Outside the Beltway

Whether you call it TrumpCare, RyanCare, or GOPCare, the Republican replacement for the PPACA isn’t very impressive.

With two votes last night, President Trump’s Cabinet is coming together.

Despite two Republican defections, Betsy DeVos was confirmed today as Secretary of Education.

Repeal and replace is likely to take longer than many Republicans thought it would, but that shouldn’t be surprising.

In the end, an effort by Democrats to block Neil Gorsuch’s nomination to the Supreme Court does not seem like a good use of their rather limited options.

With a relatively smooth announcement, Donald Trump has named a solid and qualified conservative who will likely be confirmed to the nation’s highest court.

President Trump will name his first Supreme Court pick on his 11th day in office.

President Trump hinted today that he’s likely to name his Supreme Court choice next week, and the list to appears have narrowed to three men.

With repeal of the Affordable Care Act now likely sooner rather than later, key Republicans are urging the party to have a replacement in place before repeal is voted on.

The new leader of the Senate’s Democrats says he regrets supporting the filibuster reforms his party passed in 2013.

A controversial member of George W. Bush’s foreign policy team is up for a post in Donald Trump’s State Department.

Alabama’s Jeff Sessions will become the nation’s top law enforcement officer. That’s not a good thing.

Senior Republican Senators are throwing cold water on the idea of eliminating the filibuster.

Reports of the demise of the Democratic Party have been greatly exaggerated.

Future Supreme Court Justice?

John McCain said that Senate Republicans will unite to block any Supreme Court appointment by a President Hillary Clinton.

As expected, the Senate rejected four gun control measures introduced in the wake of the attack in Orlando.

Nebraska legislators are talking about abandoning their somewhat unique method of allocating Electoral College votes.

Another poll shows that most Americans would prefer that the vacancy on the Supreme Court be filled by President Obama than that it be left open for the next President to fill, but other factors make it unlikely the Senate will act.

Notwithstanding polling that indicates the American public disagrees with them, Senate Republicans emerged from a meeting today largely united on the idea of not giving any Supreme Court nominee named by President a hearing, or even the courtesy of a meeting.

Conservatives are sending a message to Senate Republicans about the vacancy on the Supreme Court, and it may require them to initiate a suicidal game plan.

It didn’t take long for the political battle over the seat held by the late Justice Antonin Scalia to become another part of the 2016 political battle.

If last night’s debate is any indication, Hillary Clinton’s campaign is about to get much more aggressive in its critique of Bernie Sanders.

A political cartoonist for The Washington Post crossed a line and, rightfully, got condemned for it.

With little actual debate and despite Paul Ryan’s promise of a return to ‘regular order,’ the House has passed a hastily drafted bill in response to the largely fear-based response to Syrian refugees in the wake of the Paris attacks.

Syrian refugees have quickly become political footballs in the United States in the wake of the Paris attacks, and it’s become an exceedingly shameful display of pandering and fearmongering by a group of largely Republican politicians.

The Supreme Court has accepted a case involving a new Texas abortion law for review, the first abortion rights case it will hear in eight years.

As expected, the Senate easily passed the two-year budget deal early this morning.

Rand Paul is promising to filibuster the budget deal when it gets to the Senate, but it’s extremely unlikely he’ll be able to do anything but delay the inevitable.

Congress has just over a week to pass a funding bill, and it’s not looking very good.

The final effort to block the Iran Nuclear Deal failed in the Senate yesterday, meaning that the deal will now move forward.

With two weeks left until the Federal Government runs out of money, and the issue still quite unresolved, a new poll shows that the vast majority of Americans would oppose a government shutdown over funding for Planned Parenthood.

Senate Democrats successfully blocked a final vote on the Iran Nuclear Deal, meaning that Congressional debate on the matter is effectively over.

Some House Republicans are trying to delay the vote on the Iran Nuclear Deal with an argument that has no merit whatsoever.

At least on paper, Senate Democrats now have enough votes to block the Senate from voting on a resolution disapproving of the Iran Nuclear Deal.

President Obama now has enough votes in the Senate, and probably the House, to ensure that Congress cannot block the nuclear deal with Iran.

Mitch McConnell spoke a truth that many conservatives are likely not going to want to accept.

If the Administration gets its way, efforts to block the Iran nuclear deal may come to a quick end in the Senate.

Another poll shows that a majority of Americans oppose the Iranian nuclear deal, but the effort to defeat it in Congress is still likely to fail.

The Iran nuclear deal will probably survive it’s test in Congress in the end, but Chuck Schumer just made the Administration’s job a little more difficult.

In the wake of the latest Supreme Court decision, the Affordable Care Act seems to have become even more firmly established than it was before last week, and the prospect of repeal has become even less likely.

Rand Paul Is at a distinct disadvantage compared to his fellow Republican candidates for President.

The Senate returns tomorrow to try to pass an extension of the PATRIOT Act before it expires, but it may not be able to do so.

Rand Paul held the Senate floor for nearly twelve hours yesterday to talk about the PATRIOT Act, but it’s unclear if he accomplished anything.

The House has passed a bill that would place real restrictions on the National Security Agency’s data mining program. Now, it moves to the Senate.

As expected, the Republican-controlled House passed a bill that would ban most abortions after twenty weeks. It also happens to be completely unconstitutional and has no chance of actually becoming law.

House Republicans are set to vote on a bill banning abortion in almost all cases after twenty weeks. What they can’t do is explain where the Constitution gives Congress the power to do this.

In a move that is clearly designed to have an impact in the General Election, Hillary Clinton came out in support of broad immigration reform in Nevada yesterday.

Bernie Sanders is running for President. He’s not going to win, but he’s not running because he thinks he can win.