2026 Congressional Outlook: A Narrowing Window Before the Midterms

Lawmakers returning from legislative retreats and Super Bowl parties will need to re-focus quickly with another government funding deadline looming on Thursday. A continuing resolution (CR) punting the deadline another few weeks is once again the expected solution, with the House currently planning to vote tomorrow on a stopgap patch that would keep the government […]

The Week in Review President Trump’s first State of the Union address on Tuesday was the main highlight from the week as the President offered a defense of his first year in office and a glimpse of the White House’s priorities for 2018. Specifically, the President took a victory lap on the Republican-led tax reform […]

Looking Ahead Near Term On Tuesday the President will deliver his first State of the Union.  In addition to selling the tax reform bill he is expected to talk about how the economy (i.e., the stock market) is booming.  It would not be surprising if he talks about his plan for infrastructure investment, as well […]

It’s State of the Union week in Washington as lawmakers await President Trump’s first installment of the annual address tomorrow night. The speech gives the White House a valuable opportunity to reset the legislative playbook after the past few weeks of government shutdown drama, although the underlying issues of a broad budget deal and a […]

It’s been a quiet week in Washington since Monday’s shutdown drama, but both sides are starting to set the parameters for the next round of fights on government funding and immigration. President Trump took a conciliatory tone in comments to reporters in Davos, Switzerland yesterday, saying that Dreamers could “morph into” citizens over a period […]

Our Take This weekend marked the one-year anniversary of the Trump Administration.   To quote those great American poets, what a long strange trip it’s been.  The President campaigned on running our government in a very different manner and he certainly has delivered.  This past weekend saw funding for the federal government run out due to […]

The Week in Review Partisan rancor over government funding and immigration came to a boil last week, as lawmakers were ultimately unable to come up with an agreement to avoid the first lapse of government funding since 2013. While the House managed to pass a one-month continuing resolution (CR) — including a 6-year reauthorization of […]

The Week in Review Both chambers began their 2018 legislative work in earnest last week with the top headline being the ongoing funding negotiations to keep the government open past Jan. 19. Despite fervent behind-the-scenes discussions between lawmakers and White House officials for a long-term omnibus to set funding for the remainder of the fiscal […]

Despite fervent behind-the-scenes negotiations in Congress, the passage of another stopgap spending bill to keep the government funded past Jan. 19 is growing increasingly likely. This is primarily due to the contentious split on immigration and the deferred action for childhood arrivals (DACA) program as rank-and-file members in both parties appear to have drawn lines […]

Government funding negotiations continue to stall, as congressional Republicans and While House officials are growing increasingly skeptical that a long term budget agreement will be reached in the next 11 days.  Party leaders from both sides of the aisle have been working to raise stiff spending caps before the Jan. 19 deadline, yet Democrats and […]

Our Take Welcome to 2018!  Hard to believe but there are only 303 days between now and the mid-term elections.   As has been the case of late, Congress starts the year looking to finish many of the issues that were punted at the end of last year – such as a long-term funding bill, a […]

Both chambers will convene this week to start their 2018 legislative work in earnest. Most policy attention will focus on funding negotiations to keep the government open past Jan. 19, with disaster aid emerging as a new divisive issue between the two parties. The House passed an $81 billion relief package before the holidays, but […]