Category: What We’re Reading

Here is a selection of articles the Federal Relations team is reading this week.

OPM, Oh, No! – In the wake of the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) data breach and less than stellar performance (more disastrous and painful to watch) OPM performance at last week’s House Oversight and Government Reform hearing about the breach last week, OPM Director Katherine Archuleta still employed, despite speculation that the Administration might use the traditional time for dumping embarrassing and unpleasant news to announce her departure. Atchuleta is expected to testify in additional hearing this week (Senate Appropriations, House Oversight for a second time, and Senate Homeland Security).  Read more about the two attacks and fall out at the New York Times. 

King v. Burwell – The Supreme Court is wrapping up its session this week and one of the most highly anticipated decisions is King v. Burwell, a case that challenged the (highly popular) federal health care subsidy. The potential impacts could be far reaching and diversely impacting. The New York Times has an excellent walk-through of who would be impacted and how. 

UPDATE: The Court, with a 6-3 ruling, has upheld the subsidies, Moreover, the majority opinion was written by Chief Justice Roberts. The high court ruled that the health care law as written does allow residents of states using the federal insurance exchange to receive premium subsidies for their coverage – an outcome that saves subsidies for 6.4 million people.
The ruling is a huge win for the Administration and massive set back Congressional Republicans on their repeal ObamaCare agenda.  Read more at Politico. Read the opinion here. Read more about Obama’s AWESOME week in Roll Call. 

Pay for Performance – Financial support for college students has long been based on how well they perform in the classroom. Now, for public colleges and universities, it’s their turn to be graded. From Maine to Hawaii, some 36 states are allocating money for higher education based, in part, on performance measures designed to reward schools that raise graduation rates, award more high-tech degrees and better prepare students for the job market. Read more at CNBC. 

Flag – In a rough week for the nation, South Caroline, and noncommittal Republican presidential candidates (all for very different reasons), South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley with Senators Tim Scott and Lindsay Graham announced the removal of the Confederate flag from the state house grounds. Politico has more on how the decision was made and how the Republican party nationally is becoming more comfortable with making these easy decisions.

GI Bill – On June 22, 1944, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the Servicemen’s Readjustment Act, better known as the GI Bill. Fearing the consequences of millions of veterans returning from war to scarce employment and housing opportunities, Roosevelt passed the legislation to offer unemployment compensation, home and business loans and tuition support. The GI Bill radically changed access to higher education. Read more at Time. 

Trolling – With the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau reporting a spike in debt relief companies skirting the law online, the bureau is calling on Google, Yahoo, Facebook and Bing to stop scam artists from using their search engines to target struggling borrowers. Read more at the Washington Post. 

Puff, Puff, Not Gonna Pass – Most of the medical conditions that marijuana is prescribed to treat under state laws would never pass muster if pot were put through the rigor of FDA approval like a typical drug, according to a review in the Journal of the American Medical Association. Read more at the LA Times.

Career Path – On Capitol Hill, there are essentially two different tracks to take: policy or communications. Both jobs come with plusses and minuses, and need to work together, but what is the best direction to focus on for those looking to work their way to the top (of the proverbial) heap and become a Chief of Staff? Roll Call has some answers.

Here’s a selection of articles the Office of Federal Relations is enjoying reading this week. It’s been a busy week and there’s lots of good stuff to read!

America’s Pastime, Politicized – One thing Republicans and Democrats can agree on is how much they want to win the Congressional Baseball Game. Read about THE partisan social event of the summer. Get background on the key players from the New York Times. 

UPDATE: Rep. Cedric Richmond (D-LA) overcame shoulder surgery and tossed a seven-inning complete game, leading the Democrats victory over the Republicans in the 54th Annual Congressional Baseball Game.  A good time was had by all including President Obama, who made an appearance in the third inning.  Dems won 5-2. Dems now lead the series by one. Read more at WTOP.

Ca$h Money – The annual survey of how much public college and university presidents make is out! There are definitely some people on the list who should pick up the tab. Read more at The Chronicle. 

Human Understanding – An article on why the social sciences are just as important as the STEM fields. Best code in the world doesn’t make an app people use! Read more at The Washington Post.

Graduation Rates – An in-depth examination of the changes and trends of US high school graduation rates and the three major trends in graduation rates. Even if you don’t care about high school graduation rates, NPR does an excellent job of using the digital format to tell the story, so it’s worth clicking through. Read more at NPR.

Budget Gorge – A number of states are facing significant shortfalls in budgets despite a economic recovery. Moreover, deep tax cuts in Republican-dominated states like Kansas, Louisiana, and Wisconsin have contributed to massive budget shortfalls as economic growth has fallen short of projections. Read more at the New York Times. 

Impact – NIH Deputy Director for Extramural Research Sally Rockey, Ph.D., has posted a video of the impact of NIH funded research and the challenges of the current NIH funding situation; the video highlights opportunities, new initiatives, and policy changes. See the video here. Or read Dr. Rockey’s blog.

21st Century – Time has an article on Rep. Frank Upton, Chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, and his efforts on the 21^st Century Cures initiative. Read more at Time Magazine. 

So Long, Farewell – Dr. Sally Rockey, Deputy Director of Extramural Research at NIH is leaving. See her statement here. 

Fear of Success – With the Supreme Court due to rule on King v. Burwell soon, Republicans are now concerned that the Court will rule the subsidies invalid. Despite the House voting to repeal the ACA over 50 times, the majority of Americans support healthcare subsidies, which puts the Republicans in an odd spot. Read more at The Hill. 

END IT – The Hill has a to part series on why it time we should banish the conference call. And we should. Part One: Why It’s Awful. Part Two: Alternatives, and agree to disagree on a video conference being a good alternative.

Here’s a selection of article the UW Federal Relations team is reading this week.

Not So Easy – Six months in to his tenure as Majority Leader, Senator Mitch McConnell has increasingly had challenges maintaining the Senate agenda with three Senators running for President. Governing is hard. Read more at The Hill.

Running Point – Washington Congressman Dave Reichert is the point person for policing and police issues within the House Republican caucus. With increasing attention on police and police tactics, Reichert is becoming a leading voice on how Congress can best respond to the issues in community policing. Read more a Roll Call. 

America All the Way – Chinese students are increasingly picking the US as their choice destination for higher education. There are more than a quarter of a million students from China in colleges in the United States – a third of all international students in the country – and almost a fivefold increase since 2000. University of Illinois Urbana-Champlain is the example. Read more at the BBC. 

Just Like Cable – The college tuition bill to your Comcast bill and the many bundled services and shockingly high charges within there. The bulk of these prices are being blamed on financial shortfalls universities see when students use transfer credits. Read more at the Washington Post. A similar story on colleges down playing the true cost of attending college is in USA Today.

Mind the Gap – While most are concerned about the enrollment gap for lower-income students, equal attention is not typically paid to the graduation gap, which these students also face. The graduation gap, and the hurdles to completing your college education, are actually wider than enrolling. The New York Times examines the widening gulf.

FIFA officials finally admitted to taking bribes!!!!

Here’s a selection of articles the Federal Relations team has enjoyed this week.

Home Office – Historically, some Representatives have given a new meeting to the term home office as many of them (up to a third) use their Congressional offices as their personal abodes during the Congressional work week. Recently, there has been a call to see if this housing decision is actually tax evasion. Read more about the practice and the potential issue at Roll Call. 

Shaky Ground – The paper of record has a column on America’s lagging investment in research putting our innovation economy on shaky future footing. Read more at The New York Times. 

Race for Students – Article on the competition between colleges to attract out of state students.  Read more at EdCentral.

Fed Under Investigation – Rep Jeb Henserling (R-TX), Chair of the House Financial Services Committee, is investigating potential leaks by the Fed in 2012 about potential interest rate changes.  Read more at the New York Times. 

Merging Markets – States are looking to merge their healthcare exchanges in light of potential Supreme Court rulings. Read more at The Hill. 

Trade on Track – After some starts and stops the Senate looks ready to consider trade promotion authority and give the White House fast-track authority for Asia. Read more at The Hill. 

Bigger, Better, But… – A long form piece on the reforms implemented in the Houston Independent School District (HISD), which is the nation’s third largest city. HISD has won the prestigious Broad Prize for Urban Education for the last two years in a row. Read more at Politico.

Big Ten – An interesting piece on how the Big Ten needs the other 5 power conferences to join reform efforts if there will truly be student athlete reform. Read more at ESPN.

Here’s a selection of articles the Federal Relations team has been reading this week.

TPA Tanking – The President and the Senate had a bumpy week as the Senate Democratic Caucus bucked the President and came out in opposition to fast tracking trade promotion authority for a pan-Pacific trade pact. Read more at Politico. And here. And here.

Arctic – Good overview of arctic security and natural resources issues in the region. Read more at Foreign Policy.

Cheaper $$$ – It’s about to get cheaper to borrow money for college. Read more at the Washington Post. 

Core Sciences – The House’s COMPETES reauthorization cut the Geosciences directorate by over 8% and the Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences Directorate by 45%. Now, Congressman John Culberson (R-TX), who chairs the CJS Appropriations committee, agrees that NSF should be funding more of the “pure sciences.” Read more at Science Insider. 

More Defense Drama – The Democrats we’re the only ones rallying against the NDAA this week. A group of House Republicans also rallied against the bill because the bill encouraged “DREAMers” into the Army. Read more at Politico.

Some of us found this amusing.

…And if you’re on Facebook, you should be following both of these feeds.