So far, 2020 isn’t turning out to be a defense and foreign policy election, with voters viewing overseas commitments and threats as merely the sixth-most-important issue, according to a Pew Research poll completed in August. Foreign policy ranks behind the economy, health care, Supreme Court appointments, the coronavirus, and violent crime and just ahead of gun policy...
It was the best of rides; it was the worst of rides. I took an Uber drive from the White House to Reagan airport last March. When I got in, the driver, after saying hello, immediately informed me, “America was founded on slavery.” I was a bit taken aback by his assertion, not that I...
While the coronavirus pandemic and the upcoming election overwhelmingly dominate the nation’s attention, other critical challenges facing the nation continue to be dangerously ignored. One such issue is our country’s chronically dysfunctional asylum system which, a little more than a year after having provoked one of the most severe crisis on our southwestern border in...
President Trump recently introduced four executive orders aimed at reducing drug prices for all Americans. Affordability in health care is consistently a leading issue on the minds of the people, and the price of prescription drugs is a key component of that. Every president, regardless of party, wants to make medication more affordable. But more times than not, they...
Dallas ISD shocked the state earlier this month when it announced “the largest bond request in Texas history.” Now, another school district is raising eyebrows with its own record-breaking ask. On Monday, San Antonio ISD trustees voted to send a mammoth $1.3 billion bond package to voters in November. Its enormous size easily earns it...
Since March, when the lockdowns ordered by state and local governments began due to the novel coronavirus, Congress has passed $3.8 trillion in four COVID-19 response bills. While the economic damage continues from these lockdowns, Congressional discussions about more action is at a stalemate. In lieu of other Congressional action, the Foundation’s proposed Recovery Act...
Recent events have highlighted calls for policing reform nationwide, from both conservatives and liberals. At first glance, this sounds like a rare moment of bipartisan agreement. Unfortunately it is not. Both sides approach the concept of policing differently and share very little in terms of how it needs to be reformed. Conservatives are not new to the idea...
As the U.S. continues to grapple with COVID-19, we can’t lose sight of the pandemic’s impact on the criminal justice system. All 10 of the top clusters for the virus are in correctional institutions. Beyond the wrenching human toll on individuals incarcerated and the staff who work in jails and prisons, corrections departments are incurring hundreds of...
It’s been over a year since Child Protective Services (CPS) wrongfully removed Ashley and Daniel Pardo’s youngest son, Drake, due to an unsubstantiated allegation of medical abuse. The case, which drew widespread media attention and public outrage, culminated with the Supreme Court of Texas ordering CPS to return Drake to his family. Sadly for the...
When the dust had settled in the Democratic presidential nomination contest of 2020, the last remaining defender of the Affordable Care Act, Joe Biden, had won. And though his more progressive opponents had succeeded in pushing Biden toward expanding Medicare, his policy goal remains to “protect and build on” the ACA. What the other Democratic candidates agreed upon, though,...
The Democratic National Convention is resurrecting the Affordable Care Act as the centerpiece of the party’s healthcare policies. One speech featured healthcare activist and cancer survivor Laura Packard, who credits the ACA and its rules on preexisting conditions for her survival. Yet there are other stories that should be told, stories about the families that “Obamacare” failed....
Most signs point to an improving COVID-19 situation in Texas—unless you consider the recently questionable elevated test positivity rate that’s keeping us from reopening. On Aug. 13, Texas reported 6,879 hospitalized COVID-19 patients statewide, the lowest number since June 30. And on that day, the Texas Medical Center in Houston had its 27th consecutive day...