William F. Buckley Jr. was once quoted as saying that he’d rather be ruled by the first 400 names in the Boston telephone directory than the faculty at Harvard. Apparently, most Americans feel the same way: The public’s perception of Congress has sunk to yet another new low, with 43 percent of likely voters believing [...]

Yep, more gridlock.

What may have been the best chance for Democrats to hold on to Ben Nelson’s Senate seat has apparently slipped away: OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Former Sen. Bob Kerrey said Tuesday he will not run for the Nebraska Senate seat he gave up more than a decade ago, shutting down hopes for a bid both [...]

Congressman John Fleming of Louisiana had some egg on his face this morning: Meet John Fleming, the unfortunate Republican U.S. Representative from Louisiana who made that wonderful and all-too-common mistake of thinking that an Onion article was real and telling his Facebook followers to read it. Fleming’s Facebook status was posted by Literally Unbelievable, a Tumblr that collects images of Facebookers who [...]

Not surprisingly, Republicans are trying to reverse the automatic cuts to defense spending agreed to in August.

Senator Mike Enzi wants to replace the Dollar Bill with a coin. As with past efforts, it’s a great idea that is unlikely to succeed.

I honestly had no idea that this was an issue: House Republicans don’t want Uncle Sam paying for any more lap dances. A bill that GOP leaders are bringing to the House floor Wednesday would require states to prevent welfare recipients from accessing or spending their benefits at strip clubs, casinos and liquor stores. Republicans [...]

American politics is as polarized as ever, and it shows no signs of changing regardless of who wins in November.

Could things possibly get worse on Capitol Hill? Grover Norquist seems to relish the possibility.

On it’s own, the so-called “Buffett Rule” is unlikely to do much to reduce the deficit.

Greg Sargent reports that some Senate Democrats are considering trying to force their Republican colleagues to take a vote on President Obama’s so-called “Buffett Rule,” which he described in his State Of The Union Address as a guarantee that no person earning more than a million dollars a year would pay taxes at a rate [...]

Barney Frank is marrying a dude, further proving just how gay he is.

After the incident in Nashville this morning, Senator Rand Paul made it back to D.C. on a later flight and talked to The Daily Caller’s Matthew Boyle: Kentucky Republican Sen. Rand Paul told The Daily Caller that being “detained” by the Transportation Security Administration at the Nashville airport Monday was a major ordeal that underscores [...]

Mark Kirk, who was just elected to the Senate in 2010 after serving for a decade in the House of Representatives, is recovering in a Chicago hospital after suffering a stroke over the weekend: CHICAGO (AP) — Sen. Mark Kirk has undergone surgery to relieve swelling from a stroke that affected his left arm and [...]

There are multiple reports that Kentucky Senator Rand Paul has been “detained” by the TSA at the airport in Nashville: Sen. Rand Paul told his communications director this morning he was being detained by TSA in Nashville. @moirabagley, the Twitter account associated with Paul staffer Moira Bagley tweeted around 10 a.m., ET, “Just got a [...]

The blackout campaign by Internet content providers continues to have an impact on Capitol Hill: Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid called off a vote on controversial anti-piracy legislation Friday — the surest sign yet that a wave of online protests have killed SOPA and PIPA for now and maybe forever. Reid canceled the procedural vote [...]

Members of Congress are responding to the protests against SOPA and PIPA by withdrawing their support for the bills.

If a new CBS/New York Times poll is any indication, President Obama may be on the right track in running against a “do nothing Congress” in the General Election: The public is not assigning blame equally between President Obama and Republicans in Congress for the partisan gridlock over key legislation. In the latest New York [...]

The first shot in a Constitutional showdown has been fired.

Wikipedia’s English language site will be offline for 24 hours tomorrow to protest two controversial online piracy bills.

The first year of the 112th Congress has set a new record for futility.

Allen West, the Florida Congressman whose military career came to an ignominious end when he was relieved from command and investigated for attempted murder over an incident involving the questioning of an Iraqi police officer, has decided to weigh in on the controversy that has erupted over the Marines who were recorded on video urinating [...]

Senator Jim DeMint demonstrated clearly today what is wrong with Washington.

The GOP is at a distinct disadvantage in the political fight over President Obama’s Recess Appointment of Richard Cordray to head the CFPB.

Massachusetts Senator Scott Brown is continuing to distance himself from the more conservative elements of his party, this time by criticizing Newt Gingrich’s comments about the judiciary in a Boston Globe Op-Ed: As an example, Gingrich points to a 2002 Ninth Circuit opinion declaring that the words “under God” in the Pledge of Allegiance were [...]

While the President’s recess appointments are bound to set off a political dispute with the Republicans, there does not appear to be a Constitution ban against them.

Following up on his recess appointment of Richard Cordray to head the CFPB, President Obama is also using the power to make three appointments to the National Labor Relations Board: President Obama will recess-appoint his nominees to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), bypassing a likely filibuster from Senate Republicans to keep the controversial agency [...]

President Obama is set to announce that he will use the power granted him Article II, Section 2, Clause 3 of the Constitution to make a recess appointment to name the head of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau: President Obama will announce today that he will appoint Richard Cordray as head of the controversial Consumer [...]

Steve Benen points to this interesting exchange from yesterday’s 60 Minutes profile of House Majority Leader  Eric Cantor (I’ve cued up the Youtube embed to start at the 10:09 mark, but you can watch the whole thing if you’d like): Given his upbringing and his marriage, Cantor says he’s nothing like the intractable obstructionist the [...]

Congress eliminates a bad subsidy, but it’s only because there’s a worse one on the books.

From the moment that Scott Brown was elected in Massachusetts in 2009, it’s been fairly obvious that his re-election campaign in 2012 was going to be difficult to say the least. For one thing, Brown benefited very much that year from the fact that he was quite simply a better campaigner than Martha Coakley, who [...]

Facing his own Tea Party challenge, Richard Lugar reminds Republicans of an uncomfortable truth.

Newt Gingrich has consistently claimed that his activities on behalf of clients in the years after he left Congress never included lobbying Congressman. Now, though, two people who were Members of Congress during the time Medicare Part D was being debated are disputing that claim: Newt Gingrich personally urged members of Congress to vote for [...]

Politico is reporting that long-time Nebraska Senator Ben Nelson, a Democrat who many considered vulnerable in 2012, will retire rather than seek re-election: Democratic Sen. Ben Nelson of Nebraska will announce today that he is retiring after two terms, a serious blow to Democratic efforts to hold onto their majority in the chamber next November. [...]

Becoming a Member of Congress can be a very lucrative career.

As expected, the House quickly approved the two-month extension of the Payroll Tax Cut in a pro forma session this morning presided over by Speaker Boehner himself: The House on Friday morning approved a bill extending the payroll tax holiday and unemployment insurance for two months, and also prevents a planned cut to reimbursements for [...]

Thanks to their own ineptitude, House Republicans suffered a big defeat this week. They totally deserved it.

It looks as though the Payroll Tax Cut Debate is reaching its expected conclusion. At least two media outlests are reporting that Speaker Boehner has agreed to sign on to the two-month extension of the Payroll Tax Cut passed by the Senate, leaving the issue of the one year extension to be dealt with in [...]

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell has set the House GOP adrift.

Some Republicans are starting to realize just how badly the House GOP has messed up this time.

The ongoing standoff over the Payroll Tax Cut is presenting President Obama with a political dilemma regarding the Christmas holidays: President Obama faces a most difficult decision with the payroll tax extension up in the air, and it isn’t whether to compromise with Republicans. The toughest call for the president this holiday season may be [...]

The House GOP doesn’t seem to have any idea what it’s doing right now.

With no great surprise, the House of Representatives has formally rejected the Senate bill that would extend the Payroll Tax cut for two months: With a tax hike looming for 160 million Americans on New Year’s Day, House Republicans rejected a Senate plan to extend the payroll tax holiday for two months and instead called [...]

The trade association representing companies that process payrolls for American businesses are telling Congress that the Senate’s two-month payroll tax cut extension may be impossible for them to implement correctly: Officials from the policy-neutral National Payroll Reporting Consortium, Inc. have expressed concern to members of Congress that the two-month payroll tax holiday passed by the [...]

Yesterday’s announcement by House Speaker John Boehner that the House GOP would not support the two-month extension of the Payroll Tax cut passed by the Senate has thrown Congress into chaos: Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid on Monday rejected a demand from House Speaker John A. Boehner to reopen negotiations on a measure to [...]

Speaker John Boehner said today on Meet The Press that the House will not be able to accept the temporary extension of the payroll tax cut that the Senate passed on Friday: Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) said today that House Republicans oppose the Senate bill to extend for two months the payroll tax holiday and [...]

Apparently unable to reach a long term agreement, the Senate today passed an extension of the payroll tax cut that does nothing but kick this issue down the road about 45 days at the most: The Senate on Saturday morning approved a two-month extension of a payroll tax break and jobless benefits, easily passing a [...]

A new Gallup poll provides yet another demonstration of just how badly the public views Congress these days: Sixty-four percent of Americans rate the honesty and ethical standards of members of Congress as “low” or “very low,” tying the record “low”/”very low” rating Gallup has measured for any profession historically. Gallup has asked Americans to [...]

Once again, Americans hate Congress but seem to love their Congressperson.

Three staffers for Washington State Democratic Congressman Rick Larsen find themselves out of work for taking to Twitter and, well, describing a work place that seemed more like Animal House than a Congressional office: They called it a “December to Remember”: a mission to spend the final month of the legislative session partying under the [...]