All Monitor Breakfast
Trade policy must discourage 'race to bottom' for US workers, says trade repUS trade representative Michael Froman says Obama's trade policy includes trying to 'level the playing field' for US firms and workers. To that end, currency manipulation by other countries is one concern.
Government shutdown still all about Obamacare, hard-liner warnsMichael Needham of Heritage Action for America says that the core fight is Obamacare and any bid to end the government shutdown must deal with it. 'No strings attached' doesn't get it done.
EPA chief's goals: 'Explain the science' and obey the lawsAt a Monitor-hosted breakfast with reporters, EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy said she did not intend to be the 'energy policy person,' but someone who applied existing law.
As government shutdown nears, a top Democrat goads Boehner over leadershipRep. Chris Van Hollen on Monday said that House Speaker John Boehner has abdicated leadership on key budget issues – such as averting a government shutdown – to a tea party standard-bearer in the Senate: Ted Cruz.
Sequester puts US at a disadvantage on trade, ambassador saysAmbassador Michael Froman, the United States trade representative, says the sequester has kept the USTR from filling positions and sending officials to negotiations or trade enforcement actions.
Obama administration not waging war on coal, EPA chief saysCritics say new Obama administration rules to regulate power plants' greenhouse gas emissions will have 'devastating impacts' on the coal industry. But EPA chief Gina McCarthy disagrees.
'Breathing room' ahead on US budget deficit, says CBO ChiefThe federal budget deficit will shrink for the next several years, giving US 'some breathing room,' says CBO Director Douglas Elmendorf. A chief obstacle to deficit reduction? The public actually likes the benefits it gets, he says.
CBO director: falling deficit gives breathing room, not all-clear signalThe federal deficit is falling, but could begin to nudge upward again in 2015, according to CBO data. That means trimming the deficit is important but not urgent, the CBO chief said Wednesday.
Will Syria hurt Democrats in 2014 elections? Campaign chief weighs in.Rep. Steve Israel, chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, on Tuesday predicted that a potential US strike against Syria would have limited impact on the 2014 elections. Here's why.
Labor leader sees need to 'address' employers who dodge ObamacareRichard Trumka, head of the AFL-CIO, says Obamacare is largely a positive step. He is concerned about reports that some employers are cutting workers' hours to avoid having to offer health insurance.
Can AFL-CIO make inroads in Texas? Richard Trumka will try.For the 2014 election season, the AFL-CIO 'will be in Texas in a bigger way than we have in the past,' Richard Trumka, the organization's president, said at a Monitor breakfast Thursday.
DOE's Moniz: Even if US becomes top oil producer, oil security issues remainEnergy Secretary Ernest Moniz says US won't be insulated from oil-related security issues, even if shale oil boom makes it world's largest oil producer. Price sensitivity of oil in the global market is a reason.
Obama won't name new Fed chairman until fall, advisers sayPresident Obama 'puts more stock' in private advice than in public advice about who should replace Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, say presidential advisers Gene Sperling and Dan Pfeiffer.
Energy Secretary Moniz: 'There's no war on coal'The Department of Energy aims to push down costs for all low-carbon energy technologies, not prioritize one fuel over another, Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz said Thursday. The coal industry complains that the Obama administration is anti-coal.
Will gridlock ruin Obama's second term? Top advisers weigh in.President Obama can use executive action and the bully pulpit, pointed out Dan Pfeiffer and Gene Sperling at a Monitor breakfast. Another topic at the breakfast was the president's pending decision on the next Fed chair.
Moderate Republicans are marooned in their own party, poll suggestsA Democratic pollster looked into the divisions within the Republican Party. What he found, he suggests, shows that moderates are vastly outnumbered by the GOP's more conservative elements.
Why Sen. Carl Levin backs military's position on sexual-assault casesSen. Carl Levin (D), chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, believes military sexual-assault cases should remain under the control of the chain of command. Many in his party disagree. What's his rationale?
Sen. Carl Levin imagines NSA phone-tracking in hands of J. Edgar HooverThe Michigan Democrat frames in vivid terms the potential for abuse of the NSA phone-surveillance program, invoking the memory of J. Edgar Hoover and his secret FBI files on public officials. But the program has pluses, too, says Sen. Carl Levin.
Pentagon girds for Senate fight over sexual assault billA bill to strip commanders of their authority in sexual assault cases has bipartisan support in the Senate. But Pentagon officials say it would make a bad situation worse.
'Major accountability issues' for IRS, Congress's tax chairmen sayThe Internal Revenue Service may need to be restructured after the agency was found improperly targeting conservative groups seeking nonprofit status, say Rep. David Camp (R) and Sen. Max Baucus (D), chairmen of congressional tax-writing committees.
