Outside the Beltway

Despite Republican hopes, the tax cuts passed by Congress in December are not manifesting themselves in increased wages.

The National Debt has passed $21,000,000,000,000 for the first time in history just as the nation begins its return to the era of trillion dollar budget deficits.

The Federal Government will borrow more than $1 trillion this year for the first time in more than a half-decade.

We’re set to return to the era of trillion dollar budget deficits, and Republicans won’t do a thing about it.

Congress passed a funding bill to avert a shutdown with time to spare early this morning, but now the President is threatening a veto.

Responsible governance from the Golden State?

The Tea Party is dead, but it was never really alive to begin with.

Republicans spent the eight years of Obama Administration railing against fiscal irresponsibility. Now that they have power, they’re the ones being fiscally irresponsible.

While most of America slept, the government was shutdown thanks to some faux theatrics by a single Senator.

Congress seems likely to pass a budget deal today that will massively increase spending, putting to rest once and for all the rank hypocrisy of Republicans when it comes to claims that they are “fiscally conservative.”

Congress appears to be moving closer to a budget deal even as the President tries to throw a monkey wrench into the whole thing.

With Republicans fully in control in Washington, their concerns about the budget deficit seem to have disappeared.

After an extended break for the Republican retreat, Congress heads back to work today with just three days before a possible government shutdown.

The current budget deal expires in six days and Congress doesn’t seem to know what it’s going to do about it.

Democrats in the Senate appear ready to de-link DACA from the budget. That would remove the threat of a government shutdown, but it could anger their base.

It’s been seven years since Congress eliminated earmarking, and what we’ve seen has provided good evidence for the argument that it should never have been eliminated.

The deal that led to the end of the Federal Government shutdown isn’t sitting well with the progressive wing of the Democratic Party.

While final votes remain to be taken, the Federal Government shutdown effectively ended this afternoon with an overwhelming bipartisan vote to reopen the government, combined with a commitment from Republicans to consider a DACA bill over the next three weeks. What happens next, though, is entirely uncertain.

It’s Day Two of the Federal Government shutdown and there are few signs of a quick resolution.

The government is shut down and Washington is playing the usual blame game. In reality, there’s plenty of blame to go around, and one of the guilty parties is the American people.

With just hours to go, it seems increasingly unlikely that the Senate can reach a deal to keep the government open.

With less than two days to go, the prospects for Congress finding a way to prevent a government shutdown aren’t looking good.

With only days to go, Congress seems unable to come up with either a funding deal for the Federal Government or a solution to the DACA issue.

The final version of the tax bill appears to be on track for passage, but the devil is in the details.

Republicans finally unveiled the outlines of a tax reform package yesterday, but the devil is in the still to be determined details.

Perhaps it’s time to consider getting rid of the debt ceiling entirely.

Donald Trump made a deal with Democrats on spending and the debt ceiling, but it was an exceedingly bad one.

For the third time since December,, the Federal Reserve has raised interest rates.

In addition to everything else on its plate, Congress will have to revisit raising the debt ceiling again sometime this summer.

Congress is running out of time in its effort to “repeal and replace” the Affordable Care Act.

Economic growth in the first quarter wasn’t as bad as first estimated, but it still wasn’t very good. And the future is unclear at best.

The latest CBO score for the American Health Care Act is bad news for Republicans.

With a government shutdown looming at the end of the week, the Administration has appeared to back away from a demand that a government funding bill include money allocated for the President’s promised border wall.

Faced with the fact that it has little to show for its first 100 days in office, the Trump Administration is pressuring Congress to come up with a new health care reform bill before the end of next week.

The Congressional Budget Office delivered some bad news yesterday to House Republicans on their replacement for Obamacare.

Budget hawks in the GOP face a showdown with Donald Trump’s spending ambitions this year that will likely decide whether we’ll ever get spending under control.

After making a big deal about voting against the budget bill passed yesterday by Congress during the last debate, Marco Rubio ended up missing the vote altogether.

The final spending bill for the 2016 Fiscal Year sailed through Congress today, marking the end of a very successful first two months in office for Speaker Paul Ryan

As expected, the Senate easily passed the two-year budget deal early this morning.

Yesterday, Paul Ryan spoke out against the procedure under which the new budget deal was negotiated. Today, he announced that he’ll vote for it anyway.

Paul Ryan is blasting the process that led to the new budget deal between the GOP and the White House, but one suspects he’s secretly quite pleased with the fact that it makes his job-to-be a lot easier.

Congress and the White House have reached a tentative deal on the budget and debt ceiling that promises to make Paul Ryan’s initial months as Speaker a lot easier.

With the top conservative caucus in Congress acquiescing to his candidacy, Paul Ryan is largely certain to become the next Speaker of the House.

Yes, Ben Carson’s comments about the debt ceiling are silly, but it’s the fact that a lot of Republicans agree with him that’s dangerous.

Congress will get a temporary funding bill passed in time to avoid a shutdown on Thursday, but it may just be delaying the inevitable.

Congress has just over a week to pass a funding bill, and it’s not looking very good.

Mitch McConnell spoke a truth that many conservatives are likely not going to want to accept.

Some Republicans are threatening a government shutdown over funding of Planned Parenthood, but a new poll shows that it would be a big political risk for Republicans.

One Missouri legislator is going on a crusade against a “problem” that may not actually exist.