As four Republican congressmen - including ranking member but term-limited Rep. Joe Barton of Texas - maneuvered to position themselves to win the chairmanship of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, at least three of the contenders showed they don't understand what it means to get government out of our lives.
Mark Zandi, Moody's Analytics chief economist, has become an oracle of sorts on Capitol Hill, where members of both parties have recited his financial forecasts in an attempt to seize the high ground in battles over stimulus packages, deficit reduction plans and the tax cuts enacted during the George W. Bush administration.
President Obama has made a fatal political mistake: He has shattered his progressive base - perhaps permanently. His liberal hour is over. This is the real meaning of the White House's tax deal with Republicans.
Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. on Thursday said congressional efforts to prohibit the transfer of detainees from Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, to the United States for any purpose, including to stand trial, "would unwisely restrict" the government's ability to prosecute terrorism suspects.
The House Democratic Caucus has voted to reject President Obama's tax deal with Republicans in its current form.
The lame-duck Congress careened Thursday toward a conclusion after lawmakers cleared the nice-but-not-essential bills out of the way and settled down to the serious work on the must-pass tax-cut legislation.
The House Democratic Caucus on Thursday picked its leaders for five committees for the 112th Congress, which will convene in January with the party in the House minority for the first time in four years.
We find ourselves saddled with a federal budget and a massive deficit, which, as of this writing, haven't been approved yet, even though we are already into our third month of the operating year. This is the first time since 1974 we have failed to approve a budget and I am at a loss as to why. A budget is a vital part to running any enterprise and is actually not that hard to prepare, at least in terms of its mechanics. Admittedly, the federal budget is bigger in complexity than a lot of, say, local nonprofit groups, but the principle is the same.
Republicans effectively ended the Democrats' last chance to overturn the military's ban on gay troops Thursday in a procedural vote that likely puts the issue beyond Congress' reach for the foreseeable future.
