Essential Reads
Essential Reads is your one-stop source for the top stories of the day as reported by your favorite Washington Week panelists. It's a simple way to save time and stay informed about the news you need to know. Check it out every day!
May 23, 2013
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Obama, in a Shift, to Limit Targets of Drone Strikes
By Peter Baker and Charlie Savage, The New York Times
President Obama plans to open a new phase in the nation’s long struggle with terrorism on Thursday by restricting the use of unmanned drone strikes that have been at the heart of his national security strategy and shifting control of them away from the C.I.A. to the military.
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Holder Acknowledges U.S. Citizens Killed In Drone Strikes
By Carrie Johnson, NPRFor the first time, the U.S. government has acknowledged killing four American citizens in lethal drone strikes far outside traditional battlefields, confirming information that had been widely known but has only recently been unclassified under orders of the president.
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Poll: Most Back ‘Path to Citizenship,’ Setting Up Tough Choice for GOP Lawmakers
By Dan Balz and Jon Cohen, The Washington PostComprehensive immigration reform will now move to the Senate floor in June with solid overall support from the public. But a bare majority of Republican voters oppose a path to legal status for undocumented immigrants. Most of those against the idea say they won’t back congressional candidates who are supportive of the plan, highlighting conflicting pressures on GOP lawmakers as they consider the politics of their votes.
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Ted Cruz's Path From George W. Bush Adviser to Immigration Reform Opponent
By Beth Reinhard, National JournalIn 2000, Ted Cruz was known as a Texas-raised, Harvard-trained domestic policy adviser to the George W. Bush campaign. Bush was a two-term governor from a border state who was determined to fix what he saw as a broken, inhumane immigration system.
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Analysis: In Any Scandal, Lying to Congress is Tough to Prove
By Joan Biskupic and Kim Dixon, ReutersWhen embattled Internal Revenue Service official Lois Lerner was called before a congressional committee Wednesday, she declared that she had done nothing wrong - but said she did not intend to testify. Her defiance only turned up the heat from Republicans who have threatened to take her to court for misleading Congress.
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The IRS Hearings: Winners and Losers
By Ed O’Keefe and Aaron Blake, Washington PostEveryone wants a piece of the Internal Revenue Service these days, which is why agency officials have been subjected to three congressional hearings over the past week.
So now that the dust has settled, who came out on top? Who didn’t?
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May 22, 2013
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Storm Renews Debate About How to Pay for Disaster Aid
By Susan Davis, USA Today
Lawmakers publicly assured Oklahoma tornado victims on Tuesday that the federal government stands ready to assist in the recovery effort, but a potential financial aid package renewed debate Tuesday over how to pay for disaster relief.
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IRS Scandal Focus of Senate Hearing
By Ed O'Keefe, The Washington PostThe Bush administration appointee who led the Internal Revenue Service during President Obama’s first term told Congress on Tuesday that he was saddened by some of the agency’s actions regarding applications for tax-exempt status during his tenure.
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First Hurdle Cleared in Immigration, but Bigger Ones Remain
By Fawn Johnson, National JournalThe first step in passing major immigration legislation went pretty smoothly, all things considered. The Senate Judiciary Committee late Tuesday approved a bill that would give 11 million undocumented immigrants a path to citizenship and require employers to electronically verify all new hires.
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White House Says Journalists Should Not Be Subject to Criminal Action in Leak Cases
By Peter Baker, The New York TimesThe White House said on Tuesday that it did not think the Justice Department should threaten criminal action against journalists who report on sensitive national security matters, distancing itself from a recent case in which a television correspondent was targeted as a possible “co-conspirator” in a leak investigation.
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The White House To-Do List
By John Dickerson, Slate MagazineWhen White House Chief of Staff Denis McDonough told his colleagues last week to spend no more than 10 percent of their time responding to scandals, he didn’t know a tornado would devastate entire stretches of Oklahoma. He knew something like it would happen though. A chief of staff knows that White House plans are always being upset, so he reminds his staff: Don’t get too distracted, bigger distractions are always on the horizon.
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Republican Divisions May Hinder Party's Momentum
By Charles Babington, Associated PressA string of unrelated events is highlighting divisions among Republicans just when they'd like to show a united front and take full advantage of President Barack Obama's latest political problems.
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May 21, 2013
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White House Says It Didn’t Loop Obama In on I.R.S. Inquiry
By Peter Baker and Jonathan Weisman, The New York Times
White House officials were first notified on April 16 about an investigation into Internal Revenue Service scrutiny of conservative groups and discussed its potential findings with the Treasury Department but never told President Obama, the White House said Monday.
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Congress Expands Inquiry into IRS Handling of Conservative Groups
By Christi Parsons and Matea Gold, Los Angeles TimesCongressional investigators are broadening their inquiry into the Internal Revenue Service's mishandling of groups seeking tax-exempt status, indicating that they plan to examine how the agency dealt with a wide swath of nonprofit applications during the last three years.
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Letter to a Young Scandalmonger
By John Dickerson, Slate MagazineMy Dear Protégé:
I note in your most recent correspondence that you have used the term “Watergate” in connection with the recent troubles facing The Administration. You take a view popular among our kind that raising the specter of this famous scandal will convince your prey to turn against The One. I would like to counsel you against walking this path.
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Obama’s Rating Steady in Face of Controversies, Likely Buoyed By Rising Economic Hopes
By Dan Balz and Jon Cohen, The Washington PostMajorities of Americans believe that the Internal Revenue Service deliberately harassed conservative groups by targeting them for special scrutiny and say that the Obama administration is trying to cover up important details about the terrorist attack in Benghazi, Libya, that killed four Americans last year.
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As Rich Gain Optimism, Lawmakers Lose Economic Urgency
By Jim Tankersley, The Washington PostWashington has all but abandoned efforts to help the economy recover faster — and lawmakers don’t seem worried that voters will punish them for it.
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What Services Should Immigrants Get?
By Fawn Johnson, National JournalWhat are immigrants in the United States entitled to? Tax breaks? Health care? Disability insurance? Food stamps? As the Senate Judiciary Committee wades through a major immigration bill, it is clear that there is no consensus, even among the bill’s sponsors, about how to treat the immigrants who would become legal residents under the legislation.
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May 20, 2013
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The Second-Term Scandal Plague
By Doyle McManus, Los Angeles Times
What is it about presidents' second terms that makes them seem so scandal-ridden? Simple: The iron law of longevity. All governments make mistakes, and all governments try to hide those mistakes. But the longer an administration is in office, the more errors it makes, and the harder they are to conceal.
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Obama’s Trust-In-Government Deficit
By Dan Balz, The Washington PostWhatever else happens as a result of the multiple controversies that have engulfed the administration, one thing is clear: President Obama has failed to meet one of the most important goals he set out when he was first elected, which was to demonstrate that activist government could also be smart government.
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