Outside the Beltway

Neither side is covering themselves in glory in the battle over the Badger State budget.

The debate over Senator Rand Paul’s proposed $500 billion spending cut plan has focused almost exclusively on one issue, and one nation.

We won’t be able to solve our fiscal problems until the American people grow up. So far, there are no signs of that happening.

Some people in the D.C. area are worried that the Federal spending gravy train may be coming to an end. They should be.

With just over a week to go before the 112th Congress convenes, battle lines are already being drawn in battle over the defense budget.

President Obama is already taking heat from the left for his compromise on tax cut extensions, but will it actually hurt him in the end?

The Republican talking point that lowering taxes lowers spending and raising taxes increases spending is denied by reality.

The battle between social and fiscal conservatives continues, with the SoCons now saying that criticism of South Carolina Senator Jim DeMint is now considered evidence of ideological impurity.

Okahoma’s James Inhofe has a message for the Tea Party movement — don’t be fooled by the “War On Earmarks.”

Eliminating earmarks is good policy and good politics.

Rand Paul is taking some heat for remarks that may or may not indicate that he’s backtracking on his previous vow not to seek earmark spending for Kentucky. Yes folks, the phony war on earmarks is back.

The race between Jeb Hensarling and Michelle Bachmann for Chair of the House GOP Conference is a microcosm for a battle that is likely to take place within the GOP for the next two years.

The Federal Reserve is injecting $ 600,000,000,000 into the economy, primarily in the hope that it will boost stock prices and, in turn, the economy. It might work, but if it doesn’t the consequences could be severe.

Washington Post columnist Eugene Robinson takes a look at the Tea Party movement and claims to find racism.

Pundits and partisans constantly overreact to the momentary mood expressed in a single election. The Republicans have already rebounded from 2008. The Democrats will recover from 2010.

Virginia’s answer to Joe Biden has put his foot in his mouth once again. It won’t prevent him from getting an 11th term.

The Washington Post looks around and discovers that the Tea Party isn’t racist after all. Their bad, I guess.

In 1994, it was the Contract With America. In 2010, it’s the Pledge To America. But does it really mean anything regardless of what it’s called ?

According to Paul Krugman’s latest column, the massive destruction of World War Two was actually good for the U.S. economy. Sadly, there are people who consider him an expert.

Sarah Palin’s decision to back a long-shot candidate in the GOP Senate primary in Alaska didn’t exactly work out as planned.

The Senate’s stonewalling of unemployment benefits extension makes no sense.

The late Senator Robert Byrd’s legacy as the master of pork barrel spending is secure.

Senator Robert Byrd has died at 92, after years of poor health.

The House Democrats have just handed the GOP another issue to bash them with in the fall.