Stories by Jonathan Strong:
April 29, 2013
Texas Rep. Sam Johnson and Arizona Sen. John McCain have had a complicated relationship in Congress, despite the fact the Republicans were once cellmates in the infamous Hanoi Hilton during the Vietnam war.
April 29, 2013
House Republicans are discussing plans to bring an overhaul of the tax code into an upcoming fight with President Barack Obama over raising the debt ceiling, but they do not see a tax rewrite as a substitute for the big spending cuts they also hope to achieve.
April 26, 2013
Despite a vigorous debate on the House floor prior to the vote, a bill to prevent flight delays from sequestration-related budget cuts passed the House with a large bipartisan majority.
April 24, 2013
House Republicans pulled a controversial health care bill from the floor Wednesday, after a strenuous attempt by leaders to secure enough votes for its passage failed. It’s the latest instance of Speaker John A. Boehner’s difficulties in controlling his unruly conference.
April 24, 2013
After a hiatus that coincided with a tough re-election campaign for Rep. Michele Bachmann, the House Tea Party Caucus is launching anew with a reception Thursday.
April 21, 2013
Two immigration trains have left the station in the House, but no one knows which one Speaker John A. Boehner wants to eventually arrive on the floor.
April 16, 2013
Emotional pleas from former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, D-Ariz., and her husband, Mark Kelly, on Tuesday tugged at senators both for and against a bipartisan proposal on background checks for gun purchases. It’s not clear whether they turned any votes, however, as negotiators were still scrambling to clear a 60-vote hurdle necessary for passage.
April 15, 2013
Former Rep. Connie Mack lost his bid to follow in his dad’s footsteps to the “world’s greatest deliberative body,” but at least he gets to cash out with his namesake on K Street.
April 13, 2013
At a closed-door GOP Conference meeting April 10, Rep. Lou Barletta went up to the microphones for the first time since he was elected to Congress in 2010.
April 11, 2013
National Republican Congressional Committee Chairman Greg Walden touched a nerve Wednesday when he savaged the entitlement changes in President Barack Obama’s budget as a “shocking attack on seniors.”
April 10, 2013
House leaders are planning to bring a debt ceiling “prioritization” bill to the House floor before the end of April, bringing the divisive issue to the forefront ahead of the government hitting the ceiling sometime this summer.
April 10, 2013
Senate Budget Chairwoman Patty Murray, D-Wash., and House Budget Chairman Paul D. Ryan, R-Wis., are in negotiations over how to proceed to a conference committee with budgets approved by both chambers, according to multiple Senate Democratic aides familiar with the talks.
April 10, 2013
The House approved a bill Tuesday without the support of a majority of the Republican Conference, about one month after Speaker John A. Boehner sought to assure his conference that he intended to observe the “Hastert rule.”
April 7, 2013
Ask the modern day “Mad Men” on New York’s Madison Avenue about the GOP’s efforts to rebrand and they point to the recent episode involving Rep. Don Young’s use of the term “wetback” as a missed opportunity.
March 27, 2013
It’s only been about three months, but the tentative truce between House Oversight Chairman Darrell Issa, R-Calif., and ranking member Elijah E. Cummings, D-Md., is already facing its first big test.
March 21, 2013
We explained earlier this week why most conservatives would vote for the Ryan budget despite their complaints that it largely obtained balance in a relatively brief 10 years by including past tax increases.
March 21, 2013
North Carolina Rep. Melvin Watt’s name is in the news as a potential pick to head the Federal Housing Finance Agency, one week after the new chairwoman of the Congressional Black Caucus sent a blistering letter to President Barack Obama complaining about his record of nominating African-Americans to his Cabinet.
March 21, 2013
Speaker John A. Boehner downplayed the importance of the debt ceiling increase in remarks to reporters Thursday, saying it might provide “some” leverage to Republicans to force spending cuts, “but I’m not going to risk the full faith and credit of the federal government.”
March 19, 2013
The budget blueprint offered by House Republicans last year would have balanced the budget in what seemed like a million years (actually, it was 27). This year’s plan offered by Budget Chairman Paul D. Ryan, R-Wis., balances in only 10. It also repeals Obamacare and institutes Medicare changes sought by Republican deficit hawks.
March 19, 2013
On the House floor and in front of the television cameras, the GOP’s agenda this week is all budget, all the time. But behind the scenes, the discussion at the highest levels has moved forward to the coming debt ceiling fight.
March 15, 2013
Social conservatives at the annual Conservative Political Action Conference are weathering Ohio Sen. Rob Portman’s decision to support gay marriage, holding firm to their stance on the issue and noting that the front lines of the battle are not on Capitol Hill.
March 14, 2013
Updated March 15, 6:28 p.m. | Michigan Democratic Rep. Dan Kildee has been in Congress for a little more than two months, and today the leader of the free world gave him a gentle ribbing about just how new he is to Capitol Hill.
March 14, 2013
President Barack Obama sought to downplay his focus on winning back the House in 2014 at his meeting with House Democrats Thursday, telling the minority caucus “there will be a time for politics but we just had an election. ... We need to govern.”
March 13, 2013
After Speaker John A. Boehner introduced President Barack Obama, and the president spoke to the House Republican Conference for 15 minutes, Conference Chairwoman Cathy McMorris Rodgers of Washington began calling the names of the members leadership had picked to ask questions.
March 12, 2013
Conservatives are privately debating how much space to give House leaders to follow through on promises made at their Williamsburg, Va., retreat in January, with a wait-and-see approach embraced by key veterans and a smaller movement of mostly newer lawmakers wanting to push leadership harder.
