Here’s a selection of articles that the Federal Relations team is enjoying this week.
The Science Teacher -A long form read on house Science Committee Chairman Lamar Smith (R-TX), his interests, and how the House Science Committee functions. Read it at National Journal.
Bill$ – Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) is trying to downplay expectations on a recently revealed Continuing Resolution discussion. Right now, the expectation is that the CR will fund the government sometime between Thanksgiving and Christmas, which will give House and Senate Leadership time to discuss a larger full-funding measure with higher budget caps. Read more at The Hill.
Join Us! – A new Administration initiative is encouraging legal immigrants to become American citizens. This is one of five ambitious Executive Orders announced in the last few weeks regarding immigration. Read more at the New York Times.
The Debate – The Republican presidential candidates met again on Wednesday for a debate with CNN. It was three hours of sparing, zingers, specifics, facts and some exaggerations. Long and short, Carly won, easily. Here are some takeaways from Politico, the Washington Post, the New York Times, and Roll Call.
Fissions and Fractures – The House Freedom Caucus is down a member because of their tactics over…Planned Parenthood. Rep. Mike McClintock (R-CA) is leaving because he says that the methods used by the caucus are doing the opposite of helping the Freedom Caucus set the agenda, rather, they are driving the Republicans as a whole to do Nancy Pelosi’s bidding. Read more a Roll Call.
Senate Says No – Meanwhile, the Senate Leadership, which is Republican, has said that Planned Parenthood should be an issue for the 2016 presidential race and that funding or defunding the organization is not going to be the reason Congress fails to fund the government. Read more at Roll Call. But! The Senate will vote on the funding. Read more at Politico.
Vetting the Vetters – Two controversial picks for high-level positions within the higher education community have put a leading search firm under scrutiny for how their picks are being found, selected and reviewed. Read more at Inside Higher Education.
Clocks – A 14 year old in Irving, TX was suspended for three days and nearly arrested for bringing clock he made to school. Ahmed Mohamed was denied his rights (over three hours of being held the minor was denied the ability to call his parents despite repeated requests) and the school and Irving police force are maintaining they did what they needed to and did not handcuff, deny him his rights, and suspend Ahmed for brining a clock to school because he’s Muslim. Read more at the New York Times. #istandwithahmed