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Peter Cohn

The Latest From Peter Cohn
Tesla founder Elon Musk co-chairs a new Department of Government Efficiency that promises to slash federal spending and regulations.

The meaning of DOGE

Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., has ruled out a Christmas omnibus spending package as lawmakers brace for a difficult lame-duck session.

Post-election endgame

Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., pulled two spending bills that had been slated for floor votes this week as the appropriations process slows to a crawl.

Appropriations derailed

Senate Appropriations ranking member Susan Collins, R-Maine, criticized the Biden administration for not notifying her of a weapons freeze to Israel.

Weapons freeze backlash

Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., at center on the House floor Thursday, is trying to find a path for Ukraine and Israel aid as Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., at right, threatens to oust him.

Johnson’s conundrum

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell is pushing for a war funding package that many in his conference have resisted.

War funding makes headway

Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas,  a leader of the rebellious Freedom Caucus, helped derail fiscal 2024 spending bills amid a battle over funding levels.

Stormy talks ahead

Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., made an 11th-hour bipartisan push to avoid a government shutdown.

Bipartisan truce

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, center, said the government may run out of cash to pay all its bills by early June unless the debt limit is increased.

Gloomy fiscal forecast

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., may play a key role in determining the timing of an omnibus spending package.

Lame-duck fiscal agenda

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, right, House Minority Whip Steve Scalise and House Republican Conference Chair Elise Stefanik arrive for a news conference on the House Republicans’ “Commitment to America,” on Sept. 29.

Stopgap funding finale

Sen. Joe Manchin III, D-W.Va., talks with reporters in the Capitol on Sept. 14.

Spending talks morass

Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, D-Ariz., checks her watch as she leaves her hideaway office to go vote in the Capitol on Tuesday, August 2.

Democrats unite

The Ukrainian flag is raised by demonstrators outside the Russian Embassy in Washington on Feb. 27. Additional aid to Ukraine is mired in a congressional funding fight.

Aid quandary for Congress

Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell testifies before the House Financial Services Committee on Feb. 27, 2018. The gross federal debt has grown to more than $28 trillion since then.

Economy, Fed paper over debt problem

Former California Rep. Jerry Lewis, here during a 1999 interview in his Rayburn office, died Thursday at the age of 86.

Jerry Lewis, old-school appropriator who tried to shield powerful panel, dies

Wisconsin Democrat Tammy Baldwin lost Juneau County by 771 votes in 2018 but was reelected to the Senate nonetheless. In presidential elections, however, no candidate since 1960 has won nationwide without winning the bellwether county. (Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call file photo)

Where the real battle for votes lies