Outside the Beltway

The current budget deal expires in six days and Congress doesn’t seem to know what it’s going to do about it.

Democratic norms are eroding.

This is not unreasonable.

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.

President Trump called on Senate Republicans to eliminate the legislative filibuster to resolve the government shutdown. That’s not going to happen.

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.

2017 was quite a year. 2018 promises to be just as interesting.

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

Meet Matthew Peterson, a nominee for the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia who apparently doesn’t know much about trials.

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.

Donald Trump has been President 300 days and the record reveals no real accomplishments and increased dissatisfaction with the job he’s doing.

As a candidate, Donald Trump liked to claim that he only hired the “top people.” and said he would do the same thing as President. So far, it isn’t working out that way.

At least for now, Republicans seem to be giving up on repealing and replacing the PPACA. That’s not going to make the base happy.

Former Trump aide Steve Bannon is declaring war on Republicans in the Senate.

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

What was essentially the final effort to ‘repeal and replace’ the Affordable Care Act is officially dead.

Yet another lawsuit against yet another controversial Trump Administration policy.

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

Republicans will introduce a tax package by the end of the month, but whether they can actually pass anything is another question entirely.

Americans support allowing Dreamers to stay in the country, and most of them also support allowing them to eventually become citizens.

The effort to ‘repeal and replace’ the Affordable Care Act is dead for now.

Trump’s legislative accomplishments have been anemic at best.

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

They may both be Republicans, but the relationship between the President and the Senate Majority Leader is bad and seems to be getting worse.

After 200 days, President Trump’s job approval numbers are hitting new lows.

On the special election for US Senate in Alabama

A Federal Judge has ruled against an elected official who blocked a constituent from accessing her Facebook page.

The Senate left for vacation without a viable path forward on health care reform, and the road ahead seems treacherous and hard to navigate.

Senate Republicans released their proposed health care plan this morning, but it could already be doomed.

The Trump White House loses ts first major staffer, and more are likely to come.

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.

The Freedom Caucus may be mollified, but moderate Republicans and the Senate aren’t. Meaning that repeal and replacement of Obamacare is becoming less likely.

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.

The Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee is hinting at a new Supreme Court vacancy this summer.

Stop romanticizing the filibuster (and don’t appeal to the intent of the Founders).

After a prolonged vacancy and a bitterly partisan confirmation process, Neil Gorsuch has been confirmed to succeed Antonin Scalia on the Supreme Court of the United States.

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 Senate Judiciary Committee voted to advance the nomination of Judge Neil Gorsuch even as it became inevitable that Republicans would be forced to invoke the ‘nuclear option’ to confirm him to the Supreme Court.

The ordinary and the extraordinary with the latest SCOTUS nomination.

Next week’s big news is likely to be the Senate’s vote to confirm Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court, which could mean invocation of the so-called ‘nuclear option’ by Senate Republicans.

After just sixty-six days, there are some disturbing patterns emerging from the Trump Administration.

This was one for the history books.

Let the games begin.

With a vote tentatively scheduled for this evening, House Republicans appear to lack the votes to pass the American Health Care Act.

More fireworks on the second day of the questioning of Neil Gorsuch, but his confirmation nonetheless seems assured.

Judge Neil Gorsuch’s confirmation hearings begin Monday morning, but it’s Senate Democrats who are in the hot seat.

Senate Democrats are divided on how to approach the nomination of Judge Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court, making it likely that he’ll be confirmed.