Managing U.S.-China relations is a delicate act. One wrong move can blow the entire ship off course. I’ve repeatedly described the bilateral relationship as an apt example of the one-step-forward, two-steps-back phenomenon. Whether it’s a foolish, ego-driven trip to Taiwan by a House speaker or a surveillance balloon hovering over America, officials seeking improved relations are often […]

Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) is stepping up his personal efforts to secure a deal on border reform and aid for Ukraine and Israel, which colleagues are characterizing as a major test of his leadership. McConnell is the leading GOP advocate for supporting Ukraine and is under increased pressure with Ukraine’s troops running...

DES MOINES, Iowa — Evangelical voters are set to play a pivotal role in next week’s Iowa caucuses amid signs they are steadfastly behind former President Trump. An NBC News/Des Moines Register/Mediacom poll released last month showed Trump had 51 percent of evangelical Christians’ support among likely Iowa Republican caucusgoers, while Ron DeSantis received 26 percent and Nikki Haley received 12 percent. Top...

Sen. James Lankford (R-Okla.) is increasingly coming under the microscope as he attempts to sell Republican colleagues in both chambers on a potential border deal and pull off the arduous task of getting it across the finish line after months of talks. A deal isn’t yet in hand, but Lankford, the lead GOP negotiator on...

A Democratic super PAC is dropping a new ad targeting Republicans over Obamacare ahead of a special election in New York to replace former Rep. George Santos (R-N.Y.).  Progress Action Fund is rolling out the ad, first shared with The Hill, called “Republicans in Your Hospital,” which depicts a patient who needs lifesaving surgery but is denied...

Senate and House tax experts met Wednesday as they pushed to strike a tax deal that could reinstate business deductions in exchange for an enlargement of the child tax credit (CTC). After failing to emerge from the yearly tax extenders debate at the ends of 2023 and 2022, the potential deal is getting new life...

This week’s revelations that Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin was hospitalized due to complications from an earlier surgery to treat prostate cancer has spurred intense scrutiny of the former top general. Austin apparently waited about a month to inform President Biden of his diagnosis, only telling him after the public scandal over his secrecy was well...

Conservative outrage over the top-line spending deal negotiated by Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) is fueling speculation over whether he could meet the same fate as his predecessor and have his gavel yanked away. Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas) explicitly left open the possibility of forcing a vote on removing the Speaker, known as a “motion to...

The sprawling civil fraud trial putting at risk former President Trump’s business empire — which rocketed him to fame and the presidency — will reach its conclusion Thursday, when his legal team and state lawyers make closing arguments to the judge. New York Attorney General Letitia James (D) is asking Judge Arthur Engoron to bar Trump from...

Former President Trump’s statement this week that if there’s an economic crash, he hopes it will be within the “next 12 months” is a risky move that has opened him to Democratic criticism. The former president said in an interview this week that he expects the U.S. economy to crash and hopes it does before...