http://insiderinterviews.nationaljournal.com/ en Copyright 2012 Thu, 07 Oct 2010 19:00:02 GMT http://www.sixapart.com/movabletype/ http://www.rssboard.org/rss-specification Updated on October 12 at 10:50 a.m. National Journal Group's Reid Wilson and Susan Davis took an in-depth look at the critical House and Senate races at a National Journal Live event today. Part 2 Watch highlights of the event after the jump. http://insiderinterviews.nationaljournal.com/2010/10/event-midterm-cram-session.php http://insiderinterviews.nationaljournal.com/2010/10/event-midterm-cram-session.php Thu, 07 Oct 2010 19:00:02 GMT Updated at 5:38 p.m. Join us as National Journal Editorial Director Ronald Brownstein and a panel of experts discuss common myths in K-12 education policy. In addition to debunking myths, the panel will examine how federal investment can improve access to quality education and increase college and career preparedness rates among high school graduates. View results from National Journal's September Education Poll Paul G. Vallas, superintendent of the Recovery School District of Louisiana gives a keynote talk. Brownstein and Vallas sit down for a discussion. Education experts and policymakers discuss how to measure student achievement and teacher effectiveness. View highlights http://insiderinterviews.nationaljournal.com/2010/09/myths-vs-reality-policy-soluti.php http://insiderinterviews.nationaljournal.com/2010/09/myths-vs-reality-policy-soluti.php Wed, 29 Sep 2010 16:00:00 GMT Updated at 5:50 p.m. As we near the end of the 111th Congress and begin preparing for the start of the 112th, comprehensive energy legislation remains high on policymakers' 'to-do' list. America faces several key challenges that raise the question: What are the best new energy solutions, and what is the right energy mix for the future? National Journal hosts a discussion with featured guests Sen. Mark Begich, D-Alaska, and Sen. Sam Brownback, R-Kan., to examine the future of American energy, sustainable solutions to meet our energy needs, the viability of new energy sources, the problem of energy security and http://insiderinterviews.nationaljournal.com/2010/09/energy-environment-and-the-eco.php http://insiderinterviews.nationaljournal.com/2010/09/energy-environment-and-the-eco.php Tue, 28 Sep 2010 19:00:00 GMT Updated at 12:53 p.m. on Sept. 24 The health care reform bill signed into law this year places an emphasis on preventive care and wellness. But as clinicians are encouraged to spend more on early detection, many wonder how much prevention will actually save in health costs over time. The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act allocates $15 billion over 10 years to the Prevention and Wellness Public Health Fund, which is designed to combat obesity, smoking and other preventable health concerns. Though working to prevent diseases could cut costs for medication and doctor visits, according to Dan Crippen, former http://insiderinterviews.nationaljournal.com/2010/09/policy-summit-are-we-counting.php http://insiderinterviews.nationaljournal.com/2010/09/policy-summit-are-we-counting.php Tue, 21 Sep 2010 16:00:02 GMT Updated at 2:00 p.m. on Sept. 20 As the six-month anniversary of the passage of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act approaches this week, five new provisions of the bill are going into effect, and Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius is trying to make the case that the legislation will improve health care around the country. "The bill is designed to put some stability around the existing market... fixing some of the features of the existing market that made health insurance really tenuous for a lot of people," Sebelius told National Journal Editorial Director Ronald Brownstein at http://insiderinterviews.nationaljournal.com/2010/09/event-six-month-checkup-with-s.php http://insiderinterviews.nationaljournal.com/2010/09/event-six-month-checkup-with-s.php Mon, 20 Sep 2010 18:00:00 GMT When Defense Secretary Robert Gates declared war on Pentagon bloat this summer, he put Ashton Carter, the Department of Defense's top arms buyer, in charge of the campaign. A theoretical physicist by training and former Rhodes Scholar, Carter serves as the under secretary of Defense for acquisition, technology and logistics, one of the most powerful jobs in the Pentagon. He oversees hundreds of billions of dollars' worth of programs, from the purchase of thousands of armored vehicles for Afghanistan to the hiring of the tech-savvy contractors who help manage military computer networks. Like his boss, Carter openly acknowledges that the http://insiderinterviews.nationaljournal.com/2010/09/pentagons-top-arms-buyer-on-cu.php http://insiderinterviews.nationaljournal.com/2010/09/pentagons-top-arms-buyer-on-cu.php Obama Administration Fri, 17 Sep 2010 10:35:00 GMT Updated at 4:20 p.m. on Sept. 16 White House officials anticipate that the new health care law will stimulate growth in the health industry and create jobs across other industries. According to White House Office of Health Reform director Nancy-Ann DeParle, the estimated 3.2 million jobs that will be created in the health sector through 2018 will be augmented by investments and savings in the Affordable Care Act. "If we are able to restrain costs by eliminating the waste and inefficiency, not eliminating the important and critical care, we can have the same real amount of health care with resources http://insiderinterviews.nationaljournal.com/2010/09/policy-summit-prescription-for.php http://insiderinterviews.nationaljournal.com/2010/09/policy-summit-prescription-for.php Mon, 13 Sep 2010 17:30:00 GMT Updated at 9:05 a.m. on Sept. 13. As the United States undergoes the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression, experts say the changes in social climate are what set this recession apart. Atlantic Media Political Director Ronald Brownstein moderated a panel discussion at the National Press Club today that assessed the results of the latest Allstate-National Journal Heartland Monitor poll. The survey was conducted across the country to gauge how middle-class Americans are experiencing the economy. A jarring 70 percent of Americans said that a relative or close friend has lost his or her job as a result of http://insiderinterviews.nationaljournal.com/2010/09/whats-next-for-middle-america.php http://insiderinterviews.nationaljournal.com/2010/09/whats-next-for-middle-america.php Tue, 07 Sep 2010 16:19:48 GMT Congress will not act on comprehensive climate legislation for at least the next two years, and longer if a Republican becomes president in 2012, says environmental activist Bill McKibben. So McKibben, who founded the international climate campaign 350.org, is advising his fellow green groups to stop worrying about lawmakers for now and start working to change the minds of the voters who elect them. McKibben, who will be in Washington this week to advocate action on global warming, said climate talks on both the domestic and global levels have all but shut down since Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid punted http://insiderinterviews.nationaljournal.com/2010/09/time-for-greens-to-focus-on-vo.php http://insiderinterviews.nationaljournal.com/2010/09/time-for-greens-to-focus-on-vo.php Tue, 07 Sep 2010 11:00:00 GMT In late August, Americans watched as the last U.S. combat brigade rolled out of Iraq, officially ending Operation Iraqi Freedom. The withdrawal of 50,000 troops and the closing or transferring of hundreds of military bases in Iraq this year is one of the largest post-combat redeployments of U.S. forces in decades. Remarkably, the withdrawal from Iraq that culminated on August 31 was not even the primary focus of the support officers at U.S. Central Command. They were more concerned with the flooding that had deluged huge swaths of Pakistan, displacing millions of people and restricting one of two major supply http://insiderinterviews.nationaljournal.com/2010/09/in-and-out-in-afghanistan.php http://insiderinterviews.nationaljournal.com/2010/09/in-and-out-in-afghanistan.php Fri, 03 Sep 2010 17:00:54 GMT Contrary to popular opinion, Sarah Palin is not the leader of the Tea Party movement, says Mark Meckler, co-founder of the Tea Party Patriots. And, although his organization bills itself as the "official home" of the movement, Meckler is quick to point out that he is not the leader, either. While Palin and D.C.-based organizations like FreedomWorks soak up most of the publicity, Meckler says the Tea Party is a truly grassroots phenomenon led by its members. Fresh off the Tea Party-centered activity in Washington last weekend, Meckler spoke with NationalJournal.com about what he sees as misconceptions surrounding the movement, http://insiderinterviews.nationaljournal.com/2010/09/meckler-tea-party-is-about-peo.php http://insiderinterviews.nationaljournal.com/2010/09/meckler-tea-party-is-about-peo.php Thu, 02 Sep 2010 11:15:00 GMT Updated at 8:05 a.m. As president and CEO of FreedomWorks, the political action committee responsible for the Tea Party's Taxpayer March on Washington last September, Matt Kibbe knows something about rallies. And he says he doesn't understand the controversy surrounding Glenn Beck's "Restoring Honor" rally, which will coincide with the anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr.'s 1963 "I Have a Dream" speech. Though Beck has advertised the event as a nonpolitical celebration of "our heroes, our heritage and our future," the political subtext of a Tea Party-identified rally at the Lincoln Memorial on Aug. 28 is ripe, and some civil http://insiderinterviews.nationaljournal.com/2010/08/tea-party-leader-we-all-shared.php http://insiderinterviews.nationaljournal.com/2010/08/tea-party-leader-we-all-shared.php Fri, 27 Aug 2010 10:30:00 GMT At some point in the next week, BP will likely initiate the "bottom kill" procedure that permanently plugs the Macondo well, bringing to an end the worst maritime oil spill in American history. No more 24/7 video of oil gushing into the Gulf of Mexico. No more weekly tutorials on the intricacies of deepwater oil drilling. No more sludge cloud shadowing the Obama administration's every move in the 2010 summer of discontent. Now only the clean-up and long-term repercussions remain to sort out. Perhaps no one has a better first-hand grasp of the Deepwater Horizon disaster than retired Adm. Thad http://insiderinterviews.nationaljournal.com/2010/08/deepwater-horizons-enduring-le.php http://insiderinterviews.nationaljournal.com/2010/08/deepwater-horizons-enduring-le.php Obama Administration Tue, 17 Aug 2010 21:50:00 GMT Mary Kay Henry, the new president of the 2.2 million-member Service Employees International Union, stopped by National Journal on August 2 to talk about health care reform, immigration, her predecessor Andy Stern, and the future of organized labor. The union, one of the fastest-growing in North America, represents health care workers ranging from nurses to lab techs; state and local government employees, including bus drivers and day care workers; and residential and commercial building security officers and cleaners. Below are highlights from the interview. Subscribers can read the full interview here. http://insiderinterviews.nationaljournal.com/2010/08/seiu-chief-on-changing-working.php http://insiderinterviews.nationaljournal.com/2010/08/seiu-chief-on-changing-working.php Fri, 06 Aug 2010 12:00:45 GMT It's a long shot, but if Republicans pull off an inside straight in November and pick up the 10 Senate seats needed to grab the majority, GOP senators almost certainly would make the soft-spoken but tough-as-nails Mitch McConnell of Kentucky the next majority leader. McConnell, 68, the minority leader, wouldn't bite when asked what his agenda would be if his party gains control. Though confident, he doesn't want to be presumptuous. In an interview on August 2 in his spacious office in the Capitol, the bespectacled lawmaker made it clear that he thinks that President Obama has steered the country http://insiderinterviews.nationaljournal.com/2010/08/mcconnell-not-spiking-the-ball.php http://insiderinterviews.nationaljournal.com/2010/08/mcconnell-not-spiking-the-ball.php Senate the Hill Fri, 06 Aug 2010 12:00:31 GMT