The Latest on the Government Shutdown

The Week in Review   Competing approaches to resolving the highway funding challenge emerged in Congress last week, with the House and Senate taking different approaches to the issue. The House passed its version (H.R. 3038) in a 312-119 vote, providing $8 billion in funding for the Highway Trust Fund, which would allow it to […]

Our Take Tuesday marks the 5th Anniversary of Dodd-Frank and it seems like little has changed, as Republicans continue to attack the law while Democrats defend it.   With numerous event this week to commemorate the “wood anniversary” of financial reform it seemed appropriate to once again go into the time machine to dig up what […]

The Week in Review   Upon reconvening on Tuesday, both houses of Congress set to work on education bills that aim to provide a major update to the “No Child Left Behind” initiative that was a cornerstone of President George W. Bush’s domestic policy. The House version (H.R. 5) includes language that gives states much […]

This week marks the 5th Anniversary of the passage of Dodd-Frank.  It also means we’ve been writing this newsletter for nearly six years.  With all the nostalgia surrounding the 5th anniversary of the passage of Dodd-Frank we thought it might be fun to take a look back at what was on our mind what we […]

The Week in Review   The House and Senate were out last week for the Independence Day recess.  Both chambers plan to reconvene tomorrow, Tuesday, July 7.

Milton Friedman once famously said that there is nothing so permanent as a temporary government program.  Chairman Hensarling is a believer in Friedman, and while it is too early to say the Bank is dead, the Chairman must be smiling because the charter of the Export-Import Bank expires on Tuesday and Congress is not in […]

The Week in Review   The debate on whether or not to grant President Obama ‘fast-track’ authority in negotiating trade agreements finally reached its conclusion last week with the President and Congressional Republican leadership emerging victorious. After failing to pass the full trade package earlier this month, Republican leaders devised a plan to navigate around […]

The Week in Review   Trade was once again at the forefront of discussion in Congress, as President Obama and Republican lawmakers sought to navigate “fast-track authority” around Democratic opposition in the House and Senate. The trade package seemed to be stalled after Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA) was recently voted down in the House, but […]

Looking Ahead Near Term The House and Senate are in session before heading out of town for the July 4th recess but the legislative news of the week is what’s not on the agenda (hint it rhymes with Smex-Im). The House is set to take up another appropriations bill (Interior) as well as the Ratepayer […]

While the defeat of the Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA) on Friday was either “a procedural snafu” or the greatest victory for organized labor in recent memory, we think the real story of the TPA / TAA fight is part of a larger picture.  That we are at an inflection point in how the power in […]

The Week in Review   In a week dominated by discussion of trade, debate raged in Congress over whether or not to grant President Obama “fast track” authority on trade negotiations through a specific pair of measures known as Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA) and Trade Promotion Authority (TPA). The debate boiled down to a highly […]

June may be the month that the scales fell off the eyes of those who thought that previous success (i.e., SGR) would be indicative of smoother sailing in Congress in 2015.  While the reauthorization of the Patriot Act created a bumpy road for McConnell, it may have just been a precursor for the fall.  And, […]