Outside the Beltway

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

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.

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.

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.

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, 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 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.

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.

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.

As Washington heads into the final days of a budget shutdown, Republicans find themselves on the losing end of a public relations battle.

Senator Mitch McConnell and others are blocking a criminal justice reform bill currently pending in the Senate.

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.

Senator Jeff Flake is threatening to vote against President Trump’s judicial nominees unless he gets a floor vote on a bill to protect Special Counsel Robert Mueller.

It would be a rather quixotic effort, but Jeff Flake isn’t ruling out challenging the President for the Republican nomination in 2020.

On Tuesday, Michigan joined the ranks of the states where marijuana is legal and several other states legalized it for medical purposes.

With most forecasts assuming that Republicans will at least lose control of the House, the odds are that the GOP will react to that by moving further to the right.

In the wake of attempted bombing attacks on people he has criticized, the President is blaming the media for poisonous political rhetoric. He needs to look in the mirror.

More explosive devices sent to prominent Trump critics, including Robert DeNiro and Joe Biden, have been located.

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

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley says he would not consider a Supreme Court nominee in 2020. But does he really mean it?

With four weeks to go until Election Day, Donald Trump and the Republicans are continuing to stoke the divisions laid bare by the Kavanaugh nomination.

The Merrick Garland precedent is power politics, nothing more.

Open mouth, insert foot. Chuck Grassley didn’t exactly help his party when he was asked to explain the lack of Republican women on the Judiciary Committee.

One last Kavanaugh Cold Open.

After a long and contentious battle, Brett Kavanaugh has been confirmed to become the 114th Supreme Court Justice.

The Senate voted to proceed to an expected floor vote on Brett Kavanaugh’s nomination to the Supreme Court tomorrow, but the final outcome is still uncertain.

As the Senate prepares for a key procedural vote on the nomination of Judge Brett Kavanaugh this morning, the Judge’s fate remains up in the air. However, signs are pointing to reasons for Republican optimism.

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.

The GOP has no alternative but to push forward with the Kavanaugh nomination, because they don’t have a viable alternative at this point.

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.