In less than a week, Congressional Republicans have taken two unprecedented steps to undermine the foreign policy of a sitting American president. Last Tuesday, they offered Capitol Hill as a global stage to a foreign leader--Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel--to sabotage the U.S.-led nuclear talks with Iran. And this weekend, 47 GOP Senators sent […]

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu arrived in Washington with two transparent objectives on his agenda. First, of course, is to secure his reelection back home. The second, aided and abetted by Republicans (and many Democrats) in Congress, is to torpedo a potential deal over Iran's nuclear program. (Should he succeed in scuttling the P5+1 negotiations, […]

On Tuesday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will deliver an unprecedented address to the United States Congress. Now, there's nothing new about Netanyahu inserting himself directly into the American political process. In 1998, the Israeli PM met in Washington with American evangelicals to push back on the peace process in a move organizer Jerry Falwell […]

As Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu prepares his Congressional address, other members of his government are joining his campaign to torpedo a potential U.S. nuclear deal with Iran. This week, Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon warned that "every deal that will be signed between the West and this messianic and apocalyptic regime will strike a severe […]

Last year, IRS chief John Koskinen warned about the impact of his agency's shriveling budget. "I have not figured out either philosophically or psychologically," he lamented, "why nobody seems to care whether we collect the revenue or not." That was before Congressional Republicans slashed its funding for the fifth straight year. Now, one year after […]

The Associated Press on Friday reported on the latest developments in the "increasingly nasty grudge match" between Benjamin Netanyahu and Barack Obama over the Israeli Prime Minister's March 3 speech to Congress designed to sabotage American negotiations with Iran. But the real issue with the GOP's invitation to the Likud leader isn't about a clash […]

The year 2010 was huge for Republicans, and not just because of their overwhelming triumph in the midterm elections. Five years ago, the GOP made two very big promises to the American people. On the very day President Obama signed the Affordable Care Act (ACA) into law on March 23, 2010, then-Senate Minority Leader Mitch […]

When Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu delivers his address to Congress, his objectives will be two-fold. While President Obama is trying to avoid a U.S. war with Iran, Bibi wants to start one. (As his Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon put it last year, "The one who should lead the campaign against Iran is the U.S.") […]

Less than one month ago, Republican Senator and possible 2016 presidential candidate Lindsey Graham (R-SC) traveled to Jerusalem to deliver a simple message to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu: "the Congress will follow your lead." Follow Bibi's lead, that is, on policy towards Iran. And now, just as the U.S. and its international partners enter […]

As 2015 opens, the American economy seems poised for robust economic expansion. Strong GDP growth and job creation, falling first-time jobless claims, surging stocks and (finally) rising wages show the Obama recovery from the Bush recession which began in late 2007 is starting to hit on all cylinders. And to be sure, it is the […]