Outside the Beltway

As the night of the State Of The Union Address approaches, the silliness in Washington has been taken up a notch.

After a fairly bad 2010, Barack Obama is starting off 2011 in a very good position.

In a move that surprises nobody, the House voted today to repeal last year’s health care reform law. Now it goes to the Senate where it will die.

The current approach of the GOP to health care is not dissimilar to its approach to fiscal policy: not a lot of substance.

There appears to be bipartisan support for repealing one of the most egregious tax rules in last year’s Affordable Care Act

House Republicans want to do away with the increasing number of “czars” in the White House.

David Kurtz reports, “House Republicans are about to use “deem and pass” — a.k.a., a self-executing rule — which you may recall was the same legislative mechanism they decried last year during the health care reform debate as a threat to all that is right and good about America.”

The next round in the health care reform wars is about to start.

The incoming House Republicans aren’t making a good first impression.

Iowa Republicans are targeting professor sabbaticals, thus demonstrating that they understand neither higher ed nor economics.

Incoming House Speaker John Boehner plans a radical overhaul of how Congress spends our money.

The incoming freshman of the 112th Congress say that they won’t repeat the mistakes that Republicans made when they gained power sixteen years ago, but some of the advice they’re getting virtually guarantees it will happen if they aren’t careful.

Taxpayer “watchdog” groups are urging House Republicans to cut Congressional pay as an act of symbolism. It’s symbolism all right, pointless symbolism.

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.

Republicans are promising two years of gridlock and obstructionism if they take control of Congress, but is that really what the people who are likely to vote for them next week really want?

Will a Republican-controlled Congress bring about the third Presidential Impeachment in American history? Jonathan Chait thinks it’s virtually certain that it will, I’m not so sure.

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 ?

Everyone seems to agree that the new 1099 reporting requirements contained in the health care reform bill are a bad idea, but nobody wants to take the time to repeal them.

Congress and the White House are starting to stake out sides in the upcoming battle over extending the Bush tax cuts.

If Minnesota Congresswoman Michelle Bachmann gets her way, the 112th Congress will feature a lot of committees “investigating” the Obama Administration.

House Republican leaders want to repeal ObamaCare. But, even if the GOP takes over Congress, Obama will still have the veto.