Matt Yglesias wondered about our intense national focus on aviation security, and wondered what it would take for air travel to become less safe than famously unsafe highway travel. A reader of his crunched some numbers: In the US, 583 billion passenger-miles were flown in 2008… So if all that travel was done by car [...]
Last week, Senate Republicans burst a very dear bubble of New York Democrats when they blocked a funding bill for 9/11 responders. The measure, officially called the James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act, is aimed at improving health services and providing compensation for those on the scene—but it was primarily the $7 billion cost, [...]
In the Wall Street Journal today, Tim Pawlenty published a self-serving essay about his own bravery in taking on the public employee unions in his state, who never really supported him anyway. It is an obvious piece of political positioning for 2012, and not a very interesting read. This morning, by contrast, outgoing White House [...]
The Senate has voted to end debate on the tax-cut compromise hashed out by the White House and Congressional Republicans, setting the stage for a vote on the measure. As I wrote in a Time.com piece this morning, the bill’s passage looks increasingly likely, despite opposition from Democrats in both chambers of Congress. The cloture [...]
Earlier today, federal Judge Henry Hudson ruled that the Affordable Care Act’s individual mandate is unconstitutional. While this is an important victory for opponents of the health reform law, it’s obviously not the end of the road. The Obama Department of Justice will appeal, as opponents of the individual mandate appealed other decisions upholding its [...]
Ugh. Peter Orszag–Obama’s former budget director and one of the smartest domestic policy wonks I know–has taken a job with Citibank, one of the least reputable corporations I know. Jim Fallows is appropriately appalled. Unlike Jim, I know Orszag pretty well and have learned a lot from him. But this move only reinforces my growing [...]
National Review has surveyed the field of likely 2012 Republican presidential contenders and found that not one supports ratifying President Obama’s New START nuclear arms reduction treaty with Russia in what’s left of the lame-duck Congress. (Only one–libertarian New Mexico Gov. Gary “The Next Ron Paul” Johnson, a longshot at best should he run–supports the [...]
(This post has been updated to include comments from Ken Cuccinelli.) Casting a shadow of doubt over the future of the Affordable Care Act, a federal judge in Virginia ruled this afternoon that a major tenet of the new health reform violates the Constitution. The decision, from George W. Bush-appointed Judge Henry Hudson, says that [...]
