COMPASS: FEMA’s Failures

October 8, 2024

Good afternoon from Capitol Hill. Hurricane Helene has left a trail of devastation in its wake, ravaging the southeast from Florida up to Virginia. The 350-mile-wide storm left millions without power or clean water, and killed more than 200. Hundreds are still unaccounted for and the death count continues to rise.  All eyes have been […]

COMPASS: New Details Emerge About January 6th

October 1, 2024

Good afternoon from Capitol Hill. Congress is officially recessed for the whole of October, and will not return to Washington until mid-November. Before leaving last week, they hurriedly passed a Continuing Resolution to fund the government at existing levels until December 20 (not included was the SAVE Act, requiring proof of citizenship before voting). In […]

COMPASS: That Old DC Chestnut

September 23, 2024

Good afternoon from Capitol Hill. That sad trombone sound you’re hearing is the House GOP majority failing by a vote of 202 to 220 to pass a 6-month Continuing Resolution which was paired with the SAVE Act (requiring proof of citizenship before registering to vote). On Sunday, House Speaker Mike Johnson announced the House would […]

COMPASS: The Second Attempt

September 18, 2024

Good afternoon from Capitol Hill. And here we are, a second time in as many months: another assassination attempt on President Trump. A shooter targeted Donald Trump at his West Palm Beach golf club on Sunday, pointing a rifle in the vicinity of the former president who was playing golf a few hundred yards away. […]

COMPASS: Remaking America

September 10, 2024

The Olympics ended in August, but Congress has returned to Washington for a three week sprint (I’m sorry. I had to make that joke.). Congress is engaging in its annual tradition of generally not having a plan for the government funding deadline that they’ve known about all year – except this time, there is sort […]

COMPASS: The SAVE Act is a fight worth having

September 4, 2024

Good afternoon from Capitol Hill. We are so (almost) back. The House and Senate return to session on September 9th for that time honored tradition of fighting over government funding, which expires on September 30. At the time of this writing, it appears that Speaker Mike Johnson will align himself with conservatives in putting forward […]

COMPASS: Regulating for radicals

August 28, 2024

Good afternoon from Capitol Hill. The Supreme Court voted 5-4 on Friday to reject an emergency request to enforce portions of a Department of Education rule that reinterprets Title IX’s ban on sex discrimination to include sexual orientation and gender identity.  The 1,577-page regulation intends to prohibit policies which prevent a “person from participating in […]

COMPASS: Fall funding fight takes shape

August 19, 2024

Good afternoon from Capitol Hill. August is the sleepiest month in Washington, but don’t let the slow pace fool you. The fall funding fights are already taking shape. Last week, the House Freedom Caucus issued an official position in favor of passing a short-term Continuing Resolution (CR) to extend existing government funding levels into early […]

COMPASS: Congress is out, courts are in

August 12, 2024

Good afternoon from Capitol Hill. Congress is still out of session, but the courts are action packed. Here are three recent developments. Judge Finds Google Has A Monopoly On Search On Monday, U.S. District Court Judge Amit Mehta found that Google has a monopoly on search and text advertising, capping off a win for the […]

COMPASS: The Continued Incompetence of Alejandro Mayorkas

August 6, 2024

Good afternoon from Capitol Hill. Both chambers are officially out of session for their August recess. They return on September 9th.  We often discuss the chaos and disorder of our southern border – but what about our legal immigration programs? Turns out they’re not doing much better. That’s according to an internal U.S. Citizenship and […]

COMPASS: Will the Secret Service ever be held accountable?

July 30, 2024

Good afternoon from Capitol Hill. It’s still July for a few more days, but in the House, it’s already August. The chamber broke for their month-long recess last week, days earlier than anticipated. House Republicans had hoped to have all 12 appropriations bills passed by August recess, but that plan has stalled with only five […]

COMPASS: Will The Secret Service Face Any Accountability?

July 23, 2024

Good afternoon from Capitol Hill. Steve Bannon is fond of saying “There are decades when nothing happens, and weeks where decades happen.” In the last three weeks, we’ve witnessed the true state of President Biden’s cognitive state at the presidential debate, an attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump, Senator JD Vance being named Trump’s […]

COMPASS: The Aftermath

July 16, 2024

Good afternoon from Capitol Hill.  What happened on the evening of July 13, 2024 has instantly become a generational marker – you’ll remember where you were and what you were doing as an assassin’s bullet came within a whisper of shattering the skull of Donald J. Trump.  The former president’s slight turn of his head, […]

COMPASS: Preventing Non-Citizens from Voting in Federal Elections

July 9, 2024

Good afternoon. The House and Senate are back this week after an eventful Independence Day recess week. The House will take up the Legislative Branch Appropriations bill, and a bill titled the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act (SAVE Act). In the Senate, Majority Leader Chuck Schumer will hold another show vote on an abortion related […]

COMPASS: SCOTUS Rules on Presidential Immunity

July 3, 2024

Good afternoon from Capitol Hill. On Monday, the Supreme Court delivered its ruling in Trump v United States, regarding presidential immunity.  By a vote of 6 to 3, the Court, in an opinion by Chief Justice Roberts, held that former presidents can never be prosecuted for actions relating to the core powers of their office. […]

COMPASS: Merrick Garland in Inherent Contempt of Congress

June 25, 2024

Good afternoon from Capitol Hill.  The Senate is in recess until July 8. The House is here this week, working through appropriations bills in the middle of a D.C. heat wave. The stated aim of House GOP leaders is to have all 12 appropriations bills out of the Appropriations Committee by mid-July, with consideration by […]

COMPASS: Waiting On SCOTUS

June 18, 2024

Good afternoon from Capitol Hill. The House is out this week and the Senate is in for a short week (in other words, their normal work week).  Before leaving town last week, the House passed the National Defense Authorization Act which contained several key amendments to address the White House’s continued politicization of the military. […]

COMPASS: Just Ruling or Cover Up?

June 13, 2024

The House and Senate are back this week. The House begins the process of working through the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). The NDAA is the annual defense authorization bill that sets policies and spending levels for a whole host of things such as personnel, equipment, guns, bullets, tanks, planes, and ships. Over the years, […]

COMPASS: Across the Rubicon

June 3, 2024

Good afternoon from Capitol Hill.  The House and Senate return this week to a state of American politics that looks very different than when they departed Washington a week ago. When they left, the foundations of the American system – blind and fair justice, a respect for legal tradition and accommodation, and the ability to […]

COMPASS: A Full Issue Slate For A Hot DC Summer

May 29, 2024

Good afternoon from Capitol Hill. Both chambers are out of session but that doesn’t mean there’s nothing going on! Here are a few things to watch for in the coming weeks. Appropriations On The Move Congressional appropriations committees are already hard at work preparing spending bills for fiscal year 2025, which begins in September. However, […]

COMPASS: Border Crisis Returns To Washington

May 21, 2024

Good afternoon from Capitol Hill. The House and Senate are both in session this week, hurtling toward next week’s highly coveted Memorial Day recess. Both sides will take on the crisis at the southern border this week – though from different angles. In the House, the chamber will vote on legislation to bar illegal aliens […]

COMPASS: A Border Invasion By Design

May 14, 2024

Good afternoon from Capitol Hill. Happy belated Mother’s Day!  The House and Senate are both in session this week, with Speaker Mike Johnson coming off a fresh motion to vacate vote. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene called the vote on Wednesday of last week. As promised, House Democrats made a motion to table (or, kill) the […]

COMPASS: The Censorship-Industrial Complex Revealed

May 7, 2024

Good afternoon from Capitol Hill. The House and Senate are in session this week. The Senate is still struggling through its reauthorization of the Federal Aviation Administration, while the House waits to see if Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene will make good on her promise to call a vote on the motion to vacate the House […]

COMPASS: “Legislative blackmail” sails through the Senate

April 30, 2024

Good afternoon from Capitol Hill. The House and Senate are back in session after a brief recess.  Last week, the Senate followed the House and passed their $95 billion Taiwan-Israel-Ukraine-TikTok supplemental spending bill. Democratic majority leader Chuck Schumer blocked all amendments with the tacit acquiescence of Mitch McConnell and a majority of the GOP conference. […]