Outside the Beltway

The Senate left for vacation without a viable path forward on health care reform, and the road ahead seems treacherous and hard to navigate.

Senate Republicans released their proposed health care plan this morning, but it could already be doomed.

The Trump White House loses ts first major staffer, and more are likely to come.

By the barest of margins, the House passed its bill repealing and replacing the Affordable Care Act, but the future of that bill is highly uncertain.

The Freedom Caucus may be mollified, but moderate Republicans and the Senate aren’t. Meaning that repeal and replacement of Obamacare is becoming less likely.

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 Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee is hinting at a new Supreme Court vacancy this summer.

Stop romanticizing the filibuster (and don’t appeal to the intent of the Founders).

After a prolonged vacancy and a bitterly partisan confirmation process, Neil Gorsuch has been confirmed to succeed Antonin Scalia on the Supreme Court of the United States.

As expected, Senate Republicans invoked the so-called ‘nuclear option’ to move the nomination of Judge Neil Gorsuch forward to a final vote on Friday.

The Senate Judiciary Committee voted to advance the nomination of Judge Neil Gorsuch even as it became inevitable that Republicans would be forced to invoke the ‘nuclear option’ to confirm him to the Supreme Court.

The ordinary and the extraordinary with the latest SCOTUS nomination.

Next week’s big news is likely to be the Senate’s vote to confirm Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court, which could mean invocation of the so-called ‘nuclear option’ by Senate Republicans.

After just sixty-six days, there are some disturbing patterns emerging from the Trump Administration.

This was one for the history books.

Let the games begin.

With a vote tentatively scheduled for this evening, House Republicans appear to lack the votes to pass the American Health Care Act.

More fireworks on the second day of the questioning of Neil Gorsuch, but his confirmation nonetheless seems assured.

Judge Neil Gorsuch’s confirmation hearings begin Monday morning, but it’s Senate Democrats who are in the hot seat.

Senate Democrats are divided on how to approach the nomination of Judge Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court, making it likely that he’ll be confirmed.

Whether you call it TrumpCare, RyanCare, or GOPCare, the Republican replacement for the PPACA isn’t very impressive.

With two votes last night, President Trump’s Cabinet is coming together.

Despite two Republican defections, Betsy DeVos was confirmed today as Secretary of Education.

Repeal and replace is likely to take longer than many Republicans thought it would, but that shouldn’t be surprising.

In the end, an effort by Democrats to block Neil Gorsuch’s nomination to the Supreme Court does not seem like a good use of their rather limited options.

With a relatively smooth announcement, Donald Trump has named a solid and qualified conservative who will likely be confirmed to the nation’s highest court.

President Trump will name his first Supreme Court pick on his 11th day in office.

President Trump hinted today that he’s likely to name his Supreme Court choice next week, and the list to appears have narrowed to three men.

With repeal of the Affordable Care Act now likely sooner rather than later, key Republicans are urging the party to have a replacement in place before repeal is voted on.

The new leader of the Senate’s Democrats says he regrets supporting the filibuster reforms his party passed in 2013.

A controversial member of George W. Bush’s foreign policy team is up for a post in Donald Trump’s State Department.

Alabama’s Jeff Sessions will become the nation’s top law enforcement officer. That’s not a good thing.

Senior Republican Senators are throwing cold water on the idea of eliminating the filibuster.

Reports of the demise of the Democratic Party have been greatly exaggerated.

Future Supreme Court Justice?

John McCain said that Senate Republicans will unite to block any Supreme Court appointment by a President Hillary Clinton.

As expected, the Senate rejected four gun control measures introduced in the wake of the attack in Orlando.

Nebraska legislators are talking about abandoning their somewhat unique method of allocating Electoral College votes.

Another poll shows that most Americans would prefer that the vacancy on the Supreme Court be filled by President Obama than that it be left open for the next President to fill, but other factors make it unlikely the Senate will act.

Notwithstanding polling that indicates the American public disagrees with them, Senate Republicans emerged from a meeting today largely united on the idea of not giving any Supreme Court nominee named by President a hearing, or even the courtesy of a meeting.

Conservatives are sending a message to Senate Republicans about the vacancy on the Supreme Court, and it may require them to initiate a suicidal game plan.

It didn’t take long for the political battle over the seat held by the late Justice Antonin Scalia to become another part of the 2016 political battle.

If last night’s debate is any indication, Hillary Clinton’s campaign is about to get much more aggressive in its critique of Bernie Sanders.

A political cartoonist for The Washington Post crossed a line and, rightfully, got condemned for it.

With little actual debate and despite Paul Ryan’s promise of a return to ‘regular order,’ the House has passed a hastily drafted bill in response to the largely fear-based response to Syrian refugees in the wake of the Paris attacks.

Syrian refugees have quickly become political footballs in the United States in the wake of the Paris attacks, and it’s become an exceedingly shameful display of pandering and fearmongering by a group of largely Republican politicians.

The Supreme Court has accepted a case involving a new Texas abortion law for review, the first abortion rights case it will hear in eight years.

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