Outside the Beltway

The confirmation hearing for President Trump’s nominee for Attorney General appeared to go very well, making confirmation essentially a certainty.

As the shutdown drags on, it’s beginning to have an impact on the economy.

The House GOP has moved to rebuke Iowa Congressman for his racist remarks. What took them so long?

After twenty-five days, there’s no end in sight to the Federal Government shutdown. You can thank the President for that.

As the shutdown goes on, the polls are getting worse for the President.

As the government shutdown enters through its twenty-fourth day, attention is shifting to Senate Republicans who could be pressured to break ranks and potentially force a resolution.

If you’re looking for the biggest obstacle to a resolution to the government shutdown, look no further than President Donald J. Trump.

President Trump appears to be backing away from the idea of declaring a national emergency to get his wall built. But the other options he’s considering aren’t much better.

Two years of Republican control of the Legislative and Executive Branches has put us back on a path toward $1 trillion budget deficits.

The government shutdown has now entered historic territory, and the Trump Administration is moving closer to a “national emergency” or other extra-legal means to get money for his wall.

Iowa’s Steve King has long expressed anti-immigrant and racist views, now he’s asking why that’s a bad thing.

President Trump stormed out of a meeting with Congressional leaders as the shutdown drags on with no end in sight.

New polling clearly indicates that the President is losing the battle for public opinion over the government shutdown.

President Trump’s speech on the border wall and the shutdown was fact-free, misleading, and overall a bomb.

As the shutdown drags on, Republicans are beginning to fear that members in the House and Senate may begin to fall away from supporting the President.

The Supreme Court is taking up the issue of partisan gerrymandering. This time, though, they’re likely to reach the merits of the cases rather than punting like they did last year.

President Trump is claiming that he could use authority to declare a “national emergency” to build his wall even if Congress doesn’t authorize it.

President Trump is offering to change his ‘concrete wall’ with a ‘steel barrier’ in what he apparently things is a compromise.

President Trump is making clear that he doesn’t care how his shutdown is impacting Federal workers.

With Pat Roberts retiring, Kansas Republicans are reportedly looking at Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to succeed him.

As the shutdown continues, there’s little sign of progress on either end of Pennsylvania Avenue.

As the shutdown drags on, the President is digging in his heels even further.

Kansas Senator Pat Roberts is the second Republican to announce his retirement, but his seat should remain safely red.

As the shutdown drags on, Mitch McConnell finds himself facing pressure from the White House and from members of his own caucus.

In a late first-day session, Congress passed a series of bills designed to reopen most of the government, but they’re already ‘dead on arrival’ in the Senate.

Nancy Pelosi is Speaker of The House again after eight years out of power, but there’s little time for her to celebrate.

With Democrats set to take control of Congress today, a resolution to the shutdown doesn’t appear to be any closer.

Before even taking office, Mitt Romney is taking on the President. It’s a good sign, but we’ll see what it leads to.

The longer the shutdown goes on, the wider its impact is likely to become.

Democrats have unveiled what appears as if it will be their first effort to end the shutdown, but there are already signs Republicans will reject it.

President Trump is now threatening to close the border if he doesn’t get funding for his border wall.

As 2018 draws to a close, there’s no sign that the government shutdown will end any time soon.

New polling indicates that President Trump is getting the blame for the ongoing government shutdown.

Congress will not be returning to Washington until some time next week. Thus guaranteeing that this shutdown will last at least through January 3rd.

Is it possible that the solution to the government shutdown is letting the President pretend he got funding for his border wall even though he didn’t?

Christmas is behind us, but don’t expect any progress when it comes to the government shutdown, which is in its fifth day.

While it has an admitted populist appeal. the idea of Congressional pay being withheld during a shutdown is a non-starter due to the Constitution.

There was no progress on resolving the government shutdown today, and little hope that anything will happen before late next week.

While the political media is spending a lot of time talking about it, the actual impact of this latest government shutdown is likely to be limited and possibly even unnoticeable to most Americans.

The government entered its third shutdown of the year with little sign of an immediate resolution.

With just hours to go, a partial government shutdown is becoming more and more likely.

Hours before the House was set to vote on a temporary funding bill for the government, President Trump has apparently changed his mind.

Tennessee will have an open Senate seat in 2020 thanks to Lamar Alexander’s decision to retire at the end of his current term.

The Senate passed a bill that keeps the government funded through the beginning of February, but fails to provide any funding for the President’s border wall.

The Senate overwhelmingly passed major reforms in Federal sentencing and related laws. As the name of the bill implies, it’s a first step, but a good first step.

With three days to go before a government shutdown, there are at least some signs that the President may be backing away from his threats to shut down the government over funding for his border wall.

With the Friday night deadline fast approaching, nobody in Washington seems to know what’s going on.

Republicans scored a win in Court last week, but it seems likely to lead to a political loss in the long-term.

In a small, but meaningful, step, the Senate has rebuked the Administration’s policies toward the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

Jon Kyl was named to replace John McCain back in September, but as expected he’s already announcing that he’ll be leaving at the end of the year.