beltway

plural beltways

1. USA freeway that encircles a city.

   Synonyms: ring road, belt

1. A 64-mile Interstate freeway surrounding Washington, D.C.
2. mostly local usageThe expressway that surrounds another city.
3. USgovernmentThe US federal government and policy and lobbying organizations, located in Washington, D.C., sometimes with a suggestion of their elitism or insularity

   But given that it takes 60 votes to beat a filibuster and 66 to override a veto, and given that the GOP has since added four hard-right senators to its total, it’s safe to say that nothing will be happening inside the Beltway anytime soon.

   2005 May, Bill McKibben, “Climate of Denial”, in Mother Jones

   1 more example

   While not the entirety of the reason why the Beltway struggles to shed its imperial hubris and adapt to the new multipolar world, (much of that is simply complacency) understanding democratism’s hold over the governing elite is vital for explaining the unique hostility found in so much of foreign policy commentary towards a soberer and more realistic appraisal of the world.

   2023 April 17, Christopher Mott, “The Democratist War on Diplomacy”, in The National Interest

comparative more Beltway · superlative most Beltway

1. Of or relating to the culture of Washington, D.C., sometimes with a suggestion of its elitism or insularity; politicized.

   2002 http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/schools/nochild/lemann.html Your New Yorker article posed the question, "Can the president's education crusade survive Beltway politics?"

   4 more examples

   Apparently wishing to go Beltway in a big way, the Gap reportedly solicited Clinton spokesman George Stephanopoulos and media adviser Mandy Grunwald to pose for ads, but were turned down.

   1993 January 6, Mark Feeney, “Impeach me tender”, in Boston Globe, page 28

   In a typical indictment, one columnist recently called some piece of Washington policymaking "too secret, too expert, too Beltway."

   1997, Kurt Finsterbusch, Annual Editions: Sociology, 97-98

   And wouldn't you know, the real-life Dean, in a real-life debate, used a line the show's writers had proposed for him. Nothing more Beltway than that.

   2003 September 21, Howard Fineman, “Dean: Not Just A New-School Kinda Guy”, in Newsweek

   Then he went Beltway and started rooting for the Orioles.

   2003 July 8, “Unabomber Manifesto - an excerpt”, in sci.astro (Usenet)