All DC Decoder
Replacing Cantor: To win a leadership post, it鈥檚 not what you know, it鈥檚 whoThe whip job of gathering votes from GOP members has given Californian Kevin McCarthy a big advantage in the race to replace Eric Cantor as House majority leader.聽
What did tea party take from Eric Cantor defeat? New life, perhaps.The tea party wing of the Republican Party has been relatively subdued since the government shutdown debacle last fall. The Eric Cantor defeat could rouse it.
Did meddling Democrats defeat Eric Cantor?Former Rep. Ben Jones, a Georgia Democrat who played 'Cooter' on 'Dukes of Hazzard,' claims he was instrumental in Rep. Eric Cantor's defeat. Last weekend, Jones posted a letter online calling on Democrats to vote in the Virginia primary. The letter went viral.
After Eric Cantor ouster, a skittish GOP and perhaps more gridlockHouse GOP is knocked for a loop by the defeat of No. 2 Republican Eric Cantor, who plans to step down as majority leader July 31. None of it bodes well for congressional accomplishment, analysts say.
Eric Cantor loss: What happened there?Rep. Eric Cantor, the No. 2 House Republican, appears to have failed to turn out his voters in Virginia's Seventh District. David Brat's supporters did not. Cantor's team may have ignored trouble signs earlier this year.
Eric Cantor upset stuns GOP, revives tea partyThe pacification of the tea party movement had settled into conventional wisdom in the 2014 campaign season. An outsize victory by unknown David Brat over Rep. Eric Cantor, the No. 2 House Republican, upends that view.
Bowe Bergdahl swap: why Obama can't get Congress onboardPresident Obama has sent officials to Capitol Hill several times to try to calm concerns about the Bowe Bergdahl swap. But Congress is still mad 鈥� and not just Republicans. Here's why.
Immigration crisis 101: Why the wave of incoming kids, and what to do?'Unaccompanied minors' detained at the border total 47,000 since October 鈥� up from 13,000 in all of fiscal 2012. They are swamping US ability to cope, so the FEMA director has been called in. But that's just a short-term solution.
Student loan relief 101: More borrowers won't pay over 10 percent of incomesA limited program already exists to cap student-loan repayments at 10 percent of a borrower's annual income. Obama moved Monday to expand eligibility to about 5 million more borrowers. Wrong approach, say critics.
Can bipartisanship sell in Election 2014? These candidates are banking on it.Several Senate candidates are touting themselves as part of the solution to Washington's polarization. The pitch is a political necessity for Democrats in red states and vice versa.
Taliban swapped for Bowe Bergdahl: 'Responsible for 911' or 'a pretty good deal'?We may never know whether exchanging Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl for five members of the Taliban held at Guantanamo Bay was worth the risk. Here are two very different ways of looking at that.
Illegal immigration: how 'humanitarian crisis' on border could hurt ObamaThousands of unaccompanied minors crossing the border are straining the US agencies that handle illegal immigration. That could affect President Obama's election year plans.
Bowe Bergdahl's story: What have we learned so far?Bowe Bergdahl is in a US military hospital in Germany for treatment and reintegration after five years as a prisoner of the Taliban. At this point in his story, there鈥檚 more speculation than facts.
D-Day remembered: why Allies finally won Normandy campaignThe Normandy campaign in the weeks after D-Day cost both sides heavily, as seasoned German troops contested every mile. But Allied numbers, air power, and the Soviet march on the Eastern Front proved decisive.
Bowe Bergdahl deal: Who are Taliban 5 and how dangerous are they?The five Taliban swapped for Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl worked for聽the Taliban government that had harbored Al Qaeda in Afghanistan 鈥� three in senior posts. As for the threats they pose now, assessments are mixed.
D-Day remembered: How FDR reacted on June 6, 1944The news flash that the fighting was on produced almost a sense of relief in Washington. At last, the battle for France was fully engaged. 'Our sons ... this day have set upon a mighty endeavor,' FDR told Americans.
Why Obama's deal to free Bowe Bergdahl riles Democrats, tooObama's decision to swap POW Bowe Bergdahl for five Taliban in US custody is making some congressional Democrats uncomfortable. It's getting to be a disconcertingly familiar feeling.聽- Obamacare beset by new 'discrepancies': What are they and how serious?Some 2 million people who signed up have discrepancies in their data, Obama administration officials say. Most are being resolved, but it is a fresh test for Obamacare.
For now, Bergdahl and Benghazi push Obamacare into the backgroundRepublicans were poised to make Obamacare the big issue of the 2014 midterms. It still could be. But the Benghazi probe and Bowe Bergdahl prison swap are now likely to be major issues, too.
Bergdahl-for-Taliban swap: why Pentagon officials think it's not a bad dealThe Bergdahl-for-Taliban swap is under fire from Republican lawmakers and commentators. But Taliban leaders' release does not pose that great a threat to US troops, Pentagon officials say.
