Outside the Beltway

A new poll shows Ted Cruz in a much tighter than expected race for re-election, but it’s going to take more to consider Texas a state that Democrats could pick up in the fall.

Brett Kavanaugh’s nomination appears to be on track for confirmation before the new Supreme Court term begins in October.

The Texas Senate race between Ted Cruz and Beto O’Rourke is looking close, but Democrats should not hold out much hope of flipping this seat.

Based on what can only be described as pure vindictiveness, the President is apparently planning on revoking security clearances of former officials who have been outspoken against the Administration and its policies.

Corey Stewart may be the darling of the Trumpidians in the GOP, but he won’t be getting any help from Senate Republicans.

A new poll indicates that Texas Senator Ted Cruz isn’t as vulnerable as previously thought, and reminds us that Texas is still a very red state.

Republicans are worried about 2018, and they’re even more worried that they have a President who is refusing to acknowledge political reality.

Hoping that Donald Trump might not run for reelection? Don’t get your hopes up.

The first real poll of the Senate race in Texas shows Ted Cruz with a much thinner lead than might be expected in a state like Texas. That doesn’t mean we should expect a Democratic upset there, though.

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

Not surprisingly, the Trump Administration is backing away from gun regulations opposed by the N.R.A.

The 80-year-old Mississippi Republican, who was first elected to the Senate in 1978 after serving six years in the House, has been in poor health.

Once again, the Administration is walking back the President’s statements on a controversial issue.

President Trump appeared to change positions on several gun control ideas, but he probably doesn’t mean it.

Despite the activism we’ve seen in the wake of the school shooting in Florida, it’s unlikely that we’ll see significant Congressional action on guns.

The prospects for extending legal protections for DACA beneficiaries are getting grimmer by the day.

The prospect for a fix to help DACA beneficiaries is looking gloomier than ever.

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

The White House’s immigration plan is facing opposition in both chambers of Congress from moderate and conservative Republicans alike.

The prospects for a deal in Congress on DACA are starting to look grim.

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.

Getting to a DACA deal isn’t going to be easy.

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

As the Federal Government shutdown moves into the work week, there are some rumors of a possible deal, but nothing concrete and the lack of trust between the two parties could make a deal hard to achieve.

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 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.

Republicans passed their tax bill yesterday. What that means for the economy and the 2018 midterms is another question.

House and Senate Republicans say they have reached agreement on a final tax bill, and Democrats are engaging in an effort to delay a vote in the Senate until Doug Jones can be seated.

Notwithstanding overwhelming public support, Congress is not moving forward on a proposal to ban bump stocks.

Forget all the talk about a civil war in the Republican Party, the truth is that Republicans and conservatives have already surrendered to Trump and Bannon.

Don’t hold your breath, but the Las Vegas shooting may actually prompt Congress to do something.

The effort to ‘repeal and replace’ the Affordable Care Act is dead for now.

The Senate is back from its recess, but no closer to a health care bill that has any realistic chance of passing.

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

For some reason, Joe Lieberman is apparently the front-runner to replace James Comey at the F.B.I.

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.

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.

There were fireworks on the floor of the Senate last night, but it was really just politics as usual.

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

House Republicans are vowing to continue their investigations even if Hillary Clinton wins the White House.

Attorney General Loretta Lynch will essentially recuse herself from making a decision about indictments in the investigation of Hillary Clinton’s email server.

Republican officials are running away from Donald Trump the way they’d run away from a horde of mosquitoes infected with the Zika virus.

Conservatives are doing all they can to make sure Merrick Garland does not get either a hearing or a vote in the Senate, and it’s working.

The President could nominate someone to fill the vacancy created by Antonin Scalia’s death as soon a next week, but Republicans in the Senate remain firmly committed to their decision to deny the as yet unnamed nominee any consideration.

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.

Donald Trump’s plan to bar all Muslim immigration to the United States is being widely condemned by his fellow Republicans and others, but the proposal probably won’t hurt him politically in a Republican Party that is deeply bigoted against Muslims in general.

The no-fly list is a flawed, arbitrary mess that has kept innocent people from flying for years. Using it to deny people rights recognized by the Constitution is, quite honestly, insane.

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

The final effort to block the Iran Nuclear Deal failed in the Senate yesterday, meaning that the deal will now move forward.