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.

Debt Limit Crisis Just Hit the 2 Minute Warning

By Josh Boak, The Fiscal Times

As the NFL dug into its sixth week of action on Sunday, the Senate reached the equivalent of the two-minute warning on the debt limit. In just four days without a debt ceiling increase, the...
Deal or No Deal, the U.S. Has Its Eye off the Ball

By Lawrence Summers, Reuters

This month Washington is consumed by the impasse over reopening the government and raising the debt limit. It seems likely that this episode, like the 1995-96 government shutdowns and the 2011 debt...
Senate Negotiation on Shutdown Ends in Stalemate

By PAUL KANE and LORI MONTGOMERY, The Washington Post

Senate leaders began negotiations Saturday aimed at reopening federal agencies and avoiding a government default after every other effort to end Congress’s impasse crumbled in the previous 48 hours...
No Deal Yet: Obama Rejected the GOP's 6-week Proposal

By LORI MONTGOMERY and ROSALIND S. HELDERMAN and WILLIAM BRANIGIN, The Washington Post

President Obama is rejecting a key element of House Republicans’ latest proposal to extend the federal debt ceiling, opposing a linkage between a short-term increase and negotiations on the budget,...
Down to the Wire: Will There Be a Deal This Weekend?

By Josh Boak, The Fiscal Times

The state of the government shutdown (and possible default) is in limbo, as pessimism began to give way on Friday to that rare combination of hope and uncertainty . After weeks of a tense showdown,...

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