leadership

Let’s say you’re a public official who wants to concoct a secret identity so you may pass among the commons, at least on Twitter, undetected. What’s one to do in choosing that all-important double’s name? 

It’s become more than an academic question with the news that Sen. Mitt Romney let slip during a recent profile that he devised a secret Twitter account so he can follow conversations happening on the social media website. “What do they call me, a lurker?” he asked The Atlantic’s McKay Coppins.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., walks from his office to the Senate floor in the Capitol for a vote. (Photo By Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call)

Senate leaders plan to jump-start the stalled appropriations process by taking up a package of four spending bills this week that have strong bipartisan support.

Appropriations Chairman Richard C. Shelby, an Alabama Republican, announced plans to bring to the floor a package that combines the fiscal 2020 Agriculture, Commerce-Justice-Science, Interior-Environment, and Transportation-HUD bills. The Appropriations Committee had advanced all four measures on unanimous votes.

There is no evidence to support former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s suggesting that Democratic Rep. and presidential candidate Tulsi Gabbard is being supported by the Russian government, President Donald Trump said Monday.

Clinton, the party’s 2016 presidential nominee who lost to Trump, recently criticized the Hawaii lawmaker and said she clearly is “the favorite of the Russians” among the still-crowded Democratic primary field.

The Supreme Court on Monday officially wiped out a lower court ruling from April that had struck down Michigan’s congressional map as giving an unconstitutional boost to Republicans.

The high court’s move was expected, since the justices decided in June that federal courts can’t rein in politicians who draw political maps to entrench a partisan advantage.

Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer is seeking details from the acting Director of National Intelligence and the intelligence community inspector general about efforts to protect the whistleblower who provided information about the conversation between President Donald Trump and the president of Ukraine.

The New York Democrat expressed concern amid ongoing and public attacks from Trump and threats to expose his or her identity. 

OPINION — In 2008, days after political newcomer Mick Mulvaney won a seat in the South Carolina state Senate, he told a local newspaper that many voters had suggested that he run for the U.S. House seat held by Democrat John Spratt instead. “I couldn’t stop laughing,” Mulvaney said. “I’m perfectly happy being in the Senate.”

But within a year, Mulvaney was not only challenging Spratt, he defeated him handily in 2010 on a message of reforming Washington and slashing federal spending. “There’s a few things I just think we all believe,” he said in one campaign ad. “We cannot continue to spend money we don’t have.”

This week the House will consider a package of sanctions against Turkey and an election security measure, while the Senate will finally bring some fiscal 2020 appropriations bills to the floor.

Meanwhile, the House’s impeachment inquiry marches on, with five witness depositions scheduled for this week. 

OPINION — Ambitious new programs are central to every presidential campaign, on the right or the left. Whether it’s a border wall or universal health care, voters want to hear what candidates will do and how they intend to pay for it. Of course, the latter part of that question often comes with an unspoken addendum: How will you pay for it — without taxing me?

For some, the answer has been to attack an industry that benefits public-sector pensions, universities and foundations without having to address the consequences of their policy proposals. But what might make for a good stump speech on the campaign trail can ultimately have a very real impact for millions of middle-class American families that stand to benefit most from a vibrant economy. Fortunately, there’s still plenty of time for leading candidates to study the capital flows driving new opportunities for American workers — and none stand out more than private equity.

A shaky ceasefire agreement with Turkey to halt its attacks on the Syrian Kurds does not appear to have done much to slake lawmakers’ appetite for imposing sanctions on the longtime NATO ally.

President Donald Trump was quick to declare victory Thursday after Ankara agreed to a five-day ceasefire in its attacks on Kurds in northern Syria. Kurdish fighters are supposed to use that window, which the Turkish government is describing not as a ceasefire but as a “pause,” to withdraw to roughly 20 miles south of the Turkish border.