Blaise Misztal
| Aug. 2, 2013, 5 a.m.
Every three months, approximately, the International Atomic Energy Agency releases a report on Iran’s nuclear program. The media summarizes the technical details — the latest levels of enrichment, kilograms of enriched uranium hexafluoride, numbers of installed centrifuges — but misses the true meaning of these figures. Those numbers, if analyzed, convey how much time Iran would need to produce enough highly enriched uranium for a nuclear weapon, and how much that “breakout window” could shrink in the near future. That information is critical — but currently not easily available — to policymakers or the public, even as they debate what to do about Iran’s continuing nuclear progress.
Rep. Ami Bera and Karl F. Inderfurth
| Aug. 1, 2013, 5 a.m.
Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr., during his recent visit to India, addressed the key issues that stand out for policymakers on both sides of the U.S.-India relationship, noting that protection of intellectual property, limits on foreign direct investment, inconsistent tax dues and barriers to market access are the “tough problems” between the two countries. He went on to add that they will “have to be negotiated and worked through in order to meet the potential of this relationship.”
Gary Clyde Hufbauer
| July 31, 2013, 12:48 p.m.
In a Washington that has been defined for years by die-hard partisanship and stark policy differences, conceptual support for a sweeping reform of our tax code has been a rare point of agreement. And this is with good reason. Drastic reforms are necessary to ensure American growth in the years ahead — especially since the U.S. corporate tax system is among the worst in the world.
Anthony A. Wallis
| July 31, 2013, 12:44 p.m.
For months, the Defense Department has carried out affairs under the direction of the Budget Control Act of 2011, aka “the sequester.” This state of affairs has imposed limits on military procurement, deployment, training schedules and overall force readiness.
John Replogle
| July 31, 2013, 5 a.m.
It might sound like a crazy thing to say but the United States Senate has been doing a pretty good job at compromise in the past month or so. From student loans, to immigration, to even avoiding a crisis over filibuster reform, Democrats and Republicans have been working together to move forward on getting things done. It’s my hope that this sense of compromise holds intact for an important piece of legislation that stands to make the products we buy online and off store shelves a lot safer when we bring them into our homes.
Howard Dean and Tom Ridge
| July 31, 2013, 5 a.m.
The more things change, the more they remain the same.
Andy Igrejas
| July 31, 2013, 5 a.m.
Both chambers of Congress are suddenly stirring on how to protect the public from toxic chemicals. The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee has a marathon hearing on Wednesday with three large panels of experts. House Energy and Commerce has already conducted two hearings. Improbably, reforming our broken chemical law is emerging in this Congress as a thing that can get done.
Sen. David Vitter
| July 30, 2013, 3:51 p.m.
Congress is best known these days for hyper-partisan debate and gridlock. This is particularly true with bigger, national issues, including almost all involving President Barack Obama’s EPA. That why a recent breakthrough bipartisan bill that I’ve helped craft on chemical safety could become a really positive milestone and model — for modern environmental legislation and for a more functional Congress more generally.
David Lansky
| July 30, 2013, 5 a.m.
When it comes to health care, purchasers want answers to two simple questions: Which doctors and hospitals get good results? How much does it cost?
Sen. Tom Coburn
| July 29, 2013, 1:34 p.m.
A common mistake in politics is letting the perfect become the enemy of the good and the achievable. That has never been truer than with the deficit reduction debate in Washington.
Michael Hecht and Thomas Bracken
| July 29, 2013, 1:23 p.m.
In recent months, it has become clear that congressional action is needed to address unintended, drastic increases to National Flood Insurance Program rates for home and business owners along our coasts and rivers.
Bob Ridder
| July 29, 2013, 5 a.m.
For most of last year, Democrats and Republicans in Congress agreed that the sequester was a defense calamity that would undermine military readiness and break faith with our troops and veterans. It’s hard to watch their prediction come true while the real waste at the Pentagon goes unchecked.
Sara Rosenbaum and Patricia Gabow
| July 26, 2013, 1:14 p.m.
Passage of the Affordable Care Act has positioned the United States to establish a national floor of insurance coverage for nearly all Americans, using an approach that combines employer coverage with Medicaid for the poor and a subsidized health insurance marketplace (exchanges) for people who have neither. Several unexpected twists threaten to derail this effort. The question is how to devise a solution.
Maria Teresa Kumar
| July 26, 2013, 1:03 p.m.
Recent news about Speaker John A. Boehner paints a picture of a man in a dreadful position. The speaker is in a conundrum. A dire situation, political analysts say.
Ev Ehrlich
| July 26, 2013, 5 a.m.
The House Energy and Commerce Committee recently held a hearing on the government auction of spectrum — the fuel that brings us modern-day miracles such as the Internet, smartphones and other mobile devices, and the applications that ride over these networks. Additionally, the Senate Commerce Committee just held a “State of Wireline Communications” hearing. Unlike Congress’ many fishing expeditions, these separate but interconnected hearings are time well spent. Because while it is now a lively younger sibling to some cable and fiber technologies, mobile wireless is the future of pretty much everything we do.
Ron Kuerbitz
| July 26, 2013, 5 a.m.
In November 1971, a gentleman named Shep Glazer testified before a Congressional committee. By nearly all measures, it was a fairly standard affair. An American, acting under the belief that there was a problem that needed solving, went to Congress to state his case. His experience was nearly identical to that of tens of thousands of other Americans who have sought redress from their elected officials, save one critical difference: He did it while receiving treatment from a dialysis machine.
David H.S. Pattinson
| July 25, 2013, 5 a.m.
Much discussion in Washington recently has centered around the doubling of interest rates for student loans from 3.4 to 6.8 percent APR and the fact that Congress has been unable (at least for now) to implement a rate freeze. Yet, doesn’t this debate simply mask the wider problem of higher education — namely that as the cost of tuition continues to rise, the employment value of graduation simultaneously declines?
Alan Weil
| July 25, 2013, 5 a.m.
While the nation’s governors are divided on whether to expand their Medicaid programs under the Affordable Care Act, they agree on one thing: their desire to slow spending growth on this program that currently consumes, on average, about 20 percent of their general fund. Recent congressional proposals to cut Medicaid spending are based on a similar desire.
Sen. John Cornyn
| July 25, 2013, 5 a.m.
The scandals surrounding the Internal Revenue Service continue to grow. We now know that President Barack Obama’s handpicked chief counsel of the IRS was aware of his agency’s malfeasance. With this revelation, the shaky narrative originally pushed by the administration — that all blame lies with a few meddling staffers in the Cincinnati office — has come crashing down around them. This scandal implicates officials at the very highest levels of the IRS.
Claire Buchan Parker
| July 25, 2013, 5 a.m.
The Senate Finance Committee is slated to receive comments on Sens. Max Baucus’ and Orrin G. Hatch’s “blank slate” approach to tax reform later this week. No doubt many senators will share their views about which provisions of the tax code must be preserved and which should be eliminated.
