What’s more unsettled than US Senate? American higher education

One of the few institutions in America as unsettled as the United States Senate is higher education. Enrollment is falling, public support is slipping, costs are rising, student debt is astronomical, political tensions and interference are omnipresent, university presidents are being driven out and mental health concerns are rising, especially after the traumas of the pandemic. Most of this is gleaned from the Chronicle of Higher Education. I subscribed, as I have a peripheral role with my

Read More

GOP report knocks Biden's Afghanistan withdrawal, eyes post-midterm scrutiny

Republicans on the House Foreign Affairs Committee are using an interim report examining President Biden’s chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan to telegraph their plans to exercise intense scrutiny, and possible subpoenas, if the GOP clinches the majority in Congress in 2022.  The strategy, led by House Foreign Affairs Committee ranking member Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Texas), is expected to be published this week in a 118-page, interim report called “‘A Strategic Failure’:  Assessing the Administration’s Afghanistan Withdrawal.”  Included in the report are Republicans'

Read More

Why Trump's effort to oust Murkowski could hit hurdles

Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) will face off against Donald Trump’s endorsed candidate on Tuesday, a long-awaited showdown that comes more than a year after she voted to convict the former president over his role in the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol attack.   The primary comes as Trump racks up wins across the country in his quest to rid Congress of Republicans who have crossed him. And polls have showed his pick in the race, Kelly Tshibaka, leading the primary pack.   But observers say Murkowski shouldn’t be overly worried yet. Alaska’s new electoral system that featu

Read More

What budget reconciliation could have been and what Congress must do next

Over the past few months, Congress has checked several important legislative boxes, including new gun safety measures, an expansion of healthcare for veterans and investments in the 

Read More

White House press secretary on low Biden approval ratings: 'We get it'

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre on Sunday responded to recent polling showing record low approval ratings for President Biden, saying, “We get it.”  “We've said this before, it's like: We get it. We understand what the American people are feeling at this time,” Jean-Pierre told ABC’s Jonathan Karl on “This Week.”  Jean-Pierre on Sunday stressed that inflation and high costs for Americans are the “number one priority” for the White House to a

Read More