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Our Take During the campaign, it was said by some that Donald Trump is the wrong answer to the right question.   Regardless, it was clear – both from the primaries and then in the general – that a big section of the American public was incredibly frustrated with the institutions of governments and were prepared […]

The House only has a pro forma session scheduled today, but returns tomorrow to a defense appropriations bill (H.R. 1301) that would fund the Pentagon for the remainder of the fiscal 2017 year at $583.7 billion in annualized defense spending. The bill – which will likely be considered without amendments – is the result of […]

The Week in Review The highlight of the week came on Tuesday when President Trump outlined his legislative agenda in his first remarks to a joint session of Congress. In a generally well-received speech, the President called for a trillion-dollar infrastructure plan, paid family leave, and providing tax credits to help Americans purchase health insurance. […]

More of the same is scheduled for the chamber floors in Congress today as the Senate moves to consider Ben Carson to be Secretary of Housing and Urban Development and the House lines up the final regulation-related bill in a series considered this week. Carson, a former neurosurgeon and presidential candidate, was approved on a […]

Both chambers are picking up on the work they left off before last week’s recess, with the Senate working through the remaining confirmations for President Trump’s Cabinet and the House targeting executive branch regulations. Wilbur Ross’ confirmation as Secretary of Commerce starts action in the Senate, and given that a cloture vote for his nomination […]

The Week in Review Lawmakers enjoyed a week away from Washington in honor of the President’s Day holiday. Many Republicans, including Reps. Jason Chaffetz (R-UT), Dave Brat (R-VA) and Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR), encountered raucous crowds at town hall events as constituents voiced their opposition to the repeal of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and […]

Looking Ahead Near Term Both the House and the Senate are in Recess this week. Further Out Chairman Hensarling is expected to release the latest iteration of his Dodd-Frank replacement bill, known as the Choice Act, perhaps as soon as the week Members return.   According to some accounts, he has left version 2.0 behind and […]

The Week in Review The Senate worked to continue filling President Trump’s Cabinet last week, with successful confirmations including David Shulkin for Veterans’ Affairs Secretary, Linda McMahon for Small Business Administrator, Mick Mulvaney for Director of the Office of Management and Budget, and Scott Pruitt for Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency. Both Mulvaney and […]

Our Take Earlier this week, in a very excellent piece that ran in Axios (totally worth adding to the morning subscription list if you haven’t already), Jim VandeHei laid out a very rationalized reason why he thinks the current state of American politics will only get worse.  While he may be correct, it seems the […]

The week will bring a sense of déjà vu to Washington as the House lines up another series of resolutions taking aim at Obama-era agency regulations and the Senate plods through the confirmation process for more of President Trump’s Cabinet nominees. Under the powers of the Congressional Review Act, the House plans votes to walk […]

The Week in Review The Senate spent most of the last week working to confirm President Donald Trump’s nominees to top administration posts, spending a total of 90 hours of debate to confirm three key cabinet officials: Betsy DeVos as secretary of Education, Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL) as attorney general, and Rep. Tom Price (R-GA) […]

Looking Ahead Near Term A relatively tame week could be on tap as the Senate continues to slog through the nominations process, while the House continues to push through a series of Congressional Review Act resolutions.   The House Financial Services Committee is scheduled to meet to approve the Committees’ oversight plan for the coming year.   […]