Outside the Beltway

Joe Manchin has come around on a pared back BBB, surprising just about everyone.

Democrats and Independents are losing their enthusiasm. But some perspective is needed.

The House Judiciary Committee is seeking to obtain the material presented to a Federal Grand Jury by former Special Counsel Robert Mueller.

Robert Mueller has agreed to testify before Congress in public. Testimony that is likely to be the big story of the summer.

We already know enough to impeach.

As I have noted before: party trumps institutional pride. The Barr testimony is just another example.

Robert Mueller objected to the Attorney General’s characterization of the final report he submitted, reports indicate.

Having lost to him, she’s an ineffective voice on the matter of Donald Trump.

Another demonstration that evidence doesn’t much matter in modern American politics.

The Lawfare gang and Popehat weigh in.

Robert Mueller appears to be winding down his investigation and getting ready to submit a report to the Attorney General.

Just under a year ago, Senate Republicans took a big risk regarding the Supreme Court. Now, it’s paid off big time.

Another Republican Senator has broken ranks and called for hearings on the nomination of Merrick Garland, as another poll shows most Americans support hearings as well.

It increasingly appears that the GOP is on the losing side of the argument over whether to hold hearings and a vote on the nomination of Merrick Garland to the Supreme Court.

Has the legislative branch abdicated its responsibility in US foreign policy?

A critic of the imperial presidency becomes an imperial president.

Bill Scher examines “How Republicans Lost the Culture War.”

Victor Davis Hanson thinks President Obama plans to win the back the White House by alienating the white man.

Bill Clinton walks back his comments about extending the Bush Tax Cuts in the most unbelievable manner possible.

Gaddafi is dead, but it was still wrong for the United States to get involved in Libya.

The War Powers Act’s 90 day limit is in sight. Will Congress force the president’s hand?

When John McCain declared that Sarah Palin could beat President Obama, it was easy to dismiss. But when the architect of the Democratic strategy in 2008, says the same thing, you have to listen.

A government that robs Peter to pay Paul can always depend on the support of Paul.

While Gerrymandering Congressional districts to benefit incumbents and the dominant party in the state legislature is an old game, they play it with especial intensity in Illinois.

The main issue, above all else, is taxes.

Arguments for the Ryan Plan that characterize it as being “against bureaucracy” are apparently oblivious to the fact that private health insurance is full of bureaucracy.

Across the country, Republicans are pushing laws that will make voting harder.

Dan Balz titles today’s column “Romney bets his candidacy on the economy.” My reaction upon seeing that was, that’s a pretty safe bet.

A majority of Americans think homosexuals account for at least a fifth of the population.

As Congress left town for the long weekend, the Senate Minority Leader threw a grenade into the budget negotiations.

Kentucky Senator Rand Paul wants a full debate on the PATRIOT Act. What’s Congress so afraid of?

It’s just one Congressional District out of 435, but that won’t stop everyone from trying to turn the results in NY-26 into a national referendum on Medicare reform.

Voters in New York State may help move the budget debate on Capitol Hill.

The bungled politics of the Ryan plan.

Some think that 2012 will be like 1992. However, that analogy is problematic.

Mitch Daniels, the candidate of George Will and a host of mainstream Republicans hoping for something better in 2012, has announced he will not be running for president in 2012.

With the customary hand-wringing over the low quality of the presidential field well underway, the corollary pining for other candidates to join the race is starting.

It has now been 60 days since American involvement in Libya commenced. Congress has failed to act, and that’s their fault.

We’ve reached a turning point in the debate over same-sex marriage.

Part of a speech that Mitch Daniels made in 2009 is setting off a firestorm among some conservative bloggers.