Why Two Senate Amigos’ Opposition to Ryan-Murray Budget Plan Matters

Senate Majority Leaders Harry Reid, D-Nev., said early Friday morning that there are “certain things” the chamber must do before leaving for the holidays next Friday. “We need to do those two important bills: the budget and defense,” he said. To pass both, Reid must find 60 votes to end debate. The budget resolution, which…

Budget Drama: Paul Ryan Subtly Calls Out Tea Party Republicans

Rep. Paul Ryan, House Budget Committee chairman and potential 2016 presidential nominee, stood Monday evening in an unfamiliar place: a briefing room near the Senate chamber. As he did, he did something unfamiliar for establishment Republicans: He called out the tea party. Ryan and Senate Budget Committee Chairwoman Patty Murray, D-Wash., appeared Tuesday evening to…

Rand Paul Says Passing Any Budget Deal ‘May Be Impossible’ (Video)

“im·pos·si·ble adjective (ˌ)im-ˈpä-sə-bəl : unable to be done or to happen : not possible” That’s according to Merriam-Webster, the dictionary folks. And it’s also the odds Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., is giving for Congress to pass a budget resolution. “It may be impossible,” Paul said during a major economic speech in Detroit when asked about…

McKeon To Wall Street Journal: Your Editorial ‘Misses The Mark’

House Armed Services Committee Chairman Buck McKeon, R-Calif., has fired back at an unlikely critic, the conservative and typically pro-defense Wall Street Journal. The rare flap between the HASC chairman and the newspaper’s conservative — and typically hawkish — editorial board broke out Tuesday with an editorial alleging McKeon and other GOP hawks want to…

Chiefs’ Equation: More Sequester Equals More Casualties. Lawmakers Don’t Check Their Arithmetic.

The Pentagon’s top generals continue sending mixed messages about the impacts of pending military spending cuts. The latest instance of the service chiefs’ uneven talking points came during a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing last Thursday. The chiefs at times said changing the schedule of the cuts would make them mostly manageable. At other times,…

‘Strong Democrat’ Craves Return of Republican Party to ‘Get Some Things Done’

A Democratic senator from a key defense-sector state wants one faction in American politics to rise. But it’s not the faction you might expect. No, Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., doesn’t want a coalition of moderate Democrats to exert itself on Capitol Hill and state capitals across America. To the contrary, Warner wants the Republican Party…

The Federal Deficit Is Shrinking. That’s Bad News For U.S. Defense Sector.

The primary goal of sequestration was to scare Congress and the Obama administration into forging a long-term deficit deal with less-painful cuts. The secondary objective was to shrink a federal deficit that, at the time, surpassed $1 trillion. In terms of the paring the federal deficit, which remains Washington’s top domestic issue, sequestration is working.…

On Rare Busy Day on Hill, Congressional Leaders to Honor Sir Winston Churchill

Don’t blink Wednesday. If you do, you might miss something that has become in recent years very rare in Washington: Congress will be doing multiple things at once. In the morning, a House-Senate committee will be discussing a compromise 2014 budget resolution and how to craft a set of long-term fiscal proposals at the same…