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 »
The shutdown showdown: What changed in Washington, what didn’t
As with a terrible headache that finally eases, the reverberations of the 16-day government shutdown continue to echo around Washington even though the immediate crisis has passed. The question everyone in politics is trying to answer is whether and how much the shutdown showdown changed things inside and outside Washington. […] Read more »
Cruz Emerges Stronger From Republican Debacle
In the aftermath of the U.S. government shutdown and a close call with default, there is a political consensus among Democrats, many Republicans, establishment conservatives, business leaders and the inside-the-Beltway commentariat: Senator Ted Cruz of Texas and Tea Party members in the House have done grievous harm to themselves and […] Read more »
Fiscal Crisis Sounds the Charge in G.O.P.’s ‘Civil War’
… The budget fight that led to the first government shutdown in 17 years did not just set off a round of recriminations among Republicans over who was to blame for the politically disastrous standoff. It also heralded a very public escalation of a far more consequential battle for control […] Read more »
Tea Party Yankees
… In the jargon of mainstream political science, citizens have preferences, and the political system aggregates those preferences according to its particular rules and structures. Undoubtedly, Americans’ political attitudes have shifted to the right in many ways over the past few decades. Still, if the shutdown and debt ceiling standoff represent […] 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 »