All Monitor Breakfast

A boost to long-term investment in the US may result, now that Congress appears poised to raise the national debt ceiling without provoking another showdown, says Gene Sperling of Obama's National Economic Council.

'Economic logic' indicates that a pathway to citizenship for illegal immigrants would be good for the US economy, Jason Furman, chairman of the President's Council of Economic Advisers, said at a recent Monitor Breakfast. 

The president’s top economist, Jason Furman, at a Monitor-hosted breakfast, also offered an upbeat assessment for the US economy in 2014 and for passage of a debt-ceiling increase.

But US military aid for Iraq should be contingent on evidence that Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki is reaching out to Sunnis, says former Defense Secretary Robert Gates. Iraq's government is lately battling attacks from Al Qaeda-linked insurgents. 

Top strategy for stimulating the economy is to cut the tax rate for businesses, says AT&T chief Randall Stephenson, who joined Business Roundtable president John Engler at a recent Monitor Breakfast. An invigorated economy would help narrow the rich-poor gap, he adds.

Meeting with reporters Friday, former Defense Secretary Robert Gates said the US accomplished what it intended to in Iraq, but thinks it could push the leadership to do a better job governing the Sunnis.

AT&T's Randall Stephenson, chairman of the Business Roundtable, said US economic growth has been 'substandard,' and could be much higher. He called for tax reform and immigration reform to help drive investment.

'Things like poverty ... really matter,' Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, says in assessing results of international student achievement tests. To do better, the US needs to value public education more, she adds.

At a Monitor-hosted breakfast, Randi Weingarten, president of the 1.5-million-member American Federation of Teachers, said the US could look to other countries for ways to improve the lackluster performance on the PISA test.

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, seen as a potential presidential candidate in 2016, says the Republican Party needs to position itself as a party of optimism, and he doesn't let his anti-abortion position define him.

Vermont Gov. Peter Shumlin, chair of the Democratic Governors ­Association, weighs in on topics ranging from Obamacare to Chris Christie at a Monitor Breakfast.

Rep. Greg Walden, chief of the National Republican Congressional Committee, said at a Monitor Breakfast that he expects the House to pass immigration reform legislation piecemeal.

At a Monitor-sponsored breakfast, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker said it would be a mistake for Republican candidates for the White House to change their 'fundamental, core principles.'

The 2014 midterm elections will act as a referendum on Obamacare, regardless of what happens in the next budget showdown in January, says Rep. Greg Walden, chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee.

The Democrat in the Virginia governor's election won more narrowly than expected. But Vermont Gov. Peter Shumlin, chair of the Democratic Governors Association, doesn't attribute the tightness to voter unhappiness over Obamacare.

Battleground Poll finds that most voters say Washington gridlock is America’s most pressing problem, as approval ratings for Congress hit single digits and President Obama's ratings trend down.

Former Gov. Mitch Daniels, now Purdue's chief, says of American youth: 'This generation has a right to be as upset with its elders as any in history. They are going to inherit a mountain of debt.'

Some pro-business Republicans, concerned about the 2014 midterms, say Sen. Ted Cruz should 'sit down and shut up.' Chamber of Commerce chief Thomas Donohue says 'that might be one thing we could work on.'

Purdue's Mitch Daniels, the former Indiana governor, says at a Monitor Breakfast that health-care premiums for young people under Obamacare will rise beyond what is fair 'to subsidize the elders.'

A report suggests that the US Chamber of Commerce could fund primary challenges to tea party conservatives in 2014. The chamber's chief avoided the question and spoke cautiously about Ted Cruz.