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!
Dec 18, 2012
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How Much to Tax the Rich? It's in the Cards
With David Wessel, Wall Street JournalAs the high-stakes showdown over the fiscal cliff continues, Republicans and Democrats continue to debate how much the richest Americans should pay in taxes. WSJ's David Wessel heads to a poker table to explain the controversial issue.
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Obama Now Has Freedom to Push on Gun Control
By Fawn Johnson, National JournalPresident Obama offered his boldest statements to date on gun control on Sunday evening in Newtown, Conn. Always a supporter, never a doer on this particular topic, Obama has the freedom now to push a little bit harder on an issue that evenly divides the country.
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After Tragedy, Partisanship May Cool a Bit
By Jackie Calmes, The New York TimesTo the extent that Americans have diverted their attention since Friday from the horror in Connecticut toward their capital, it has been to wonder whether the school shooting would provoke the first serious gun control debate in years. But the tragedy could have an impact on another crucial legislative issue: the contest over taxes and spending.
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In Sign of Normalization, Pentagon to Reimburse Pakistan $688 Million
By David E. Sanger and Eric Schmitt, The New York TimesThe Pentagon quietly notified Congress this month that it would reimburse Pakistan nearly $700 million for the cost of stationing 140,000 troops on the border with Afghanistan, an effort to normalize support for the Pakistani military after nearly two years of crises and mutual retaliation.
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Dec 17, 2012
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Tim Scott to Be Named for South Carolina Senate Seat, Republicans Say
By Jeff Zeleny and Jennifer Steinhauer, The New York Times
Gov. Nikki Haley of South Carolina has chosen Representative Tim Scott to replace Jim DeMint in the United States Senate, according to three Republican officials. The move will make Mr. Scott the first black senator from the South since the late 19th century.
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‘These Tragedies Must End,’ Obama Says
By Peter Baker and Mark Landler, The New York TimesPresident Obama vowed on Sunday to “use whatever power this office holds” to stop massacres like the slaughter at the school here that shocked the nation, hinting at a fresh effort to curb the spread of guns as he declared that there was no “excuse for inaction.”
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Americans Tried to Buy 2 Million Guns in November Alone
By Pierre Thomas, ABC NewsThe awful shooting in a small Connecticut town has raised disturbing questions, but has also placed a spotlight on America's thriving gun business.
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Boehner Offers Debt-Ceiling Increase In Cliff Compromise
By Lori Montgomery and Paul Kane, The Washington PostHouse Speaker John A. Boehner has offered to push any fight over the federal debt limit off for a year, a concession that would deprive Republicans of leverage in the budget battle but is breathing new life into stalled talks over the year-end “fiscal cliff.”
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Fault Lines Also Appearing On Democratic Side In Fiscal Debate
By Christi Parsons, Michael A. Memoli and Kathleen Hennessey, Los Angeles TimesFor weeks, Democrats in Congress have been relishing the division and sniping within Republican ranks over whether to raise tax rates. But as negotiations over the budget crisis wear on and shift to a debate over spending cuts, the tables are turning.
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The GOP's Electoral College Scheme
By Reid Wilson, National Journal's HotlineRepublicans alarmed at the apparent challenges they face in winning the White House are preparing an all-out assault on the Electoral College system in critical states, an initiative that would significantly ease the party's path to the Oval Office.
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Dec 14, 2012
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Stopping Gun Violence Starts With Obama
By Reid Wilson, Hotline
This morning, children – young children – were killed in their elementary school by a gunman in quiet, suburban Connecticut. Three days ago, holiday shoppers were killed in a mall in suburban Portland. Two weeks ago, an NFL linebacker murdered his girlfriend and then killed himself at his team’s stadium.
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Rice’s Blunt Style Endeared Her to President, but Not All
By David E. Sanger, The New York TimesFor President Obama, the decision to forgo the fight to make Susan E. Rice his secretary of state was a deeply painful one. It required publicly abandoning one of his most loyal aides, who had broken with the Democratic foreign policy establishment early to side with his improbable candidacy, and whose blunt-speaking style — which helped cost her the job — had always been, for Mr. Obama, a part of her appeal.
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Behind Closed Doors
By Todd S. Purdum, Vanity FairThe most encouraging news in Washington in ages was the word that Barack Obama and John Boehner were talking—by themselves, and to each other—about how to avoid the series of automatic tax increases and spending cuts that could send the country over the so-called fiscal cliff. Boehner went to see the president at the White House last Sunday for their first solo meeting since the November election.
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With Gap Wide and Time Short, Obama and Boehner Meet
By Jackie Calmes and Jonathan Weisman, The New York TimesWith time running short to work out a deal to avert a year-end fiscal crisis, President Obama called Speaker John A. Boehner to the White House on Thursday evening to try to move talks forward even as pessimism mounted that a broad deal could be struck that bridges the substantial gap between the parties on taxes and entitlements like Medicare.
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States Face Double Fiscal Whammy: Federal Aid Cuts and Spiraling Health-Care Costs
By Michael A. Fletcher, Washington PostJust as state governments are healing from the deep fiscal wound inflicted by the Great Recession, they are confronted by the dual threat of reduced federal help and ever increasing health-care costs, according to a new report.
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Syrian President Bashar Assad's Regime Near Collapse
With Martha Raddatz, ABC NewsMartha Raddatz looks at the latest developments in Syria.
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What North Korea's Rocket Launch Tells Us About Iran's Role
By Tom Gjelten, NPRU.S. officials say the satellite put into orbit by North Korea's rocket launch this week is wobbling, but that doesn't necessarily mean the launch itself was unsuccessful.
U.S. analysts say the North Koreans' main goal was not to put a satellite into orbit, but just to see all three stages of their rocket work, to show that the rocket could carry its payload a long distance. That it did. In the last test, in April, the first rocket stages worked as designed, but the third stage failed. Charles Vick, a missile expert at GlobalSecurity.org, credits the North Koreans with learning from their past mistakes.
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Dec 13, 2012
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Poll Results: Who's to Blame For 'Fiscal Cliff?'
With John Harwood, CNBC
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Is U.S. Budget Deficit Shrinking Too Fast?
With David Wessel, Wall Street JournalWith all the high-profile haggling over tax increases and spending cuts to avert the fiscal cliff, is it possible the federal budget deficit is shrinking too fast? David Wessel explores that jarring question on The News Hub.
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North Korea Launches Successful Long-Range Missile
With Martha Raddatz, ABC NewsMartha Raddatz discusses the reaction to Kim Jong Un's rocket demonstration.
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