Alabama’s electoral votes will go to the Republican presidential candidate in 2016. We can say this with certainty, because we know that the state votes Republican almost without fail. But the extent to which it votes Republican does change. And in recent presidential elections, for example, it’s been more Republican than in the past, when you compare its vote to the national popular vote margin.
Congress will return to Washington after Labor Day with little-to-no chance of enacting more than 1 or 2 (and even that’s a stretch) of the 12 regular 2015 appropriations by the time the fiscal year begins on October 1.
Bipartisan congressional legislation aimed at addressing a surge of U.S. firms trying to cut their taxes by reincorporating overseas could be introduced in September, a ranking Senate Democrat said Thursday.
De ja vu all over again. That’s what we saw recently on transportation spending. The latest $11 billion “patch” to the Highway Trust Fund continues a trend that has now gone on for several years. Each time the fund comes within days of being unable to make obligated payments to states or transit agencies, Congress bails it out with another cash infusion. This pattern of behavior maximizes uncertainty – reducing the economic value of the very investments we are making – and raises fundamental questions about how federal surface transportation programs should and will be funded in the future.
The U.S. budget deficit so far this fiscal year is 24 percent narrower than it was a year ago as a stronger economy helps revenue advance almost seven times faster than spending, a government report showed.
When the Senate returns next month, the chamber’s top appropriator is planning one more push at an omnibus, even if it’s a serious long shot.
The 16-day government shutdown last October was arguably the darkest moment for this — or any recent — Congress. And the American people responded as one would expect, sending Congress’s approval rating through the floor and taking a particularly dim view of the country’s future.
Americans are feeling a bit better about the economy following the recession, but still carry significant financial scars, according to new survey data from the Federal Reserve.
Even amid an improving economy, a majority of Americans are feeling uneasy about the future for their children and they blame Washington’s dysfunction for failing to put the nation on the right track.
This Congress began with braggadocio about what it would accomplish. But what came in roaring like a legislative lion is on track to go out like a lamb, barring an unlikely burst of lawmaking in September or a lame-duck session.
Congress this week scrambled to finish several pieces of business, from increasing aid to Israel to addressing the child-migrant crisis and patching theHighway Trust Fund, before leaving Washington for its scheduled August recess. But being out of town may not noticeably affect Congress’ legislative productivity.
Lawmakers arrived on Capitol Hill Thursday with a lengthy list of critical issues to handle and little time to finish them.