Doug Jones joins the Senate: How will he vote?

When Democratic Senate candidate Doug Jones went before his cheering supporters the night of his improbable election in deeply Republican Alabama last month, he smiled widely and then hesitated. "I have been waiting my whole life and now I don't know what the hell to say," he said with a laugh.

Marc Thiessen: Trump should make vulnerable Democrats who opposed…

President Trump raised eyebrows when he invited Democratic Sen. Heidi Heitkamp to fly with him aboard Air Force One for a tax-reform rally in her home state of North Dakota earlier this year. For a vulnerable Democrat running for reelection in a deep-red state that Trump won by 36 points, appearing with the president was a political gift.

Rule by 50%+1

I think the editors of the Wall Street Journal are asking the wrong question in considering the completely partisan nature of the tax reform bill making its way through Congress: Part of the explanation is ideological. The Democrats as a party moved sharply left during the Obama years-on economics nearly as much as on identity politics.

ND could be one of the most affected states if US withdraws from NAFTA

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce released a list of the states most likely to be negatively affected if the U.S. withdraws from the North American Free Trade Agreement, placing North Dakota at third, behind only Michigan and Wisconsin. "Absolutely," says Lindsey Warner, director of marketing and events at NDTO.

No, The Electoral College Isn’t Rigged to Favor Rural Trumpism

It's time to shed the mythical claim that electoral features of the United States Constitution somehow infuse our national political system with a rural Republicanism, conservatism, or Trumpism. This charge appears prominently in Nancy MacLean's controversial book Democracy in Chains , which cites the U.S. Senate's equal representation clause as well as the Electoral College as evidence of the Constitution's anti-democratic features.

Marc A. Thiessen, Washington Post: It’s time for Trump to put Democrats on the spot with tax reform

When Republicans brought their budget to the Senate floor last week, they were bracing for what is known on Capitol Hill as a "vote-a-rama," in which Democrats would keep the Senate in session till the wee hours, forcing Republicans to cast dozens of politically toxic votes on everything from gun control to legalizing the immigration status of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals recipients. Why? Because they knew that what was toxic for Republicans would be even more toxic for vulnerable Senate Democrats running for re-election in states President Trump won by double digits.

Trump says popular retirement program will be unscathed in tax plan

President Donald Trump on Monday dismissed the possibility of curbing a popular tax-deferred U.S. retirement savings program to help pay for his sweeping tax cuts, and voiced doubts about adding another top bracket targeting the wealthiest Americans. U.S. President Donald Trump welcomes United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres for a meeting in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, U.S., October 20, 2017.

Conservative group to use JFK to lobby Dems to support Trump tax plan

President Donald Trump and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Ky., speak to members of the media in the Rose Garden of the White House, Monday, Oct. 16, 2017. President Donald Trump and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Ky., speak to members of the media in the Rose Garden of the White House, Monday, Oct. 16, 2017.

Susan Collins mulls run for Maine governor’s seat

Seen as a powerful moderate voice in a polarized Senate, Collins has played a key role in many legislative debates, most recently as one of the Republicans who chose not to support the Graham-Cassidy bill, intended to restructure Obamacare. Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, is expected next week to announce whether she'll run for the governor's seat in her home state next year, which already has Democrats asking her to stay in the Senate.

Senators bewildered by Equifax contract with IRS after hack

Former chairman and CEO of Equifax Richard F. Smith, scratches his head as he testifies before the Digital Commerce and Consumer Protection Subcommittee of the House Commerce Committee on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, Oct. 3, 2017. AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster) The former chairman and CEO of Equifax says the challenge of responding to the concerns of tens of millions of consumers in the wake of a massive data breach proved overwhelming, and regrettably, his company made mistakes.

White House: Trump to dine with Schumer and Pelosi

President Donald Trump will have dinner with Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer and House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi on Wednesday night, the latest overture by the Republican president to work with his adversaries. The White House said that Trump had invited the two Democratic leaders to dinner, more than week after the president reached an agreement with Schumer and Pelosi - despite objections from Republicans - on a three-month agreement to raise the debt ceiling, keep the government running and speed hurricane relief to states.

Key Words: Manchin recalls Pence’s unfavorable comparison of tax code to Bible

Joe Manchin, one of the so-called red-state Democrats invited to a bipartisan White House dinner Tuesday billed as the kickoff of an effort to revamp the tax code, recalled Vice President Mike Pence's unfavorable comparison of the federal system of taxation with the Bible during a recent visit to West Virginia, Manchin's home state. Pence, Manchin recalled, observed that: Pence spoke about taxes in late August at a state chamber of commerce event at the Greenbrier Resort in White Sulphur Springs, W. Va.

Trump courting Democrats on tax reform

A group of six senators is expected to dine Tuesday night with President Trump at the White House in what's being touted as a "bipartisan working dinner" to address tax reform, multiple Congressional aides have confirmed to ABC News. The Democrats expected to attend will be Sens. Joe Manchin , Joe Donnelly and Heidi Heitkamp and the Republicans are Sens. Orrin Hatch , Pat Toomey and John Thune .

Byron York: Where is Trump popular? And what does that mean for 2018?

President Trump's job approval rating in the RealClearPolitics average of polls is 39.9 percent. That's actually up a bit from Trump's low of 37.4 percent, reached on August 14. The RCP average, made up of results from the most recent surveys, is a national measure.

Trump courts Heitkamp in North Dakota tax pitch

The most powerful Atlantic Ocean hurricane in recorded history has made its first landfall in the islands of the northeast Caribbean. Future of Kentucky's last abortion clinic is at stake as federal trial opens in lawsuit stemming from the state's attempts to revoke the facility's license.

Continue reading Trump overrules GOP with deal on spending, debt, Harvey aid

President Donald Trump overruled congressional Republicans and his own treasury secretary Wednesday and cut a deal with Democrats to fund the government and raise the federal borrowing limit for three months, all part of an agreement to speed money to Harvey relief. In the course of a relatively brief negotiating session at the White House, Trump largely sided with Democratic leaders as they pushed for the three-month deal.