Defense Fights Sequestration Eisenhower Couldn’t Predict
Defense industry lobbyists are bearing down on members of Congress in a bid to avert $52 billion in automatic spending cuts, part of a series of reductions that threaten to reshape military programs and contractors’ profits for years. U.S. lawmakers have been barraged with phone calls, letters and visits in the biggest lobbying campaign by military contractors in recent history, as a special congressional committee begins meeting today in an effort to produce a budget accord
Embraer Jets Might Expand In Melbourne
MELBOURNE, Florida — Florida Governor Rick Scott announced that Embraer S.A. will open an aircraft assembly plant and related facilities at Melbourne International Airport for its twin-engine Legacy 500 and Legacy 450 executive jets. But according to the Governor’s Office, “The decision by Embraer to create jobs in Florida is contingent on the final approval of a partnership between the company, state and local officials.” Governor Scott made the announcement at Melbourn
Should Earmark Ban be Lifted to Help Congress Make Deals
WASHINGTON — As the federal government recovers from a 16-day shutdown and lurches toward another potential crisis in January, some lawmakers and political analysts think it’s time to revive the old-fashioned horse trading that used to help Congress get things done. They say Congress should lift its ban on earmarks, those once-popular legislative provisions that allowed members of Congress from both parties to bring home funding for roads, bridges, sewers, colleges, medical c
Infrastructure: Where Bipartisanship Works
If you want a lesson in bipartisanship, check out the transportation committees in both the House and the Senate over the last several years. In the last Congress, Senate Environment and Public Works Committee Chairman Barbara Boxer of California, an unapologetic liberal, and then-ranking member James Inhofe of Oklahoma, a serious conservative, put together a consensus surface transportation bill that eventually became the first highway bill that was enacted without earmarks.
Earmarks and Success Can Help Congress Get Its Groove Back
To break the cycle of failure, partisan recrimination and stalemate on Capitol Hill, Democrats and Republicans need something that looks, smells and feels like bipartisan success. And they could achieve that by aiming for modest goals. One such step could be to reauthorize a law supporting adoptions of foster children. Legislation to accomplish this is working its way through the House, and a similar bill is circulating in the Senate Finance Committee. There is unlikely to be
Earmarks Can Help Congress Get Its Groove Back
Americans have little faith left in Congress. There is mounting evidence that members of Congress have developed a similarly low opinion of themselves (Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas emphatically excepted). What everyone needs now is a confidence booster. To break the cycle of failure, partisan recrimination and stalemate on Capitol Hill, Democrats and Republicans need something that looks, smells and feels like bipartisan success. And they could achieve that by aiming for modest goa
Bipartisan House Group Offers Compromise to End Shutdown Impasse
A bipartisan group of lawmakers is proposing to House Republican and Democratic leaders a compromise to end the government shutdown by repealing a medical device tax and maintaining across-the-board spending cuts. Representatives Charlie Dent, a Pennsylvania Republican, and Ron Kind, a Wisconsin Democrat, are leading a group of 20 lawmakers who sent House Speaker John Boehner and Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi a letter today offering the compromise. “It is time that we break th
