Congress approved an 11th-hour deal to end a partial government shutdown and pull the world\’s biggest economy back from the brink of a historic debt default that could have threatened financial calamity on Wednesday.
Is the U.S. government shutdown undermining the sanctions that helped bring Iran to Geneva this week for talks aimed at ending the standoff over its nuclear program?
The first lawmaker to speak at a closed-door Capitol Hill confab convened by the Republican Jewish Coalition’s women’s affiliate was, naturally enough, a woman. So was the second.
As key features of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) — otherwise known as ACA or Obamacare — continue to go into effect, Shana Alex Lavarreda, a research scientist at the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research, is hopeful. She, more than many, understands the need that Angelenos face.
Congress’ failure to authorize discretionary spending for the new fiscal year won’t only impact about 800,000 federal workers or the Americans looking to visit national parks. It may also affect local Jewish social service organizations that rely in part on federal funding.
What the $%#@ is happening? I’m writing this 17 minutes after the Federal government shut down — for the first time in 17 years. I remember clearly the last time this happened. It was stupid and superfluous and self-destructive then. It’s stupid, superfluous and self-destructive now.
President Barack Obama on Tuesday blamed Republicans for an \”ideological crusade\” aimed at his healthcare program and urged lawmakers to vote to keep government operations running and to raise the nation\’s borrowing cap without conditions.
What\’s playing out in Washington this week is a classic example of that old political shibboleth, \”that may be what I said but that\’s not what I meant.\” Republicans are piously assuring us they have no desire to shut down the government only to go marching off toward the cliff.
When I resolved to enter into the public conversation about “FDR and the Jews” by Richard Breitman and Allan J. Lichtman (Belknap Press, $29.95), a much-talked-about book, I was reminded of the disenchantment that some Democrats felt toward President Obama when he abandoned the “public option” in Obama care. Obama was taking a progressive stance on health care, to be sure, but was he progressive enough?
I believe there is a unique bond between grandparents and grandchildren. We look out for each other. We have each other’s backs.
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