Outside the Beltway

Things don’t seem to be going well for the Affordable Care Act.

A second Federal Court of Appeals in a week in two weeks has ruled the PPACA’s birth control mandate is unconstitutional.

When it comes to the unfolding conflict inside the GOP, Mitch McConnell seems to have fired an opening shot.

President Obama has apologized for breaking his “If you like your plan, you can keep it” pledge. Does he have anything to be sorry about?

Accusations of blame are already being tossed around about why Republicans lost in Virginia, and they mirror a broader debate in the Republican Party nationally.

Republicans are contending that the nearly won the Virginia Governor’s race by emphasizing Obamacare in the closing weeks, but the evidence supporting that contention is far from clear.

The race for Virginia Governor turned out to be much closer than many predicted, but that should not be a surprise.

Charlie Crist, and his tan, want the Governor’s Mansion back.

Could Congress actually pass some form of immigration reform before the midterms? Don’t bet on it just yet.

“If you like your healthcare plan, you can keep it.” Well, not really.

The faux scandal of today comes to us courtesy of The Daily Caller: “Michelle Obama’s Princeton classmate is executive at company that built Obamacare website.”

With debate season over, it’s looking less and less likely that Virginia Republicans will be able to hold back the Democrats on November 5th.

Even if it were functioning properly the Federal Health Care Exchange website would still have problems.

The bad roll out of the Affordable Care Act is starting to lead to calls for delays in enforcement of the law.

Will the GOP learn the right lessons from the just-concluded showdown? That remains to be seen.

This is a good time to remind ourselves that the plural of anecdote is not data.

The shutdown debacle seems destined to lead to a battle between the Tea Party and the more business oriented elements of the GOP

Ted Cruz isn’t ruling out a reprise of his foolish, quixotic, crusade.

John Boehner’s position as Speaker of the House seems quite secure.

Ted Cruz’s definition of “the American people” needs some refining.

Nearly two-thirds of House Republicans voted for default. They lost.

The GOP’s shutdown was about as pointless as a show about waiting for a table in a Chinese restaurant.

A plan finally starting to come together?

The House wasted a day yesterday, now it’s crunch time.

Well, so much for that plan.

It looks like the House will be making its move before the Senate acts, but that may actually help resolve this faster.

The deal emerging out of the talks between Senator Reid and Senator McConnell is about what you’d expect, but it’s probably the best we can expect right now.

As long as we’re tacking on unrelated measures in order to secure a deal to end the government shutdown-debt ceiling standoff, why not some related measures?

Are these four men our last, best hope for a deal that will end the shutdown and avoid breaching the debt ceiling?

Conservatives gathered on the National Mall today to protest the closure of memorials, but their message seems really intended for Republicans in Congress to not back down.

Talks between the two Senate leaders haven’t exactly gone so well.

A little noticed rule change in the House is arguably one of the main reasons we’re in a government shutdown crisis.

Here’s our debate over shutting down the government over Obamacare in a nutshell.

Why the federal government is so bad at information technology and getting worse by the day.

Harry and Mitch to the rescue?

With the House’s proposed deal reaching an impasse, the Senate is now taking center stage.

The GOP’s approval numbers have fallen like a stone, but it’s unclear whether this will matter in 2014.

There seems to be at least some hope for a temporary deal in Washington to end the shutdown and raise the debt ceiling, but don’t count your chickens just yet.

Republicans appear to be uniting behind a short-term plan to deal with the debt ceiling, but seem okay with keeping the government shutdown going forward.

There’s no denying it now. The GOP is being harmed by the events in Washington far more than the President and Democrats in general.

Paul Ryan is back, and he has a plan his party ought to be paying attention to.