2026 Congressional Outlook: A Narrowing Window Before the Midterms

The 114th Congress convenes tomorrow and GOP leaders are preparing their to-do list for 2015, when they will control both the House and Senate. Republicans will hold 247 of the 435 House seats, the biggest GOP bloc in 84 years. In the Senate, the party will have 54 of the chamber’s 100 seats. The new […]

Last Tuesday, the Senate adjourned for the year, approving an omnibus spending bill, dozens of judges, many executive branch nominees and a tax ‘extenders’ bill during the post-election lame duck session. Senators left town, however, without approving terrorism risk insurance legislation (S.2244), electing to put off a vote until 2015. The Senate also voted 76-16 […]

In a rare weekend session, the Senate on Saturday night passed a $1.1 trillion government spending bill 56-40, sending it to the President Obama for his signature. The measure (H.R. 83) includes 11 appropriations bills that fund most of the government through September 30 and a continuing resolution (CR) funding the Department of Homeland Security […]

This past week may be remembered as the sunset of two well-worn political clichés.  First, the old adage about how “if you like laws and sausages, you should never watch either one being made,” might no longer be possible in the modern media age as factions from both the left and the right continue to […]

Investment News posted an article quoting Thorn Run Partners' Jason Rosenstock.  The online publication, which dives into the investment world, was parsing out industry news from the so-called Cromnibus.  “It's going to be one of those high-level negotiations between the big four House and Senate leadership," said TRP's Jason Rosenstock. Mr. Rosenstock was commenting on riders that could be […]

Last Thursday, the House voted to bar the executive branch from deferring the deportation of undocumented workers, taking its first direct action against President Obama’s executive actions on immigration. The 219-197 vote was largely symbolic, as Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) has said he won't take up the bill (H.R. 5759) and the White […]

Once again Friday’s jobs number came in significantly higher than expectations.  While the Bloomberg survey of economists predicted an increase of 230,000 the BLS reported that the American economy added 321,000 plus added upward revisions from the previous two months totaling another 44,000 jobs.  While the unemployment rate remained unchanged at 5.8 percent, this marked […]

Today, at a House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Health hearing, bipartisan support emerged for an extension of Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) funding beyond Sept. 30, 2015, while members examined policy issues that could be addressed in any funding measure.  While Democrats were especially eager to express their support for a funding extension, pointing […]

The House and Senate were in recess last week for the Thanksgiving holiday. During an otherwise quiet week, last Friday saw Senate Democrats increase their leadership ranks to include Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA), who will serve as a policy development adviser to the Democratic Policy and Communications Committee. Warner said he will use his new […]

Last week saw the Keystone XL oil pipeline and President Obama’s executive action on immigration take center stage in Washington. The Senate on Tuesday narrowly defeated legislation (S. 2280) that would have approved the Keystone XL pipeline, delivering a political setback to Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-LA) in her Dec. 6 runoff race against challenger Rep. […]

President Obama’s Executive Order on Immigration certainly stirred the rhetorical pot.  Its impact on the political environment is still to be determined.  Certainly it may impact the end of the year spending bills – though then again, it may not.  We continue to hear that the Chairs of the Appropriations Committee, and House and Senate […]

After nearly two months on the campaign trail, Congress returned last week for new member orientation, leadership elections and a smattering of legislative business. The leadership elections offered few surprises, as Sens. Mitch McConnell (R-KY), Harry Reid (D-NV), and Rep. John Boehner (R-OH) all received their caucus’s endorsement to lead their party in the 114th Congress. McConnell […]