The panel is looking for a mix of ideas that could win support from both parties, including concessions from liberals who traditionally oppose benefit cuts and from Republicans who generally oppose higher taxes, according to one member of the commission and several people familiar with its deliberations. (more)
The push by congressional Republicans to deny automatic citizenship to the children of illegal immigrants has opened up a split in the GOP, with several former Bush administration officials warning that the party could lose its claim to one of its proudest legacies: the 14th Amendment. (more)
Reporting from Washington — As Democrats fan out across the country to campaign for reelection this month, many are surprisingly quiet about their hard-won accomplishments — the major bills they have passed under President Obama. (more)
MEDINA, Ohio — Of all the veins Republicans hope to mine to win seats they need to recapture the House, one may be particularly rich: Democratic seats from districts that picked John McCain over Barack Obama in the last presidential race. (more)
The road to a Republican congressional majority may not run through New England, but GOP officials expect to make at least a few inroads this fall in a region where they suffered heavy losses in recent election cycles. (more)
Saying “I’m very comfortable where I am,” Sen. Ben Nelson (D-Neb.) indicated Tuesday he will not switch to the Republican Party — or become an independent. (more)
As we enter the summer’s home stretch and try to relax by the beach and read a book, the headlines over the weekend were relentless: we had Chelsea Cinton’s wedding, the apparent over-use of dispersants by BP in the Gulf, more Wikileaks fallout, Rangel’s 13 ethics violations and the Netherlands quitting the war in Afghanistan all interrupting our holiday. But under the radar screen, each political party has been carefully calibrating their fall strategy to keep or capture Congress. While specific tactics are not yet in place, Republicans and Democrats will spend the rest of August trial-ballooning campaign messages to see what sticks. In a year in which the status quo and politicians in general will be anathema to voters, it remains to be seen how receptive they will be to blatant political messages of any kind. Polling data confirms this, and suggests that voters will be extremely skeptical of what they consider to be typical “political” rhetoric. So let’s take a look at each party’s current message track. (more)
At the core of some of the major policy fights in Washington these days is a ferocious competition between Republicans and Democrats over which party is the champion of America’s small businesses — a mantle that each side views as crucial to shaping economic policy and winning the November elections. (more)
During the Bush years, when the Republicans controlled Congress, government spending soared, deficits increased, and the federal government grew. In fact, very few remember that the Tea Party movement started as a reaction to TARP—a Bush administration policy. Flash forward two years, and you’ll find dozens of GOP candidates that argue that their own party “lost its way” when it was last in power. As Democrat Steny Hoyer pointed out last April, “hypocrisy is difficult to deal with.” (more)
House and Senate Democratic leaders Tuesday rolled out their big “spill bills” — the main legislative responses to the Gulf oil spill. The proposals are packed with aggressive offshore drilling reforms that Republicans have long fought and were immediately met with fierce pushback from the GOP and the oil industry. (more)
Joe Heck is running for Congress in Nevada and says he and his fellow Republicans eyeing the majority in the House are out to make history this year. (more)
One year after anger over a proposed health care overhaul lit a fire at town halls and ignited the Tea Party movement, the stage is set for Republicans to rally against the Democrats’ agenda. But it remains unclear whether an anti-Democratic agenda is more effective than a pro-GOP platform in 2010. (more)
Republicans Saturday promised a full-fledged campaign to make permanent a suite of expiring Bush-era tax cuts and accused President Obama and other Democratic leaders for not taking steps yet to prevent their sunset. (more)
As a self-defined “mainstream conservative,” it is no wonder Michael Gerson is “strangely disoriented” by the Tea Party movement. Whenever conservatives put a qualifier in front their name, it is often followed by a dismissal of all others not quite so enlightened as themselves. (more)
(CNN) — Anti-establishment candidates are capitalizing on widespread anti-incumbent fervor and proposing term limits as a way to bring the power back to the people. (more)
Four months out from Election Day, the Democrats will probably lose the House and are in some danger of losing the Senate. But losing those legislative bodies would not be the most damaging aspect of the impending tsunami heading toward the Democratic Party. After all, Barack Obama will still be in the White House to stop the congressional Republicans from accomplishing much. (more)
Chicago government schools are a disaster. Only 13% of 8th graders are proficient in math, 17% proficient in reading, the high school graduation rate is a little over 50%, and 6% of kids go on to get college degrees. In March, the Illinois Senate led by Reverend Senator James Meeks (D- Chicago) passed legislation to provide vouchers for kids in the worst Chicago public elementary schools to attend private schools. When the measure reached the House in May, Chicago Democrat Representative Ken Dunkin pleaded: “I’m begging you. Help me help kids in my district.” (more)
Some impressive commentators are weighing in about whether promotion of small government versus big government is ideologically or practically driven. Ezra Klein makes an interesting, but misdirected, point that small government proponents see small government as an end in itself — i.e., they are ideologically driven — whereas proponents of more government simply want “larger government in certain areas where it seems to make sense.” (more)
As of early this morning, the oil leak in the Gulf appears to have been plugged and the White House is hoping that the president’s political hemorrhaging has been simultaneously cauterized. (more)
It’s little secret that over the past two election cycles the Republican Party has taken a shellacking amongst Latino voters. (more)
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