Government Shutdown at Stake With the budget sequester spending cuts now slowly taking effect, the next big date on Washington’s calendar is March 27th.   That’s the day the current U.S. government funding bill expires and Congress will have to act to either renew the funding measure or reach agreement on an alternative. The big question […]

  Chaos Ahead or Political Dud? Welcome to “Sequesterville,” also known as Washington, D.C.  What was once unthinkable, and intentionally so, is about to become a reality.  Unless Congress and the president act soon, $85 billion worth of so-called “sequester” cuts take effect on March 1st affecting both domestic and military spending. It wasn’t supposed […]

Major Stakes for Both Parties Shakespeare once noted that Julius Caesar should beware the Ides of March, but this year it looks like March 1st  —  not the 15th — is the date to be reckoned with.  That’s when the so-called budget sequester cuts go into effect unless Congress and President Barack Obama can agree […]

Obama’s Pitch on Guns and Immigration President Barack Obama gets down to business with Congress Tuesday night as he delivers the annual State of the Union message before a joint congressional session in Washington.  The president’s speech is expected to focus on his legislative priorities for this year, especially his push for new gun control […]

Some Republicans Push New Approach The stars may be aligning for some sort of comprehensive immigration reform this year.  Remember, I said maybe.  The focus is on a plan coming from Senate Democrats and Republicans that would offer a path to citizenship for the 11 million or so illegal immigrants currently in the United States. […]

Big Agenda but Time is Fleeting If you look at Washington politics as a poker game, President Obama went all in this week.  His second inaugural address caught some by surprise with a more edgy, partisan vibe that runs counter to the tradition that the president’s maiden speech be full of lofty rhetoric and vague […]

Obama’s Second Term Challenge  It sure does feel different than four years ago.  Remember the crowds, the excitement and the sense that history was being made in 2009 with the inauguration of the country’s first African-American president?  There is definitely a different feel to this second inauguration.  More tempered, I guess.   It seems less about […]

Hagel in the Crosshairs The conventional wisdom in Washington is that while there will be a fight in the Senate, Chuck Hagel will win Senate confirmation as President Obama’s new Secretary of Defense.  But the battle is shaping up as a contentious one right from the start.   Some Republicans began squawking even before the Hagel […]

Spending Clash Coming In the end, the best Congress could do was a narrow compromise to avoid everybody’s taxes from going up.  In the modern polarized political age, I guess that constitutes some sort of victory.  But any true deficit reduction — and remember this is supposed to be about cutting the deficit — will […]