The Tea Party

Seven Tests That Can Keep Republicans from Screwing Up

By Edward Morrissey

It didn’t take long for Republicans to make their first tin-eared mistake after winning a broad victory in November. In fact, they had barely opened the new session of Congress before performing a...
One Place the Trump Train Isn’t Stopping: Paul Ryan’s Backyard

By Martin Matishak

In a year in which an outsider candidate seized the reins of one of the country’s two major political parties, there’s one place where folks haven’t gotten the anti-establishment message: House...
Two-Thirds of the US Government Basically Won’t Work for the Next Year

By Rob Garver

With a deadlocked Supreme Court and a compromise-averse Congress, 2016 promises to be a year in which simply keeping the lights on will be a major accomplishment.
House Freedom Caucus Prepares to Challenge Ryan on 2016 Agenda

By Eric Pianin

House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI) has gotten off to a strong start with the far-right conservatives in his conference who drove former Speaker John Boehner from office and blocked Boehner’s heir...
Ted Cruz Gets a Boost from Powerful Conservative Insiders

By Rob Garver

An influential political action group in Washington, Heritage Action for America, all but endorsed the presidential candidacy of Texas Sen. Ted Cruz on Monday, with the release of an analysis of the...

Boehner Ready to Exit a Historically Feeble Congress

By Rob Garver

As he heads into what appears to be the final week his leadership of the House of Representatives, House Speaker John Boehner will be the subject of no end of retrospective profiles of his career...
Did Paul Ryan Outsmart the Freedom Caucus?

By Rob Garver

The news that Wisconsin Representative Paul Ryan had persuaded a large majority of the House of Representatives’ most conservative element to support his bid for Speaker of the House left the...
Paul Ryan Has Probably Already Lost His Shot at the Presidency

By Rob Garver

Regardless of whether Rep. Paul Ryan decides to declare himself a candidate for Speaker of the House sometime this week, his political future will likely sustain some real damage – and there is...
Meet the Freedom Caucus, the Group Inflaming Washington

By Martin Matishak

If you don’t know much about a group of congressional lawmakers called the House Freedom Caucus, don’t worry; you’ll hear about them plenty in the weeks and month ahead.
Why You – Yes, You – Could Be the Next Speaker of the House

By Martin Matishak

Spoiler alert: The race to be the next Speaker of the House is pretty much over.

Taxpayers Get a Whopper of a Bill for the Shutdown

By Eric Pianin

Evidence of the economic carnage wrought by last month’s 16-day partial government shutdown keeps piling up, and it doesn’t make for a pretty picture. The Office of Management and Budget on Thursday...
What We’ve Learned From Tuesday’s Election

By Bruce Bartlett, The Fiscal Times

Following are some takeaways I see in the election results. 1. New Jersey Governor Chris Christie is the establishment candidate for the Republican president nomination in 2016. His impressive 60...
McAuliffe Poised for Big State Win in Virginia

By Eric Pianin

Under a different set of circumstances, Democrat Terry McAuliffe probably would be fighting for his political life in Virginia’s gubernatorial election today. Instead, McAuliffe is leading Republican...
How the GOP Turned from Pragmatism to Tribalism

By Nicholas Wapshott, Reuters

Once a happy band of no-nonsense, pro-business conservatives, cautious in everything from money to marriage — including their wary response to the onward march of 1960s liberal social values — they...
The Rising Cost of Gridlock

By Bruce Bartlett, The Fiscal Times

The great weakness of the American political system is gridlock. It was baked in the cake by the Founding Fathers, who deliberately set up a system in which the White House, Senate and House of...

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