David Louie
Silicon Valley has not lost its luster as the Obama administration searches for high-tech answers to its policy initiatives.
The country's top tech officer has been on the prowl this week, learning what Silicon Valley companies are working on.
The government needs technology to address pressing issues -- from health care to Internet security.
Norman Ornstein
Last week, the Washington Post had a story discussing potential conflicts of interest of the members of the House ethics committee over its investigation of alleged earmark irregularities linked to the lobbying firm PMA Group. PMA has close ties to a number of Members of Congress, including the powerful chairman of the Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense, Rep. John Murtha (D-Pa.). It turns out that the 10 members of the ethics panel have requested a number of earmarks from Murtha’s subcommittee.
Anna Gorman
While Congress moves slowly on reform, the administration is making policy changes primarily aimed at illegal immigrants with criminal records and employers who hire undocumented workers.
As Congress moves slowly on immigration reform, President Obama is making numerous policy changes in enforcement and other areas that are designed to shift priorities and boost confidence in the administration as it lays the groundwork for possible legislation.
Jennifer Yachnin
House ethics committee leaders addressed concerns Thursday that some of their new internal rules could impede investigations by the fledgling Office of Congressional Ethics, asserting the changes will not diminish efforts to increase transparency in the ethics process.
Ethics Chairwoman Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.) and ranking member Jo Bonner (R-Ala.) met Thursday with representatives from more than a half-dozen government reform organizations who voiced concerns over the new rules.
Four years after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita hit the Gulf Coast region, there are still numerous unmet needs and challenges facing the residents of that area every day. Especially hard hit by the hurricanes were low-income and racial and ethnic minority Americans, and they continue to suffer disproportionately.
Victoria McGrane
With California’s state government deadlocked over a $24 billion hole in its budget, the Golden State is hurtling toward financial apocalypse.
Washington’s response? Deal with it yourselves.
Tyche Hendricks
President Obama plans to sit down today with congressional leaders for the first serious discussion about the thorny issue of immigration policy since he became chief executive.
The meeting is likely to cover the issues of legalizing illegal immigrants, enforcing immigration law, accommodating future immigrants and, some analysts hope, incorporating them into American society.
David Lawsky
Silicon Valley is facing a brain drain of high-achieving foreign-born students, more of whom are leaving in the face of a chilly local immigration environment in a trend experts say will hurt U.S. high-tech industry competitiveness in the long run.
Jacqueline Stevens
The Nation
You don't need to go to Iran or North Korea to find secret courts. They're alive and well right here in the United States. On March 26, 2009, I was denied access to immigration courts in Eloy and Florence, Arizona, even though a federal regulation states, "All hearings, other than exclusion hearings, shall be open to the public" with a narrow range of exceptions--none of which were cited as a reason for excluding me.
Carolyn Lochhead
Rep. Zoe Lofgren, D-San Jose, clarified her quote in the Washington Post story yesterday that caused such a stir.
She said she did emphasize California's importance to the national economy, but that her comment was taken out of context. "The question really wasn't about a bailout," Lofgren said. A federal guarantee for California bonds, as requested last month, would be helpful, she said, but the U.S. Treasury would need authority from Congress to do that.
