Outside the Beltway

With time seemingly running out, the Senate debate over extending DACA is moving slowly.

The Tea Party is dead, but it was never really alive to begin with.

Congress seems likely to pass a budget deal today that will massively increase spending, putting to rest once and for all the rank hypocrisy of Republicans when it comes to claims that they are “fiscally conservative.”

Congress appears to be moving closer to a budget deal even as the President tries to throw a monkey wrench into the whole thing.

Congress seems no closer to a DACA deal than they were in January.

The White House’s immigration plan is facing opposition in both chambers of Congress from moderate and conservative Republicans alike.

The prospects for a deal in Congress on DACA are starting to look grim.

Less than a day after the President appeared to make a major concession regarding DACA, the White House has thrown a monkey wrench into the whole process.

Democrats in the Senate appear ready to de-link DACA from the budget. That would remove the threat of a government shutdown, but it could anger their base.

Getting to a DACA deal isn’t going to be easy.

The deal that led to the end of the Federal Government shutdown isn’t sitting well with the progressive wing of the Democratic Party.

While final votes remain to be taken, the Federal Government shutdown effectively ended this afternoon with an overwhelming bipartisan vote to reopen the government, combined with a commitment from Republicans to consider a DACA bill over the next three weeks. What happens next, though, is entirely uncertain.

As the Federal Government shutdown moves into the work week, there are some rumors of a possible deal, but nothing concrete and the lack of trust between the two parties could make a deal hard to achieve.

It’s Day Two of the Federal Government shutdown and there are few signs of a quick resolution.

The government is shut down and Washington is playing the usual blame game. In reality, there’s plenty of blame to go around, and one of the guilty parties is the American people.

Both #TrumpShutdown and #SchumerShutdown put the blame in the wrong place.

Republicans passed their tax bill yesterday. What that means for the economy and the 2018 midterms is another question.

Some Democratic Senators are suggesting that Al Franken should reconsider his decision to resign from the Senate.

House and Senate Republicans say they have reached agreement on a final tax bill, and Democrats are engaging in an effort to delay a vote in the Senate until Doug Jones can be seated.

As expected, Minnesota’s Governor has named his Lt. Governor to replace Al Franken in the Senate.

In what amounts to an electoral perfect storm, Democratic nominee Doug Jones pulled off a win last night in the Alabama Senate Election.

A top Republican political analyst is warning that a Roy Moore victory in Alabama could pose real problems for Republicans in 2018. If it does, they’ll have nobody to blame but themselves.

Donald Trump’s Jerusalem decision reveals yet again that he is an appallingly bad deal maker.

The current temporary spending measure reached by Congress in September expires on Friday, and Republicans haven’t come up with a solution yet.

The Senate passed a tax cut bill last night, but it leaves a lot to be desired.

A Los Angeles reporter says that Minnesota Senator Al Franken groped her and engaged in other inappropriate conduct during a 2006 USO tour.

Republican Lamar Alexander and Democratic Senator Patty Murray say they’ve reached a bipartisan deal to fix an important part of the Affordable Care Act.

Just three weeks after their home was hit by a devastating storm, Donald Trump is attacking Puerto Ricans for not recovering from the storm sooner.

Reports are indicating that President Trump will decertify the nuclear weapons deal with Iran. This would be a foolish and potentially dangerous mistake.

Most Americans don’t support President Trump’s statements about the protests by N.F.L. players, but it’s just another example of him using hateful rhetoric to pander to his base.

Senate Republicans have ten days to act on their last-ditch attempt to ‘repeal and replace’ Obamacare, and it’s not at all clear if they have the votes to do so.

The Senate appears ready to get rid of another procedural move designed to block judicial nominees.

Trump makes a DACA deal, apparently.

Perhaps it’s time to consider getting rid of the debt ceiling entirely.

Donald Trump made a deal with Democrats on spending and the debt ceiling, but it was an exceedingly bad one.

The pardoning of Joe Arpaio was distasteful and an affront to the Rule of Law, but it was completely within the powers of the President and should not be a ground for impeachment.

Donald Trump is threatening to shut the government down if Congress doesn’t pay for the wall that Mexico was supposed to pay for.

Even members of his own party don’t trust Donald Trump enough to make it possible for him to make recess appointments.

Seven years of rhetoric on health care reform ended early this morning with a narrow vote on a bill that even Republicans didn’t really support.

With the defection of two more Senators, the latest effort to ‘repeal and replace’ the Affordable Care Act has gone down in flames.

Senate Republicans have introduced their latest version of a plan to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act.

Donald Trump’s first Cabinet Meeting looked like something out of a Maoist propaganda video.

The latest CBO score for the American Health Care Act is bad news for Republicans.

There seems to be no question that the decision to fire James Comey was motivated largely by the President’s frustrations over the fact that his campaign is under investigation.

With a government shutdown looming at the end of the week, the Administration has appeared to back away from a demand that a government funding bill include money allocated for the President’s promised border wall.

Faced with the fact that it has little to show for its first 100 days in office, the Trump Administration is pressuring Congress to come up with a new health care reform bill before the end of next week.

As expected, Senate Republicans invoked the so-called ‘nuclear option’ to move the nomination of Judge Neil Gorsuch forward to a final vote on Friday.

The failure of the AHCA shows that Donald Trump doesn’t know the slightest thing about leadership or how to be President.

Let the games begin.

Day One of the questioning of Judge Neil Gorsuch went very well, and it suggests that his path to confirmation is basically clear of serious obstacles.