blogging the beltway

UPDATE: Yes, there is an African-American legislator — and a Latino lawmaker — on the “super committee.” On Thursday, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi announced her picks. They are Chris Van Hollen of Maryland, Xavier Beccera of California and (as The Root suggested below) James Clyburn of South Carolina. Now that Congress has avoided a…

On Friday the U.S. ratings agency Standard & Poor’s slapped the United States with a downgrade, demoting the country from a top-notch AAA credit rating to AA+. Although the nation’s other two major agencies, Moody’s Investor Service and Fitch Ratings, reaffirmed the United States’ AAA credit rating, S&P’s move triggered fear through the stock market,…

This week the Department of Health and Human Services announced that health insurers will be required to cover preventive care without charging a co-payment, co-insurance or a deductible. The new guidelines, which expand on preventive care already covered under the Affordable Care Act, comprise a range of services for women. These include screening for gestational…

Tuesday, Aug. 3, 5:50 p.m. President Obama signed into law the debt-ceiling bill – formally called the Budget Control Act – shortly after his speech. later in the day he took the next step with a message to the U.S. Congress. With less than seven hours left before the nation faced taking drastic measures to…

Earlier this year, The Root asked, Will White People Go to the National Black Museum? These days the more immediate question is, Will the national black museum get built? Years ago, Congress authorized funding for the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of African American History and Culture, slated to open in 2015. But that commitment may…

In a speech this week during his organization’s annual convention, NAACP President Benjamin Todd Jealous railed against restrictive state voting laws, likening their rise across the country to the days of Jim Crow. “Our voting rights are under attack because we had a great breakthrough — the election of a black president,” said Jealous to…

In June, I compiled a guide of nine things to know about the debt ceiling. Back then, Congress and the White House had eight weeks to reach an agreement before the Aug. 2 federal-government-defaults-on-its-loans deadline, a stretch that seems luxurious by today’s standards. Now we’re one week away from so-called Debt Armageddon! After House Speaker…

In a Friday press conference on the debt ceiling, his third in three weeks, President Obama continued to push for a “big deal” that includes both cuts in domestic spending and tax-revenue increases. With Republican leaders refusing to make concessions on ending tax breaks for the wealthiest Americans, desiring spending cuts alone, talks had appeared…

This week marks the first anniversary of the release of the White House’s National HIV/AIDS Strategy, and the Obama administration is eager to talk about how they’ve spent that time. “Our mission is for the United States to become a place where new HIV infections are rare,” Jeffrey Crowley, director of the White House Office…

Think back to when President Obama was just getting started in the White House, riding a wave of optimism and primed to advance a broad domestic agenda. Mortgage assistance for underwater homeowners! The world’s highest proportion of college graduates by 2020! Healthcare for everybody! In his first 18 months, the president enacted several policies designed…