Obama's New Year Resolutions

This article by NPR outlines the resolutions Obama made for the 2015 year in his State of the Union Address. Although he stated that Democrats and Republicans should work together in this new session, he did not hesitate to threaten the use of his veto power if a bill he disagreed with came to his desk. He touched on a wide array of subjects, including the economy, ISIS, the Keystone Pipeline, and even abortion. According to him, "the State of the Union is strong."

I found this interesting to read after I watched the State of the Union; it nicely outlined the President's points and hopes for this new Congress. I thought that he did a good job of covering a wide rage of topics, including things he thought were going well, and things he wishes we will improve in the year to come. I also liked that he urged Democrats and Republicans to work together; I think this is extremely important in a Congress where the House and Senate are both controlled by Republicans while the President is a Democrat. I'm interested to see how the Legislative and Executive branches will work together to improve the challenges that Obama listed Tuesday night. 

Boehner's Back

This CNN article brings news that Republican Speaker of the House John Boehner has been reelected for a third term. Boehner faced much opposition from a group of 25 Republicans who did not vote for him, citing "his leadership's record of bringing major legislation to the House without enough input from members" as the primary reason for their dissatisfaction. As far as his goals, Boehner is aiming at bettering the economy and improving opportunities for middle class people. 

I'm really interested to see how this session of Congress goes with the Republican majority overall. This reelection is obviously a major win for that majority, because a Democratic Speaker could have upset the hopes of Republican domination. I do think it is a bit concerning that there is a split in the Republican Representatives because this Congress is hoping to push a lot of legislation through, and this rift could be detrimental. Again, I'm excited to see all of this play out!

History Repeats Itself

Congress on the brink of another shutdown
If nothing changes in Congress by this Thursday, the government will once again be shut down. The argument is centralized on a spending bill and "unrelated issues." One issue holding up Congress is the recent immigration executive order. As of now, it is looking like a short-term spending bill will have to be passed by both the House and Senate soon so that the government will not shut down; this will give the Senate "more time to approve the measure"over which they are arguing. Sometime today, the House's Committee on Appropriations is supposed to release legislation that "funds virtually all of the government for a full fiscal year."

Our government and economic lessons from this week relate extremely well to this current event, and they both have made this problem easier for me to understand. However, I do not think that stubbornness should shut the whole government down. I agree with some Republican leaders quoted in this article who argue that the immigration fight should not be responsible for this shutdown, and should be saved for when the Republicans control the majority of both House and Senate.

'Merica: Paying Nazis Since 1945

This CNN article discusses rights of Nazis to receive Social Security. The House of Representatives just passed a bill-- unanimously, in fact-- that "cuts off" former Nazis from getting these benefits. Sam Johnson, a Republican Representative from Texas, stated: "Allowing payments to continue is an insult to those who suffered at the hands of the Nazis." New York's Democratic Rep. Carolyn Maloney guessed that there were around four people who are currently receiving Social Security benefits, although a recent investigation put that number higher-- around 12. The investigation reports that these dozen Nazis were "stripped of their citizenship and forced to leave the country," but a "loophole" has made it possible for them to keep receiving Social Security. Mirroring the House, the Senate has a similar anti-Nazi bill to pass, but both the House and Senate (and both Democrats and Republicans!) are hoping to be able to place this issue in front of President Obama by the end of this month.

To be honest, the first thought that came to my mind after reading this article was shock that there were still Nazis alive, and living in the United States! As silly as it seems, I was momentarily caught off-guard by the thought that I was living in a world in which Nazis still existed-- I definitely only think of them living about 50 years ago. However, overall I do not believe that these 4-12 people still benefiting from Social Security should be, especially if they have already been "stripped of their citizenship."

Separation of Church and... School?

This article discusses a Colorado school which recently prohibited a student's practice of religion on campus. This student, senior Chase Windebank, has lead a prayer group with his friends for the three previous years of his career at Pine Creek High School during a class period that the school calls "seminar." During a portion of this period, students are given free time in which they can discuss with their friends "virtually unlimited topics, i.e., TV shows, sports teams, upcoming test, politics." However, the school has banned Windeback from discussing anything to do with religion, citing the First Amendment "applied by the 14th Amendment." Pine Creek also stated that topics for discussion must connect to a class; if this is true, than religious conversations would not be allowed because the school is not able to teach classes on religion.

Stories like this are such great reminders to me of how grateful I am to be enrolled in a Catholic school where my faith can be expressed and nurtured. I am interested to see if the school and Windeback will resolve this on their own, or if more news on this particular issue will follow. So far, it is difficult to say who is right; much depends on the validity of the statement that topics must be drawn from classes taught at Pine Creek. It is a fairly complicated fight, as all separation-of-church-and-state issues are; however, simplified, it really boils down to the conclusion of the article: "Schools may not preach religion. They also may not oppress any student's free exercise thereof." I'm interested to see how far this fight will go.

Something about WWII We'd Gladly Repeat (and Some Historic Firsts)

In this article by CNN highlights the many "historic firsts" that yesterday's midterm elections brought about. For example, many southern African-Americans made a first with their election to Congress, including Mia Love, the "first black Republican woman to be elected to Congress-- ever."Other firsts included women Senators and Governors, war veterans, and most-expensive campaigns. Although not a "first," this article touches on one particular historic accomplishment of Congress' domination by Republicans-- the GOP has the "largest congressional majority since World War II."

This is very important because Republicans had been feeling dominated by the Democratic-lead executive branch and House of Representatives. Republicans now believe that they can push their own agenda easier because they have control of both the Senate and House. I think this is very interesting, and I'll be watching to see what the GOP does with its newfound control. In addition, I like that more women and races are being involved in our government. Also, the fact that Republicans have not had this large of a majority in Congress since WWII is extremely interesting to me! I know that history repeats itself, but hopefully we can be selective about what we bring back from the that time period...

Time-- and Money!-- Coming Quickly to an End

This article from the Rapid City Journal highlights the decreasing national interest in the South Dakota election because of recent polls that show their advertising may be to no avail. South Dakotans seem to be favoring Republican candidate Mike Rounds for the Senate win, over Rick Weiland, the Democrat nominee. So far, the Democratic Party nation-wide has spent $400,000 on just broadcast and cable advertising for Weiland, but with the decreasing support for him, they only have about $29,000 worth of ads from now until election day. This is in stark contrast to $340,000 that the Republican Party plans to spend advertising within this last week.

I find this extremely interesting (and slightly sickening)-- I cannot believe how much money is spent on advertising! I know that this has been a hotly-contested national race, although currently it looks as though it is losing national recognition because of the lead Rounds seems to be taking. I think it will be funny to look back on this in a week, knowing the outcome, to see whether or not the thousands of dollars used for advertising really paid off-- and if the Democrats should have backed off campaigning right before votes were cast!