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...

Government Shutdown Frequently Asked Questions

By ED O'KEEFE and PAUL KANE, The Washington Post

How long do they have to settle this? The current funding resolution expires at midnight on April 8. So a shutdown would start Saturday, April 9. Since very few federal employees work on weekends,...
Business Groups Seek Swaps Exemption

By Merrill Goozner, The Fiscal Times

A campaign by the business community to exempt financial swaps trading from the new Dodd-Frank reform law is heating up, but so far federal regulators are resisting the pressure.
Federal Workers Anxious About Possible Shutdown

By Lisa Rein and ED O'KEEFE, The Washington Post

Just before 7 a.m. most weekdays, Michael Kane sits at a table in the cafeteria of the Energy Department headquarters on Independence Avenue SW and tries valiantly to quell the anxiety of the people...
Balanced Budget Bullies Disrespect Democracy

By Lawrence Haas, The Fiscal Times

Senate Republicans proposed a balanced budget amendment to the U.S. Constitution today which, if ratified, would make recessions worse, violate basic principles of democratic rule, and set up a...
Tea Party: ‘Balance the Damn Budget Already’

By Jennifer Depaul, The Fiscal Times

At a rally on Capitol Hill on Thursday afternoon, a noisy group of Tea Partiers put new pressure on both parties for deeper spending cuts—even if those cuts mean a government shutdown.

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