“Lame-Duck” Session off to a Rocky START
The 111th Congress returned to Capitol Hill yesterday to deal with a long list of unfinished legislative business in a “lame-duck” session. Congress is likely to be in session for this week and 1-2 weeks after Thanksgiving before adjourning. In addition to dealing with all twelve FY 2011 appropriations bills, Congress must also decide whether to extend President Bush’s tax cuts and whether to approve the New START Treaty. Three new Senators join Congress immediately: Senators Chris Coons (D-DE) and Joe Manchin (D-WV) were sworn in yesterday, and Mark Kirk (R-IL) will be sworn in later this month. Congress is likely to pass another Continuing Resolution extending into the New Year, which means the International Affairs Budget for this fiscal year would remain at the FY 2010 enacted level of $51.1 billion, $4.9 billion less than the levels approved by the House and Senate Appropriations Committees earlier this year. Jack Lew’s nomination to be OMB director is still pending in the Senate, as Senator Mary Landrieu (D-LA) continues her hold on his nomination. On Thursday, the House Foreign Affairs Committee is scheduled to hold a hearing on the transition to a civilian-led U.S. presence in Iraq.
Must Reads
Who’s In the News
Back to a Bipartisan Foreign Policy (Senator Joseph Lieberman – Wall Street Journal)
This year’s midterm elections marked the first time since 9/11 that national security was not a major consideration for American voters. But it is precisely in the realm of foreign policy and national security that we may have the greatest opportunities for bipartisan cooperation between President Obama and resurgent Republicans in Congress. Seizing these opportunities will require both parties to break out of a destructive cycle that has entrapped them since the end of the Cold War.
Smart Power
Tough Cuts: Balancing the Budget (The takeaway.org)
The federal budget deficit continues to grow, and lawmakers from across the political spectrum are discussing ways to decrease spending and increase revenues. This week, The Takeaway picks several possible budget changes (inspired by The New York Times budget puzzle) and explores what the implications would be, were we to adopt them.
The Case for a Strong and Effective International Affairs Budget (USGLC – The Will and the Wallet Blog)
As the dust settles from the midterm elections and Congress returns this week for their “lame-duck” session, the freshmen members of the 112th Congress are also making their first appearance in town to begin their orientation process. With all of the hyper-partisan rhetoric from the campaign season, the big question in Washington is whether or not the members of a new divided Congress will be able to agree on anything.
Politics/Foreign Policy
Rep McKeon: Defense budgets must go up, not come down (Josh Rogan – Foreign Policy)
The incoming head of the House Armed Services Committee, Rep. Buck McKeon (R-CA) said that he will use his new perch to push for increases in defense spending — beyond what the White House and Defense Secretary Robert Gates are calling for. McKeon, speaking at a policy conference organized by the Foreign Policy Initiative, a conservative think tank, said that while he supports Gates’ drive to find $100 billion in efficiencies within the defense budget, he is worried that, once the defense secretary identifies possible cuts, deficit-minded officials and lawmakers will seek to take that money away from the Pentagon. “I am extremely concerned that no matter what the intentions of Secretary Gates may be, the administration and some in Congress will not allow the secretary to keep the savings identified in his efficiencies initiative,” McKeon said. “Sustaining growth for the Department of Defense requires leadership from the White House and the Office of Management and Budget. Once savings from this efficiencies initiative are identified, what’s to stop them from taking this money, too?” In fact, the two co-chairs of the president’s Debt Commission proposed last week to divert this money away from the defense budget. They said the $100 billion Gates is looking to save should be applied directly to the deficit, and also proposed other drastic cuts in defense programs and entitlements as part of the overall effort to solve the nation’s fiscal problems.
Senate leadership unchanged for 112th Congress (CNN Wire Staff – CNN.com)
The top Democratic and Republican Senate leadership will remain the same for the incoming 112th Congress.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nevada, and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Kentucky, were chosen by their Democratic and Republican colleagues, respectively, to head their party caucuses again. Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin remains the chamber’s No. 2 Democrat; New York’s Charles Schumer will keep his post as the third-ranking Democrat, Reid announced. Arizona Sen. John Kyl and Tennessee Sen. Lamar Alexander will once again fill the second and third highest slots in the GOP chain of command, McConnell said. Addressing reporters on Capitol Hill, Reid urged the Republicans to work for bipartisan cooperation next year — something, he asserted, they largely failed to do in the current Congress. “The American people elected us to get along,” he said. “It’s not the Democratic way or the highway. It’s not the Republican way or the highway.”
Asia Rises, America Fantasizes (Michael Brenner – Huffington Post)
Asia is on our mind. President Obama’s troubled sojourn highlighted the compelling truth that the road to the global future runs through Asia. For the United States, it will be a hazardous one — risky for America and risky for the world. There is no GPS available. So here are just a few guideposts that may help intellectual navigation. Juxtaposing ‘aged’ Europe to a vibrant, young Asia is a shorthand formulation that conceals as much as it reveals. Obviously, in civilizational terms Asia is much older than most of Europe. We are talking about those parts of Asia, especially China and India, whose striking economic development now is transforming them from debilitated societies into thriving societies. The phenomenon is as important in terms of their sense of self (and how others imagine them) as it is in tangible terms. The Europe of the EU is much wealthier than the newcomers (Japan is in a separate category) and will remain so for quite some time. The notion of Europe as one big retirement home is highly misleading. Indeed, within the imagery of the West it glows more attractively than the US for many peoples.
