The Ron DeSantis Campaign Faceplant
The Florida governor took to Twitter to announce his campaign. It didn’t go well.
View ArticleReinventing the Sequester
The emerging deal would allow congressional Republicans to enact savage cuts to federal spending without having to ever specify them.
View ArticleCentrist Democrats and Biden’s Debt Deal
Today on TAP: Biden’s debt negotiations are now caught between two contradictory strategies. Corporate Democrats add to the problem.
View ArticleAs Deals Go, This Is One of Them
An X-Date special: running down the details of the debt ceiling agreement.
View ArticleThe Auto-CR Dilemma
Today’s X-Date: If the debt ceiling deal passes, the military budget goes up and IRS funding gets slashed. But if Congress doesn’t pass the subsequent spending bills, that reverses.
View ArticleYou Go to War (or Not) With the President You Have
Today on TAP: The debt ceiling idiocy tells us a lot about Joe Biden’s strengths and limitations.
View ArticleCongress Can Defeat Judicial Overreach
On today’s X-Date: Joe Manchin’s Pipeline Payoff gets immunized from judicial review, as does what could have been a deregulation ratchet.
View ArticleBiden, Student Debt, and the 2024 Election
Today on TAP: The president could make generational justice a big winner for basic decency—and for his re-election.
View ArticleCBO’s Claim on SNAP Work Requirements Is Highly Suspect
Advocates question whether new enrollees will pour into the food assistance program, given bureaucratic barriers and no additional resources for caseworkers and agencies.
View ArticleWhy Democrats Rescued the Deal
Today on TAP: More Democrats than Republicans voted for the Biden-McCarthy deal. Here’s why.
View ArticleManchin’s Pipeline Payoff Strangles Future Permitting Reform Negotiations
The Fiscal Responsibility Act approved several items on fossil fuel industry wish lists, with nothing for renewable energy. That kills leverage for a broader deal.
View ArticleFalse Equivalence
Today on TAP: Why does the mainstream media keep depicting lunatic-right Republicans and normal Democrats as equidistant from the center?
View ArticleA Spending Cap in Name Only
In our final X-Date, we note how Congress is already scheming to avoid restrictions on military spending.
View ArticleDemocrats’ Resounding Vote for Debt Ceiling Concessions Won’t Age Well
Today on TAP: Rep. Pramila Jayapal explains why the Fiscal Responsibility Act puts Democrats in a difficult position.
View ArticleCongress Short-Circuits the Electric Grid
It’s bad enough not to get a clean debt bill, but it’s worse to impede electric transmission issues as part of the bargain.
View ArticleThe Coming Storm of Fiscal Policy
How Democrats created a worse debt ceiling situation in 2025
View ArticleRepublicans in Disarray
The temper tantrum on House floor votes masks a much more consequential lack of consensus on upcoming spending bills—which could give Democrats an opportunity.
View ArticleCongressional Spending Battle Is an Intra-Republican Affair
It’s become a proxy for Republican battles about both national security and Kevin McCarthy’s job security.
View ArticleAn American Leader’s Job Tenure Is Now in Question
Today on TAP: Joe Biden’s? No, Kevin McCarthy’s.
View ArticleThe Absurdity of Washington Brain
Where what matters in House Republican strategy doesn’t actually matter
View ArticleBiden Has the Right Idea About the Freedom Caucus
The White House says there should be no negotiating over an oncoming government shutdown.
View ArticleBudget Follies: The Endgame
Today on TAP: Expect the government to shut down, McCarthy to lose his Speakership, and some renegade Republicans to eventually support a discharge petition.
View ArticleThere’s an Easy Way to End Government Shutdowns Forever
No other rich democracy endures America’s brand of budgetary chaos. We didn’t either until the Carter administration.
View ArticleOdd Couple: Democrats and Kevin McCarthy
Today on TAP: Should House Democrats save McCarthy’s Speakership?
View ArticleUntangling the Government Funding Mess
Some technical errors in previous continuing resolutions now threaten a big cut to nondefense spending.
View ArticleMeet the New Boss, Same as the Old Boss
Mike Johnson got almost precisely the same appropriations deal as Kevin McCarthy.
View ArticleBiden Should Begin the Tax Wars Now
He needs to highlight his positions against the Republicans’. And not give away too much in interim deals.
View ArticleRepublican Disarray
Today on TAP: How fractured are the Republicans in Congress? Let us count the ways.
View ArticleMr. Biden, Tear Down This Debt Ceiling!
The debt ceiling reprieve reached last year is quickly running its course. We need to start the work to keep it from derailing Democratic priorities again.
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