Inside the Beltway
"Inside the Beltway" is an American idiom used to characterize matters of greater interest to Federal government of [the United States|U.S. federal government] officials, contractors, lobbyists, and media personnel, than to the general public. The Capital Beltway is a highway that has encircled Washington, D.C. since 1964. Some speakers of American English now use "beltway" as a metonym for federal government insiders. Multiple political columns are titled after the phrase, including the Washington Times, American University's magazine, and columnist John McCaslin.
Geographically, Inside the Beltway describes Washington, D.C., and those sections of Maryland and Virginia that lie within the perimeter of the Capital Beltway.