Correspondent

Fawn Johnson

Correspondent

Fawn Johnson is a correspondent for National Journal, covering a range of issues including immigration, transportation and education. Johnson is a long-time student of Washington policymaking, previously reporting for Dow Jones Newswires and the Wall Street Journal where she covered financial regulation and telecommunications. She is an alumnus of CongressDaily, where she covered health care, labor, and immigration. Johnson first covered Congress at BNA Inc., where she covered labor, welfare, immigration, and asbestos liability. She has an M.A. from the Annenberg School for Communication at University of Pennsylvania and a B.A. from Bates College.

Fawn Johnson's Latest Posts

Immigration Law May Be Tough on the Poor

By Fawn Johnson

Don’t expect Congress to dive too deeply into the politically unforgiving topic of how the United States treats poor people as it begins debating immigration legislation. But that question is always lurking beneath the surface. Read More »

They Don't Learn It If They Don't Like You

By Fawn Johnson

"Kids don't learn from people they don't like," said Rita Pierson, a teacher and anti-poverty advocate in opening an hour-long television program devoted to major themes in teaching and learning. Her presentation is available on t...

Waiting for Foxx

By Fawn Johnson

President Obama's nominee for Transportation Secretary, Charlotte Mayor Anthony Foxx, puts an end to speculation about who will fill the shoes of the outgoing secretary Ray LaHood. (What happened to Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villara...

Debt-Ceiling Fight May Flare This Week

By Billy House

House Republicans will push action on a bill signaling no retreat from their demand for spending cuts as a condition to any ceiling hike. Read More »

Questioning the Test

By Fawn Johnson

It's test-taking time in the Washington, D.C. public schools, an annual ritual that my fifth grader is learning to despise. The DC Comprehensive Assessment System, known as DC CAS, is taken in mid-April for all public school student...

Walking Back From the Sequester

By Fawn Johnson

Rule Number One in Politics: Do not mess with an elected official's local airport or their flight home. With this tenet, we continue the saga of the Federal Aviation Administration and its (good?/bad?) handling of the automatic budg...

Asylum and Entry/Exit Systems Get Another Look in Congress After Boston

By Fawn Johnson

The impact of the bombings on the immigration debate has narrowed in on just two isolated policy arenas. Read More »

Now the House Takes On Immigration

By Fawn Johnson

The Senate got lots of attention for its Gang of Eight. Now the House is taking a crack at reform. Read More »

How Republicans Can Win Over Their Party on Immigration

By Fawn Johnson

It’s a combination of charm and fear tactics. Republican defenders of an immigration overhaul are talking up their ability to write into law a tough enforcement strategy. Read More »

Earmark Woes Resurface

By Fawn Johnson

Transportation chiefs in Congress were a bit stymied over the last two years when they crafted a surface transportation bill that didn't have earmarks. House Republicans were resolute in their determination to get rid of the legisla...

What is Financial Literacy?

By Fawn Johnson

President Obama has declared April to be Financial Literacy Month. The goal is to "ensure all Americans have the skills to manage their fiscal resources effectively and avoid deceptive or predatory practices," he said in his proclamation. Read More »

Immigration Debate May Grow More Complicated

By Billy House

With Congress focused on immigration reform this week, the national security aspects of the issue are moving to the forefront amid efforts by some conservatives to inject the Boston Marathon bombing suspects into that debate. Read More »

How Refugees Come Into the United States

By Fawn Johnson

The United States has a fairly generous policy in admitting foreigners to the country as refugees, harkening back to the 1950s when several laws were passed to provide for people who escaped communist regimes. Read More »

After Boston Marathon Bombings, What Next For Immigration Reform?

By Fawn Johnson

“We screwed up. We can’t afford to screw up again,” said Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, said on Friday. Read More »

GUN CONTROL

The Silver Lining in the Gun-Control Defeat

By Fawn Johnson

Advocates believe that, even though background checks failed in the Senate debate, public sentiment will eventually vindicate them. Read More »

Gun Legislation Rejected in the Senate

By Fawn Johnson

The Senate on Wednesday rejected every single gun-related proposal put before it, even the bipartisan proposal to expand background checks to Internet and gun show sales. Read More »

IMMIGRATION

Deportees Can Come Back Under Draft Immigration Bill

By Fawn Johnson

Immigrants who were in the United States before Dec. 31, 2011 and were deported for noncriminal reasons could return to the country in a provisional legal status if they a legal spouse or child in the country or if they qualify for ...

'Sin Tax' for Pre-Schoolers

By Fawn Johnson

California decided to tax each pack of cigarettes an extra 50 cents to try to get every child into preschool. That was 15 years ago. Last week, President Obama proposed taking a similar plan nationwide. Read More »

The Game Changer Hidden in Obama's Budget

By Fawn Johnson

I have to admit, I was barely able to keep my eyes from glazing over when I scanned the White House's budget proposal for transportation. It's not that I don't buy the argument that infrastructure investment is important and necessa...

New U.S. citizens are sworn-in at an induction ceremony in Pomona, Calif., in January.

IMMIGRATION

Why a Messed Up Immigration Bill Could Still Pass

By Fawn Johnson

Only one thing really matters in the immigration bill that a bipartisan group of eight senators will unveil this week—11 million immigrants living in the United States without papers who fear deportation every day. Give them a bre...

3 Strong Pro-Gun Arguments to Watch

By Fawn Johnson

Republicans are raising complex questions about mental health, federal enforcement, and gun-purchase records that deserve the thorough and intense debate they are about to receive. Read More »

Background Checks Take Center Stage in Gun Debate

By Fawn Johnson

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Boston Mayor Thomas Menino wanted background checks when background checks weren’t cool. Read More »

Why There's New Hope For Gun Control

By Fawn Johnson

No matter what happens with the legislation being taken up by the Senate on Thursday, the sheer heft of the gun conversation could itself be a major victory for the gun-control movement. Read More »

GOP Filibuster of Gun Bill Begins to Fizzle

By Shane Goldmacher

The planned GOP filibuster of gun-control legislation was losing steam on Tuesday, as more than half a dozen GOP lawmakers abandoned their conservative colleagues’ effort to block consideration of the bill. Read More »

Campuses Need International Flavor

By Fawn Johnson

The Senate is working on national immigration legislation that includes easier ways for foreign graduates of U.S. colleges and universities to stay in the country. President Obama wants foreign students in math, science, technology,...

Gas Taxes Are Still Here

By Fawn Johnson

Transportation gurus are fond of saying that the gas tax is a defunct, antiquated, good-for-nothing way of financing roads, bridges, and railways. They are right, of course, but sometimes I forget that despite all that, gas taxes st...

Agenda Is Stacked for Return of Congress; Obama Will Pile on More With His Budget

By Billy House

The prospects for renewed talks on a long-term deficit-reduction deal reach a pivotal point this week with the release Wednesday of President Obama’s budget plan, which offers cuts to Social Security and Medicare in the hope of so...

IMMIGRATION

The Rubio Trap

By Fawn Johnson and Shane Goldmacher

Liberal groups have one message for Democrats negotiating with the Florida Republican: Don't give in. Read More »

Once Again, the NRA Is Winning the Gun-Control Debate

By Fawn Johnson

At dueling press conferences, gun-rights supporters sound confident. Read More »

Policing Our Schools

By Fawn Johnson

With the National Rifle Association offering its prescription for safer schools this week, a group of civil rights activists preemptively weighed in on the issue last week, arguing that adding armed police to schools will not do any...

Skin in the Game, Infrastructure Style

By Fawn Johnson

President Obama upped his own ante on public-private partnerships last Friday, plugging a major construction project that will allow PortMiami in Florida to be linked directly to Florida's interstate highways through an under-the-ba...

3 Ways Work Visas Could Still Blow Up the Immigration Bill

By Fawn Johnson

"Future Flow" has always lurked as the ogre that might not be tamed. Read More »

Big Labor and Big Business Have One Big Issue: Immigration Reform

By Fawn Johnson

It's a sign of the times: Immigration reform is now the number one issue for both the AFL-CIO and the Business Roundtable. Read More »

Why the Fight Over Work Visas Won't Doom the Immigration Bill

By Fawn Johnson

Make no mistake. The immigration bill being crafted by the “Gang of Eight” senators will include foreign work visas despite warnings from both business and labor that their talks over the issue have broken down. Read More »

Common Core Standards Are Useless Without Action

By Fawn Johnson

The Common Core State Standards offer the perfect case study in misplaced expectations. The school standards that 46 states are implementing have been billed by advocates as the answer to the country's K-12 ills and by critics as th...

Oh Goody, a D Plus!

By Fawn Johnson

The American Society of Civil Engineers released its 2013 Report Card for America's Infrastructure last week, giving the nation a D+ overall for the state of its roads, bridges, levees, aviation, dams, energy, etc. Generally, that...

Border Triggers Could Sink Immigration Deal

By Fawn Johnson

Republicans' insistence that border-security benchmarks be met before legalizing 11-12 million illegal immigrants could sink the emerging compromise measure. Read More »

Student Loans on the Market

By Fawn Johnson

It may seem like sacrilege to subject the "good debt" of federal student loans to the ups and downs of market forces, but lawmakers eventually will have no choice. It's probably not a bad idea anyway. Read More »

It's a Sin to Fly

By Fawn Johnson

Here is a puzzling quandary: If an industry--say, airlines--struggles under federally-mandated taxes that must be added to the price of tickets, how can a federal agency--say the FAA-- not struggle under a mandatory 2.5 percent cut...

In Senate, Assault Weapons Are Complicated

By Fawn Johnson

The Senate Judiciary Committee’s vote Thursday approving an assault-weapons ban was a sham—if you think the purpose was to ban assault weapons. If you think the committee’s vote offered an opportunity for lawmakers to parse an...

Gun Owners’ ‘List’ Slows Background-Check Bill in Senate

By Fawn Johnson

If you expand background checks on gun purchases to private sales and Internet sales, what happens to “the list” of gun buyers? It could create a paper trail for every lawful gun owner in America. Read More »

Education the Louisiana Way

By Fawn Johnson

House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va., last Friday visited a private Catholic school, St. Mary's Academy in New Orleans, for a tour and a discussion with local education officials and families. The purpose of the visit, (gumbo an...

Let's Talk About Buy America

By Fawn Johnson

It's that time of year again. House Democrats convened a press conference last week introducing legislation to expand the "Buy America" requirements for infrastructure investments. In short, the lawmakers want to boost the American ...

IMMIGRATION

Citizenship Isn't Always Foremost What Undocumented Workers Want

By Fawn Johnson

They just want to do their jobs, cash their paychecks, and be left alone. Here's a view of the immigration debate from the kitchen of your favorite restaurant. Read More »

IMMIGRATION

What Undocumented Workers Really Want

By Fawn Johnson

It's not always citizenship. They just want to do their jobs, cash their paychecks, and be left alone. A view of the immigration debate from the kitchen of your favorite restaurant. Read More »

Job Training Takes on Partisan Flavor

By Fawn Johnson

The fight over how to update long-ignored job training programs lays bare the question of whether the law is worth the trouble at all. Read More »

Labrador Says Reform More Important Than Political Gain

By Fawn Johnson

At least one Republican leader on immigration in the House is ready to allow President Obama and Democrats to take credit for any reform efforts that might pass this year. Read More »

Amtrak Wins on Short Passes

By Fawn Johnson

Amtrak ridership has grown 55 percent since 1997. That is faster than any other transportation mode over the same time period. Here are some comparison figures: Driving, as measured by miles traveled, only grew by 16 percent. Domest...

Arne Duncan's Distracting Gaffe

By Fawn Johnson

Education Secretary Arne Duncan had a rough week. I can't recap his shenanigans leading up to the sequestration any better than Education Week's Alyson Klein. Check out her post on the topic here . Read More »

How Can Luddite Adults Help Digital-Savvy Teens?

By Fawn Johnson

I am one step ahead of my 10-year-old son on my iPhone skills, but that's only because I know my iTunes password and he doesn't. He can text faster on the cheap cell phone I bought him than he can type on the cheap laptop I bought h...

The Airport Canary in the Sequestration Coal Mine

By Fawn Johnson

Being pissed off at the airport is something we all understand, so that's probably why everyone from President Obama to former White House chief of staff Erskine Bowles is talking about how much worse it will be for air travelers wh...

'Fix It First' Fantasy

By Fawn Johnson

President Obama loves to invest in infrastructure. He has been asking for a $50 billion in "frontloaded" investments to repair bridges and roads for the past four years. The State of the Union address last week was no exception. His...

Holy Preschool, Batman

By Fawn Johnson

President Obama got religion on early childhood education last week, proposing for the first time in his State of the Union address that all four-year-olds have access to high quality preschool. His start point is slightly less am...

Why GOP Sees a Conspiracy As Environmental Groups Join Fight Against Immigration

By Fawn Johnson

Groups opposing proposals to legalize undocumented immigrants receive grant money from environmentalist population-control groups. It’s not a secret. You can find the evidence right there on the foundation websites. The immigratio...

The Most Important Policies In President Obama's 2013 State of the Union Address

By National Journal Staff

Everything you need to know from 2013's State of the Union address, from health care and the budget to immigration and guns. Read More »

Why Skills Matter, Politically

By Fawn Johnson

Since when did the conversation about education in the United States morph from leaving no child behind to finding and keeping science and engineering college majors? Answer: Since President Obama figured out that linking education ...

Stuck in Traffic? Welcome to the Club

By Fawn Johnson

Washington D.C., Los Angeles, San Francisco, New York City, and Boston rank at the top of the country's worst cities for traffic congestion, according to the most recent urban mobility report from the Texas A&M Transportation Inst...

Tension on School Closings

By Fawn Johnson

Give credit to Education Secretary Arne Duncan for showing up at a hearing last week where hundreds of irate students and parents complained that the department's position on closing schools has resulted in harm for low-income stude...

Future Travelers

By Fawn Johnson

Who knows what the kids are going to come up with next? Some of them think owning a car is a big bother and would rather rent or borrow one. Others don't even have a driver's license! Their smart phones are an extension of their bra...

Lindsey Graham: An Immigration-Reform Survivor

By Elahe Izadi and Fawn Johnson

Graham's bipartisan bona fides aren't (yet) hurting him in a primary back home. Read More »

Rigorous Teacher Evaluations (With Videotape)

By Fawn Johnson

Two years ago, I sat in the 8th floor of the Watergate building at a National Journal dinner on education. The main attractions of the event were researchers from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, who were about a year into a...

ANALYSIS: CONGRESS

Gun-Buyer Background Checks Both Effective and Politically Achievable

By Fawn Johnson

Lawmakers are too focused on banning assault weapons. Improved access to information about potential gun owners could be more effective. Read More »

GUN CONTROL

Democrats Throwing Out Lots of Options on Gun Control

By Fawn Johnson

Democrats are throwing out lots of options on gun control, hoping that one or two of their ideas might stick. Republicans are waiting to see what happens. Read More »

Pre-K for Everyone?

By Fawn Johnson

It goes without saying in education circles that the earlier a child acquires language and literacy skills the better. Toddlers who grow up in vocabulary-poor environments, often economically poor and minority families, find themsel...

FAA's High-Tech Next Steps

By Fawn Johnson

The Federal Aviation Administration finally got a break. The acting administrator for the last year, Michael Huerta, was confirmed by the Senate to a five-year term to run the agency last week. His nomination finally cleared when Se...

Hispanics, Administration Sets Sights on Next Immigration Fight

By Fawn Johnson

Like everyone else, the Hispanic community breathed a sigh of relief when the House passed legislation late on Tuesday to avert a tax increase for households making less than $450,000. Latinos are now bracing for the next stage of t...

ANALYSIS

Gun-Control Converts Could Pave Way to New Laws

By Fawn Johnson and Alex Roarty

Members of Congress are reexamining their opinions on gun laws and some traditionally anti-gun-control lawmakers — Democrats and Republicans alike — will be central to any effort to ban assault weapons and limit high-capacity am...

Five Sleeper Issues Washington Could Face in 2013

By Amy Harder, Stacy Kaper, Fawn Johnson, Coral Davenport and Catherine Hollander

The incoming Congress has big challenges ahead. But don’t be distracted by the bright shiny objects that are tax reform, entitlement reform, and maybe even gun control. There are some important issues for the U.S. economy and U.S....

Incessant Optimism Helps Lawmakers Cope

By Fawn Johnson

Optimism from some unknown source seemed to provide House members the solace to keep going as they traipsed from their offices (or numbered cubicles!) to the House floor and back to vote on post office names or kudos to winning base...

GUN VIOLENCE

NRA Offers Free Advice on Arming Schools

By Fawn Johnson

Any hope of the NRA negotiating with President Obama or members of Congress on gun legislation were dashed with the remarks of NRA Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre. Read More »

Democrats Hope Gun Task Force Can Attract Republicans

By Fawn Johnson

More than two dozen House Democrats stood on a podium platform inside the Capitol Wednesday begging their colleagues and their constituents not to forget the tragedies in Newtown, Conn., Aurora, Colo., and Tucson, Ariz., when Con...

GUN VIOLENCE

Magazine Clips, Background Checks Lead Gun Talk

By Fawn Johnson

All of a sudden a dam broke, and now it’s OK for members of Congress to talk about guns. The discussion is pretty civil, and everyone hopes that means sanity will prevail when it comes to regulating firearms. Read More »

POLITICS

Obama Now Has Freedom to Push on Gun Control

By Fawn Johnson

President Obama offered his boldest statements to date on gun control on Sunday evening in Newtown, Conn. Always a supporter, never a doer on this particular topic, Obama has the freedom now to push a little bit harder on an issue t...

Cliff Dwellers, Is This a Big Deal?

By Fawn Johnson

Cliff metaphors abound these days, thanks to our members of Congress. In my travels, I've run across the deportation cliff, the human cliff, and yes, the transportation cliff. (Thank you, Rep. John Mica, R-Fla.). To be clear, there ...

Protect Our Kids

By Fawn Johnson

Last Friday, I was all set to put up a blog post about preparing toddlers for kindergarten, but the events at the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., made kids sounding out words seem a little less relevant. (Stay tuned,...

CONGRESS

The 112th Congress Addresses Gun Control

By National Journal Staff

Since the 112th Congress convened on Jan. 3, 2011, several high-profile mass shootings have occurred. Here are some notable gun-control bills introduced by the 112th Congress. Read More »

CONGRESS

Much Grief, but Little Action From Congress on Guns

By Fawn Johnson

Thoughts and prayers. That’s what you get from members of Congress. They said it after the Aurora, Colo., shooting in July. They said it after the Trayvon Martin killing in Florida, the assassination attempt on former Democratic R...

T&I Democrats Left Off Portrait E-mail

By Fawn Johnson

Yes, it was a mistake. But it was still cause for some pondering about partisanship among Democrats on the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. Hell, they've been complaining about being left out of the process for two...

IMMIGRATION

Bipartisan Group Calls for Civil Conversation on Immigration Reform

By Fawn Johnson

A bipartisan group of senators putting together principles for an immigration fix want their talks to emulate the rational adult functionality in the states, even though such behavior seems to elude Congress. Read More »

Immigration ‘Gang of Eight’ Shuns Screaming Matches

By Fawn Johnson

POWER

McCain on Lieberman: Hate That Guy!

By Fawn Johnson

Joe Lieberman, the sort-of-Democrat, sort-of-Republican senior senator from Connecticut, is a man who deserves the highest respect, Sen John McCain, R-Ariz., said Tuesday. Read More »

INFRASTRUCTURE

How to Ease Traffic and Fix America's Roads—Charge for Them

By Fawn Johnson

The federal government has failed miserably at keeping a steady stream of reliable funding headed to the states for roads. It’s time for Washington to get out of the game. In the past year, lawmakers couldn’t even put together a...

Transit to Jobs Equals Economy

By Fawn Johnson

"Trying to market a city without transit is like trying to sell a cell phone without a camera." That was one of the take-home messages from a speaker at an urban planning conference earlier this year, according to my friend who was ...

Common Core for Teachers

By Fawn Johnson

The American Federation of Teachers proposed a universal "bar exam" for teachers last week, arguing that the profession deserves to be associated with high standards and the rigorous training needed to meet them. Read More »

Home Grown STEMs

By Fawn Johnson

Republicans and Democrats agree that the country needs more science and engineering graduates--STEM geeks, if you will. They also agree that foreigners who are earning those degrees at U.S. universities should be able to stay here a...

A Difficult Lift for Shuster

By Fawn Johnson

Rep. Bill Shuster, R-Pa., will be the next chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, and he is a good choice for House Republicans. He is firmly in the conservative fiscal camp and unafraid to say so. He was...

THE INHERITANCE: WORKFORCE

Can Obama Deliver on His Education-to-Jobs Proposal?

By Fawn Johnson

President Obama made 21st-century skills a centerpiece of his reelection campaign, but it is not clear how he will make good on his pledge. Second in a series looking at the challenges facing Obama in his second term. Read More »

POWER

GOP Dream Act Starts Conversation, At Least

By Fawn Johnson

It may seem ironic that two retiring GOP senators are the first in their party to introduce a Senate immigration bill after an election where 71 percent of Hispanics voted for President Obama , but they may be the only ones who c...

Tolling on Federal Highways

By Fawn Johnson

As long as we're touching sacred cows--I refer to the previous post on the gas tax--let's talk about tolling on interstate highways. Is it time to revisit this question? Read More »

Teaching the Grown-Ups

By Fawn Johnson

Almost any policy conversation about the job creation and unemployment contains a persistent undercurrent about adult education. It usually surfaces in the context of the "skills gap." People want jobs, but they don't have the skill...

IMMIGRATION

Norquist: GOP Should Not Be Afraid of Immigration

By Fawn Johnson

Grover Norquist, the man with perhaps the most incontrovertible conservative street cred out there, says the immigration proposals that are being floated by Democrats are nothing to be afraid of. President Obama has made immigration...

IMMIGRATION

Rubio Striving for Immigration Policy That Others in GOP Can Support

By Fawn Johnson

Analysis: Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., is shaping immigration into an issue that Republicans can embrace without getting lambasted by the party base, emphasizing the flow of immigrants to boost the economy. Read More »

ANALYSIS

Rubio Attempting to Forge an Immigration Policy That His Fellow Republicans Can Love

By Fawn Johnson

Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., is shaping immigration into an issue that Republicans can embrace without getting lambasted by the party base. Read More »

POLITICS

First Business After Inauguration: Immigration

By Fawn Johnson

President Obama is pressuring lawmakers to complete work on immigration next year. If they were starting from scratch, such a major endeavor would seem impossible. But under the Obama administration’s vision, it is more than doabl...

WHITE HOUSE

Immigration First Up After Inauguration

By Fawn Johnson

Moving the Dial on the Gas Tax

By Fawn Johnson

On transportation, President Obama can plan on starting his second term the same way he began his first. Then, as now, the funding crisis for the nation's highways was a few years off but approaching fast. When the highway authority...

Consider the School Board

By Fawn Johnson

School board members were elected all over the country last week. Richmond, Va., Mayor Dwight Jones saw his son Derik elected to his city's board. Voters in Santa Clara County ousted nine of 26 board members. Read More »

POLITICS

Immigration: What to Expect for Obama Term II

By Fawn Johnson

Hispanics want to make sure that, this time around, Obama sticks to his promise to tackle immigration. In his second term, the president must go after a broad immigration overhaul with the same zeal he showed on health care reform�...

ELECTION 2012: ISSUES TO WATCH

The Issues: What to Expect in Obama's Second Term

By Jim Tankersley, Catherine Hollander, Coral Davenport, Jim O'Sullivan, Margot Sanger-Katz, Adam Mazmanian, Fawn Johnson and James Kitfield

National Journal looks at the litany of thorny problems that face Washington over the next two years and how President Obama and the new Congress might address them. Read More »

ELECTION 2012: ISSUES TO WATCH

What to Expect on Education in Obama's Second Term

By Fawn Johnson

The president spent the past year setting up the education agenda for his second term. Now all he has to do is put the strategy in motion. It has three parts—access to college; waivers for state public-school systems; and early-ch...

ELECTION 2012: ISSUES TO WATCH

What to Expect on Transportation in Obama's Second Term

By Fawn Johnson

On transportation, Obama can plan on starting his second term the same way he began his first. Then, as now, the funding crisis for the nation’s highways was a few years off but approaching fast. And policymakers still don’t hav...

ELECTION 2012: ISSUES TO WATCH

What to Expect on Immigration in Obama's Second Term

By Fawn Johnson

Latinos Are Primed and Ready for Immigration Reform

By Fawn Johnson

“The Latino giant is wide awake, cranky, and is taking names. We are now a part of history and the political future of this country.” Read More »

POLITICS

Popular Flake Keeps Arizona Senate Seat Red

By Fawn Johnson

The Senate race between Rep. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., and former Surgeon General Richard Carmona, a Democrat, was rightfully considered a toss-up. Flake won with 51 percent of the vote, with Carmona about 90,000 votes behind. Read More »

Flake Wins Arizona Senate Seat

By Fawn Johnson

Rep. Jeff Flake , R-Ariz., will be filling retiring Sen. Jon Kyl 's seat in the Senate next year after fighting a tough campaign against former U.S. Surgeon General Richard Carmona, a Democrat. Read More »

Sandy's Infrastructure Legacy

By Fawn Johnson

OK, folks. It's election week, and I know a lot of us are ready for it to be over. So let's talk about something that doesn't hinge on election results. How about our long-term infrastructure preparedness? Read More »

Education Fodder for the Next Administration

By Fawn Johnson

Education gurus are the first to acknowledge that their pet issue has not been a prominent feature in the presidential campaign. Thank God it's over. Read More »

POLITICS

Watch What You Say About FEMA

By Fawn Johnson

Politicians decry the Federal Emergency Management Agency at their peril. They never know when they might find themselves shamefully explaining away a misstatement or even a snarky remark about the federal disaster assistance agency...

A Market-Oriented Approach to Aviation

By Fawn Johnson

The Brookings Institution released a report last week with an astonishing (and potentially controversial) finding: Airports in the largest 100 metro areas handle 96 percent of all international passengers, but they receive only 36...

What Has Arne Done For Us?

By Fawn Johnson

If nothing else, Education Secretary Arne Duncan has made waves. In the last four years, he has brought about incredible changes in education policy, no thanks to Congress. That's a point that education writer Richard Colvin (a cont...

Why a Pay Equity Study Irked a Conservative Women's Group

By Fawn Johnson

Pay equity is a tricky thing. On its face, it says men and women should not get paid differently to do the same jobs. Under the surface, it's a philosophical tug-of-war about whether career choices or unexposed biases actually impac...

BUDGET

White House Holds Back on Sequester Details

By Meghan McCarthy and Fawn Johnson

There’s a funny thing happening at federal agencies. When it comes to the details of the looming $1.2 trillion cut to their budgets, agency officials find themselves unable to explain just how those cuts would affect myriad progra...

POLITICS

Immigration Item No. 2 for Obama, if Reelected

By Fawn Johnson

President Obama cites immigration reform as his biggest "long-term" priority for a second term if he wins re-election, following a bargain on deficit reduction, which he hopes could be accomplished in the first six months of 2013. Read More »

POWER

Obama: After Cliff, Immigration is Highest Priority

By Fawn Johnson

Here is the news that President Obama made on immigration in his interview with the Des Moines Register : he cited immigration reform as his biggest "long-term" priority for a second term if he wins re-election. Read More »

Hit 'Em Where It Hurts

By Fawn Johnson

There is nothing that gets regular people more riled up than airlines' checked bag fees, increased tolls, or sudden hikes in gas prices. They hate spending extra money on travel, especially when they feel they have no control over t...

Growing Young Voters (Without Boring Them)

By Fawn Johnson

If the casual mention of a high school social studies class makes your eyes glaze over, you aren't alone. The stereotype of the throw-away, easy A class taught by the football coach is there for a reason. Read More »

POLITICS

Romney TV Ad Angers Immigration Advocates

By Fawn Johnson

A day after Mitt Romney's campaign released a new television ad in Spanish promising “solutions for immigration,” advocates for the Dream Act to legalize undocumented youth demanded that the campaign take it down. Read More »

POLITICS

Romney's Moderate Immigration Stance Threat to Dems

By Fawn Johnson

Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney sounded more positive than ever about immigration in Tuesday’s town-hall debate, a turn of events that is causing Democrats to loudly assert that Romney is an extremist on the issue. Read More »

IMMIGRATION

Romney’s Newfound Moderation on Immigration Threatens Democrats

By Fawn Johnson

ANALYSIS

Competent Debaters Obama, Romney Go Deep on Issues

By Fawn Johnson

President Obama and Republican nominee Mitt Romney sharpened their approaches in their second debate before the election, and the result was the meatiest discussion yet on domestic issues before a mass audience on national television. Read More »

CONGRESS

Public Would Accept Tax Hikes in Debt Deal

By Fawn Johnson

Voters are more likely to embrace tax increases for households making $250,000 or more than cuts to Medicare or other domestic spending, according to the latest United Technologies/ National Journal Congressional Connection Poll. T...

Scaling Back on Infrastructure

By Fawn Johnson

I once received a lesson in light travel packing from a former military guy: Put everything you need in a pile. Then ask, "What do I really need?" Remove half of your stuff. Then ask again, "What do I really need?" Remove half your ...

A New Way to Think About College

By Fawn Johnson

Higher education is among the most valuable of activities for young adults. It opens intellectual and professional doors that otherwise would remain forever closed. Apollo Group/ National Journal Next America polling finds that col...

EDUCATION

How a Community College's Big Ideas Are Transforming Education

By Fawn Johnson

A look at an innovative two-year Florida school that consistently graduates more students of color at nearly twice the rate of the national average. Read More »

NEXT AMERICA: EDUCATION

Minorities Haven't Given Up Hope on Higher Ed

By Fawn Johnson

Minorities are more likely than whites to say that their parents expected and encouraged them to attend college, t he latest Apollo Group/ National Journal Next America Poll finds. Read More »

RESTORATION CALLS: EDUCATION

How a Community College's Big Ideas Are Transforming Education

By Fawn Johnson

A community-college president in Florida has some innovative ideas about higher education. And they appear to be working. A look at Sandy Shugart’s efforts to transform Valencia College into a model for equipping students for the ...

CAMPAIGN 2012

Fact Checking the Presidential Debate

By Meghan McCarthy, Katy O'Donnell, Amy Harder, Catherine Hollander and Fawn Johnson

The first presidential debate between President Obama and Mitt Romney on Wednesday night covered topics ranging from taxes to health care to job creation. Here is a look at some of their statements and how firmly they are grounded i...

After LaHood

By Fawn Johnson

No one can replace Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, our favorite moderate Midwestern Republican who has passionately told us not to text and drive and also made sure Congress caught hell when the Federal Aviation Administration ...

The Sad, Sad SAT Factor

By Fawn Johnson

The College Board reported last week that 43 percent of college-bound students are academically ready for college. This means that less than half of those who took the test this year are likely to maintain a B- average or higher ...

EDUCATION

EXCLUSIVE -- Arne Duncan Would Stay for 2nd Obama Term

By Fawn Johnson

If President Obama wins a second term, Education Secretary Arne Duncan will stay in his job, he told National Journal on Thursday. Read More »

Teacher Effectiveness 'Here to Stay'

By Fawn Johnson

The day after Chicago public school teachers returned their classrooms, a group of educators and researchers from around the country convened in a sunny conference room in Washington D.C. to ponder the very questions that had so rec...

EDUCATION

The Chicago Teacher Strike's Silver Lining

By Fawn Johnson

There is a bright spot to the Chicago Teachers Union strike that stretched into a second week, , which kept the city’s kids at home and its public-school teachers picketing the streets: People are actually talking about education. Read More »

Chicago Strike Exposes Key Questions

By Fawn Johnson

Picket lines make good headlines. Who doesn't love a story about how Chicago kids spent their unexpected week off from school? But the Chicago Teachers' Union strike isn't just good newspaper fodder. It's good dialogue fodder about ...

No Love at Political Conventions

By Fawn Johnson

There were wonky, late night transportation receptions--invite only--at both the Democratic and Republican national conventions that blanketed the political news over the last two weeks. I cover transportation and I wasn't at either...

Calling All Advocates

By Fawn Johnson

Politicians love to say the word "education," but when it comes to actually doing something about it, outside forces must do the pushing. That is the lesson I learned from the political conventions that took over the airwaves and ne...

WHITE HOUSE

What's New in Obama's Second-Term Goals?

By Olga Belogolova

President Obama has laid out a list of goals for his second term, some of which represented new policy ideas and some which were repackaged objectives his administration had announced previously. Read More »

Expect No Dynamism on Guns

By Fawn Johnson

Gun control has been a nonissue in the presidential race—and in Congress for the past four years. The recent shootings in Aurora, Colo., and Oak Creek, Wis., are not going to change that. Read More »

Like GOP, Dems Likely to Offer Little on Education

By Fawn Johnson

Just about anyone you talk to believes that education should be a more important campaign issue than it is. Republicans and Democrats agree that the country’s economic future depends on the next generation of children being fully ...

Sheriff Joe Arpaio Does the Tampa Zoo

By Fawn Johnson

What do Sheriff Joe Arpaio, Chanel the East African crowned crane, and Pierce the African crested porcupine have in common? They were the stars of the Arizona delegation's warm-up luncheon at Tampa's Lowry Park Zoo. Read More »

WORKFORCE

Guest Workers Are No Longer Taboo

By Fawn Johnson

The official Republican platform calls for a guest-worker program, a position that now has the support of staunch Arizona conservatives like Gov. Jan Brewer and Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio. Read More »

Norquist Goes Gaga for Hip-Hop

By National Journal Staff

The latest buzz from the Republican National Convention in Tampa. Read More »

Guest Workers Are No Longer Taboo

By Fawn Johnson

It’s official. Republicans are now allowed to embrace the concept of foreign workers in the United States. The official Republican platform calls for a guest-worker program. Mitt Romney wants to staple a green card to foreign coll...

CONVENTIONS 2012

Ron Paul Honored as Small-Government Crusader, Minus Pesky Specifics

By Naureen Khan

The notably brief tribute to the libertarian icon focused almost entirely on his push for smaller government. Not mentioned: Paul’s controversial positions and many clashes with the Republican Party over the last two decade, ri...

On Education, GOP Distances Itself From Tea Party

By Fawn Johnson

The Republican National Committee’s platform on education contains a lot of tea party buzzwords: abstinence, English-first, homeschooling, vouchers, local control. But the document also shows signs that the GOP is willing to embra...

GOP Declines to Punish Renegade Delegations

By Fawn Johnson

Even though only 30 Michigan delegates had voting rights during Mitt Romney’s nomination ceremony on Tuesday, all 59 get to sit front and center on the convention floor. That’s a big deal for a delegation from one of the states ...

Rubio Road Tests Mediator Role

By Fawn Johnson

Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida is carving out a peacemaking role for himself. He wants his fellow Republicans to stick to their conservative values, but in the nicest possible way. His motto is, “Work with the opposition when you can...

Seen at the RNC: Outfits, Parties, and Baldwins

By National Journal Staff

In the hours leading up to her speech on Tuesday, Ann Romney still didn’t know what to wear. Not that it’s an easy choice for a potential first lady, whose outfits receive the scrutiny of both the fashion press and the nation...

CONVENTIONS 2012

Ousted Ron Paul Delegates Raise a Stink

By Fawn Johnson

The carefully orchestrated GOP convention hit a bump on Tuesday when Maine delegates for Ron Paul protested their removal from the nominating process for Mitt Romney. Read More »

Role-Playing in Tampa

Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, will reprise his role of President Obama in debate practice with soon-to-be Republican nominee Mitt Romney. Read More »

Missed Messaging Time at Tampa Convention Doesn’t Worry GOP

By Naureen Khan, Chris Frates and Jim Tankersley

Tropical Storm Isaac barely spritzed and tousled the Republican National Convention on its way past Tampa, and even as it bears toward New Orleans, GOP delegates are confident that the storm won’t affect their key mission here: se...

A Different Kind of Party for Delegates From Utah

By Fawn Johnson

Merit Medical CEO Fred Lampropoulos, a prominent Utah Republican, just spent $10,000 on towels, toothbrushes, and soap from the local Costco in Tampa to be distributed to storm victims and packaged by the Utah convention delegation. Read More »

Kids Learning Language

By Fawn Johnson

The country's demographics are slowly changing such that ethnic "minorities"--Hispanics, blacks, Asians, etc.--will eventually make up a majority of United States residents. The shift is glaringly apparent in schools that are cateri...

CONVENTIONS 2012

Shifting Storm Path Poses New Challenges for GOP

By Alex Roarty, Tim Alberta and Jim Tankersley

Tropical Storm Isaac is veering away from a direct hit on Tampa Bay and toward a potentially large political problem for Mitt Romney and the Republican National Convention delegates poised to nominate him for president. Read More »

CONVENTIONS 2012

Among Delegates, Spirits Soar as Barometer Drops

By Fawn Johnson and Reid Wilson

It takes more than a tropical storm to dampen the spirit of a delegate. With some 4,400 official delegates and alternates—along with their spouses, friends, and other special guests—converging on Tampa for the Republican Nationa...

Lawsuit on 'Dream Act' Deferrals Has Political Edge

By Fawn Johnson

That critics of President Obama’s deportation deferrals for undocumented youth have taken their complaints to court should come as no surprise. This battle has broad political dimensions as well. Read More »

IMMIGRATION

Lawsuit on 'Dream Act' Deferrals Has Political Edge

By Fawn Johnson

It should come as no surprise that critics of President Obama’s deportation deferrals for undocumented youth are taking their complaints to court. But the battle takes on a broader political dimension when the lead plaintiff’s a...

Obama vs. Romney--Social Issues: No-Brainer

By Fawn Johnson

How President Obama and Mitt Romney line up on social issues such as abortion, contraception, gay rights, and the relationship between church and state. Read More »

OBAMA VS. ROMNEY: SOCIAL ISSUES

Obama vs. Romney: Social Issues--Graphic

By Fawn Johnson

A look at President Obama's and Mitt Romney's respective policy positions on social issues, their records, and their key advisers. Read More »

FUTURE OF THE WORKFORCE

Obama vs. Romney: Tomorrow’s Workforce

By Fawn Johnson

How would President Obama and Mitt Romney help the United States adapt to the competitive global economy and the fast-evolving employment market? Read More »

IMMIGRATION

Republican Platform Calls for Guest-Worker Program

By Fawn Johnson

Republicans are attempting to balance their party's disparate opinions on immigration by taking a tough stance on illegal immigrants yet calling for a new temporary foreign worker program. Read More »

CAMPAIGN 2012

Republican Platform Calls for Guest-Worker Program

By Fawn Johnson

Republicans are attempting to balance their party's disparate opinions on immigration by taking a tough stance on illegal immigrants in the United States while at the same time calling for a new temporary foreign worker program. Read More »

No Permanent Enemies. Or Friends

By Fawn Johnson

Education policy is both blessed and cursed by its bipartisan nature. Republicans and Democrats can agree on 90 percent of their goals for the nation's school system, and yet the details are often mired in strong political crosswind...

How Much for a Burger?

By Fawn Johnson

You have to give House Transportation Committee Chairman John Mica , R-Fla., kudos for creativity. A longtime foe of Amtrak, Mica attacked on the caloric front as Congress was adjourning for its August recess. He accused Amtrak of ...

Waivers Supplant 'No Child'

By Fawn Johnson

Last week, Nevada became the 33rd state to receive a waiver from No Child Left Behind regulations, which means that more than 1 million students will be covered by state-designed accountability systems heading into the 2012-13 schoo...

'Dream Act' Deferrals Could Top 1.7 Million

By Fawn Johnson

The Obama administration’s program to defer deportations for undocumented youths could encompass 1.76 million people, according to estimates released on Tuesday by the Migration Policy Institute, a nonprofit think tank. Read More »

IMMIGRATION

'Dream Act' Deferrals Could Top 1.7 Million

By Fawn Johnson

The Obama administration’s program to defer deportations for undocumented youth could encompass 1.76 million people, according to estimates released by the Migration Policy Institute. Read More »

Before Kindergarten

By Fawn Johnson

Education research has made it very clear that if kids aren't at grade level in reading and math by third grade, it's very hard for them to catch up...ever. They are more likely to drop out of high school, become juvenile delinquent...

a field worker empties a bucket of vidalia onions

IMMIGRATION

Could GOP Endorse Hiring Illegal Workers?

By Fawn Johnson

Analysis: A business executive says firms should be allowed to hire illegal immigrants if they can’t find other labor. He’s getting some Republicans to agree with him. Read More »

Transportation is a Civil Right

By Fawn Johnson

The Bus Riders Union and several other civil rights organizations took to the streets in Los Angeles last week, saying the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority should restore 1 million hours of bus service that w...

The Treacherous(?) Road to E-Learning

By Fawn Johnson

There is no sense in trying to hide from it. Online learning is part of our future, despite a recent spate of hand-wringing op-ed articles about it. ( Here and here .) People are worried, legitimately, that Internet courses will d...

ANAYLSIS: IMMIGRATION

Could GOP Platform Endorse Hiring Illegal Workers?

By Fawn Johnson

A business executive says firms should be allowed to hire illegal immigrants if they can’t find other labor. He’s getting some Republicans to agree with him. Read More »

POWER

Durbin and 'Dreamers' Say Work Isn't Done

By Fawn Johnson

President Obama 's announcement last month that he would defer deportations for undocumented youth who were brought to the United States illegally as children marked a long-fought victory for Senate Majority Whip Richard Durbin...

Master Teacher Corps in the Works

By Fawn Johnson

The White House last week unveiled a plan to create a "master teacher corps" that could give selected math and science teachers an additional $20,000 in annual wages. Corps members would provide mentoring, curriculum planning, and...

ANALYSIS

Pro-Gun Lobby in Safe Zone

By Fawn Johnson

The National Rifle Association is still winning. Friday's shooting in Colorado is likely to fade into the current gun-policy no man’s land where there is much talk and little action. Read More »

IMMIGRATION

Obama Deportation Deferral Program Hinges on Details

By Fawn Johnson

The Obama administration’s program to defer deportation for young undocumented immigrants will be up and running on Aug. 15, but the program’s success will depend on a host of details that will be worked out on a case-by-cas...

Obama Deportation Deferral Program Hinges on Details

By Fawn Johnson

The Obama administration’s program to defer deportation for young undocumented immigrants will be up and running on August 15, but the program’s success will depend on a host of details that will be worked out on a case-by-case basis. Read More »

Is Reading a Civil Right?

By Fawn Johnson

If want to read something that will make you gasp out loud, check out the American Civil Liberties Union's lawsuit filed last week against Michigan's Highland Park School District and the state entities that support it. ACLU sued ...

High-Speed Rail in California

By Fawn Johnson

The rest of the country may be putting the brakes on high-speed rail projects, but the concept is alive and well in California. The state Senate recently passed a measure, with only Democratic votes, to put about $8 billion toward i...

U.S. Representative Cathy McMorris Rodgers

COVER STORY

McMorris Rodgers: ‘I Want More Hours in the Day’

By Fawn Johnson

Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash., the highest-ranking woman in the House GOP leadership, discusses her challenges. Read More »

Anti-abortion and abortion activists, Gay Pride parade

OBAMA VS. ROMNEY: SOCIAL ISSUES

For Culture Warriors, It’s a No-Brainer

By Fawn Johnson

How President Obama and Mitt Romney line up on social issues such as abortion, contraception, gay rights, and the relationship between church and state. Read More »

COVER STORY

Washington’s Women: We Still Face Discrimination

By Fawn Johnson

Washington is a tough town, and it’s even tougher for women. A National Journal survey of female professionals shows that almost three-fourths of women say that men have more opportunities to get ahead than women. Read More »

POLITICS

Survey of Women: Politics, Public Policy Favor Men

By Fawn Johnson

In a National Journal survey of 717 professional Washington women, 73 percent said that men have more opportunities for advancement than women. Six of 10 said it is harder to attain positions of leadership. Read More »

IMMIGRATION

Big Step Forward on High-Skilled Immigration Bill

By Fawn Johnson

Senate Judiciary Committee Ranking Republican Chuck Grassley on Wednesday removed a huge barrier to legislation that could speed the doddering visa system for highly skilled immigration. He removed his "hold" on legislat...

CULTURE OF WASHINGTON

Survey Finds Politics and Public Policy Favor Men

By Fawn Johnson

People should take note when conservative Republicans and progressive feminists are saying the same thing: that women are sadly underrepresented in all areas of government. There is distinct pessimism reflected among women in politi...

Big Step Forward on High-Skilled Immigration Bill

By Fawn Johnson

Washington Women Report Gender Discrimination

By Brian McGill, Fawn Johnson and Ryan Morris

Sniffing Out the Rats of For-Profit Schools

By Fawn Johnson

The U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia handed for-profit colleges a victory last week when it vacated most of the Education Department's controversial "gainful employment" rule designed to put the brakes on schools l...

Summer Learning

By Fawn Johnson

I got an e-mail last week from my rising fifth grader's school coordinator with his summer reading assignments and an approved list of books. I loved that the e-mail offered no explanation or apologies; it assumed that its students'...

Demonstrations protest against Arizona Imigration Bill in Phoenix

IMMIGRATION

Analysis: Regarding Immigration, Now Comes the Hard Part

By Fawn Johnson

For a messy topic such as immigration, the Supreme Court’s decision this week striking down portions of Arizona’s tough enforcement law was surprisingly tidy. The justices stated plainly that the federal government trumps the st...

ANAYLSIS: IMMIGRATION

Tricky Questions About Race

By Fawn Johnson

The Supreme Court will one day have to deal with the question of whether Arizona’s “show me your papers” provision and similar laws in other states are discriminatory. Read More »

POLITICS

Immigration Ruling Gives States Little Clarity

By Fawn Johnson

Analysis: Despite the Supreme Court’s ruling that struck down most of Arizona’s tough immigration law, the measure’s defenders still applaud that police can check the immigration status of those they stop. Read More »

ANALYSIS

High Court's Immigration Decision Gives States Little Clarity

By Fawn Johnson

With three of the four provisions of Arizona’s law struck down, other states weighing similar laws are left with little clarity on how to proceed. Even if states simply want to emulate Arizona’s surviving “show me your papers�...

IMMIGRATION

High Court Upholds 'Show Me Papers' Piece of Arizona Immigration Law

By Fawn Johnson

The Supreme Court strikes down the main provisions of Arizona's immigration law but allows local police officers to do what they do nationwide on an ad hoc basis: check with federal officials about a questionabl...

ANALYSIS

High Court Upholds 'Show Me Your Papers;' Hands Obama a Win

By Fawn Johnson

Conservative critics of the federal government’s complaint against Arizona had hoped for a wholesale endorsement of the state law. Instead, Arizona got permission to do what local police officers all over the country already do on...

SUPREME COURT

High Court Upholds 'Show Me Papers' Piece of Arizona Immigration Law

By Fawn Johnson

Supreme Court strikes down main provisions of Arizona's immigration law: AP Justices let stand provision that requires police to check status when suspecting someone in country illegally Ruling a partial political victory f...

Why Bother?

By Fawn Johnson

Anyone who has been reading this blog in recent months knows that we have been obsessively following the intrigue surrounding the highway bill. This week marks another pivotal moment. As usual, it coincides with a looming expiration...

A Serious Look at Charter Schools

By Fawn Johnson

Last week, the Government Accountability Office issued a perplexing report showing that charter schools enrolled a lower percentage of students with disabilities than traditional public schools. The most dispiriting part of report...

Lawmakers Approaching Student-Loan Deal

By Dan Friedman

Senate Democrats said on Thursday that they are close to a deal with congressional Republicans to freeze student-loan interest rates at 3.4 percent before the July 1 deadline. Read More »

Pranks and Punishment

By Fawn Johnson

It's the time of year when high schools are holding their graduation ceremonies. It's also the time when "senioritis" is at its peak, and kids can't seem to abide by school rules. School pranks abound. What's a tired principal to do? Read More »

IMMIGRATION

Immigration Dreams Become Reality, Finally

By Fawn Johnson

They finally got a win. After two years of the kind of relentless agitating that can only come from teenagers, the Obama administration has stated definitively that it will not deport young undocumented foreigners who live in ...

ANALYSIS

Immigration Dreams Become Reality, Finally

By Fawn Johnson

After two years of the kind of relentless agitating that can only come from teenagers, the Obama administration states definitively it will not deport undocumented youth under 30. Read More »

CONGRESS

Straining to Pay for Education

By Lara Seligman

Like jobs, gas prices, and other pocketbook issues, the clash on Capitol Hill over student-loan interest rates has erupted into a major political discussion nationwide, as families grow increasingly anxious about student debt and th...

Cutting Highways Is Not So Popular

By Fawn Johnson

It was a pretty poor showing last Friday for an idea touted by House Republican leaders just a year and a half ago. On Friday, only about one-third of the House Republicans cast their votes in favor of a nonbinding, message to legis...

Unpacking $1 Trillion

By Fawn Johnson

The much circulated statistic that outstanding student loan debt has topped $1 trillion is indicative of a few things: More students are taking out loans. More students are going to college. College is more expensive. It has always ...

King: Drone Use Legitimate in U.S. and Abroad

By Fawn Johnson

House Homeland Security Chairman Peter King, R-N.Y., said on Sunday that unmanned drones are legitimate uses of force in Pakistan, where the United States is trying to rein in al - Qaida . They also are useful for police surveil...

SUNDAY SHOWS

Intelligence Committee Chairs: Leak Prosecutors are a Good Start

By Fawn Johnson

Two lawmakers—a Democrat and a Republican—leading congressional committees on intelligence said on Sunday that the appointment of two prosecutors to investigate recent leaks about U.S. national security operations are a good ...

Axelrod Cedes No Ground on Obama Gaffe

By Fawn Johnson

David Axelrod , President Obama’s senior advisor, fought back hard on Sunday against questions about the president’s comment last week that “the private sector is doing fine.” Read More »

POLITICS

Senate Stalls on Dream Act, Other Measures

By Don Friedman and Fawn Johnson

Democratic leaders have effectively ruled out seeking a vote either on the Dream Act or on bills addressing visas for skilled workers, say aides familiar with Senate floor plans. Read More »

IMMIGRATION

Senate Shies Away From Dream Act, Other Measures

By Dan Friedman and Fawn Johnson

Modest hopes for congressional action on small immigration proposals are fading, as Democrats in the Senate see no possible avenues for moving them forward. Read More »

Celebrating Title IX

By Fawn Johnson

This month marks the 40th anniversary of Title IX, the landmark statute that ensures equity between boys and girls for all educational programs that receive federal funding. Most people associate Title IX with girls' sports, but it ...

OBAMA VS. ROMNEY: FUTURE OF THE WORKFORCE

Teaching and Training Tomorrow’s Workforce

By Fawn Johnson

How would President Obama and Mitt Romney help the United States adapt to the competitive global economy and the fast-evolving employment market? Read More »

OBAMA VS. ROMNEY: FUTURE OF THE WORKFORCE

Teaching and Training Tomorrow’s Workforce: GRAPHIC

By Fawn Johnson

A side-by-side comparison of President Obama's and Mitt Romney's policy positions, records, and key advisers. Read More »

School Choice Mania

By Fawn Johnson

Until last week, even some of Mitt Romney's own advisers were scratching their heads about how a Romney White House would handle education. Is the former Massachusetts governor an "Abolish the Education Department" guy? Or is he a s...

ELECTION ANALYSIS

Romney's Boldest Education Idea Would Never Become Reality

By Fawn Johnson

Mitt Romney has been pretty quiet about his stance on education, to the point where even some of his advisers have been unable to say exactly how a Romney White House would watch over the public school system. His speech to the U.S....

The College-to-Jobs Link, Or Lack Thereof

By Fawn Johnson

Next month, Virginia will be the first state in the country to give the public data about whether college is worth it. The public database will show the median earnings for degree earners from every college in the state. People will...

Not Waiting for the Feds

By Fawn Johnson and Niraj Chokshi

The transportation community in the states should want the federal government to be fired. Over the next few weeks, they are waiting for negotiators in Congress to pass a highway bill. If lawmakers are successful (and there is no gu...

Common Core Makes Waves

By Fawn Johnson

Forty-six states have adopted the Common Core State Standards, and a few states are well in to the process of implementing them. It's a tough job because the education standards call for "stacked" learning in English and math, in wh...

Enhancing Transportation

By Fawn Johnson

One of the most carefully negotiated provisions of the Senate highway bill involves "transportation enhancements," a program that provides government funding to help states "expand transportation choices and enhance the transportati...

ECONOMY

Senate Blocks Rate Freeze on Federal Student Loans; Political Messaging Emerges

By Fawn Johnson

Senate Republicans on Tuesday blocked legislation to freeze interest rates on need-based student loans, creating an election-year fight that could double loan costs for some college students. Read More »

Considering Government-Funded Tuition

By Fawn Johnson

It should come as no surprise that the sleeper issue of student loan interest rates took on a life of its own as soon as President Obama began touting it. People are worried about paying for college. Tuition has more than doubled ov...

NEED TO KNOW: EDUCATION

Congressional Campus Politics

By Fawn Johnson

There’s less to the debate over student-loan interest rates than meets the eye. It may amount to little more than partisan posturing. Read More »

Student Loan Rates Suddenly Got Sexy

By Fawn Johnson

Who knew student loan interest rates could be so provocative? Until last week, only a few members of Congress seemed aware that the current 3.4 percent interest rate for government-subsidized student loans will double by June 30 wit...

Scowcroft Predicts GOP Will Moderate

By Fawn Johnson

“I've been called a RINO, a Republican in Name Only,” said former National Security Advisor Brent Scowcroft, who advised Presidents Gerald Ford and George H.W. Bush. “I don’t think I've changed at all. I think the party has ...

Boehner Irons His Own Shirts

By Fawn Johnson

He’s a snappy dresser, infamous as one of the few Republican men who proudly wears pink. He’s uses a tanning salon. He loves smoking. So how did House Speaker John Boehner cultivate his look? Read More »

SUNDAY SHOWS

Brennan: 'We're on the Path to al-Qaida's Destruction'

By Fawn Johnson and Alexandra Jaffe

President Obama’s chief counter-terrorism adviser, John Brennan, took to the airwaves on Sunday to ensure the American people that they are safe from terrorist attacks. Read More »

SUNDAY SHOWS

Boehner Attacks Obama, and Denies It

By Fawn Johnson

House Speaker John Boehner said he tries to avoid personal attacks on President Obama—and then proceeded to attack the president, saying on CNN’s State of the Union on Sunday that, “He’s diminishing the presidency by picki...

Barack Obama, Caren Bohan, Jimmey Kimmel

WHITE HOUSE

Obama: Bad for Comedians

By Fawn Johnson

“The president is not great for comedians because he could probably be a comedian himself if he wanted to,” comedian Jimmy Kimmel told C-Span before he hosted the annual White House Correspondents' Association dinner. “If some...

CONGRESS

House Passes GOP Plan to Freeze Student-Loan Interest Rates

By Fawn Johnson

Thumbing their nose at a White House veto threat for the second time in as many days, House Republicans on Friday passed a bill, 215-195, to hold subsidized student-loan interest rates at 3.4 percent for one year. (The cybersecurity...

White House Promises to Veto House Republican Student Loan Bill

By Fawn Johnson

The White House on Friday threatened to veto legislation proposed by House Republicans that would stave off a scheduled interest rate hike for subsidized student loans, saying the bill would harm women who need screenings for breast...

House Republicans Offer Student Loan Rate Fix

By Fawn Johnson

House Speaker John Boehner on Wednesday offered legislation to put off for one year a student loan interest rate hike, keeping subsidized student loans at 3.4 percent. The proposal responds to calls from Democrats and President...

THE NEXT AMERICA

Arizona's 'Show Me Your Papers’ Immigration Provision Could Stand

By Fawn Johnson

The “show me your papers” provision of Arizona’s tough immigration enforcement law is most familiar to the public. It is also likely to withstand judicial scrutiny. Read More »

THE NEXT AMERICA

Little Sympathy for Feds' Arguments in Ariz. Immigration Case

By Fawn Johnson

Supreme Court justices showed little sympathy for the federal government’s argument that the “show me your papers” provision of Arizona’s immigration enforcement law is invalid, making it appear likely the high co...

ANALYSIS

Arizona's ‘Show Me Your Papers’ Immigration Provision Could Stand

By Fawn Johnson

The “show me your papers” provision of Arizona’s tough immigration enforcement law is most familiar to the public. It is also likely to withstand judicial scrutiny. Read More »

IMMIGRATION

Little Sympathy for Feds' Arguments in Ariz. Immigration Case

By Fawn Johnson

High Court’s Immigration Case Is Just the Beginning

By Fawn Johnson

If it wasn’t for health care, the Supreme Court would be embarking on the biggest case on its docket on Wednesday. Like the health care debate, the high court’s case about Arizona’s tough immigration law will provoke a lot of...

ANALYSIS

High Court’s Immigration Case Is Just the Beginning

By Fawn Johnson

THE NEXT AMERICA

The Making of an Immigration Deal?

By Fawn Johnson

The conventional wisdom on immigration and Congress is that nothing is happening and nothing is going to happen for the foreseeable future. It’s wrong. It is true that a comprehensive immigration bill the likes of which President ...

IMMIGRATION

The Making of an Immigration Deal?

By Fawn Johnson

Maybe the System Really Is Working

By Fawn Johnson

Everybody take a deep breath. Congress is poised this week to appoint conferees to a long-awaited conference committee that will negotiate a highway bill. Finally. I know that President Obama has dangled a veto threat over the House...

All Talk

By Fawn Johnson

President Obama is weighing in on a tried and true backyard-barbecue conversation that is sure to win points with the regular guy: He is complaining about the cost of college. He is dedicating the next week of his life to shaming Co...

ANALYSIS

Obama on Education: Bully Pulpit at Its Best … and Not Much Else

By Fawn Johnson

President Obama is adding to a tried and true backyard-barbecue conversation that is sure to win points with the regular guy: He is complaining about the cost of college. And just like the regular guy grilling hot dogs and burgers, ...

Consider the Principal

By Fawn Johnson

The principal is your pal. (That's how I learned to spell it, anyway.) That statement may be hard to square with literary characterizations of principals--from the hapless Principal Krupp in the acclaimed kids' book series Captain ...

The Land of Hope and Dreams

By Fawn Johnson

It's the time of year when high school students are finding out if they are going to college and where. The Princeton Review reports in its " College Hopes and Worries " survey that student and parent anxiety levels are way up; 71 p...

Artistic Sensibilities: Defending Arts Education

By Fawn Johnson

My nine-year-old son didn't want to take piano lessons. "I don't want to be a musician," he protested as I drove him to meet a prospective teacher. "I want to be a Major League Baseball player." He grudgingly agreed to the interview...

Paying For It: Answering the $300 Billion Question

By Fawn Johnson

Last week was a high-drama in Washington as lawmakers ticked down to the final days before the federal highway authority was set to expire. They extended it. Everyone breathed a sigh of relief. Congress went home for two weeks. Read More »

TRANSPORTATION

What’s Next for the Transportation Bill?

By Fawn Johnson

House Republicans need two things to get a full-fledged surface-transportation bill through the chamber and on to a conference committee with the Senate—a simple majority and $44 billion to pay for the bill’s first two years. Th...

Facing Saturday Deadline, House Votes to Extend Transportation Funding

By Fawn Johnson

The House on Thursday voted 266 to 158 to extend federal surface transportation authority by 90 days, a major step in averting a shutdown that would furlough 3,500 federal workers and put 130,000 federal highway projects at ris...

CONGRESS

House GOP Reverts to 90-Day Highway Stopgap

By Fawn Johnson

House Republican leaders are planning to vote on Thursday on a 90-day extension of federal highway authority under a rule that would require a simple majority to pass. They expect to pass it without help from Democrats. They will th...

A Little RESPECT for Teachers

By Fawn Johnson

It's springtime in Washington, and that means administration officials spend a lot of time trekking to Capitol Hill to talk to congressional committees about their agency's plans for 2013. Education Secretary Arne Duncan testified b...

Tell Us Your Sob Stories

By Fawn Johnson

It's looking like there will be more delays on the long-suffering surface transportation measure. House leaders say they need another three months to hammer out their own long-term bill, even though the Senate has passed its two-yea...

The Shaky Middle Ground of Undocumented Youth

By Fawn Johnson

Marco Rubio may be trying in vain to find a compromise position on the issue of dealing with minors brought into the United States illegally by their parents. Read More »

TRANSPORTATION

Infrastructure Financing Hangs in Limbo

By Niraj Chokshi

There’s at least one bit of common ground on surface-transportation legislation: Everyone wants to make it easier to finance local infrastructure projects. Read More »

Conservatives: Senate Bill Is 'Crap Sandwich'

By Fawn Johnson

It took a lot of whining, but the Senate finally passed its two-year, $109 billion surface transportation bill last week on a solidly bipartisan 74-22 vote. The bill won praise from the likes of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, AAA and...

Student Debt is Next Budget Victim

By Fawn Johnson

Time is running out for lawmakers to come up with a way to keep student loan rates from going up. If Congress doesn't act by June 30, interest rates on student loans will double from 3.4 percent to 6.8 percent. According to U.S. PIR...

Rubio Supports the Dream Act in Some Form

By Fawn Johnson

Sen. Marco Rubio , R-Fla., said on Thursday that he supports the Dream Act in some form. He wants undocumented students to have the chance to stay, but he doesn't want to hand them citizenship on a platter. Read More »

Restoration Calls: H1B Visa, Gridlocked Out

RESTORATION CALLS: POLITICS

Young, Innovative, and Gridlocked Out

By Fawn Johnson, Beth Reinhard and Chris Frates

Sam Chaudhary and Liam Don are young entrepreneurs who want to create jobs. But their work visas expire in April because of a problem that Congress seems incapable of addressing. First in a new National Journal series that ex...

Time to Hit the Gas

By Fawn Johnson

Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa was in town last week, lobbying as he has been for the last several months for lawmakers to get it together and pass a surface transportation bill. Villaraigosa has a specific reason for his te...

The Bully Pulpit

By Fawn Johnson

It's "Bully Week" in Washington, D.C., and I'm not talking about Congress. On Wednesday, the Cartoon Network will premier its documentary against bullying, Speak Up , at Stuart-Hobson Middle School. Secretary of Health and Human ...

Norquist Says Ending Birthright Citizenship Is a Tax

By Fawn Johnson

Americans for Tax Reform President Grover Norquist, who is most famous at the moment for waging a political war on government spending, said on Monday that ending automatic citizenship for babies born on U.S. soil would be a tax on ...

Shallow Agreement

By Fawn Johnson

Roads are good. Bridges are good. Construction projects are good. Infrastructure is good. That is the message that politicians around the country are repeating to whatever audience they happen to be addressing. If everyone agrees on...

Snob Nation

By Fawn Johnson

Is President Barack Obama a snob? A brief look at his personal education might make you think so. He attended the prestigious Punahou prep school in Hawaii. He is a graduate of Columbia University and Harvard Law School, where he wa...

Will There Ever Be a Long-Term Highway Bill?

By Fawn Johnson

Things aren't looking so good for a comprehensive or long-term surface transportation bill this year. After news broke last week that House Republicans were backing off of a five-year $260 billion highway/energy bill, the best cas...

Common Core's Good, Bad, and Ugly

By Fawn Johnson

Let's start with the bad and ugly. The Brookings Institution issued a report last week that wasn't too kind to the Common Core State Standards, arguing that they will do nothing to help lagging student performance. Here's a sample...

CONGRESS

House GOP Readying New Strategy on Highway Bill

By Billy House

House Republican leaders are mulling a significant retreat from their stalled $260 billion highway bill -- including shifting from a five-year reauthorization to a shorter version that would kick longer-term decisions to a new Co...

Stepping It Up at Community Colleges

By Fawn Johnson

Make no mistake. Higher education is the name of the game in the Obama administration these days. The White House budget plan released last week didn't mention the 2001 No Child Left Behind Act or the need to reauthorize it, a marke...

Infrastructure Becomes Campaign Fodder

By Fawn Johnson

If you want proof that President Obama is distancing himself as far from Congress as he can, look no further than his proposed infrastructure budget. The White House proposed $476 billion over six years for surface transportation in...

IMMIGRATION

Cat and Mouse on the Border

By Fawn Johnson

Everyday realities along the U.S.-Mexico border in Arizona are far removed from the political battles over border security and immigration that go on in Washington. Agents on the border tune out the rhetoric. They just try to do the...

EDUCATION: White House Pushes on College Funding

By Fawn Johnson

President Obama stressed college affordability in his budget, proposing to increase Pell Grants and asking Congress to stop a interest-rate hike on student loans from going into effect in July. The White House has shifted focus over...

INFRASTRUCTURE: Infrastructure Plan Distances Obama from Congress

By Fawn Johnson

If you want proof that President Obama is distancing himself as far from Congress as he can, look no further than his proposed infrastructure budget for the next fiscal year. Infrastructure means jobs to the administration, which is...

Waivers 'Will Take Some Time'

By Fawn Johnson

You have to give the White House credit for giving fair warning about last week's end-run around Congress on education. Education Secretary Arne Duncan announced the idea last June, and there were whispers of their "Plan B" waiver p...

Transit, Walkers, Bikers Up in Arms

By Fawn Johnson

Transit groups, along with pedestrian and cycling advocates, are hopping mad about a portion of the House surface transportation bill that removes mass transit funding from the highway trust fund and eliminates dedicated funding for...

Now We're Getting Political

By Fawn Johnson

The generally bipartisan, if wonky, surface transportation issue got a major dose of political (and partisan) medicine last week when House Republicans unveiled their American Energy and Infrastructure Jobs Act . The measure combin...

Act Responsibly Or Else

By Fawn Johnson

President Obama is calling for "shared responsibility" between the federal government and the nation's universities to help rein in tuition costs. (Vice President Joe Biden is carrying the torch for this cause this week with Under S...

Good Spending and Bad Spending

By Fawn Johnson

Republicans' singular focus on curbing government spending has transformed the discussion on transportation over the last year. Earmarks, which once drove the entire surface transportation authorization process, are now a thing of t...

Obama Aims for a Skilled Workforce

By Fawn Johnson

President Obama tied his education agenda more closely with his economic agenda than ever before in his State of the Union address. His overarching goal to bolster the middle class depends on building a U.S.-based high-tech manufact...

IMMIGRATION: Same Words, No Progress

By Fawn Johnson

Last year, Obama gave lip service to immigration in his State of the Union address. “I strongly believe that we should take on, once and for all, the issue of illegal immigration,” he said. “I know the debate will be difficult...

INFRASTRUCTURE: It’s Time for Congress to Act

By Fawn Johnson

It’s not high-speed rail. It’s not a stimulus program to fill potholes. It’s not an infrastructure bank. President Obama is shedding several of his failed White House efforts on infrastructure and instead daring Congress to pa...

EDUCATION: College, Training Take Center Stage in Obama Speech

By Fawn Johnson

President Obama gave a rare gift to the college administrators and others in the higher education community in his State of the Union Tuesday night, focusing his education policy proposals on the things they care about: job training...

Fighting Over Labor

By Fawn Johnson

Last Friday, House and Senate leaders announced an agreement on a long-awaited bill to reauthorize the Federal Aviation Administration. Republicans withdrew a controversial labor provision that had drawn a veto threat from the Whi...

Many, Many Choices

By Fawn Johnson

This week, hundreds of organizations across the country--city officials, associations, schools of all stripes, and think tanks--will hold events celebrating school choice. The goal behind school choice week is to highlight the man...

CONGRESS

FAA Deal on Capitol Hill: Labor Language Dropped

By Fawn Johnson

House and Senate leaders said on Friday they have reached agreement on a long-awaited bill to reauthorize the Federal Aviation Administration, with Republicans backing down on a controversial labor provision that had drawn a veto th...

Plouffe Offers Mayors a SOTU Preview

By Fawn Johnson

President Obama will offer “concrete ideas”—with a focus on high-tech manufacturing—about how the country’s economy should be structured in Tuesday’s State of the Union address, White House senior adviser David Plouffe t...

High-Speed Rail in a Coma

By Fawn Johnson

Policymakers' appetite for high-speed rail seems to be dwindling to almost nothing. It is old news that congressional Republicans are not fans of President Obama's high-speed rail initiative. They view it as a waste of taxpayer doll...

A Civics Lesson

By Fawn Johnson

The Education Department released a report last week arguing that civics education should be reinvigorated and reimagined. The White House is suggesting that higher education is about more than just getting a job after graduation....

Immigration-Reform Advocate to Lead Domestic Policy Council

By Andrew Joseph

The White House has tapped Cecilia Muñoz, not its director of Intergovernmental Affairs, to succeed Melody Barnes as director of the Domestic Policy Council. Read More »

The Health Impacts of Transportation

By Fawn Johnson

The Central Corridor Light Rail Line is an 11-mile transit system connecting downtown Minneapolis with downtown Saint Paul. It is a $1 billion investment that is expected to spur $6.8 billion in local development over the next 20 years. Read More »

The Legacy of No Child Left Behind

By Fawn Johnson

No Child Left Behind--the landmark, standards-setting elementary and secondary education law--is 10 years old this week. Born of unlikely alliances between conservatives like President George W. Bush and liberals like the late Sen. ...

Public Policy by Extension

By Fawn Johnson

The countdown has begun to the Jan. 31 deadline when the current authorization for the Federal Aviation Administration expires. At the last check, lawmakers were no closer to a resolution on their disagreements than they were in Sep...

A Partisan Approach

By Fawn Johnson

House Education and the Workforce Committee Chairman John Kline, R-Minn., is preparing a package of education bills to reauthorize the 2001 No Child Left Behind Act, responding to a plea from the Senate for House legislation that wo...

VH1 Foundation Keeps the Music in Schools

By Fawn Johnson

A special aired Monday on the cable channel VH1 aims to give music programs a big boost in cash-strapped schools. Read More »

Tolling Woes

By Fawn Johnson

Two Northeast lawmakers aren't too pleased with the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey for raising tolls to cross bridges into New York City. They are angry enough that they want the federal government to step in. The Port Au...

Race to the Top Slogs On

By Fawn Johnson

The Education Department awarded $500 million in grants to nine states last week, carrying out a promise it made in May to concentrate its limited resources on early learning. The awards are the latest to be doled out under the ...

IMMIGRATION

Roadmap to Understanding the Ariz. Immigration Case Before the Supreme Court

By Fawn Johnson

It was a foregone conclusion that the nation’s highest court would be the final arbiter of just how far states can go in enforcing immigration laws. On Monday , the Supreme Court made it official in agreeing to hear Arizona’s c...

Transit Benefits on the Line

By Fawn Johnson

New Year's Eve could be a bad day for the Obama administration if Congress doesn't act to extend the payroll tax cut. But while that fight dominates year-end conversations on Capitol Hill, lawmakers have paid scant attention to anot...

Good Cop, Bad Cop on College Costs

By Fawn Johnson

President Obama isn't too pleased that the cost of college has escalated at four times the rate of inflation over the last 20 years, but there is little he can do to actually lower tuitions. Obama's White House meeting with universi...

Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents

NEED TO KNOW: IMMIGRATION

Immigration: A Problem Without a Solution

By Fawn Johnson

No one knows what to do about the millions of illegal immigrants already residing in the United States. Read More »

Third graders at Jane Addams Elementary School

EDUCATION

Grading No Child Left Behind

By Fawn Johnson

National Journal asks 21 education experts to evaluate the landmark law's successes and failures as its 10-year anniversary nears. Read More »

'Buy America' Chatter Resurfaces

By Fawn Johnson

It's hard to find two better political push-buttons than American jobs and American-made products. It should come as no surprise, then, that House Democrats on the Transportation Committee last week made a big deal about their new ...

The Comparability Question

By Fawn Johnson

The Education Department last week weighed in on the sometimes thorny issue of equitable funding among public schools, unveiling original research showing that disadvantaged schools (those eligible for Title I funding) receive les...

The Role of Common Core

By Fawn Johnson

I had the pleasure of sitting down recently with former education secretary Margaret Spellings and separately with Rep. George Miller, D-Calif.--two of the pillars of No Child Left Behind. I asked each of them how the Common Core St...

User Pays

By Fawn Johnson

The House Republicans are making infrastructure the backbone of their own jobs proposal, a foil to President Obama's jobs package. They are offering a long-term (and long overdue) highway bill that would be paid for by expanded dome...

Transit Riders as Taxpayers

By Fawn Johnson

The Amalgamated Transit Union represents about 190,000 transit operators, most of them bus drivers. The union's members depend on a robust bus and transit system to keep their organization alive. But, as international president Larr...

The New Normal for College Students

By Fawn Johnson

The typical college student is not the frat boy at Ohio State or the philosophy major at Bard College. According to new research from Complete College America, the typical college student is attending school part time and probably...

Let's Not Forget About Safety

By Fawn Johnson

With so much attention focused on the sorry state of the nation's roads and bridges and lawmakers' attempts to pass a long-term highway bill, the impact of traffic collisions can get lost. AAA tried to rectify that problem last week...

Parsing the Nation's Report Card

By Fawn Johnson

It was hard to find the silver lining in the tepid results from the Nation's Report Card issued last week by the National Assessment of Educational Progress. Math proficiency for fourth graders and eighth graders ticked up one per...

CONGRESS

Democratic Jobs Bill Goes Down

By Dan Friedman

Senate Republicans blocked a $60 billion infrastructure bill Thursday, making the bill the second piece of President Obama’s jobs proposal to be voted down in the Senate. Read More »

Teacher and Hispanic Students in Phoenix, Arizona

EDUCATION

An Education in Financial Aid

By Fawn Johnson

President Obama made a politically smart move last week when he announced a three-part plan to make it easier for people to pay their student loans. The plan includes an income-based cap on monthly payments, loan consolidation, and ...

Paying for Roads With Drilling

By Fawn Johnson

If you dismissed as a political stunt House Speaker John Boehner's suggestion to fund a highway bill with expanded drilling, as I did, you and I both missed a critical development in Republicans' thinking on transportation. House Re...

The NCLB Saga Continues

By Fawn Johnson

There's nothing like a congressional stage to expose the actual support (or lack thereof) of a legislative idea. When it comes to rewriting No Child Left Behind, Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee Chairman Tom H...

Jobs Again, Infrastructure-Style

By Fawn Johnson

President Obama's jobs bill may be going nowhere in Congress, but it is certainly being loud about it. Senate Democrats are refusing to let the political talking point go by scheduling floor votes on individual pieces of the measure...

Words, Words, Words on Jobs and Economy

By Fawn Johnson

The war of words between Republicans and Democrats on jobs and the economy is doing a lot to provide fodder for the presidential campaign next year, but little to advance any legislation in Congress. Given the gridlock illustrated b...

MIDDLE EAST

Clinton Goes on Offensive Over Iraq, Libya

By Fawn Johnson

It is impossible for an elected official to go on television lately without trashing his or her opposing party. But Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is now “out of politics,” and her presence on a series of Sunday talk shows o...

Overpass being constructed over Highway 71

ECONOMY

Democrats’ Next Jobs Message: Traffic, Potholes

By Fawn Johnson

Police officers, firefighters, and teachers are yesterday’s news. Senate Democrats are moving on to contractors and construction workers. After the defeat on Thursday night of legislation to give $35 billion to states and cities t...

ANALYSIS

White House Immigration Message: We’re Tough

By Fawn Johnson

It is no accident the Obama administration is touting a record number of deportations for the second year in a row. If Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano has one immigration-related mission, it is to remind people as often...

One More Year With LaHood

By Fawn Johnson

No one will be happy to see Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood exit public life, but he isn't going away for a quite a while. Last week, the personable moderate Republican from Illinois said he would step down from the White House ...

The End of No Child Left Behind

By Fawn Johnson

The Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee will begin considering an education bill this week that could mark the beginning of the end for the landmark 2001 No Child Left Behind law. The draft bill, unveiled last w...

TRANSPORTATION

For Affable LaHood, DOT Will Be Last Public Job

By Fawn Johnson

Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood sees his post in the Obama administration as his last job in public office, and he likely will stay for only one term, he told the Chicago Tribune on Thursday. Read More »

EDUCATION

Long Slog Begins on Education Rewrite

By Fawn Johnson

Senate takes first step on education rewrite. Read More »

About Those Bicycles

By Fawn Johnson

Congress has put off its fight over surface transportation funding until early next year, and for that we all can breathe a sigh of relief. Still, conservatives like Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., have made it clear that unresolved issue...

Race to the Top's Long Shadow

By Fawn Johnson

The Race to the Top competitive grant program is one of President Obama's proudest accomplishments, but its relevance may be fading as money runs out and other education policies compete for space on the national stage. Senate lawma...

Traffic, Anger, and Political Action

By Fawn Johnson

Everyone can relate to traffic congestion; and opinions on it are close to universal. People hate it. Traffic isn't like ozone rules, abortion, or even seat-belt laws, where it's fair to say there are at least a few varying attitude...

The Waivers Are Here

By Fawn Johnson

President Obama took his first step last week altering the 2001 No Child Left Behind law, a signature domestic-policy achievement of his predecessor, George W. Bush. In a move designed to take the pressure off of states where school...

WHITE HOUSE

Obama Takes First Step Changing 'No Child'

By Fawn Johnson

President Obama took his first step on Friday altering the 2001 No Child Left Behind law, a signature domestic-policy achievement of his predecessor, George W. Bush. The law required schools, for the first time, to report on and mee...

Buses Versus Airplanes

By Fawn Johnson

Environmentalists, tax watchdogs, free market advocates, and (most importantly) bus enthusiasts have teamed up to suggest that policymakers rethink taxpayer subsidies designed to keep small rural airports afloat. Their timing is pre...

The Republicans' NCLB Plan

By Fawn Johnson

Senate Republicans are seeking to eliminate federal school assessment standards that could cause more than 80 percent of schools to be labeled as failing next year. The proposal is part of a package of measures unveiled last week by...

TRANSPORTATION

FAA, Highway Extensions Clear House

By Fawn Johnson

The House on Tuesday voted to extend funding for the Federal Aviation Administration and the funding mechanism for highways, bridges, and railways, putting off the hard negotiations on infrastructure investment until next year. Read More »

Obama's Jobs Plan: Help or Hindrance?

By Fawn Johnson

When President Obama called for $50 billion in infrastructure spending last year, nothing happened. The same request likely will go nowhere now, but the sentiment is still appreciated in transportation circles. As part of a $447 bil...

Assessing Obama's Jobs Plan, K-12 Style

By Fawn Johnson

Part of the $447 billion jobs plan that President Obama unveiled last week is devoted to elementary and secondary education. The president proposed $30 billion to prevent 280,000 teacher layoffs that White House economists predict w...

HOUSE

House Republicans Embrace Clean Transportation Stopgaps

By Fawn Johnson

House Republicans appear to be bagging plans to add controversial policy riders to two key bills. Read More »

CONGRESS

House FAA Stopgap Includes Back-Pay Provisions

By Fawn Johnson

House Republicans are mulling another funding extension for the Federal Aviation Administration, this time to Dec. 31, that also includes back pay for federal workers who were furloughed for two weeks in August when lawmakers failed...

Obama's Infrastructure Plan, Part Deux

By Fawn Johnson

Remember last Labor Day, when President Obama used the national stage to roll out a $50 billion infrastructure plan to create jobs by repairing and expanding roads, runways, and railways? That proposal became irrelevant almost immed...

It Takes a Village

By Fawn Johnson

The Obama administration is incorporating some multifaceted thinking into its education agenda. Government officials understand that poverty and education have a direct impact on each other and that individual neighborhoods are the ...

WHITE HOUSE

Obama Starts Jobs Program in His Own Domain

By Fawn Johnson

President Obama is either fed up with Congress or he’s testing his own administration’s mettle. Or both. On Wednesday, Obama took a now-familiar path in adopting a program—this time a jobs and infrastructure effort—that can ...

Drivers use the HOV lane at sunset on the Ronald Reagan Freeway near Simi Valley, California

TRANSPORTATION

Obama to Call for Clean Extension of Surface-Transportation Funding

By Fawn Johnson

President Obama on Wednesday will call for a clean extension of surface-transportation funding, industry lobbying sources tell National Journal . Read More »

What's It Going to Take, an Earthquake?

By Fawn Johnson

There are some 150,000 bridges in need of repair in the United States, according to the Department of Transportation. Last week's 5.8 magnitude earthquake sent engineers out to inspect many of them along the East Coast to ensure the...

Something Is Working in the College Pipeline

By Fawn Johnson

College enrollment continues at record high levels. That's what the Pew Research Center found last week in a report on college enrollment and ethnicity. In October 2010, the United States hit an all-time high of 12.2 million colle...

CAMPAIGN 2012

GOP Presidential Field Soft on Immigration?

By Fawn Johnson

The Republican Party's immigration hard-liners seem to be a constituency without a candidate going into 2012. Read More »

Heavy Trucks, Fuel Efficiency, and Kumbaya?

By Fawn Johnson

The White House last week announced the first ever fuel efficiency standards for trucks, buses, and other heavy-duty vehicles. If the rule is adopted, vehicles manufactured between 2014 and 2018 will be required to reduce their fuel...

Worried About Bullying? Ask the Students

By Fawn Johnson

There are a lot of well-intentioned grown-ups wringing their hands over the state of education in the United States. They are appropriately worried about things like overall funding levels for schools and whether the standards on wh...

EDUCATION

Bypassing Congress Has Its Limits

By Fawn Johnson

Faced with congressional gridlock, the administration has decided to implement changes to No Child Left Behind on its own. Is this a sign of things to come? Read More »

The Role of Labor in Transportation

By Fawn Johnson

The congressional shouting match that preceded last week's resolution of the Federal Aviation Administration's partial shutdown made it painfully clear that labor issues are a monkey wrench that could destroy otherwise bipartisan le...

What Constitutes 'Middle Class' for Student Aid?

By Fawn Johnson

When I asked higher education experts why a Congress full of budget hawks had spared Pell Grants from massive cuts next year by giving them $17 billion in the debt-ceiling deal, they told me it was because Pell Grants are unlike oth...

A Second Downturn Would Be Different--If It Happens

By Fawn Johnson and Edmund L. Andrews

If the country is, in fact, heading into a double-dip recession, it wouldn’t be the first time. The deep recession of the early 1980s was a classic example of a “W” shaped downturn. The economy shrank 8 percent from January to...

CONGRESS

FAA Shutdown Averted After Senate Vote

By Fawn Johnson

The Senate on Friday approved legislation ending the two-week partial shutdown of the Federal Aviation Administration, which had furloughed 4,000 government workers and another 70,000 construction employees. Read More »

CONGRESS

FAA Deal Papers Over Deeper Wounds

By Fawn Johnson

It didn’t take long for lawmakers to figure out that 74,000 people out of work due to congressional inaction just won’t fly with the public. But they have succeeded in doing the bare minimum to rectify the situation. The Se...

CONGRESS

Reid Announces Deal to End FAA Impasse

By Dan Friedman and Fawn Johnson

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said on Thursday that a deal has been struck in the protracted dispute between Democrats and Republicans over the Federal Aviation Administration. Read More »

CONGRESS

Obama Calls on Congress to End FAA Impasse

By Fawn Johnson and Dan Friedman

A quick fix to the Federal Aviation Administration's partial shutdown this week appears unlikely unless the Senate is prepared to agree unanimously to a six-week stopgap bill that was passed by the House a few weeks ago. And that&nb...

FAA Partial Shutdown Continues

By Fawn Johnson and Dan Friedman

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has thrown in the towel on reaching agreement to end a partial shutdown of the Federal Aviation Administration. Reid was on the verge of ending the standof Tuesday, but he was unsuccessful in w...

The Debt Deal: Issue by Issue

By Fawn Johnson, Chris Strohm, Coral Davenport, Meghan McCarthy, Megan Scully, James Kitfield and

The debt-ceiling deal includes $17 billion for Pell Grants for fiscal 2012 and 2013, which puts it several billion dollars short of what will be needed to give everyone who is eligible the $5,500 per year benefit that helps them pay...

OUTSIDE INFLUENCES

The Apoplectic & the Aloof, FAA Style

By Fawn Johnson

At the Washington Nationals baseball park, the National Air Traffic Controllers Association is flashing a banner ad that runs along the first and third base lines and under the scoreboard. It reads, “Air Traffic Controllers: We Gu...

CONGRESS

House To Leave FAA in Limbo

By Fawn Johnson and Dan Friedman

Gridlock still reigns on Capitol Hill: An impasse between the House and Senate will leave the Federal Aviation Administration in partial shutdown for a month. Read More »

TRANSPORTATION

FAA Inspectors Work Without Pay

By Fawn Johnson

As the partial shutdown of theFederal Aviation Administration drags on, about 40 inspectors are working without pay to ensure that the safety of the flying public isn’t compromised, Transportation Department officials said on Mond...

FAA All Messed Up: Is There a Way Out?

By Fawn Johnson

Here are the outstanding issues, according to Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood: Read More »

Teacher Quality: Are Incentive Programs Enough?

By Fawn Johnson

Two Republican lawmakers involved in education issues said last week that teacher quality initiatives should be largely a state activity rather than a federal one. "I'm a big advocate of rewarding outstanding teaching," said Senate ...

ECONOMY

Workers Without Right Education, Skills Floundering in Weak Economy

By Michael Hirsh and Fawn Johnson

Educated workers with the right skills are, for the most part, doing all right despite the weak economy—far better, at least, than those with little education. Read More »

CONGRESS

LaHood: Need ‘Compromise’ or FAA Won’t Function

By Fawn Johnson

The debt-ceiling crisis has knocked off the front pages a government situation that’s just as messed up and mirrors the broader stalemate in Washington. The Federal Aviation Administration has been in partial shutdown for almost a...

The Art of Compromise

By Fawn Johnson

A casual viewer at last week's hearing in the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee would have thought Chairwoman Barbara Boxer , D-Calif., and ranking member James Inhofe , R-Okla., were superheroes for achieving a deal o...

For-Profit Colleges: What's Left?

By Fawn Johnson

One would have thought that the quarrels about for-profit colleges would have died away with the Education Department's final rules last month to restrict federal student loan money to those institutions if too many graduates don't ...

CONGRESS

FAA to Partially Shutter, as Congress Fails to Agree on Stopgap Funding Measure

By Fawn Johnson

The Federal Aviation Administration will shut down partially, starting at midnight on Friday, after lawmakers failed to reach a last-minute agreement on a stopgap funding measure for the agency. Read More »

CONGRESS

White House Protests FAA Bill, Says 4,000 Could Lose Jobs

By Fawn Johnson

Two days before the funding for the Federal Aviation Administration is set to expire, the White House is protesting that the stopgap measure currently being debated in Congress could threaten 4,000 federal jobs and cut off grant aid...

'Peak Car Use' Shows a Rational Public

By Fawn Johnson

Recent research from the Curtin University Sustainability Policy Institute in Perth, Australia, confirms that urbanites around the world are using their cars less. This "peak car use" phenomenon is occurring in at least eight majo...

Pondering Digital Learning

By Fawn Johnson

Former District of Columbia School Chancellor Michelle Rhee was in town last week discussing one of her main complaints with the public school system--that it doesn't use technology effectively. She described schools in the district...

AVIATION

FAA Stopgaps Reach 21

By Fawn Johnson

House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman John Mica , R-Fla., on Friday introduced the 21 st stopgap funding measure for the Federal Aviation Administration, complaining that the “intransigence of the Senate” ...

Mica's Bill: "Stability" or "Road to Ruin"?

By Fawn Johnson

House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman John Mica, R-Fla., rolled out a six-year, $230 billion surface-transportation bill last week, and the reviews were, well, negative to mixed. Republicans on the committee s...

How Flexible Can You Be?

By Fawn Johnson

Republicans and Democrats on the House Education and the Workforce Committee tried hard, but failed, to reach agreement on a bill to give local schools more options in using federal funds. Thus, it appears that the funding flexibili...

Dispiriting Numbers on Education, Civil Rights

By Fawn Johnson

The Education Department released new data last week showing that educational disparities are still very much a reality, despite the best efforts of policymakers and school administrators. Here are some of the findings: Read More »

The Environmental Case for Transportation Investment

By Fawn Johnson

Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood made two separate announcements last week about providing funds for transportation projects that cited environmental benefits as their main selling point. Read More »

EDUCATION

Priciest Private Colleges are Bates, Middlebury; Priciest Publics are Penn State, Pitt

By Fawn Johnson

New government data finds the priciest tuitions for public and private colleges and universities in the United States. There are surprises: Penn State and Pitt vie for the priciest public schools, and a trio of New England colleges ...

Let's Start With Charter Schools

By Fawn Johnson

"This country is in the midst of the most dynamic education-reform atmosphere I've seen in my tenure in Congress," was the observation of House Education and the Workforce Committee ranking member George Miller, D-Calif., when the p...

After 55 Years, Where Are We on Highways?

By Fawn Johnson

June 29 marks the 55th anniversary of President Eisenhower's signing of the Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956, popularly known as the National Interstate and Defense Highways Act. The statute created the Highway Trust Fund, which was ...

The Regulation Threat: Pros and Cons

By Fawn Johnson

Education Secretary Arne Duncan dropped a bombshell on educators and Congress alike last week when he announced that the Education Department would pursue changes to the 2001 No Child Left Behind Act through regulations if Congres...

Amtrak: Is It Really the Same Old Debate?

By Fawn Johnson

House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman John Mica , R-Fla., last week came up with a pretty cool way to unveil an idea that he has been tossing around for some time. His policy proposal, which comes as no surpris...

More Emphasis on Vocational Training?

By Fawn Johnson

Last week, the White House announced a new partnership with the National Association of Manufacturers to provide 500,000 community college students with " industry-recognized credentials ." Some of those credentials could be earned ...

Has Time Come for Merit-Based Funding?

By Fawn Johnson

This week, the Bipartisan Policy Center will release recommendations to fund transportation programs based on performance measures, with the idea that money can be spent more efficiently if a cost-benefit analysis is a central compo...

CAMPAIGN 2012

Now, Santorum Has Company on Entitlements

By Fawn Johnson

Recounting his calls to limit Social Security during the Bush administration, Rick Santorum said, "I turned around and there was nobody behind me.” Read More »

EDUCATION

Duncan Warns Congress: Do Your Job (or We Will)

By Fawn Johnson

The school year is ending with little progress on an education bill. The White House is threatening to send Congress to the principal's office. Read More »

ECONOMY

Obama Takes Long View in Highlighting Job Training

By Fawn Johnson

It takes guts to admit you don't have all the power to fix the economy, especially if you're the president. Read More »

Could Focusing on Repairs Please Everyone?

By Fawn Johnson

I have been interviewing staffers on the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee as part of a broader project for National Journal magazine profiling "Hill People." To a person, Republican and Democratic staffers on the ...

Gainful-Employment Rule: What Do We Think?

By Fawn Johnson

The Education Department, at long last, released its final rule last week prohibiting for-profit and professional certificate programs from accessing student-loan money if their former students aren't able to repay the loans. The ag...

EDUCATION

For-Profit College Rule Focuses on Student Debt

By Fawn Johnson

The Education Department took its final step in regulating career colleges like Kaplan and the University of Phoenix on Wednesday when it unveiled a final rule that prohibits for-profit and professional certificate programs from ...

Focus on Early Learning

By Fawn Johnson

The administration made a decision last week to concentrate its limited resources on early childhood learning. The Education Department will focus $500 million of its $700 million in Race to the Top grants for this year on programs ...

Good, Clean (American) Jobs

By Fawn Johnson

It's a familiar refrain to anyone involved in transportation: Infrastructure investment means jobs. But the transportation sector hasn't cornered the market on the "jobs" talking point. For environmentalists, investment in clean tec...

High Court Upholds Arizona E-Verify Rule

By Fawn Johnson

The Supreme Court on Thursday said that Arizona is well within its rights to require employers to check the legal status of their workers through a federal government database. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce had sued the state over th...

Trusting the Government With Highways

By Fawn Johnson

The Congressional Budget Office offered lengthy, detailed (and dry) testimony last week that outlined the options for paying for highways. Limiting spending to the amount garnered from the current fuel tax would result in $13 bill...

The STEM (aka "Smarty Pants") Conundrum

By Fawn Johnson

It's no secret the United States is badly in need of more science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) college graduates to help fill the needs of the growing technology sector workforce. President Obama has launched several ta...

Tension Rise On Mexican Border After Border Patrol Agent Slain Last Week

NEED-TO-KNOW VIDEO

4 Keys to Engaging the Public on Immigration Reform: Capitalize on Public Opinion

By Fawn Johnson and Theresa Poulson

A four-part video series looking at tactics the Obama administration should use to make progress with the public and a key group of the electorate, Hispanics, on the issue of immigration. Read More »

NEED-TO-KNOW VIDEO

4 Keys to Immigration Reform: Highlight White House's Enforcement Record

Part two of a four-part video series looking at tactics the Obama administration should use to make progress with the public and a key group of the electorate, Hispanics, on the issue of immigration. Watch part one. Read More »

What, Exactly, Does College Do for Us?

By Fawn Johnson

One needs look no further than the White House to gauge the level of national interest in building a highly skilled workforce. President Obama has placed an intense focus on doubling college graduation rates and increasing science, ...

How to Set and Measure Transportation Goals

By Fawn Johnson

If a city bridge is still standing and the Main Street potholes are filled, does that justify the town's transportation budget? Probably not, at least not now. As states and cities are combing through their budgets in search of extr...

4 Keys to Immigration Reform: Win Hispanics' Trust

Part one of a four-part video series looking at tactics the Obama administration should use to make progress with the public and a key group of the electorate, Hispanics, on the issue of immigration. Read More »

EDUCATION

PICTURES: One Arizona School System’s Tale Foretells National Challenges with Immigration, Education

By Fawn Johnson

Phoenix may be an extreme case, but it is also the future. Nonwhites, particularly Hispanics, are fast becoming the majority in the United States. The experience of Arizona’s educational system foretells that of a nation where whi...

IMMIGRATION

E-Verify Latest Bargaining Chip

By Fawn Johnson

President Obama is in bargaining mode with congressional Republicans about a proposal to require employers to electronically verify that their workers are legal. He named his price—a pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigra...

Is There a Case for Alternative Transportation?

By Fawn Johnson

Summer is approaching, vacations hover just beyond high school graduations, and the cost of fueling up your beach ride is out of control. The price of gas, climbing steadily toward $4 a gallon, is one of the most tangible indicators...

Do We Need Four Years of High School?

By Fawn Johnson

Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels, to the disappointment of eager politicos waiting for more hints of his presidential ambitions, last week gave a fabulously wonky speech at the American Enterprise Institute on Indiana's newly minted educa...

Overcoming the Language Barrier

By Fawn Johnson

Last week, senior members of the administration met at Miami-Dade College to discuss President Obama's goal of creating the best educated workforce by 2020. A key piece of that puzzle will be lifting Hispanic students out of their c...

Do We Need More Highways?

By Fawn Johnson

The U.S. Conference of Mayors will unveil the results of a survey this week showing that the country's mayors are big fans of transit, and perhaps less so of new highways. The survey will show that most mayors want highway expansion...

States Are Addressing Teacher Quality

By Fawn Johnson

There's a lot going on in the states, which could give hope to anyone worried that Congress isn't going to push the ball across the goal line this year to make any changes at the federal level to the K-12 system. The Illinois Senate...

Serving Customers, by Land or by Air

By Fawn Johnson

The government can look awfully cool when it does what the Department of Transportation did last week in finalizing new rules that require airlines to disclose hidden fees and refund bag fees if they lose travelers' luggage. Whether...

Education Funding Saved: What Does It Mean?

By Fawn Johnson

President Obama did a remarkably good job protecting education funding in the recent pitched battle with congressional Republicans over spending. Despite disparaging comments from House Budget Chairman Paul Ryan , R-Wis., about how...

Fixing a Leaky Roof (or a Pothole)

By Fawn Johnson

Last week, the Organization for International Investment launched an infrastructure campaign touting the economic benefits of strengthening America's infrastructure and warning subtly that the lack of attention to airports, bridge...

With Georgia Immigration Law, Legal Battles Ahead

By Fawn Johnson

The Georgia Legislature late on Thursday passed a measure modeled on Arizona’s controversial immigration-enforcement law, setting up yet more questions for the courts about how far states and local jurisdictions can go in cracking...

A U.S. Customs and Border Protection Agent apprehends an undocumented immigrant

IMMIGRATION

Appeals Court Continues Stay on Arizona Immigration Law

By Fawn Johnson

A federal appeals court on Monday upheld an injunction against Arizona’s controversial immigration-enforcement law that requires police officers to check immigration status during traffic stops and routine arrests. The United Stat...

Regional Race to the Top at Risk

By Fawn Johnson

If the brinksmanship over a federal government shutdown demonstrates anything, it's that the White House doesn't always call the shots. The Education Department's plan to award $900 million to individual school districts in a Race t...

Food Fight, Anyone?

By Fawn Johnson

Lobbyists for various modes of transportation -- roads, rail, aviation, even bike enthusiasts -- have done a good job of hanging together this year in advocating for infrastructure investment. Everyone from the U.S. Chamber of Comme...

Does School Choice Boost Community Action?

By Fawn Johnson

Last week, the House passed a largely symbolic measure to reauthorize the District of Columbia school-voucher program. The measure is unlikely to go anywhere in the Senate and is opposed by the White House. The voucher concept is ga...

Infrastructure: What's It Going to Take?

By Fawn Johnson

It seems like there's a lot of talk about the importance of infrastructure investment in Washington, but not a lot of action. The administration and key transportation leaders in Congress both say they want a highway bill before Aug...

Immigration Hardliners Upset GOP Candidates Don't Care

By Fawn Johnson

We Thought You Cared...

By Fawn Johnson

Anti-immigration group NumbersUSA is not feeling the love from GOP White House hopefuls. Read More »

IMMIGRATION

Green Cards Offered as Solution for High-Tech Firms

By Fawn Johnson

High-tech companies got a rare opportunity on Thursday to make their case to Congress on the H-1B visa program for temporary skilled foreign workers, but got some interference when other companies argued for an easier green card pro...

FAA Bill: What's Left to Decide?

By Fawn Johnson

It looks like the long-suffering Federal Aviation Administration's wait for a reauthorization bill is coming to an end. This week, the House will vote on the 18th stopgap funding measure for the FAA since the last reauthorization ex...

Focusing on Minority, Disadvantaged Schools

By Fawn Johnson

EDUCATION

Obama Reaches Out to Hispanics on Education

By Fawn Johnson

President Obama will visit a multicultural school in Washington D.C. Monday to discuss Hispanics and education, just a few days after the Census Bureau revealed that Hispanics accounted for more than half of the nation’s growth ov...