The budget confrontation that led to a partial government shutdown dealt a major blow to the GOP’s image and has exposed significant divisions between tea party supporters and other Republicans, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll. The survey highlights just how badly the GOP hard-liners and the leaders […] Read more »
Congress Dives, Anti-Incumbency Soars in Deep Post-Shutdown Criticism
Approval of Congress is at a new low in 40 years of polling, Americans’ approval of their own representative in Washington is underwater for the first time and a record number of registered voters are inclined to look for someone new in 2014 – all signs of a powerful, palpable […] Read more »
Interactive Map: The Factions in the House of Representatives
Over the last three weeks, House Republicans engineered a budget fight that led to a government shutdown and threatened a financial default. Efforts to end the standoff were stalled by divisions in the Republican Party, as a core of conservatives faced off against party leaders. As a new round of […] Read more »
Amid four national crises, many of GOP’s goals after retaking House have been ignored
There was so much more they wanted to do. Three years ago, Republicans retook the House with a fire-eating confidence and an ambitious plan to remake the U.S. government. They wanted to cut spending, of course. They wanted to get rid of Obamacare. But that wasn’t supposed to be the […] Read more »
Post shutdown: Time for recriminations
Recriminations! It’s a familiar ritual in Washington every time a party loses a battle or a candidate loses an election. Only this time, it could lead to something more serious: A split in the Republican Party. The most severe recriminations are aimed at the Tea Party. Why did they take […] Read more »
The Government Shutdown: An After Action Report
This slide deck tries to put the government shutdown in perspective, starting with the lack of support for totally eliminating federal funding for the new health care law if it meant shutting down the federal government, and including our thoughts about why the shutdown happened, the initial consequences, and the […] Read more »