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...

The GOP Budget Is on Life Support, and Paul Ryan Knows It

By Martin Matishak

Months after House Republicans began talking about passing a federal budget for 2017, Speaker Paul Ryan (WI) confirmed lawmakers are still doing just that: talking.
Could a Trump Candidacy Flip the House to Democrats?

By Rob Garver

The Republican hold on the Senate going into the 2016 elections has always been in question, because the GOP faces a much tougher map than the Democrats, with a larger number of vulnerable senators...
Why There’s Trouble Ahead for Paul Ryan’s Trillion-Dollar Budget

By Martin Matishak

To hear House Republican leaders tell it, the GOP budget for fiscal 2017 contains cures for nearly every U.S. financial ill. “It lays before the American people a positive vision for how we can solve...
Obama Makes the Senate a SCOTUS Offer It Can’t Refuse (but Will Anyway)

By Rob Garver

Until today, how President Obama would handle the politically fraught decision about whom to appoint to fill deceased Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia’s seat on the high court was an open...
It Took Trump to Bring Obama and GOP Leaders Together

By Eric Pianin

In a season of extreme hyper-partisanship, it took the provocative and divisive behavior of GOP presidential frontrunner Donald Trump to bring President Obama and the two top congressional Republican...

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