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Recent Posts: Transformational Citizenship
Category Archives: Congress
The House GOP’s stalemate
The House Republicans’ conundrum won’t end with the selection of a speaker, whether Kevin McCarthy or someone else. Their problem is fundamental to their narrow majority, and its origin dates back more than 30 years. I became a professional congressional … Continue reading
An opportunity to enrich the opportunistic
Published March 30, 2020, in Tax Notes Federal, weekly magazine of Tax Analysts Inc., where I was a reporter and editor in the early 1990s. This is a story about billionaires, how Congress makes laws, how city development officials work … Continue reading
Posted in Congress, Tax, Uncategorized
Tagged Cory Booker, Economic Innovation Group, Enterprise Zones, Opportunity Zones, Sean Parker, Tax Fairness Oregon
1 Comment
The revolution will not be televised
I hear the frustration of Bernie supporters. I too am frustrated at the cultural and institutional conservatism that has created a country where the accident of birth determines economic fate. In 240 years we’ve had a few shifts of the … Continue reading
Posted in Congress, Uncategorized, Virginia legislature
Tagged Bernie Sanders, Donald Trump, Joe Biden, Ralph Nader
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George Bush and the politics of prudence
What George Bush, who died yesterday, regarded as the biggest mistake of his presidency was his most courageous political act. It was also the last time the Republican Party engaged in responsible budget policy. I was Capitol Hill reporter when … Continue reading
Posted in Congress, federal budget, Tax, Uncategorized
Tagged federal budget, George H.W. Bush, Leon Panetta, Newt Gingrich, Richard Darman
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Anniversary of a call to citizenship
Fifty-five years ago this week, I woke up in Arlington for the first time, a four-year-old transplanted from Texas. Upon finishing law school in Austin, my dad had answered Kennedy’s call, “Ask what you can do for your country,” and … Continue reading
Posted in Citizenship, Congress, U.S. Constitution, Uncategorized
Tagged John Kennedy
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Denouement of ‘repeal and replace’
As societies become more complex, the government (the instrument of our social compact) is called on to do more to arrange commerce – the exchange of goods and services. Market regulation is a necessary component of development, to ensure some … Continue reading
Posted in Congress, Obamacare, Uncategorized
Tagged Donald Trump, Mitch McConnell, taxes
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Of inclusion and prosperity in a global community
Last week I attended commencement exercises at a prestigious university in the nation’s most diverse and creative city. The standard of living between rich and poor is nowhere greater than in New York, and the opportunities for graduates of Columbia … Continue reading
A 100-days report card
Any list of President Trump’s accomplishments will reflect the biases of its creator. Justice/Immigration/Civil Rights Trump signed two executive orders banning immigrants from seven, and then six, countries. The January order was halted by a federal appeals court. The March … Continue reading
Posted in civil rights, climate change, Congress, environment, LGBT rights, Uncategorized, Voting Rights Act
Tagged President Trump
2 Comments
The meaning and the drama of Trump’s budget
Newt Gingrich lives in President Trump’s first pass at a federal budget. The purpose of a budget – government, corporate or household – is to put vision in numbers. First identify the goals, the strategies to execute them and their … Continue reading
Posted in Congress, federal budget, Uncategorized
Tagged Donald Trump, federal budget, Mick Mulvaney, Newt Gingrich
2 Comments
‘Change’ vs. our ossified process: It’s no contest
“The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.” Martin Luther King’s distillation of abolitionist Theodore Parker’s sermon is one of his most famous quotations. It resonates with us because we assume the universe is moral … Continue reading
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