Little appetite for extra budget cuts as House passes 2018 spending bills

As the House finished work this past week on next year's funding for the federal government, approving a package of eight different different spending bills, one thing noticeably absent from the debate on the House floor was a successful push to make new cuts in next year's budget, as efforts to make deeper spending reductions were routinely rejected by a coalition of both parties.

Will Louisiana keep highest-in-the-country sales tax?

From left, Louisiana House Speaker Taylor Barras, Gov. John Bel Edwards and Senate President John Alario will be involved in upcoming budget and tax negotiations. From left, Louisiana House Speaker Taylor Barras, Gov. John Bel Edwards and Senate President John Alario will be involved in upcoming budget and tax negotiations.

Don’t look now, but Donald Trump’s strategy is beating ISIS in Syria | Mulshine

In recent weeks I read more about the high heels that Melania Trump wore on a trip to Texas than I did about the positive developments in a war that was at the center of the foreign-policy debate in last year's presidential election. In that debate, you may recall, Donald Trump went against most of the candidates from his own party in welcoming the Russian military into the war against ISIS as an ally of Syrian President Bashar Assad.

How Stephen Bannon looms large in Alabama’s GOP Senate race

Former White House strategist Stephen Bannon, shown in Indianapolis in December, is backing former judge Roy Moore in Alabama's Republican Senate runoff race against current Sen. Luther Strange. The winner will face Democrat Doug Jones during the Dec. 12 general election.

The Radical Center Returns

From the presidential campaign of Ross Perot , to the lackluster launch of the vapid " No Labels " campaign, to the equally yawn-worthy " Reformocon " movement, the romantic ideal of Americans putting aside their differences and coming together to develop real, pragmatic solutions to the country's biggest problems enchants the commentariat class. These panegyrics to moderation usually emerge after congressional congestion gets in the way of ambitious legislation.

Your Opinion: Who could have known? Climate scientists

Who could have known that one horrendous weather event after another would strike America and cause so much human tragedy and economic loss? Well, those who study the changing environment. They are called climate scientists, who for several decades have been warning that a warming planet causes the sea to rise in temperature.

Community shows its support for ‘Dreamers’

Several groups rallied at Colorado Mesa University in support of immigrants no longer shielded from deportation due to President Donald Trump announcing the end of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program. "It's hard to live in the shadows, or go back to square one," she said, not wanting to share her last name.

Transgender troops allowed to re-enlist in U.S. military

The Pentagon has confirmed that transgender troops currently serving in the military are able to re-enlist in the next several months as a ban on their service is under review. In a memo to military leaders on Friday, Defense Secretary James Mattis said the Pentagon would convene a high-level panel to determine how to carry out the ban ordered by U.S. President Donald Trump on transgender individuals in the military.

ICYMI: SCOTUS Blocks Lower Courts, Reinstates Texas Congressional District Plans

Well, the controversial congressional maps in the Lone Star state that were struck own by two lower court decisions were given the green light by the Supreme Court on Tuesday. In issue at hand involves the congressional districts of Republicans Lloyd Doggett and Blake Farenthold, which the lower courts said were drawn illegally.

EJ Dionne Jr.: The priority is still to save Obamacare

Before supporters of universal health coverage get all wrapped up debating a single-payer system, they need to focus on a dire threat to the Affordable Care Act likely to come up for a vote in the Senate before the end of the month. The latest repeal bill is an offering from Sens. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., and Bill Cassidy, R-La., that would tear apart the existing system and replace it with a block grant to the states.

Trump’s voter fraud commission proves a magnet for controversy

As President Donald Trump's voter fraud commission prepared to convene in New Hampshire this week, it already faced questions about its seriousness of purpose and whether it was a hopelessly biased endeavor. An email surfaced in which the Heritage Foundation's Hans von Spakovsky, one of the commission's most conservative members, lamented that Trump was appointing Democrats and "mainstream" Republicans to the bipartisan panel.

McCain joins effort to challenge Trump’s transgender troops ban

The top Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee has joined an effort to challenge President Donald Trump's announced ban on transgender troops, a sign that open resistance to the order is growing. Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., a military hawk and one of the GOP's most outspoken critics of Trump, said in a statement Friday that he was backing the measure because "we should welcome all those who are willing and able to serve our country."

Former U.S. Army Secretary calls Trump’s military transgender ban ‘unprecedented’

Eric Fanning, who served as U.S. Secretary of the Army under President Barack Obama, speaks to attendees Thursday, Sept. 14 at a speaking event in East Lansing featuring Fanning and Elissa Slotkin, Democratic Congressional candidate for the 8th District.

Would Trump Voters Really Revolt If He Kept DACA?

Infinite pixels have been spilled over what motivated Trump's voters in the 2016 election, with an endless barrage of research and anecdotes to bolster each competing analysis. But Trump's reported deal with Democrats to salvage the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program will provide a real-world test of what motivates most Trump partisans and what sort of compromises they will tolerate.