Congress

One More Try? Why Obamacare Repeal Is on the Horizon Again

By Rob Garver

The effort to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act, which many assumed was dead or at least in a state of suspended animation for the foreseeable future, may be showing some stirring of life...
Trump Takes on a Powerful Leader, but This Time It’s on Capitol Hill

By Rob Garver

President Trump was obviously angry. The target of his ire was a man who has been aggravating him for a long time by ignoring his demands, refusing to work through the president’s chosen...
Heads Up: Health Care Is Still in Trouble

By Rob Garver

The issue of the US health insurance system was taken off the front burner with the evident failure of the Republican effort to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act. But while it may not be in...
Here’s How Trump Could Get Democrats’ Help on Tax Reform

By Rob Garver

The Trump administration has been reaching out to ‘Blue Dog’ Democrats to talk about possible areas of agreement on tax reform.
Congress Is Constructing a Wall, All Right. But It’s Built Around Trump

By Rob Garver

Like a body’s immune system trying to wall off an abscess, the institutions of the federal government seem to be coming together to block, or at least limit, the influence of the president on the...

The US Spends Billions on Cybersecurity — but No One Is Sure Exactly How Much

By Eric Pianin

There is no universally accepted definition of what cybersecurity actually means. Moreover, the public and even lawmakers don’t have a clue as to how much the government is actually spending overall...
How Could the VA Make $5.5 Billion in Improper Payments Last Year?

By Eric Pianin

Sen. Claire McCaskill of Missouri has been on a tear recently in going after government fraud and waste. The ranking Democrat on the Senate’s chief oversight committee and a former state auditor in...
Congress Just Handed Trump Bragging Rights on Expanded GI Education Benefits

By Eric Pianin

For a chief executive preparing to leave town on a 17-day summer vacation after suffering a humiliating setback on health care reform, President Trump will be able to claim some bragging rights when...
Top GOP Conservative: We Won’t Play Around With the Debt Ceiling

By Rob Garver

When it comes to the perennial fight to raise the federal debt ceiling, it’s usually best to assume that the struggle to give the Treasury Department clearance to actually pay the debts that the...
Why Republicans Are Going It Alone on Tax Cuts

By Eric Pianin

Republicans made it clear on Tuesday that despite their debacle in pressing for health care reform without any Democratic assistance, they would again go their own way in drafting and passing major...

Treasury IG Finds IRS Destroyed More Lerner Emails

By Rob Garver

A pair of Treasury Department investigators on Thursday morning told members of the House Oversight and Investigations Committee that 422 backup tapes that might have contained emails relevant to the...
Senators Move Towards a Big Infrastructure Deal

By Eric Pianin

Congress has finally been shamed into doing something about the near bankrupt federal highway program after infuriating the nation’s governors, mayors, businessmen and labor leaders by postponing...
Trade Bill Advances as Rift in GOP Widens

By Rob Garver

A complicated legislative strategy to grant President Obama sweeping power to negotiate international trade deals came one step closer to success on Tuesday. The Senate voted to cut off debate on a...
The Wars Are Over, the Military Spending Lives On

By Janine Davidson and Emerson Brooking, Council on Foreign Relations

For nearly fourteen years, the U.S. military has been on a war footing. Extraordinary amounts of money—often in excess of $100 billion dollars each year—have been appropriated beyond the military’s...
Long, Hot Summer of Spending Battles Looms in D.C.

By Rob Garver

The next few weeks in Congress will be like a drawn-out version of a summer day in D.C.: a long, miserable slog, ending with a violent tempest of activity that doesn’t really make things better.

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