2026 Congressional Outlook: A Narrowing Window Before the Midterms

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.   […]

Democrats are using every tool at their disposal to prevent the one Cabinet nominee who has attracted some Republican opposition – Education Secretary nominee Betsy DeVos – from being confirmed on the Senate floor. The minority party kept the upper chamber in session throughout the night in an attempt to convince one additional Republican to […]

The Week in Review Congress continued to take aim at Obama-era regulations last week, with both chambers passing disapprovals of a Securities and Exchange Commission rule requiring companies to publish the payments they make to foreign governments as a part of their attempts to extract natural resources (H.J. Res. 41), an environmental regulation that aims […]

Looking Ahead Near Term The House starts up the Congressional Review Act process by teeing up votes on a handful of regulations, including on Dodd-Frank era SEC rule requiring disclosure of payments made for mineral extraction.  In the Senate, lawmakers will continue to work through President Trump’s Cabinet nominees, with floor votes scheduled for Secretary […]

Despite efforts from Democrats to slow down the process, the Senate is moving forward on confirming President Trump’s Cabinet nominees, starting with a final vote on Betsy DeVos’ nomination to be Education Secretary scheduled for Monday. The upper chamber successfully invoked cloture on DeVos’ confirmation this morning on a 52-48 party-line vote. However, Republican Sens. […]

One of President Trump’s most controversial selections for his Cabinet is – Education Secretary nominee Betsy DeVos – due to hit the Senate floor today, with another contentious pick, Attorney General nominee Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL), next in line for floor consideration. DeVos will be first because Republicans want to make sure that Sessions – […]

Lawmakers are returning to Capitol Hill today to a busy legislative schedule as well as a chaotic political environment due to the fallout from President Trump’s executive order issued on Friday suspending the nation’s refugee program and temporarily barring visitors from seven Muslim-majority countries. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) said over the weekend that […]

The Week in Review President Trump’s first week in office was marked by a flurry of executive orders filling some of his most prominent campaign promises, including measures to begin construction of a wall along the nation’s southern border, put a four-month hold on allowing refugees into the United States, and temporarily ban travelers from […]

Looking Ahead Near Term A short week in the House as Republicans leave on Wednesday for their Caucus retreat.   The Senate will continue to move through the nominations process with votes scheduled for Mike Pompeo (R-KS) for CIA Director as well as numerous committee votes for those who have had hearings. The Trump administration is […]

The Week in Review After taking the oath of office on Friday, Donald Trump is officially the 45th president of the United States, turning the page on the mostly gridlock-ridden two terms of former President Barack Obama and ushering in a unified Republican government. While Trump did not mention health reform in his inaugural address, […]

Our Take One looking for a juxtaposition that may shed some light on the current state of world events needs not look any further than this week which starts with the commencement of the World Economic Forum in Davos and concludes with the inauguration of Donald Trump as the 45th President of the United States.  […]