It seems like yesterday—in fact it was in June—when longtime US Rep. Ed Markey of Malden won his race to succeed John Kerry in the Senate. Markey’s win only entitled him to fill out the remainder of Kerry’s term, which ends in January 2015. And so Massachusetts’ new junior senator has just a year in […]
Shawn Zeller
Posted inPolitics
The chained CPI
THIS FALL, PRESIDENT Obama and Congress will have another chance to strike a grand bargain on the deficit. If it happens, a new gauge of inflation that would both reduce federal benefits, like Social Security, and raise taxes, will be at the heart of it. Only 13 states would be affected more than Massachusetts, with […]
Posted inPolitics
Capitol turnover
MASSACHUSETTS REPRESENTATIVES AND SENATORS have for decades enjoyed key committee and leadership posts in Congress because of their seniority, and the state has reaped the benefits, both in funding from Washington and in policy advantageous to the state. Before his death in 2009, Sen. Edward M. Kennedy delivered funding for state projects ranging from the […]
Posted inEnvironment, Politics
Tsongas coming into her own
THERE’S A LONG TRADITION in Washington of political wives following their husbands into office. Sometimes those spouses have an impact apart from anything their husband accomplished—think Hillary Clinton—but more often they’re reliable placeholders. They win votes because of the tradition they carry on and, in office, they follow the political path worn by their husbands. […]
Posted inEconomy, Education, Politics
Waiver warfare
of the domestic policy achievements of the past two decades, most would agree the two biggest are the welfare reform law of 1996 and the No Child Left Behind education law of 2001. The first ended guaranteed lifetime cash assistance to needy families and required the poor to work while receiving temporary aid. The education […]
Posted inHealth Care, Politics
Shifting alliances
the american medical Association, the venerable lobby organization for doctors, was for years a reliable Republican-leaning voice on big health care issues. For much of the past decade, however, the organization seemed to be on a drift to the left. First, it endorsed the Patients’ Bill of Rights guaranteeing patient protections against insurance companies. Then […]
Posted inPolitics
Political repurposing
two weeks after his inauguration, President Obama invited supporters of his 2008 campaign to the White House to lay out his plan for a Middle Class Task Force. The idea behind the task force was that research and public outreach could break through the partisan gridlock on Capitol Hill and help create good-paying jobs in […]
Posted inPolitics
An outside-the-Beltway strategy
most washington advocacy groups are based in Washington on the theory that it’s easier to influence the federal government from the capital itself. But Free Press, an up-and-coming advocacy group that is an antagonist of media and Internet companies and thorn in the side of the Federal Communications Commission, is headquartered 400 miles away in […]
Posted inEconomy, Education, Politics
A way out of gridlock
with unemployment too high, economic growth too low, and the gap between the rich and poor widening, the American Dream is hurting. Adding to the gloom is the polarization in Washington, where even a simple task like raising the country’s debt ceiling nearly led to economic cataclysm this summer. Yet the dream lives on for […]
Posted inPolitics
Liquor battle brewing
massachusetts has long guarded its unique rules for regulating alcohol, so state officials weren’t happy last year when the federal appeals court in Boston struck down a 2006 state law that barred large wineries from shipping their products directly to Bay State consumers. The three-judge panel ruled that the law violated the Constitution’s guarantee of […]