelmingly for a bill that their own theories would find to be unconstitutional?

There are risks to Republicans in blocking immigration reform, but there are also incentives for them to block immigration reform. Getting past that contradiction to passage isn’t going to be easy.

John Boehner clearly wants to see an immigration bill passed this year, but he has a very narrow path to victory.

The GOP seems to be making the same mistakes that led to defeat in 2012.