by jpitney | Jan 23, 2025 | Congress, Elections, House of Representatives, intelligence, Separation of Powers, Transparency, Volunteering
At The Hill, Don Wolfsenberger writes about Speaker Johnson’s decision to oust Mike Turner (R-OH) from the chair of the House Intelligence Committee: What is disturbing is the rumored source of the Speaker’s decision to drop Turner as chair. Turner told CBS News...
by jpitney | Jan 22, 2025 | Crime, Police, Public Service
David GIlmour at Mediaite: Former police officer Michael Fanone, who defended the Capitol during the Jan. 6 riots in 2021, said he “fully expects” to “experience violence” at the hands of some of the offenders released by President Donald Trump’s pardons. In...
by jpitney | Jan 21, 2025 | Taxes, Trade
Paul Wiseman at AP: In fact, its is importers — American companies — that pay tariffs, and the money goes to U.S. Treasury. Those companies, in turn, typically pass their higher costs on to their customers in the form of higher prices. That’s why economists say...
by jpitney | Jan 20, 2025 | Taxes, Trade
Colin Grabow at Cato: Most notably, a US International Trade Commission report that examined the tariffs … found that duties on steel and aluminum led to the protected industries (e.g., US steel mills) increasing their output by an average of $2.8 billion ($1.5...
by jpitney | Jan 19, 2025 | California Politics, counties, Local Government
Aaron Davis at WP: Two years before wildfires incinerated swaths of Los Angeles, the city’s Fire Chief Kristin M. Crowley identified “one significant area of weakness” in her department’s ability to contain wildfires. L.A. had no specialized wildland unit to respond...
by jpitney | Jan 18, 2025 | Budget, California Politics
Alexei Koseff at CalMatters: [In] his six years in the governor’s office, Newsom has steadily guided California’s government to expand its mission and scope: launching flashy initiatives, creating new departments and offering more services to more people, even during...
by jpitney | Jan 17, 2025 | Congress, Transparency, Volunteering
Don Wolfsensberger at The Hill: The Republican majority’s resolution for adopting House rules not only contained direct changes to its standing procedures, but other indirect institutional alterations ranging from budgetary processes to remote committee hearings and...
by jpitney | Jan 15, 2025 | Taxes, Trade
At the Competitive Enterprise Institute, Ryan Young notes that a 25 percent steel tariff caused steel prices to rise by 25 percent. It wasn’t just imported steel prices that went up. Domestic steel prices went up, too, even though the US government collects no tariff...
by jpitney | Jan 12, 2025 | Congress, Elections, House of Representatives, Transparency, Volunteering
Don Wolfensberger at The Hill: The rule change that attracted most attention was to require that a motion to vacate the speakership be offered by a member of the majority party and be seconded by eight other majority party members. Previously, a single member of...
by jpitney | Jan 11, 2025 | Bipartisanship, Disabilities, Photojournalism, Senate
A release from Senator Eric Schmitt (D-MO): This weekend, Senator Eric Schmitt and Senator Jon Ossoff’s Think Differently Database Act was signed into law by the President: “The Think Differently Database Act creates a comprehensive website that provides...
