Outside the Beltway

While it has an admitted populist appeal. the idea of Congressional pay being withheld during a shutdown is a non-starter due to the Constitution.

Trump has reportedly told aides that he doesn’t really care about reports of an approaching crisis of the budget deficit and national debt because he’ll be out of office before it becomes a problem.

A brewing fight over funding for the President’s border wall could throw a monkey wrench into plans to pass a budget by next Friday.

Nearly two years into Republican control of Washington, the budget deficit is headed back up.

With three weeks to go until Election Day, it’s looking like we’ll end up with a Congress divided between Democrats in the House and Republicans in the Senate.

As part of her position as U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley has use of a rather lavish private residence. This is not a real controversy.

The Federal Budget Deficit is set to end the Fiscal Year close to $1 trillion, and to continue growing after that.

As I have repeatedly noted: Trump is the leader of the Republican Party.

Deficits continue to rise.

The National Debt has passed $21,000,000,000,000 for the first time in history just as the nation begins its return to the era of trillion dollar budget deficits.

A new survey shows that Americans are increasingly unable to tell the difference between fact and opinion. That’s a problem.

The Federal Government will borrow more than $1 trillion this year for the first time in more than a half-decade.

Donald Trump continues to claim that Mexico will pay for his still non-existent border wall. Mexico says otherwise.

The first estimate of economic growth in the first three months of 2018 beat expectations slightly, but it doesn’t bode well for the immediate future.

We’re set to return to the era of trillion dollar budget deficits, and Republicans won’t do a thing about it.

Fourteen months into his presidency, he has no idea how the federal budget works.

Republicans spent the eight years of Obama Administration railing against fiscal irresponsibility. Now that they have power, they’re the ones being fiscally irresponsible.

WaPo is overhyping things a bit.

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.”

With Republicans fully in control in Washington, their concerns about the budget deficit seem to have disappeared.

After an extended break for the Republican retreat, Congress heads back to work today with just three days before a possible government shutdown.

In addition to deadlines on the Federal Budget and DACA, Congress also has to deal with the debt ceiling at some point in the next month.

It’s been seven years since Congress eliminated earmarking, and what we’ve seen has provided good evidence for the argument that it should never have been eliminated.

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

Once again, tax “reform” won’t make it easier to prepare or file tax returns.

The final version of the tax bill appears to be on track for passage, but the devil is in the details.

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

Donald Trump’s entire modus operandi involves pushing divisive cultural hot buttons.

In addition to everything else on its plate, Congress will have to revisit raising the debt ceiling again sometime this summer.

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

By the barest of margins, the House passed its bill repealing and replacing the Affordable Care Act, but the future of that bill is highly uncertain.

After failing twice in a month, House Republicans apparently think they have the votes to pass their bill to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act.

The Trump Administration is out with a tax plan, but it’s seriously lacking in details.

Donald Trump has basically declared war on the people who blocked the AHCA from passing last week.

The president’s skinny budget would eliminate most funding for science and the arts to fund more Defense spending.

The Congressional Budget Office delivered some bad news yesterday to House Republicans on their replacement for Obamacare.

Health care policy analysts seem united in their assessment of the House GOP’s replacement for the Affordable Care Act, and it’s overwhelmingly negative.

Reports indicate that President Trump will seek to increase military spending. We don’t need to, and we can’t really afford it.

Budget hawks in the GOP face a showdown with Donald Trump’s spending ambitions this year that will likely decide whether we’ll ever get spending under control.

Even if you’re not sure who you should vote for, it’s obvious who you shouldn’t vote for.

In a rational universe somewhere, John Kasich is preparing to become the de facto Republican nominee for President. In ours, he’s dropping out in favor of Donald Trump.

The business of the media is business. Business is not good.

Donald Trump just keeps leading in the polls, and Republicans keep arguing that it can’t last.

Last night’s debate in Wisconsin was arguably the most substantive we’ve seen so far between the Republican candidates, and one that displayed quite starkly the policy differences between them.

Congress and the White House have reached a tentative deal on the budget and debt ceiling that promises to make Paul Ryan’s initial months as Speaker a lot easier.

With the voting now seemingly a mere formality, the question becomes what kind of Speaker of the House Paul Ryan will become.

Paul Ryan has yet to say if he will run for Speaker of the House, but that hasn’t stopped the opposition on the hard right from forming already.