The federal government, partnering with many states, will soon launch one of the largest national health care programs in United States history. Under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA), some 29 million Americans are slated to obtain private coverage through health insurance exchanges by 2019; another 12 million […] Read more »
Americans Give Guns, Immigration Reform Low Priority
Americans put reforming immigration and reducing gun violence — the focus of much of the attention on Capitol Hill in recent weeks — at the bottom of a list of 12 priorities for Congress and the president to address. Americans instead say leaders in Washington should give highest priority to […] Read more »
Trust in Government, Obama Approval Slip
President Barack Obama’s re-election glow is gone. Congress’ reputation remains dismal. And only about one in five Americans say they trust the government to do what’s right most of the time, an Associated Press-GfK poll finds. [cont.] Charles Babington & Jennifer Agiesta, AP Read more »
Democrats Risk Alienating Young Voters by Opposing Cuts in Entitlement Spending
My National Journal colleague Ron Brownstein wrote a column for last week’s magazine that I thought was the most important piece of the week. In it, he argues that “large portions of the Democratic base still don’t understand the political and economic dynamics of the party’s changing electoral coalition.” Brownstein […] Read more »
GOP Doubles Down on Ryan to Change the Narrative
In what can only be regarded as an interesting gamble, Wisconsin Rep. Paul D. Ryan and House Republicans this week are proposing an economic agenda oddly similar to the one they have been offering for the past two years. … Whatever you think of the proposal as a policy document, […] Read more »
People agree the sequester is bad. They don’t agree on how to fix it.
Big majorities of Democrats, Republicans and independents believe that the sequester will hurt the economy and the military. But a newly released Washington Post-ABC News poll reveals that no proposed solutions to the sequester (of five tested) rallies majority support across party lines. That’s the conundrum facing Obama and Congress […] Read more »