Newsletter Archive

September 2023

McCarthy Pitches a Compromise Spending Plan

Good evening. President Joe Biden held a closely watched meeting Wednesday with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly in New York. Attorney General Merrick Garland endured hours of tense…

Plus: Plus, the Fed holds steady

McCarthy Suffers a Pair of Stinging Defeats

Happy Tuesday! We hope you’ve had a better day than House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, who remains locked in a struggle with his own party members over annual spending bills with less than two weeks to go before the government could be forced…

Plus: Plus: House Republicans release 2024 budget blueprint

McCarthy Faces Grim Math on New Plan to Avert Shutdown

Happy Monday! House Republicans have proposed a new plan to avert a shutdown at the end of the month — only it faces GOP opposition and wouldn’t avert a shutdown even if they passed it. And the national debt hits a new milestone. Read on…

Plus: Plus: The national debt tops $33 trillion

Stumbling Into a Shutdown

Happy Friday – and a happy New Year to all who will celebrate Rosh Hashanah this weekend. Congress has headed home for the holiday, but they’ll be back next week as we count down to the end of the fiscal year – and to a possible government…

Plus: Plus, More IRS agents on the way

Frustrated McCarthy Drops F-Bombs — and a Dare

Happy Thursday! House Speaker Kevin McCarthy acknowledged today that this week hasn’t quite gone as he’d planned, and he took out some of his frustrations on his fellow Republicans. We’ve got details.

Plus: Plus, an unusual August budget surplus

McCarthy Faces Conservative Mutiny

Good evening. The House has been back from its recess for two days now and Speaker Kevin McCarthy already faces an embarrassing defeat on a spending bill — at the hand of his own members. Here’s what’s happening.

Plus: Plus, inflation bounces higher

McCarthy Orders Impeachment Inquiry as Shutdown Looms

Good evening. The House is back and it’s going to be busy — with a Biden impeachment inquiry now added to its agenda. Here’s the latest.

Plus: Plus, the poverty rate soared in 2022

Hard-Line Republicans ‘Itching for Fight’

Good evening. Today marked the 22nd anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks that killed 2,977 people. Tomorrow, House lawmakers will return from a nearly seven-week recess to see if they can avoid a government shutdown after September 30…

Plus: Plus: Why generic drugs can still cost an arm and a leg

IRS Takes Aim at 1,600 Millionaires

Welcome to the weekend! The House will be back next week and the Senate is set to start debate on its versions of the annual appropriations bills, so the year-end fight over federal spending and funding the government is about to heat up…

Plus: Plus: A $50 million renovation for the Situation Room

Another Disastrous Poll for Biden

Happy Thursday! President Biden is heading to India for a summit of the Group of 20 nations with the world’s largest economies. Chinese President Xi Jinping won’t attend the summit for the first time since he assumed office and Biden is…

Plus: Plus, McCarthy plots a strategy on stopgap spending bill

Congress Sets Stage for Ugly Funding Fight

Good Wednesday evening. Isn’t it amazing how quickly a long holiday weekend fades from memory?

Plus: Plus: Breaking down Big Pharma's Medicare drug pricing arguments

Medicare’s $3.9 Trillion Spending Surprise

We’re back and so is the Senate, which last held a vote way back on July 27. As we ease into the final days of fiscal year 2023, which ends on September 30, Congress has very little time left to extend federal funding and avoid a…

Plus: Plus: Congress's Big To-Do List

August 2023

FEMA Forced to Restrict Disaster Spending

Happy Wednesday! A super rare super blue moon (or a blue supermoon) will rise tonight — it’s the second full moon of the calendar month (hence “blue”) occurring when the moon's orbit is closest to Earth (“supermoon”) making our lunar…

Plus: Plus: McConnell calls funding fight 'a big mess'

Republicans Head for Major Clash on Spending Bills

Happy Monday and welcome to the final days of August. Today is the 60th anniversary of the 1963 March on Washington and Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech, delivered on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. We’ve got a bit…

Plus: Plus: GOP lawmaker wants to defund Trump prosecutions

Nikki Haley: 65 Is 'Way Too Low' for Retirement Age

Former president Donald Trump is expected to surrender at the Fulton County Jail in Atlanta this evening, where he is set to be booked on 13 charges. Less than 24 hours ago, Republican presidential candidates not named Trump faced off in…

Plus: Plus: A fiscally focused debate recap

GOP Voters' Top Issue

It’s GOP debate night! We’ll soon find out whether and to what extent fiscal issues are a factor in the Republican primary. In the meantime, here’s what we’re watching.

Plus: Plus: The job market isn't quite as scorching as we thought

Biden Launches New Student Loan Forgiveness Plan

Good Tuesday evening! Have you seen the rare baby giraffe born without spots? Here’s what else you should know about today.

Plus: Plus: Gen Z's doubts about getting Social Security

Republican Hardliners Lay Out Demands to Avoid a Shutdown

Happy Monday! The political world is focused this week on Wednesday’s first 2024 GOP presidential primary debate, which former president Doanld Trump said he won’t attend. The financial world is awaiting a speech Friday by Federal Reserve…

Plus: Plus: Medical debt is squeezing the middle class