Everyone understands that Tea Party-era Republicans have moved right on domestic policies like taxes and entitlements. At the same time, there’s a sense that In the Tea Party era, there’s a sense that Republicans have mellowed on foreign policy—that the post-9/11 neocon-hawk moment has passed, and restraint has taken over among …
Congress
Political Pictures of the Week, March 17-23
TIME’s photo editors bring you the best pictures of the past week from the Beltway and beyond.
What We’ve Learned from Paul Ryan’s New Budget
Republicans’ cherubic budget crusader, Paul Ryan, unveiled the latest House GOP budget on Tuesday morning. It won’t become law anytime soon, but it can still tell us a few things about the state of fiscal politics in 2012.
Can an Upstart Occupy-Supporter Compete with Michele Bachmann?
Anne Nolan formally announced her bid for Minnesota’s 6th-district House seat on March 9. The following Monday, she was still her own campaign manager and press secretary, a one-woman-show without an official website. This level of organization places her in a very different league from her competition: Rep. Michele Bachmann, the …
Political Pictures of the Week, Feb. 25-March 2
TIME’s photo editors bring you the best pictures of the past week from the Beltway and beyond.
Two Symbolic Tax Reform Plans from Obama and Romney
Barack Obama and Mitt Romney laid out competing frameworks for tax reform on Wednesday, competing to lay down political markers on a policy issue both parties where both parties want reform but where there is little chance to achieve Congressional compromise anytime soon.
With Cordray’s Appointment, Obama Expands Legal Fight with Conservatives
There are straightforward political reasons for President Barack Obama’s “recess” appointment of former Ohio Attorney General Richard Cordray to head the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau: Obama’s base wants him to fight big banks and Republicans’ opposition to the agency; and picking a fight with the Hill, especially if it …
Obama to Recess Appoint Cordray to Consumer Bureau
President Obama is reportedly planning to name Richard Cordray as director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau in a recess appointment today, which means the drawn-out Congressional standoff over Cordray’s nomination to …
Ben Nelson Retiring, the ‘Kickback’ Kicks Back
Ben Nelson, the conservative two-term Nebraska Democrat, won’t seek re-election to the Senate next year, according to Politico.
Nelson is 70–not exactly an adolescent, but hardly outside the norm for a Senate whose average …
Crunch Time for Defense Authorization and Military Detention
The Senate and House conferees on the 2012 National Defense Authorization Act issued their compromise version of the bill late Monday night. That means it’s crunch time for the controversial law and its provision requiring the military detention of terrorism suspects. The White House and liberal Senate Democrats are battling a coalition …
Gingrich and Paul: A History of Bad Blood
This is Texas Rep. Ron Paul’s third presidential bid, but never before has he gone negative the way he has in recent weeks on former House Speaker Newt Gingrich. Paul is spending $429,000 on television ads — a whopping amount, more than almost any other candidate — and much of that is in this 60-second buy in Iowa. The ad is brutal, …
Newt Gingrich’s Battle with the GOP ‘Establishment’
On Tuesday morning, former Vice President Dan Quayle endorsed Mitt Romney, as did California Congressmen Jerry Lewis, Ken Calvert and Brian Bilbray. On Monday morning, Tennessee Congressmen Jimmy Duncan, Diane Black and Phil Roe announced their support. In the past month Senators Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, New Hampshire’s Kelly Ayotte …
With Supercommittee Failure, 2012 Election Offers False Hope
“Good riddance!” say the pundits on both left and right. The Super Committee is dead, and with it any short-term hope of a solution to the nation’s long-term deficit woes. For the right, this is a victory, because no tax …
