Millions of Americans — along with Asians and Europeans — are wilting during a stifling heat wave. The oppressive heat is not confined to the Sunbelt. It reached 100 degrees Fahrenheit in Boston and London last week and this week the Pacific Northwest bakes under the hot summer sun.
Arctic ice melts while drought dries out the Southwestern states and drains reservoirs in California. A toxic brew of heat and drought created the perfect conditions for the wildfires that rage widel...
Opinion
Juan Williams: McConnell teeters on the high wire
How long can Mitch McConnell stay up on that high wire?
On his right, the Senate Minority Leader is juggling the prospect of another Trump campaign and a party bent on intensifying divisive social issues.
To his left, he is trying to get a grip on center-right suburban voters to regain his balance. But the suburbanites are running away, repulsed by the culture wars that excite his party’s base.
McCon...
It’s time for the Democratic Party’s geriatric leaders to relinquish power
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The Supreme Court left millions of Americans uninsured: Here’s what Congress can do to cover them
Nearly 4 million Americans lack health insurance because of a 2012 Supreme Court decision that allowed states to opt out of the Affordable Care Act’s Medicaid expansion. In the coming weeks, Congress has a chance to clean up the mess the court’s decision created.
To understand what Congress can do now, it is useful to review how we got here. The Affordable Care Act required all state Medicaid programs to cover people with incomes up to 138 percent of the poverty line (currentl...
Build Back Better is better off dead
Senate Democrats are scrambling to patch together a scaled-down version of President Biden’s failed Build Back Better Act for a vote this summer. Build Back Better was a bad bill when the economy was stronger and even a scaled-down version is worse in our current economic environment.
The original bill died because, with all Republican senators opposed, it needed the support of all 50 Democratic senators. Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) withheld his support and walked away fr...
Republicans aren’t guaranteed to sweep the midterms, but if they do, here’s what to expect
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The debt ceiling strategy is no excuse to go nuclear on the filibuster
Pressure to “nuke” the Senate filibuster is rising among Democrats as they seek to legislate new policy on such divisive issues as voting, guns and abortion. Last week, even President Joe Biden joined the chorus calling for a “carve-out” in Senate rules to codify now-defunct Roe v. Wade protections. One argument put forth by party activists, writers and even Hillary Clinton points to their success in raising the debt limit in December 202...
Why are laws so long and complicated?
Americans often complain that our laws are too complicated, with many statutes running to dozens or even hundreds of pages of dense language. When the late Herman Cain was briefly the frontrunner for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination, he drew sustained applause by vowing to veto any bill longer than three pages.
More serious political figures in both parties realize that complex issues – such as health care, taxes and national security – must be addressed in detail. ...
Federal government getting ready to open its books and show us the receipts
As members of Congress and staff dig into President Biden’s 2023 budget request, they have a new tool for tracking when, where, and how the president is authorizing federal agencies to spend money — but Congress, and the public, needs to know this new tool exists. It comes in the form of apportionment transparency, an instrument designed to reinforce Congress’s power of the purse.
In Federalist No. 58, James Madison described the power of the purse — or the legislature’s autho...
Justice Breyer’s collegiality and civility will be sorely missed
Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer will be missed — not necessarily for his votes but for his voice, one that valued collegiality and civility on an increasingly politicized court.
The 83-year-old Breyer is stepping down after 28 distinguished years on the High Court. He came into public service at a time when compromise and searching for consensus were common in politics and in the courts.
He's leaving at a time when that sort of comity is rare — incl...