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<title><![CDATA[Norm Ornstein - Articles - RealClearPolitics]]></title><link>http://www.RealClearPolicy.com/authors/rss/archive/17539.xml</link><description><![CDATA[Norm Ornstein]]></description><category domain="17539">Author</category><item>
							<title><![CDATA[This Isn't Dennis Hastert's First Scandal]]></title>
							<link>http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2015/06/dennis-hastert-scandal/394754/</link>
							<guid><![CDATA[http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2015/06/dennis-hastert-scandal/394754/]]></guid>							
							<pubDate>Thu, 04 Jun 2015 00:00:00 -0500</pubDate>
							<author>Norm Ornstein</author>
							<description><![CDATA[Dennis Hastert, who left the speakership when Republicans lost the House in 2006, and resigned from Congress shortly thereafter, quickly faded into obscurity. Then, last Thursday, he skyrocketed to the top of the news.]]></description>
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							<title><![CDATA[Slashing IRS Budget Carries Heavy Price]]></title>
							<link>http://www.nationaljournal.com/washington-inside-out/slashing-irs-budget-carries-a-heavy-price-20141217</link>
							<guid><![CDATA[http://www.nationaljournal.com/washington-inside-out/slashing-irs-budget-carries-a-heavy-price-20141217]]></guid>							
							<pubDate>Fri, 19 Dec 2014 00:00:00 -0600</pubDate>
							<author>Norm Ornstein</author>
							<description><![CDATA[In mid-August, after the killings of Trayvon Martin, Jordan Davis, Renisha McBride, Eric Garner and Michael Brown, a white mother of three children, two of whom are black, went to her computer and, in one furious burst, wrote: &ldquo;What They Didn&rsquo;t Teach Us In Adoption Classes About Raising Black Children.&rdquo;]]></description>
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							<title><![CDATA[Obama's Challenge &amp; the U.S. Racial Divide]]></title>
							<link>http://www.nationaljournal.com/washington-inside-out/obama-s-challenge-building-a-bridge-over-america-s-racial-divide-20141210</link>
							<guid><![CDATA[http://www.nationaljournal.com/washington-inside-out/obama-s-challenge-building-a-bridge-over-america-s-racial-divide-20141210]]></guid>							
							<pubDate>Thu, 11 Dec 2014 00:00:00 -0600</pubDate>
							<author>Norm Ornstein</author>
							<description><![CDATA[December 10, 2014 One of my fondest memories was spending four days in February 1977 as a staffer sitting on the Senate floor, mostly wedged between Gaylord Nelson and Russell Long as the Senate debated a resolution to reform its committee system. They were good friends, lovely people, and great storytellers, and I mostly sat there taking their conversation in, occasionally earning my pay by letting them know what a particular provision of the resolution did or what an amendment would do. At my request, Long opened up his Senate desk so I could see the signatures of all the senators who had used the same desk over many previous decades. The signature of Theodore Bilbo just jumped out at me....]]></description>
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							<title><![CDATA[The Pernicious Effects of Gerrymandering]]></title>
							<link>http://www.nationaljournal.com/washington-inside-out/the-pernicious-effects-of-gerrymandering-20141203</link>
							<guid><![CDATA[http://www.nationaljournal.com/washington-inside-out/the-pernicious-effects-of-gerrymandering-20141203]]></guid>							
							<pubDate>Thu, 04 Dec 2014 00:00:00 -0600</pubDate>
							<author>Norm Ornstein</author>
							<description><![CDATA[Almost invariably, whenever I speak about our polarized politics, the first or second question I get is about redistricting. Most Americans who know that our political system is not working the way it is supposed to don't know what specifically is wrong. But gerrymandering is something that clearly stands out for many. That is true even for Bill Clinton, who spoke about polarization and dysfunction at the 2013 Clinton Global Initiative and singled out gerrymandering as a prime cause.]]></description>
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							<title><![CDATA[Will Executive Order Be Excuse for Gridlock?]]></title>
							<link>http://www.nationaljournal.com/washington-inside-out/will-congress-use-executive-order-on-immigration-as-excuse-for-more-gridlock-20141119</link>
							<guid><![CDATA[http://www.nationaljournal.com/washington-inside-out/will-congress-use-executive-order-on-immigration-as-excuse-for-more-gridlock-20141119]]></guid>							
							<pubDate>Thu, 20 Nov 2014 00:00:00 -0600</pubDate>
							<author>Norm Ornstein</author>
							<description><![CDATA[First, and sadly, I need to acknowledge another death of a great figure from Congress, Bill Frenzel of Minnesota. Bill was my congressman and also a dear friend. I worked especially closely with him on the Office of Congressional Ethics, where he was a stalwart member, helping to ensure its integrity and providing some of the glue that meant that all of its decisions, from a diverse membership cutting across all partisan and ideological lines, were unanimous. That was Frenzel, a throwback to an earlier era both in Congress and in the Republican Party. He was a bridge-builder, not a bomb-thrower, a free-market, business-oriented conservative who knew how to find common ground and forge...]]></description>
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							<title><![CDATA[Republican Senate Win Could Splinter Party]]></title>
							<link>http://www.nationaljournal.com/washington-inside-out/if-republicans-win-the-senate-gop-factions-could-battle-for-soul-of-party-20141029</link>
							<guid><![CDATA[http://www.nationaljournal.com/washington-inside-out/if-republicans-win-the-senate-gop-factions-could-battle-for-soul-of-party-20141029]]></guid>							
							<pubDate>Fri, 31 Oct 2014 00:00:00 -0500</pubDate>
							<author>Norm Ornstein</author>
							<description><![CDATA[As polls show a movement toward Republicans&mdash;the new ABC News/Washington Post survey shows a 6-point GOP advantage in the generic ballot&mdash;there is increasing interest in what would happen over the next two years with Republican control of both the House and Senate. I first addressed the prospect of a Republican Senate in March, and I wrote last week about how independents could shake up the balance in an evenly divided Senate. Now, some more reflections on governance with a Republican Congress in the final two years of a two-term Democratic president.]]></description>
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							<title><![CDATA[Independents Could Seize the Senate]]></title>
							<link>http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2014/10/how-independents-could-seize-control-of-the-senate/381815/</link>
							<guid><![CDATA[http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2014/10/how-independents-could-seize-control-of-the-senate/381815/]]></guid>							
							<pubDate>Sat, 25 Oct 2014 00:00:00 -0500</pubDate>
							<author>Norm Ornstein</author>
							<description><![CDATA[]]></description>
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							<title><![CDATA[Our Downward Spiral Since Citizens United]]></title>
							<link>http://www.nationaljournal.com/washington-inside-out/our-downward-spiral-since-citizens-united-20141015</link>
							<guid><![CDATA[http://www.nationaljournal.com/washington-inside-out/our-downward-spiral-since-citizens-united-20141015]]></guid>							
							<pubDate>Sat, 18 Oct 2014 00:00:00 -0500</pubDate>
							<author>Norm Ornstein</author>
							<description><![CDATA[Every once in a while, David Brooks writes a column in The New York Times that makes one just cringe. That was the case with his "Don't Worry, Be Happy" treatment last week of the impact of Citizens United on our politics. By defining the impact narrowly&mdash;does either party gain from the Supreme Court ruling and the new Wild West of campaign financing?&mdash;and by cherry-picking the research on campaign finance, Brooks comes up with a benign conclusion: Citizens United will actually reduce the influence of money in elections, and, I quote, "The upshot is that we should all relax about campaign spending."]]></description>
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							<title><![CDATA[Bad Prospects for Congress This Fall]]></title>
							<link>http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2014/09/congress-returns-to-doing-nothing/379616/</link>
							<guid><![CDATA[http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2014/09/congress-returns-to-doing-nothing/379616/]]></guid>							
							<pubDate>Sat, 06 Sep 2014 00:00:00 -0500</pubDate>
							<author>Norm Ornstein</author>
							<description><![CDATA[Congress is back for its homestretch. Well, not exactly "back."The House will spend the rest of this week in "district-workweek" mode, returning Monday evening and leaving again Thursday after lunch; the next week will be action-packed&mdash;coming back late Tuesday evening (no votes before 6:30 p.m.) but this time staying around until Friday after lunch. The following week?]]></description>
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							<title><![CDATA[When Extremism Becomes Mainstream]]></title>
							<link>http://www.nationaljournal.com/washington-inside-out/what-happens-when-extremism-becomes-mainstream-20140723</link>
							<guid><![CDATA[http://www.nationaljournal.com/washington-inside-out/what-happens-when-extremism-becomes-mainstream-20140723]]></guid>							
							<pubDate>Sat, 26 Jul 2014 00:00:00 -0500</pubDate>
							<author>Norm Ornstein</author>
							<description><![CDATA[The most interesting, and important, dynamic in American politics today is the existential struggle going on in the Republican Party between the establishment and the insurgents&mdash;or to be more accurate, between the hard-line bedrock conservatives (there are only trace elements of the old-line center-right bloc, much less moderates) and the radicals. Of course, tugs-of-war between establishment forces and ideological wings are nothing new with our political parties. They have been a continuing factor for many decades. The Republican Party had deep-seated struggles between its Progressive wing, led by Teddy Roosevelt and Robert La Follette, and its conservative establishment, led by...]]></description>
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							<title><![CDATA[Why the Voting Rights Act Still Matters]]></title>
							<link>http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2014/06/why-the-voting-rights-act-still-matters/373541/</link>
							<guid><![CDATA[http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2014/06/why-the-voting-rights-act-still-matters/373541/]]></guid>							
							<pubDate>Fri, 27 Jun 2014 00:00:00 -0500</pubDate>
							<author>Norm Ornstein</author>
							<description><![CDATA[Fifty years ago last weekend, civil-rights workers James Earl Chaney, Andrew Goodman, and Michael Schwerner were shot and killed by members of the Ku Klux Klan, including a deputy sheriff, in Philadelphia, Mississippi. Next Wednesday marks the 50th anniversary of the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, one of the monumental achievements of the 20th century. Three weeks ago, on June 7, we had the 16th anniversary of the murder of James Byrd Jr. in Jasper, Texas, after he was chained to a pickup truck by white supremacists and dragged three miles, mostly while conscious, with his headless body thrown in front of an African-American graveyard. And Wednesday marked the first anniversary of...]]></description>
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							<title><![CDATA[Polarization Is Not Equal--&amp; Republicans Are Worse]]></title>
							<link>http://www.nationaljournal.com/washington-inside-out/setting-the-record-straight-on-a-polarizing-debate-20140618</link>
							<guid><![CDATA[http://www.nationaljournal.com/washington-inside-out/setting-the-record-straight-on-a-polarizing-debate-20140618]]></guid>							
							<pubDate>Thu, 19 Jun 2014 00:00:00 -0500</pubDate>
							<author>Norm Ornstein</author>
							<description><![CDATA[]]></description>
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							<title><![CDATA[Top 10 Conclusions About the VA Crisis]]></title>
							<link>http://www.nationaljournal.com/washington-inside-out/top-10-conclusions-about-the-va-crisis-20140604</link>
							<guid><![CDATA[http://www.nationaljournal.com/washington-inside-out/top-10-conclusions-about-the-va-crisis-20140604]]></guid>							
							<pubDate>Mon, 09 Jun 2014 00:00:00 -0500</pubDate>
							<author>Norm Ornstein</author>
							<description><![CDATA[What are we to make of the VA?Over the past few weeks, I have read a lot about the scandal and the overall story surrounding the agency (it is actually the Veterans Affairs Department and the Veterans Health Administration, but we will call both the VA for short). I have tried to make sense of what is real, and what lessons we can learn. Here are my conclusions.]]></description>
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							<title><![CDATA[Is It Time for Supreme Court Term Limits?]]></title>
							<link>http://www.nationaljournal.com/washington-inside-out/is-it-time-to-give-term-limits-to-supreme-court-justices-20140521</link>
							<guid><![CDATA[http://www.nationaljournal.com/washington-inside-out/is-it-time-to-give-term-limits-to-supreme-court-justices-20140521]]></guid>							
							<pubDate>Mon, 26 May 2014 00:00:00 -0500</pubDate>
							<author>Norm Ornstein</author>
							<description><![CDATA[This has been quite a time for anniversaries: the 50th of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, the 50th of the Great Society, the 60th of Brown v. Board of Education. Each has produced a flurry of celebrations and analyses, including the latest, on Brown. Here's one more.]]></description>
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							<title><![CDATA[Filibuster Is Still a Huge Problem]]></title>
							<link>http://www.nationaljournal.com/washington-inside-out/why-we-can-t-stop-talking-about-filibusters-20140514</link>
							<guid><![CDATA[http://www.nationaljournal.com/washington-inside-out/why-we-can-t-stop-talking-about-filibusters-20140514]]></guid>							
							<pubDate>Fri, 16 May 2014 00:00:00 -0500</pubDate>
							<author>Norm Ornstein</author>
							<description><![CDATA[Let's talk filibusters (for some strange reason, I can't stop talking about filibusters). They are back in the news, on several fronts. The most recent is the narrow but significant legislation on energy conservation, worked out painstakingly by the bipartisan team of Sens. Rob Portman and Jeanne Shaheen. The bill died on a filibuster by Republicans as a protest against their inability to offer amendments, including on the Keystone XL Pipeline.]]></description>
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							<title><![CDATA[Ryan's Budget and His Plan for Poverty Don't Mesh]]></title>
							<link>http://www.nationaljournal.com/washington-inside-out/paul-ryan-s-budget-and-his-plan-for-poverty-don-t-mesh-20140430</link>
							<guid><![CDATA[http://www.nationaljournal.com/washington-inside-out/paul-ryan-s-budget-and-his-plan-for-poverty-don-t-mesh-20140430]]></guid>							
							<pubDate>Thu, 01 May 2014 00:00:00 -0500</pubDate>
							<author>Norm Ornstein</author>
							<description><![CDATA[The term &ldquo;compassionate conservatism&rdquo; is identified with George W. Bush, but the concept really is owed to the late Jack Kemp, the Republican &ldquo;happy warrior.&rdquo; To know Kemp was to love him, whether you agreed with his supply-side ideology or not. Kemp genuinely, deeply cared about the poor and oppressed, and he understood the special challenges facing minorities, especially African-Americans. He sought ways to ease their plight through the free-market system but with a clear understanding that government had a substantial role to play in providing a safety net for those who could not care for themselves or who were beset by difficulties not of their own making.]]></description>
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							<title><![CDATA[Obama Can't Be the Green Lantern]]></title>
							<link>http://www.nationaljournal.com/washington-inside-out/obama-can-t-be-the-green-lantern-20140422</link>
							<guid><![CDATA[http://www.nationaljournal.com/washington-inside-out/obama-can-t-be-the-green-lantern-20140422]]></guid>							
							<pubDate>Wed, 23 Apr 2014 00:00:00 -0500</pubDate>
							<author>Norm Ornstein</author>
							<description><![CDATA[The LBJ Library recently held a multiday program to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Civil Rights Act, and by all accounts, the program was stirring and stimulating, up to and including President Obama's speech.But there was one downside: the reactivation of one of the most enduring memes and myths about the presidency, and especially the Obama presidency. Like Rasputin (or Whac-A-Mole,) it keeps coming back even after it has been bludgeoned and obliterated by facts and logic. I feel compelled to whack this mole once more.]]></description>
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							<title><![CDATA[Could America Become a Banana Republic?]]></title>
							<link>http://www.nationaljournal.com/washington-inside-out/could-america-become-a-banana-republic-20140416</link>
							<guid><![CDATA[http://www.nationaljournal.com/washington-inside-out/could-america-become-a-banana-republic-20140416]]></guid>							
							<pubDate>Sat, 19 Apr 2014 00:00:00 -0500</pubDate>
							<author>Norm Ornstein</author>
							<description><![CDATA[Last week, I was in Prague for the third annual World Forum on Governance, which brings together people from countries around the world, including Eastern and Central Europe, Russia, China, Ukraine, Turkey, Egypt, South Africa, India, and Bolivia in search of best governing practices.]]></description>
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							<title><![CDATA[It's Hard for Obama to Be Tough on Russia]]></title>
							<link>http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2014/03/why-its-so-hard-for-obama-to-be-tough-on-russia/284394/</link>
							<guid><![CDATA[http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2014/03/why-its-so-hard-for-obama-to-be-tough-on-russia/284394/]]></guid>							
							<pubDate>Thu, 13 Mar 2014 00:00:00 -0500</pubDate>
							<author>Norm Ornstein</author>
							<description><![CDATA[It is not uncommon for second-term presidents to turn more of their attention and focus to foreign policy. Domestic politics and policy become increasingly frustrating, as the president&rsquo;s partisans in Congress hunker down in preparation for a lousy midterm election, the party&rsquo;s ideological base becomes more belligerent, and the opposition party gets bolder. The president has had five years or more of engaging in foreign affairs and with foreign leaders. And the freedom to act without the constraints set by domestic politics and the powers of Congress, to move chess pieces on the international stage, is highly tempting.]]></description>
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							<title><![CDATA[How to Reduce Inequality: Give $1,000 to Every Baby]]></title>
							<link>http://www.nationaljournal.com/washington-inside-out/how-giving-1-000-to-every-baby-in-america-could-reduce-income-inequality-20140212</link>
							<guid><![CDATA[http://www.nationaljournal.com/washington-inside-out/how-giving-1-000-to-every-baby-in-america-could-reduce-income-inequality-20140212]]></guid>							
							<pubDate>Thu, 13 Feb 2014 00:00:00 -0600</pubDate>
							<author>Norm Ornstein</author>
							<description><![CDATA[Like it or not, the sharp inequality in the country is a fundamental issue.The gap between the richest and the rest of us is greater than it has been since 1929&mdash;a notable year. The gap between the pay of CEOs and top executives and the average pay of their companies' workers has grown into a yawning chasm compared with the ratio just a couple of decades ago.]]></description>
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							<title><![CDATA[Waxman's Departure Marks End of an Era]]></title>
							<link>http://www.nationaljournal.com/washington-inside-out/waxman-s-departure-marks-the-end-of-an-era-20140204</link>
							<guid><![CDATA[http://www.nationaljournal.com/washington-inside-out/waxman-s-departure-marks-the-end-of-an-era-20140204]]></guid>							
							<pubDate>Wed, 05 Feb 2014 00:00:00 -0600</pubDate>
							<author>Norm Ornstein</author>
							<description><![CDATA[I was introduced to Congress in 1965 by a newly minted professor at the University of Minnesota, Gene Eidenberg, who had come to the state fresh from a stint as an American Political Science Association congressional fellow working for the late Hale Boggs, the majority whip. Eidenberg sat across from D.B. Hardeman, a legendary figure who had earlier been the top assistant to Speaker Sam Rayburn. In his class on Congress, a charismatic and dynamic Eidenberg mesmerized me with his stories of life in Congress, of the larger-than-life figures he worked with and encountered, of the sheer magic and messiness of lawmaking.]]></description>
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							<title><![CDATA[What Obama's Next Three Years Will Look Like]]></title>
							<link>http://www.nationaljournal.com/washington-inside-out/how-obama-can-save-his-presidency-or-not-20140122</link>
							<guid><![CDATA[http://www.nationaljournal.com/washington-inside-out/how-obama-can-save-his-presidency-or-not-20140122]]></guid>							
							<pubDate>Thu, 23 Jan 2014 00:00:00 -0600</pubDate>
							<author>Norm Ornstein</author>
							<description><![CDATA[On the New York Times op-ed page, Norman J. Ornstein argues the pending challenge to President Obama&#194;&#146;s recess appointments &#194;&#147;represents the biggest threat to presidential power in decades&#194;&#148;&#194;&#150;something he views with alarm. He concedes the recess power was not intended to deal with political disputes between the president and the Senate, but only to allow presidents to appoint officials when it was impractical to summon the Senate back to Washington to confirm them. But he views the recess appointment power as &#194;&#147;a modest safety valve to ameliorate the worst abuses of Senate power&#194;&#148; when the opposition party controls the Senate.]]></description>
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							<title><![CDATA[Republicans' Obsession With Repeal Must Stop]]></title>
							<link>http://www.nationaljournal.com/washington-inside-out/congress-deserves-public-s-contempt-for-its-obsession-with-destroying-obamacare-20140108</link>
							<guid><![CDATA[http://www.nationaljournal.com/washington-inside-out/congress-deserves-public-s-contempt-for-its-obsession-with-destroying-obamacare-20140108]]></guid>							
							<pubDate>Thu, 09 Jan 2014 00:00:00 -0600</pubDate>
							<author>Norm Ornstein</author>
							<description><![CDATA[The House has scheduled all of 97 days in session before the November elections, with many of them being half days or pro forma ones. And Majority Leader Eric Cantor's memo to his troops outlining the plan for the year ahead made it clear that there is at most a bare-bones agenda, focused like a laser, yet again, on repealing or further sullying and delegitimizing Obamacare. The only possible good news coming out of that is that the obsessive focus on killing Obamacare may provide the excuse for House leaders to extend the debt ceiling without blackmail this time, by convincing their rank-and-file that it is the best way to avoid distractions and keep the focus on the health insurance law.]]></description>
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							<title><![CDATA[GOP's Unhealthy Bias Against Health Law]]></title>
							<link>http://www.nationaljournal.com/washington-inside-out/the-gop-s-unhealthy-bias-against-obamacare-20131113</link>
							<guid><![CDATA[http://www.nationaljournal.com/washington-inside-out/the-gop-s-unhealthy-bias-against-obamacare-20131113]]></guid>							
							<pubDate>Sat, 16 Nov 2013 00:00:00 -0600</pubDate>
							<author>Norm Ornstein</author>
							<description><![CDATA[The Upton bill scheduled for a vote in the House, which would give insurance companies the option of continuing for a year the health insurance plans they have just canceled, is the first significant Republican effort to reform instead of kill the Affordable Care Act. Of course, it has a major downside: The number of those populating the exchanges will be smaller, and less healthy, because the individuals who will most want to keep their plans are the ones insurance companies cherry-picked due to their good health.]]></description>
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							<title><![CDATA[Roberts Takes Us Back to the Bad Old Days]]></title>
							<link>http://www.nationaljournal.com/washington-inside-out/the-right-to-vote-20131030</link>
							<guid><![CDATA[http://www.nationaljournal.com/washington-inside-out/the-right-to-vote-20131030]]></guid>							
							<pubDate>Thu, 31 Oct 2013 00:00:00 -0500</pubDate>
							<author>Norm Ornstein</author>
							<description><![CDATA[It is becoming increasingly obvious that the Supreme Court decision in Shelby County v. Holder, which eviscerated the Voting Rights Act, is leading to a new era of voter suppression that parallels the pre-1960s era&mdash;this time affecting not just African-Americans but also Hispanic-Americans, women, and students, among others.The reasoning employed by Chief Justice John Roberts in Shelby County&mdash;that Section 5 of the act was such a spectacular success that it is no longer necessary&mdash;was the equivalent of taking down speed cameras and traffic lights and removing speed limits from a dangerous intersection because they had combined to reduce accidents and traffic deaths.]]></description>
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							<title><![CDATA[The Buck Stops With Obama]]></title>
							<link>http://www.nationaljournal.com/washington-inside-out/buck-stops-with-obama-on-rocky-rollout-of-health-care-plan-20131023</link>
							<guid><![CDATA[http://www.nationaljournal.com/washington-inside-out/buck-stops-with-obama-on-rocky-rollout-of-health-care-plan-20131023]]></guid>							
							<pubDate>Fri, 25 Oct 2013 00:00:00 -0500</pubDate>
							<author>Norm Ornstein</author>
							<description><![CDATA[The HealthCare.gov debacle has been thoroughly dissected so far by America's best health journalists and policy analysts. To be sure, every major rollout of a new or changed social policy, including Medicare itself, is rough and takes weeks or months to resolve. But this rollout is clearly worse, and, as we learn more about its history over the past six months and more, the failures in vision and execution, in the face of clear and blunt warnings of problems ahead, are striking and troubling. Go back, first, to Max Baucus's famous and widely distorted and misused "train wreck" comment in a hearing to Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius in April 2013. Contrary to Ted Cruz...]]></description>
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							<title><![CDATA[Radical GOP Out to Destroy Government]]></title>
							<link>http://www.nationaljournal.com/washington-inside-out/radical-republicans-wield-their-power-as-a-weapon-to-destroy-government-20131016?mrefid=LeadStoryTiles_medium</link>
							<guid><![CDATA[http://www.nationaljournal.com/washington-inside-out/radical-republicans-wield-their-power-as-a-weapon-to-destroy-government-20131016?mrefid=LeadStoryTiles_medium]]></guid>							
							<pubDate>Fri, 18 Oct 2013 00:00:00 -0500</pubDate>
							<author>Norm Ornstein</author>
							<description><![CDATA[Warning: I am going to vent again. I write this before the final votes on the Senate package, but after the House Republicans careened from one farce to another, and after another ratings agency, Fitch, threatened a U.S. credit downgrade based on the same compelling logic as Standard &amp; Poor&#194;&#146;s in 2011&#194;&#151;that the real concern is not default but our extraordinary political dysfunction. I thought about yet another column on this process, but realized that it would be both repetitive and untimely. So I will vent about something else. The costs of the prolonged government shutdown are broad and deep. They are there in national security and homeland security. The tough sanctions we have in place...]]></description>
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							<title><![CDATA[Stop Using Default as a Weapon]]></title>
							<link>http://www.nationaljournal.com/washington-inside-out/congress-must-stop-using-default-as-a-weapon-20131009?mrefid=LeadStoryTiles_large</link>
							<guid><![CDATA[http://www.nationaljournal.com/washington-inside-out/congress-must-stop-using-default-as-a-weapon-20131009?mrefid=LeadStoryTiles_large]]></guid>							
							<pubDate>Thu, 10 Oct 2013 00:00:00 -0500</pubDate>
							<author>Norm Ornstein</author>
							<description><![CDATA[How do we get out of this mess? We know it won&rsquo;t be easy, and we know that there is a tangible chance that we will default. As a top House Republican staffer told National Review&rsquo;s Robert Costa the other day, &ldquo;It&rsquo;s the House of indecision. We don&rsquo;t have the votes for a big deal, small deal, or short-term deal.&rdquo; I will get to one possible way out, but first I need to vent. To begin, this is entirely an engineered crisis perpetrated by House Republicans with Senate allies, hatched, as we now know, by outside individuals and groups including Ed Meese, Heritage Action, and the Koch brothers. We know that John Boehner really did not want a shutdown, and that...]]></description>
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							<title><![CDATA[The Republican Hardliners Are Radicals]]></title>
							<link>http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2013/10/the-republican-hardliners-arent-conservatives-theyre-radicals/280217/</link>
							<guid><![CDATA[http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2013/10/the-republican-hardliners-arent-conservatives-theyre-radicals/280217/]]></guid>							
							<pubDate>Thu, 03 Oct 2013 00:00:00 -0500</pubDate>
							<author>Norm Ornstein</author>
							<description><![CDATA[In their third iteration of shutdown poker, House Republicans eagerly seized on a new approach: to demand the removal of all subsidies for members of Congress and their staffs for health insurance. They framed this as treating Congress just like other Americans. It is utter nonsense. Most Americans have health insurance through their employers, and the lion&rsquo;s share of their insurance premiums are paid &mdash; tax free &mdash; by their employers. Nothing in the Affordable Care Act will change this. Members of Congress and their staff have traditionally been treated the same as other federal employees; they purchase insurance on the federal employees health insurance marketplace, with...]]></description>
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							<title><![CDATA[House Republicans' Actions Are Shameful]]></title>
							<link>http://www.nationaljournal.com/washington-inside-out/congress-s-fiscal-fiasco-forces-americans-to-wear-badge-of-shame-20130918</link>
							<guid><![CDATA[http://www.nationaljournal.com/washington-inside-out/congress-s-fiscal-fiasco-forces-americans-to-wear-badge-of-shame-20130918]]></guid>							
							<pubDate>Fri, 20 Sep 2013 00:00:00 -0500</pubDate>
							<author>Norm Ornstein</author>
							<description><![CDATA[As readers of my past columns know, I was not exactly optimistic as we approached crunch time over the debt limit in 2011. But I am far more pessimistic now. At a dinner I attended Monday night with a host of those individuals deeply involved in fiscal matters, it became clear that there are no talks going on now&#194;&#151;neither formal nor back channel&#194;&#151;to avoid a series of crises over spending and the debt ceiling. The House majority is in profound disarray, unable to muster majorities for anything on the spending front as the new fiscal year approaches.]]></description>
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