Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) takes questions as he speaks to reporters following the weekly Senate Democratic policy lunch at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., September 14, 2021. (Evelyn Hockstein/Reuters) We are at the outset of what promises to be a frenzied and confusing fall on Capitol Hill, with a lot on the

The Supreme Court Building in Washington D.C., August 5, 2021 (Brent Buterbaugh/National Review) If you’re like me, you will have enjoyed reading the legal commentary that’s been published ahead of the Supreme Court’s oral arguments in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization on December 1. At issue in the case is Mississippi’s 2018 Gestational Age

Kyrsten Sinema speaks with supporters in Phoenix, Ariz., October 24, 2018. (Gage Skidmore) On quite a few editions of The Editors podcast this year, the topic of the ongoing (and ongoing and ongoing) negotiations over the infrastructure bills arises – both the bipartisan and the ever-shifting gargantuan $3.5 trillion or so one. And while we

Oregon governor Kate Brown speaks at the state capitol building in Salem, Ore., February 20, 2015. (Steve Dipaola /Reuters) On August 24, Oregon governor Kate Brown instated a state masking requirement that requires everyone five years and older, regardless of vaccination status, to wear a mask, face covering or face shield in outdoor spaces if

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell testifies during a U.S. House Oversight and Reform Select Subcommittee hearing on the coronavirus crisis on Capitol, June 22, 2021. (Graeme Jennings/Pool via Reuters) Adding such issues as climate change and racial inequality to the Fed’s mandate will only weaken its credibility and risk destabilizing the economy. ‘The world’s best

Rep. Pramila Jayapal, (D-WA) speaks during a hearing of the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Antitrust, Commercial and Administrative Law on “Online Platforms and Market Power” on Capitol Hill, July 29, 2020. (Mandel Ngan/Pool via Reuters) Democratic congresswoman Pramila Jayapal, leader of the House Progressive Caucus, emerged from a 90-minute meeting with Speaker Nancy Pelosi on

Israel’s Iron Dome anti-missile system intercept rockets launched from the Gaza Strip towards Israel, as seen from Ashkelon, Israel, May 19, 2021. (Amir Cohen/Reuters) On Tuesday, House Democratic leadership stripped $1 billion for Israel’s defensive anti-missile Iron Dome program out of a bill to fund the government. Congresswoman Elissa Slotkin of Michigan was one of

Migrants cross the Rio Grande River as Border Patrol agents monitor on horses on the U.S. side of the bank near the International Bridge between Mexico and the U.S, in Del Rio, Texas, September 20, 2021. (Go Nakamura/Reuters) The president of the NAACP, Derrick Johnson, demanded Tuesday to meet with President Biden after allegations surfaced

Afghan refugees wait to board buses that will take them to a processing center after arriving at Dulles International Airport in Dulles, Va., September 2, 2021. (Evelyn Hockstein/Reuters) Thirty-three major companies have vowed to hire and train Afghan refugees arriving in the U.S., the Tent Partnership for Refugees announced Tuesday. The companies, which include Amazon,

President Joe Biden delivers remarks on a National Security Initiative inside the East Room at the White House in Washington, D.C., September 15, 2021. (Tom Brenner/Reuters) President Biden’s job approval rating plummeted over the past few months, according to an Des Moines Register/Mediacom Iowa Poll released on Tuesday. Just 31 percent of Iowa residents approve

A father and son pass a sign announcing that the school is closed for the academic year due to the coronavirus in Falls Church, Va., March 25, 2020. (Kevin Lamarque/Reuters) During the fall term, the fatality risk of teaching was comparable to that of driving 18 miles alone in a car. Many U.S. school buildings,

Protesters outside Carmine’s restaurant in New York City, September 20, 2021. (Photo: Caroline Downey) After a skirmish involving NYC’s vaccine mandate and African-American patrons erupted at Carmine’s restaurant in the Upper West Side last week, Black Lives Matter of Greater New York and related organizations converged in front of the establishment Monday to protest and

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) discusses the Senate passage of the bipartisan infrastructure bill and the budget resolution during a news conference at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., August 11, 2021. (Gabrielle Crockett/Reuters) The Senate parliamentarian’s rejection of Democrats’ amnesty push is a win for republican self-government. At a time of unprecedented breakdown

President Joe Biden delivers remarks about Afghanistan, from the East Room of the White House in Washington, D.C., August 26, 2021. (Jonathan Ernst/Reuters) The Biden administration announced on Monday that it is seeking to increase the refugee-admissions cap to 125,000 for fiscal year 2022, in line with a goal set by President Biden in February.

President Joe Biden delivers remarks on the response to Hurricane Ida from the White House in Washington, D.C., September 2, 2021. (Jonathan Ernst/Reuters) In July, President Biden nominated Graham Steele for assistant secretary of the Treasury for financial institutions. Steele will be in front of the Senate Banking Committee tomorrow for his nomination hearing. If

In a Washington Post op-ed, Alan Braid, an abortionist in San Antonio, says that he recently “provided an abortion to a woman who, though still in her first trimester, was beyond the state’s new limit” under the Texas Heartbeat Act. He says that he did so in order “to make sure that Texas didn’t get

(XiXinXing/Getty Images) The orchestra has taken to addressing old racism by using the tool of racism itself. For decades, orchestras have worked to address racial imbalances in their ranks by creating new pipelines for young artists. They have built outreach-and-engagement departments bringing classical music to young people who were rarely exposed to it, developed music

The Senate parliamentarian says that Senate Democrats can’t stuff an amnesty for 8 million people into the reconciliation bill. The idea that large-scale changes to the immigration system are primarily fiscal in nature and therefore could be included in reconciliation was always laughably absurd, and the parliamentarian has done the right thing here.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D., N.Y.) and Senator Joe Manchin (D., W.Va) confer before addressing reporters at the Capitol in Washington, D.C., July 9, 2019. (Jonathan Ernst/Reuters) Per Axios, Joe Manchin may be closer to realizing that the Democrats’ spending plans are ridiculous than his party had realized heretofore: Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) is

Customers show proof of their COVID vaccinations before entering the Martha restaurant in Philadelphia, Pa., August 7, 2021. (Hannah Beier/Reuters) Now is not the time to hammer food establishments trying to crawl out of the pandemic. The pandemic and related closures hit the restaurant industry hard, with about 90,000 eateries closing permanently. When the pandemic

Thousands of migrants take shelter as they await to be processed near the Del Rio International Bridge after crossing the Rio Grande river in Del Rio, Texas, U.S. September 2021. (Adrees Latif/Reuters) Representative August Pfluger (R., Texas) is sounding alarms after visiting Del Rio, Texas, where Border Patrol agents have been overwhelmed by thousands of

U.S. Border Patrol agent Carlos Rivera guides migrants to be processed after they attempted to cross the border from Mexico into Sunland Park, N.M., September 17, 2021. (Paul Ratje/Reuters) We are all familiar with the fiscal radicalism of the Democratic reconciliation bill, but it’s time to focus more on the immigration radicalism of the bill.

President Joe Biden delivers remarks on the response to Hurricane Ida from the White House in Washington, D.C., September 2, 2021. (Jonathan Ernst/Reuters) Biden will need to convince the country, and thus the Court, that we are still in a real crisis. NRPLUS MEMBER ARTICLE T he history of the United States, insofar as concerns

Protesters pass the Massachusetts State House following the death of George Floyd, in Boston, Mass., June 3, 2020. (Brian Snyder/Reuters) Bills proposed by the state legislature would empower left-wing interest groups to determine what kids learn in schools. As battles over education heat up across the country, legislators in Massachusetts are considering a range of

Migrants seeking asylum in the U.S. bathe and wash their clothes in the Rio Grande river near the International Bridge between Mexico and the U.S. as they wait to be processed, in Del Rio, Texas, September 2021. (Go Nakamura/Reuters) Taking advantage of an apparent lapse in border security at the junction of Del Rio, Texas

Wind farm in Graincourt-les-Havrincourt, France, April 27, 2020. (Pascal Rossignol/Reuters) The week of September 13: climate policy and Europe’s energy crunch, inflation, taxation, and much more. Much of last week’s Capital Letter was focused on the growing energy crunch in Europe — a crunch that has something (but not everything) to do with needlessly destructive

The then Democratic U.S. presidential candidate Senator Bernie Sanders takes the stage with Rep. Alexandria Ocasio Cortez at a campaign rally at the University of New Hampshire in Durham, N.H., February 10, 2020. (Mike Segar/Reuters) The Congressional Progressive Caucus is deliberating whether to deploy its members to kill the $1 trillion Biden-backed infrastructure bill if

U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit (legalnewsline.com) 2017—Evidently unhappy that a criminal defendant wasn’t making sweeping attacks on the statute under which she was convicted, a Ninth Circuit panel presided over by Stephen Reinhardt issues an extraordinary order, months after oral argument, inviting three left-wing organizations to file amicus briefs that make those

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R., Calif.) speaks to the media during a briefing on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., March 11, 2021. (Joshua Roberts/Reuters) House GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy on Friday called on President Biden to deploy the National Guard to Del Rio, Texas, where Border Patrol agents have been overwhelmed by thousands of

Workers look at the French Navy vessel Suffren, first of the nuclear Barracuda-class attack submarines, leaving the workshops of its construction at the Naval Group site in Cherbourg, France, in 2019. (Benoit Tessier/Reuters) The U.S.–France relationship is in meltdown over a recently canceled submarine deal that Australian officials had cast doubt on for months. For