The prospects for Elizabeth Warren nabbing a spot on the Senate Banking Committee brightened in recent days. First, let’s take a look at the Banking Committee membership. With a 55-45 partisan split in the Senate rather than 53-47, I wouldn’t expect the partisan makeup on the committee to change all that much. Right now there [...]

Marc Ambinder writes that the Administration may be keen to stall the debt limit talks and allow the pressure to rise as the deadline nears. Many of John Boehner’s House Republican caucus don’t believe there is such a thing as a deadline, so I don’t see how this will be successful; it’s not like Wall [...]

Lori Montgomery reports that the White House is “speeding up” debt limit talks, with an outline of spending cuts and deficit triggers in exchange for a debt limit increase. Montgomery breaks some news about one potential trigger, which would, according to Delaware Senator Chris Coons (D), lead to tax increases and specifically entitlement cuts, if [...]

Maybe the most surprising amendment to pass in the Dodd-Frank financial regulatory reform bill was Dick Durbin’s interchange fee amendment. The banks had collected this exorbitant fee for a long time, even on debit cards, where the transaction costs were almost nil. But Durbin somehow won the amendment on the floor of the Senate. There [...]

The freak show has come to staid, pedestrian Delaware, in the form of Christine O’Donnell and her litany of crazy. But while the national media and late-night comics focus on condoms, masturbation and witchcraft, the man who is likely to become the next Senator from the state has quietly gone about his business. Chris Coons [...]

There’s been precious little polling of the Republican primary in Delaware, because longtime Rep. Mike Castle was thought to have no problem in his race against perennial candidate Christine O’Donnell. Castle has represented Delaware as Governor and Congressman for 30 years, and given that he represents the best (maybe only) chance for Delaware to pick [...]

After hearing about Mike Castle’s openness to changes in the Senate rules, I wondered what his Democratic opponent in the Delaware Senate would have to say about the issue, which is fundamental to governance if you believe that Democrats will lose seats and have a smaller majority next year. Chris Coons is the New Castle [...]

Delaware Rep. Mike Castle (R) was one of two Republicans to vote for the state fiscal aid bill. He was the only Republican to vote for the DISCLOSE Act; in fact, he co-sponsored it. As the Congressional schedule has moved on this year, Castle has moderated his tone on a number of fronts, after voting [...]