Outside the Beltway

John Boehner and Harry Reid introduced their debt plans. Now, where do we go from here?

If a crisis over the national debt is averted, Oklahoma’s Tom Coburn may be the unlikely hero.

It wasn’t a good day for the debt ceiling negotiations.

Workers picketing a Chicago Hyatt hotel yesterday got an unpleasant surprise: Heat lamps.

Three new polls provide a warning to both sides of the debt negotiations, but mostly to Republicans.

Freshman GOP Representative Allen West is a loose cannon and unfit for office.

The Gang of Six is back together. And they have a plan.

One of the GOP’s staunchest media allies isn’t too impressed with their Balanced Budget Amendment.

David Brooks is mad as hell and he’s not gonna take it anymore.

The choice is not between British-style socialized medicine and a free market in health care.

The idea that the GOP can block a debt ceiling vote and benefit politically is, quite simply, absurd.

Some things are worth repeating.

President Obama has walked out of negotiations on the debt ceiling with an agreement is nowhere in sight.

The participants in the debt negotiations are being led by constituencies that have little interest in compromise.

Our fundamental fiscal problem is an unwillingness to deal realistically with costs and benefits.

Do people who take advantage of tax breaks get a “government benefit”?

Byron York had some not unreasonable questions for Susan Feinberg, the woman who confronted Paul Ryan over $350 wine he consumed at a Capitol Hill restaurant. She won’t answer.

It’s still politics as usual in Washington.

So, apparently, Paul Ryan has expensive tastes in wine.

There’s apparently a new proposal on the table at the debt negotiations, and it looks very interesting.

Whatever happened to the GOP’s promise to “repeal and replace” the Affordable Care Act?

What exactly is the GOP trying to accomplish in the debt ceiling negotiations?

House and Senate Republicans are pushing a Balanced Budget Amendment. It sounds like a good idea, but it isn’t.

Our long national nightmare is nearly over.

Will last night’s debate have any influence on the potential candidates who weren’t there?

The debate format was the biggest loser last night, but there were a few memorable moments in New Hampshire.

We might be looking at a potential fiscal crisis.

How insurance makes health care more expensive

Is it possible to address the U.S. fiscal situation?

The main issue, above all else, is taxes.

We need to stop talking as if the Medicare debate is a question of the Ryan Plan v. the Status Quo.

Arguments for the Ryan Plan that characterize it as being “against bureaucracy” are apparently oblivious to the fact that private health insurance is full of bureaucracy.

As Congress left town for the long weekend, the Senate Minority Leader threw a grenade into the budget negotiations.

The GOP doesn’t have a charismatic superstar waiting in the wings. That’s okay.

It’s just one Congressional District out of 435, but that won’t stop everyone from trying to turn the results in NY-26 into a national referendum on Medicare reform.