Outside the Beltway

It beats the alternative but it ain’t for sissies.

It turns out that mandatory spending is, well, mandatory.

Political scientists, however, are skeptical.

Nuclear reactors to the moon!

Because of course.

Both the policy issues but also the way it illustrates the politics of us versus them.

They may whine and bluster, but Trump always gets their votes.

Believe it when people tell you who they are.

Reality v. unreality.

They’re talking a big game now, but they’ll likely bend a knee. Again.

Have I ever noted the Congress is less responsive to the public than it should be?

Senate Republicans are balking at several measures, but fixing those would make passage in the House impossible.

The newest Executive Order.

Maybe they weren’t serious about fiscal discipline after all?

One for the pantheon of utterly terrible public non-apology “apologies.”

Budgets are choices and choices reveal values.

Is the worst of the idiocy over?

The GOP budget bill.

A chilling admission from a leader in the President’s OWN party

Another piece of an appalling cabinet is now in place.

Is it even a traditional “Buy Out” and is it already in conflict with OPM statutes?

It is too soon to tell.

Not Gaetz and Hegseth bad, but still, pretty bad.

Plus some thoughts on mass deportation.

Too many! Too few!

Call-out culture has become a circular firing squad.

Neither Republicans nor Democrats are happy. But one man is.

We almost wrecked the economy . . . for this?

When we do it, it’s negotiation. When they do it, it’s hostage taking—and terrorism.

We’re getting weird policies almost nobody is asking for.

The trailblazing Congresswoman is gone at 82.

A growing trend has healthcare professionals and communities concerned.

A pending Supreme Court ruling could be more impactful than many realize.

Republicans are dying at a much higher rate than Democrats.

A 4155-page, $1.65 trillion dollar budget deal has been reached.

The Nebraska Republican got an offer he can’t refuse.

An unlikely source argues that it’s too big and poorly targeted.

A bill that was never about the thing it’s called doesn’t do that thing.

The agency says a 1986 law overrides state restrictions.

Here we go again . . . .

How long can the unsustainable be sustained?

A decades-long decline has ended.

Is harassing judges, mayors, Senators, and the like in their private lives just free speech?

There are many barriers to true freedom.

The apparently eminent demise of abortion rights has reignited an old debate.

The longest-serving Republican Senator has died at the age of 88.

The highest court in the land issued a split decision on President Biden’s COVID policy.

The longtime Senate leader is gone at 82.