Congress

In the week after the Oct. 1 mass shooting in Las Vegas, partisan differences were on full display in how elected officials responded on Facebook.

Taxpayers with incomes of $200,000 or more paid well over half (58.8%) of federal income taxes, though they accounted for only 4.5% of all returns filed (6.8% of all taxable returns). By contrast, taxpayers with incomes below $30,000 filed nearly 44% of all returns but paid just 1.4% of all federal income tax.

This Congress has passed more substantive bills so far in its session than any since 2007 – though nearly a third of them were to undo Obama-era rules.

In both legislative chambers, members’ ideology is a strong predictor of the number of people who follow them on Facebook.

Special elections to the U.S. House of Representatives tend to be low-turnout events, historically speaking, and seldom result in seats switching from one party to another.

The president has been slow to nominate people to fill key posts, and most of those he has named have had to overcome the cloture hurdle before being confirmed.

Americans tend not to favor budget cuts when asked about specific areas being affected, including Medicaid.

While the party retains its advantage over the Democrats on handling terrorism, it has lost ground on immigration and foreign policy, and 68% of the public sees the Republican Party as “mostly divided.”

From Social Security to national parks, a look at long-range trends in federal outlays relative to the U.S. economy

Lower-income Republicans are somewhat more likely than higher-income Republicans to support the Affordable Care Act, and many say ensuring health care coverage for all is a government responsibility.