Outside the Beltway

After an extended break for the Republican retreat, Congress heads back to work today with just three days before a possible government shutdown.

A train carrying Republican Congressmen and Senators, and their families, was involved in a crash in western Virginia.

It’s been seven years since Congress eliminated earmarking, and what we’ve seen has provided good evidence for the argument that it should never have been eliminated.

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.

With less than two days to go, the prospects for Congress finding a way to prevent a government shutdown aren’t looking good.

Roy Moore’s loss in Alabama is bringing out into the open a civil war that has been going on for seven years now.

As I’ve said before, the Republican Party in the Trump Era has become the party of Trumpaloons, sycophants, sellouts, and cowards.

The early numbers in the battle to control Congress look good for Democrats, but there are are a number of caveats to keep in mind.

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.

Due mostly to cowardice and naked self-interest, you shouldn’t expect many other Republicans to speak out against Trump in the near future.

Republican Lamar Alexander and Democratic Senator Patty Murray say they’ve reached a bipartisan deal to fix an important part of the Affordable Care Act.

There’s something in the water up at Harvard……

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

The Trump Administration has been hit with two new lawsuits over the President’s decision to end the DACA program.

Some more interesting post-election commentary from Hillary Clinton.

Republicans on Capitol Hill and elsewhere were gambling when they lined up behind Donald Trump. So far, they’ve lost.

Steve Bannon may be out of the White House, but his efforts to continue pushing President Trump, and the Republican Party, even further to the populist far-right continues.

Ed Gillespie, the Republican nominee for Governor of Virginia, has come out against the most recent immigration-related action by the national leader of his party.

Donald Trump made a deal with Democrats on spending and the debt ceiling, but it was an exceedingly bad one.

Two polls find that most Americans support letting DACA beneficiaries to stay in the United States. Will that help move Congress to act?

The Trump Administration announced today that the program that provided deportation relief to nearly a million people brought to the United States as children would end unless Congress acts to save it.

President Trump is threatening to end a program that has benefited at least 750,000 innocent people.

The pardoning of Joe Arpaio was distasteful and an affront to the Rule of Law, but it was completely within the powers of the President and should not be a ground for impeachment.

Donald Trump is threatening to shut the government down if Congress doesn’t pay for the wall that Mexico was supposed to pay for.

They may both be Republicans, but the relationship between the President and the Senate Majority Leader is bad and seems to be getting worse.

Democrats and “Never Trump”ers shouldn’t count their chickens before they’re hatched.

Republicans now face a stark choice.

The president’s begrudging condemnation of evil didn’t last long.

Hatred and violence in Charlottesville, Virginia.

After 200 days, President Trump’s job approval numbers are hitting new lows.

In another major change announced via Twitter, late yesterday President Trump announced he’d hired a new Chief of Staff, but changes at the staff level aren’t going to fix what’s really wrong with the Trump Administration.

A Congressman was shot, and a staffer and security detail members injured, at a practice session for tomorrow’s Congressional baseball game.

Donald Trump’s first Cabinet Meeting looked like something out of a Maoist propaganda video.

The American Health Care Act may have sailed through the House, but the Senate is another story.

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.

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.

Donald Trump has basically declared war on the people who blocked the AHCA from passing last week.

Republicans are saying that repealing the PPACA isn’t off the table, but practically speaking it probably is.

Speaker Ryan’s statement about the GOP being “a 10-year opposition party” is problematic.

Republicans are going to find it difficult to distance themselves from Donald Trump.

A major legislative defeat for Paul Ryan, the House GOP, and President Trump.

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

Budget hawks in the GOP face a showdown with Donald Trump’s spending ambitions this year that will likely decide whether we’ll ever get spending under control.

The story about the Trump campaign’s ties to Russia didn’t start with Michael Flynn, and it isn’t going to end with his resignation.

At Congressional town halls across the country, there are signs of what could turn into a movement that would cause real headaches for the GOP in future elections.

Nice work, Mr. President.

The problem with all the replacement talk is that there is no evidence that the GOP pathways will work.

In a break with President-Elect Trump, Speaker of the House Paul Ryan said Congress would block any effort to increase tariffs.

Republicans are afraid to oppose Donald Trump for fear that his supporters will come after them.

Congressional term limits are a good idea, but they are only a partial solution at best and may not be the best solution to the problems facing our political system.