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!
Jan 11, 2013
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What Would Jack Lew's First Priority Be?
With Julianna Goldman, Bloomberg News
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From Cliff to Ceiling
By Greg Ip, EconomistAmerica sidestepped one fiscal disaster at the turn of the year when Barack Obama and Congress agreed to keep most tax rates from rising. A much bigger one is as little as five weeks away, when the Treasury Department runs out of legal authority to borrow. Failure to raise the “debt ceiling”, Mr Obama has warned, would force the government to default on its obligations. Republicans say they need some sort of leverage to drag a spendthrift president to the negotiating table. They have a point, but the debt ceiling is a dangerous tool with which to make it.
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Jan 10, 2013
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Obama to Name Loyalist Lew to Head Treasury
By Alexis Simendinger, Real Clear Politics
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President Obama has decided on White House Chief of Staff Jacob “Jack” Lew to head the Department of Treasury, administration officials confirmed Wednesday night. -
Cabinet Shuffle: Labor Secretary Hilda Solis Is Out
By Molly Ball, The AtlanticLabor Secretary Hilda Solis announced her resignation Wednesday, creating another opening in the Cabinet reshuffle that will kick off President Obama's second term.
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Obama Hasn't Reined In Big Money
By Christi Parsons and Matea Gold, Los Angeles TimesEven before Barack Obama was sworn in as president the first time, he touted his efforts to "change business as usual in Washington" by setting strict rules for his inauguration: No corporate donations were allowed; individuals could give only $50,000.
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Platinomics
By Greg Ip, EconomistIn the many years I’ve spent scrutinizing monetary policy, I had never devoted more than a thought to coins. In the scheme of all things monetary, they seemed, well, pocket change.
Needless to say, the prospect of the Treasury issuing a $1 trillion platinum coin to circumvent the debt ceiling changes that. I won’t repeat the details; you can get up to speed by reading Matthew O’Brien of The Atlantic here and my colleague here. If nothing else, unpicking the consequences is a fun exercise. I’ve concluded the economics are more complicated and more benign than appreciated, but the political consequences are graver.
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Iranian Government May Be Behind Recent Cyber Attacks
With Tom Gjelten, NPROver the last several months, U.S. banks have been subjected to a series of cyber attacks apparently aimed at disrupting normal operations. A volunteer cyber militia group has taken credit for the attacks, saying they are to protest the anti-Islam video that has angered the Muslim world. But U.S. officials and cybersecurity experts are increasingly convinced the government of Iran is behind the attacks. Tom Gjelten talks to Melissa Block.
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Robert Levinson Missing in Iran, State Department Weighs In
With Martha Raddatz, ABC News Watch more
Jan 09, 2013
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Groups Mobilize to Fight Gun Violence
By Christie Parsons and Melanie Mason, Los Angeles Times
As the White House prepares to unveil its recommendations this month to combat gun violence, advocates of reform are already working to generate public pressure for gun control policies that have long been stalled in Congress.
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In Step on ‘Light Footprint,’ Nominees Reflect a Shift
By David E. Sanger, The New York TimesWith the selection of a new national security team deeply suspicious of the wisdom of American military interventions around the world, President Obama appears to have ended, at least for the moment, many of the internal administration debates that played out in the Situation Room over the past four years.
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With a Little Bit of Luck, AIG Will Shun This Lawsuit
By Deborah Solomon, Bloomberg NewsImagine, for a moment, if Eliza Doolittle sued Henry Higgins.
Yes, he transformed the Cockney sprite into the toast of London, but he did nothing for the friends poor Eliza had to leave behind. And darn if the terms of her deal didn't border on abusive, what with all the voice and etiquette lessons required, not to mention making her ditch her sullied clothes.
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The GOP Looks Inward
By Doyle McManus, Los Angeles TimesNo political party enjoys losing an election, but a healthy party reacts to defeat — after a suitable period of grieving — by trying to figure out what went wrong.
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Tunisia Frees Lone Suspect in Benghazi Attacks, Another Sign Investigation is in Trouble
By Nancy A. Youssef, McClatchy NewspapersTunisian authorities on Tuesday released the only man held so far in connection with the Sept. 11 attacks in Benghazi that killed U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans, according to the suspect’s lawyer, reaffirming fears that the Libyan-led investigation into the deaths is foundering.
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What I Learned From Richard Ben Cramer
By Molly Ball, The AtlanticHaving come to political reporting late, I didn't read Richard Ben Cramer's campaign epic What It Takes until last year, when I was deep in the task of covering the 2012 presidential campaign. Reading it in those circumstances was simultaneously intimidating and inspiring. As gallopingly pleasurable a read as it is, it often didn't feel like pleasure reading, so closely did it track my everyday life on the trail.
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Jan 08, 2013
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Obama Announces Chuck Hagel for Secretary of Defense
With Martha RaddatzThe former Senator and veteran with two Purple Hearts faces scrutiny for past political positions.
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CIA Nominee Brennan Has Obama's 'Complete Trust'
By Tom GjeltenPresident Obama's choice of John Brennan to lead the CIA appears to be less controversial than his decision to nominate former Sen. Chuck Hagel as secretary of defense.
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Choice to Lead C.I.A. Faces a Changed Agency
By Mark Mazzetti and Scott Shane, The New York TimesPresident Obama’s nomination on Monday of John O. Brennan as director of the Central Intelligence Agency puts one of his closest and most powerful aides in charge of an agency that has been transformed by more than a decade of secret wars.
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US May Hit Debt Ceiling by Mid-February: Report
By John Harwood, CNBCThe U.S. government could exhaust its ability to meet all its financial obligations as early as Feb. 15, according to a new analysis by the Bipartisan Policy Center.
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Obama's Lobby-Busting Second Term
By Beth Reinhard, National JournalEmboldened by reelection and a fiscal-cliff deal, President Obama is picking fights with two of the most powerful special interests in Washington: the pro-gun and pro-Israel lobbies.
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Hints of Syrian Chemical Push Set Off Global Effort to Stop It
By David E. Sanger and Eric ScmittIn the last days of November, Israel’s top military commanders called the Pentagon to discuss troubling intelligence that was showing up on satellite imagery: Syrian troops appeared to be mixing chemicals at two storage sites, probably the deadly nerve gas sarin, and filling dozens of 500-pounds bombs that could be loaded on airplanes.
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