blogging the beltway
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Do Obama's Education Policies Stack Up to His Goals?
No Child Left Behind, the Bush-era law mandating standardized testing as a measure of school success, is not working and needs to be reformed. This was the thrust of a speech by President Barack Obama, who repeated, “We have to fix No Child Left Behind” five times while speaking at a Virginia middle school on…
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Obama Draws Line on Energy Dependence
For a few days now, Republicans have criticized President Obama over rising gas prices. House Speaker John Boehner blames the problem on Obama’s now-lifted moratorium on oil drilling in the Gulf of Mexico last summer and the termination of drilling leases in national parks. Others have accused the president of gleefully sitting back and watching…
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US Seeks to Tap a Rich Source of Black Engineers
As rising oil prices loom over the economy, Energy Secretary Steven Chu continues to stump for investments in new energy and competitive education. Chu has a particular interest in drawing underrepresented African-American students to the science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) fields. On Thursday, he visited Baltimore’s Morgan State University, which houses an innovative engineering…
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Arnold Rampersad on Receiving the National Humanities Medal
In a quiet moment of recognition at the White House last week, President Barack Obama awarded the National Medal of Arts and the National Humanities Medal to 20 honorees. The medals are the highest government honors for outstanding achievements in art, history, literature, education and cultural policy. “In a nation as big as ours, as…
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Rep. Andre Carson: Muslims Are the Wrong Focus of Radicalization Hearings
In today’s political climate, Islam is viewed in increasingly sinister terms. Extremist. Terrorist. Fundamentalist. Alarm over the supposedly growing radicalization of Muslims stateside, fueled by al-Qaeda operatives targeting Muslim American youth, is behind a controversial congressional hearing this week. Supporters of the Muslim-focused hearing, scheduled for Thursday by Rep. Peter King (R-N.Y.), say that it’s necessary…
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Shutdown Averted, For Now
Two days before funding for government services was scheduled to run out, on Tuesday Congress passed a bill to temporarily finance the government for two weeks. The short-term solution also came with $4 billion in cuts to current federal spending. Making it easier for Democrats to get on board, those reductions hit areas that President…
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Looking on the 'Bright Side' of the Budget
As a nod to both the last day of Black History Month and impending federal budget cuts (two areas with more in common, apparently, than one might think), on Monday the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation and Rep. Danny K. Davis (D-Ill.) hosted a forum dedicated to investing in communities of color. Dr. Elsie Scott, president…
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Inside the White House Tribute to the Motown Sound
See videos of the White House Motown Tribute. “As we come to the end of Black History Month, I can’t think of a better way to do it than by honoring the legendary sound of Motown.” And so President Barack Obama kicked off “The Motown Sound: In Performance at the White House,” a concert on…
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What the DOMA Decision Means for Black LGBT Families
Big news from the Department of Justice, which announced that President Obama ordered the administration to stop fighting for Section 3 of the Defense of Marriage Act. He’s decided that the federal law, which defines marriage as only between a man and a woman, discriminates against gay spouses and, therefore, is unconstitutional. It remains in…
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Unemployment Benefits: Extend Them or End Them?
Every few months, a renewed debate seems to play out in Congress over extending unemployment benefits. Republicans claim that, given the deficit, extending benefits is fiscally irresponsible. (Some also argue that it discourages people from looking for work because apparently they’d rather sit around collecting meager checks.) Democrats counter that, in light of the country’s…