Tag: Congress
Stevenson’s army, February 24
– Administration plans request for coronavirus health measures.
– Islamic State and Al Qaeda are teaming up in the Sahel..
– Big week for congressional hearings.
– Embarrassingly low turnout in Iran elections.
My SAIS colleague Charlie Stevenson distributes this almost daily news digest of foreign/defense/national security policy to “Stevenson’s army” via Googlegroups. I plan to republish here. If you want to get it directly, To get Stevenson’s army by email, send a blank email (no subject or text in the body) to stevensons-army+subscribe@googlegroups.com. You’ll get an email confirming your join request. Click “Join This Group” and follow the instructions to join. Once you have joined, you can adjust your email delivery preferences (if you want every email or a digest of the emails).
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Stevenson’s army, February 9
– I like and agree with Jennifer Harris and Jake Sullivan’s argument that US strategists need to include domestic and foreign economic policy in their plans.
– Conservative scholar Yuval Levin says Congress has degenerated into a bunch of self-promoters: But Congress has progressively lost its inner life, as all of its deliberative spaces have become performative spaces, everything has become televised and live-streamed, and there is less and less room and time for talking in private. By now, about the only protected spaces left are the leadership offices around midnight as a government shutdown approaches, so it is hardly surprising that this is where and when a great deal of important legislation gets made.
– Adam Gopnik reviews a revisionist book that argues Lincoln was less important than Congress during the Civil War.
-The budget comes out tomorrow. The Hill highlights some of the choices the administration has to make.
– WSJ lists some of the winners and losers from the US-China trade war.
My SAIS colleague Charlie Stevenson distributes this almost daily news digest of foreign/defense/national security policy to “Stevenson’s army” via Googlegroups. I plan to republish here. If you want to get it directly, To get Stevenson’s army by email, send a blank email (no subject or text in the body) to stevensons-army+subscribe@googlegroups.com. You’ll get an email confirming your join request. Click “Join This Group” and follow the instructions to join. Once you have joined, you can adjust your email delivery preferences (if you want every email or a digest of the emails).
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Stevenson’s army, February 2
– RollCall found an anonymous staffer who writes about daily life on the Hill.
– A foreigner living in Beijing describes life under the coronavirus quarantine.
– FP says Trump has dismantled the interagency system to deal with pandemics.
– WSJ has a tick-tock on the development of the administration’s Mideast plan.
– CNAS says Congress needs to revise its oversight of cybersecurity issues.
I missed Friday’s “miscellany” I think:
– Pompeo calls Chinese Communist Party “central threat of our times.”
– WH says new budget will keep Ukraine aid at current levels.
– House passes measures repealing 2002 AUMF and requiring authorization for war with Iran. Will be vetoed if Senate also approves.
– Lawfare writer says Trump is crippling NSC staff.
– UPenn has released its annual ranking of global thinktanks.
– Afghan Special IG has more bad news about Taliban strength.
– FAS has new paper on low yield nukes.
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Stevenson’s army, January 11
– An APSA Task Force has come up with a host of reasonable ideas for reforming Congress, including better staff pay, bringing back earmarks, and an end to votes on the debt limit. Here’s the report, and here a conference at Brookings where it was released.
-There’s pushback on Trump claims that Suleimani was readying attacks on four US embassies.
– Iraq is in the middle, trying to sort out relations with both US and Iran .
– WSJ has more details on backchannel communications between Iran and US.
– Taiwan’s president reelected in landslide.
My SAIS colleague Charlie Stevenson distributes this almost daily news digest of foreign/defense/national security policy to “Stevenson’s army” via Googlegroups. I plan to republish here. If you want to get it directly, To get Stevenson’s army by email, send a blank email (no subject or text in the body) to stevensons-army+subscribe@googlegroups.com. You’ll get an email confirming your join request. Click “Join This Group” and follow the instructions to join. Once you have joined, you can adjust your email delivery preferences (if you want every email or a digest of the emails).
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Stevenson’s army, December 28-31
I was traveling over the weekend, so managed to miss some first-rate recommendations by Charlie Stevenson:
December 31
Forward: Protesters storm US embassy in Baghdad — in response to US airstrikes, as reported by WaPo and NYT stories.
– Likely changes in congressional representation after 2020 census.
– Chinese impact in Djibouti.
– Navy tries again to decommission carrier Truman and cut an air wing.
Backward: Sarah Binder reflects on Congress in 2019.
– FP lists top ten stories.
See you next year….
December 30
– NYT has long piece with previously unreported details of administration fights over Ukraine aid. OMB began working in June to halt aid; Trump met in late August with Pompeo, Esper & Bolton and rejected their unanimous advice to release aid.
-WaPo reveals backchannel of Giuliani & Cong. Pete Sessions negotiating with Maduro.
–US struck forces linked to Iran in Iraq & Syria in response to attacks in Kirkuk that wounded Americans. Here’s Reuters background.
– NYT explains al shabab’s strengths.
– Armed Services chairmen vow smaller NDAA next year. It was amazing to me how many foreign policy and non-defense matters were shoehorned into the bill. But, then, few other bills were debated in the Senate.
December 29
– NYT has long article documenting Trump administration’s demotion and disregard of scientific expertise.
-Newly released documents show how banker David Rockefeller maneuvered to help the shah of Iran.
-Hard to dispute:article calls Sen. McConnell the “most consequential US politician of the past decade.”
December 28
– NYT says Russia is ahead in hypersonic weapons.
– Congress is more assertive against Trump on foreign policy.
– Huawei is making nice in Europe and winning.
– Fed study says Trump tariffs backfired.
My SAIS colleague Charlie Stevenson distributes this almost daily news digest of foreign/defense/national security policy to “Stevenson’s army” via Googlegroups. I plan to republish here. If you want to get it directly, To get Stevenson’s army by email, send a blank email (no subject or text in the body) to stevensons-army+subscribe@googlegroups.com. You’ll get an email confirming your join request. Click “Join This Group” and follow the instructions to join. Once you have joined, you can adjust your email delivery preferences (if you want every email or a digest of the emails).
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Stevenson’s army, November 24
– There is now bipartisan agreement on the 302(b) allocations, so each appropriations subcommittee has a topline for their conferencing.
– CRS has a new report on the legislative appropriations bill.
– Two longtime diplomats note how US presidents have regularly acquiesced in Israeli settlement expansion.
– The Post describes the parallel governments for US foreign policy.
– Politico says Trump does more governing from the residence than the Oval Office.
– Documents link SecState Pompeo even closer to Ukraine policies.
My SAIS colleague Charlie Stevenson distributes this almost daily news digest of foreign/defense/national security policy to “Stevenson’s army” via Googlegroups. I plan to republish here. If you want to get it directly, To get Stevenson’s army by email, send a blank email (no subject or text in the body) to stevensons-army+subscribe@googlegroups.com. You’ll get an email confirming your join request. Click “Join This Group” and follow the instructions to join. Once you have joined, you can adjust your email delivery preferences (if you want every email or a digest of the emails).
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