by jpitney | Dec 20, 2024 | Budget, Congress, Debt, Economic Policy
Don Wolfensberger at The Hill: Since 1976 there have been 21 government shutdowns, the longest lasting 34 days, from Dec. 22, 2018 to Jan. 25, 2019. The second longest was 21 days in December 1995 (“the Gingrich that stole Christmas”). And the third longest was 16...
by jpitney | Dec 19, 2024 | Civility, Higher Education
Max Reinhart at The Detroit News Following a series of politically motivated crimes targeting University of Michigan officials, its president on Monday announced plans to establish an Institute for Civil Discourse to “strengthen debate and dialog” both on...
by jpitney | Dec 18, 2024 | Uncategorized
The 2024 Newsweek-Stubblefield Institute Civility Awards Congratulations to the 2024 Winners Lifetime Achievement Sen. Debbie Stabenow Sam Feist, C-SPAN Federal Elected Officials Sen. Shelley Moore Capito Sen. Chris Coons Rep. Brendan Boyle Rep. Young Kim State &...
by jpitney | Dec 17, 2024 | Foreign Policy, Military
Mitch McConnell at Foreign Affairs: [For] years, congressional opponents of military spending absurdly insisted that there be parity between increases in defense spending and increases in nondefense discretionary spending, holding military power hostage to pet...
by jpitney | Dec 15, 2024 | Journalism, Journalists, Local Government, Newspapers, Uncategorized
Marc Caro at Poynter writes about “ghost newspapers” — publications that nominally continue to exist but have lost most or all local news reporting. While the nation’s ever-widening news deserts have drawn much attention, the ghost papers represent...
by jpitney | Dec 14, 2024 | Economic Policy, Trade
Colin Grabow, associate director at the Cato Institute’s Herbert A. Stiefel Center for Trade Policy Studies The next Congress should prioritize repealing or significantly reforming numerous Buy American–style laws that force the federal government to purchase American...
by jpitney | Dec 13, 2024 | Regulation
I am excited to take this action today— reducing paperwork and bureaucracy—to repeal 208 executive orders dating back to 1920. This is part of our work to make the government more efficient. Outdated executive orders can add confusion and unnecessary or even...
by jpitney | Dec 12, 2024 | Civility, Congress, House of Representatives, Public Service
Stephen Gruber-Miller, Des Moines Register: Former U.S. Rep. James Leach, who represented Iowa in Congress for 30 years as a Republican before chairing the National Endowment for the Humanities and becoming a University of Iowa professor, died Wednesday. He was 82....
by jpitney | Dec 11, 2024 | Congress, House of Representatives
Abby Livingston at Puck: Meanwhile, I’m hearing that female House Republicans are livid after the House G.O.P. steering committee voted on its preferences to chair the big, exclusive committees. There’s not a woman to be found among the gavel-winners. A particular...
by jpitney | Dec 11, 2024 | California Politics, Taxes
Adam Hoffer, Jacob Macumber-Rosin at the Tax Foundation: California pumps up its gas tax the most at 68.1 cents per gallon (cpg), followed by Illinois (66.5 cpg) and Pennsylvania (58.7 cpg). The lowest gas tax rates are levied in Alaska at 8.95 cpg, followed...
