Outside the Beltway

After an essentially pointless 35 day shutdown, some members of the House and Senate are proposing bills that would make government shutdowns impossible.

The Speaker was dealt a winning hand and played it with the skill of a seasoned pro. But the outcome was all but inevitable.

In a deal that can only be described as a cave by the President, the government shutdown is on course to be ended by the end of the day today.

As the shutdown enters day thirty-five, there are some signs of movement in Washington but no real progress.

The Senate has the ball this week in terms of action on the government shutdown, but its work is going to end up being utterly pointless.

Not surprisingly, the President’s proposed shutdown deal is not being received well by Democrats on Capitol Hill.

The initial reaction to President Trump’s proposal to reopen the government is not going over well on either side of the aisle.

Despite their rhetoric, Republicans in Congress have shown through their own inaction that they don’t really support the President’s border wall.

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.

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

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.

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

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.

The President is blaming Democrats for the fact that so many of his Ambassadors have not been confirmed. The truth, of course, is quite the opposite.

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.

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

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

With Congress out of town until at least Thursday and negotiations apparently deadlocked, the White House is saying it’s likely the shutdown will last into 2019.

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

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.

New York State seems likely to join the list of states where marijuana has been legalized sometime next year.

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.

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.

House Republicans reportedly don’t have the votes to fund the President’s border wall.

Nancy Pelosi is apparently close to a deal with dissident Democrats that will keep her in power until at least 2022.

Once again, President Trump is threatening a shutdown over the border wall that Mexico was supposed to pay for.

This month’s budget fight is likely the last chance the President will have to get any funding for his border wall.

In the end, the race between Cindy Hyde-Smith and Mike Espy was not even close.

A brewing fight over funding for the President’s border wall could throw a monkey wrench into plans to pass a budget by next Friday.

Anti-Semitic violence has increased markedly over the past two years. So has the spread of far-right “anti-Globalist” conspiracy theories. This is not a coincidence.

Nearly two years into Republican control of Washington, the budget deficit is headed back up.

One month before voters in several states head to the polls to vote on legalization referendums, a new poll shows that public support for legalization remains at record high levels.

The Merrick Garland precedent is power politics, nothing more.

One last Kavanaugh Cold Open.

The F.B.I.’s updated background check is complete and will be reviewed by Senators beginning today. As a result, Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is moving forward toward a final vote on the Kavanaugh nomination later this week.

After roughly a week of staying silent, President Trump decided last night to openly mock Dr. Christine Blasey Ford.

After placing limits on the scope of the F.B.I.’s reopened background investigation of Judge Brett Kavanaugh, the White House has relented and is allowing a more open-ended investigation.

Republicans have set a Judiciary Committee vote for less than a day after hearing from Christine Blasey Ford and Judge Brett Kavanaugh.

The status of a potential hearing in the Brett Kavanaugh nomination regarding the charges made by Dr. Christine Blasey Ford remain unclear, but the likelihood is that she will testify in the end.

Trumpism is a direct by-product of the poisonous populism of the Tea Party movement, and they’ve both taken over the Republican Party.

After a day of political pressure, Senate Republicans have agreed to hold a hearing regarding the sexual assault allegations against Judge Brett Kavanaugh next week.