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Last week, Attorney General Eric Holder announced his resignation. Holder is one of three officials still remaining from President Obama’s original Cabinet and he was a lightning rod for conservative criticism of the administration. During Holder’s six-and-a-half year tenure the Justice Department sought to re-emphasize the importance of civil rights, but it came under fire for refusing to cooperate with a congressional investigation into the “Fast and Furious” scandal and prosecuting journalists that leaked government information. Holder’s departure comes on the heels of an expected Republican takeover of the Senate, which may limit President Obama’s selection of his replacement. Holder announced that he will remain at his post until a successor is chosen and confirmed.
This topic brief will discuss Eric Holder’s career at the Justice Department, analyze conservative and progressive criticisms of his job performance, and provide an overview of who President Obama may select as his replacement.
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Here is our weekly survey of news stories to round out the week of September 22nd-28th, 2014.
Today’s R&D covers the Russian economy. Western sanctions are expected to significantly impact Russia’s economic fortunes next year, with some economists predicting a recession. Yesterday, the World Bank announced that it expects Russia’s GDP growth to be minimal next year due to the sanctions and a lack of structural reforms. Growth rates are expected to remain anemic in 2016.
Today’s R&D covers Medicaid, the federal program that provides health insurance coverage for poor Americans. As part of the Affordable Care Act states were encouraged to expand Medicaid enrollment to those Americans makes less than 138% of the Federal Poverty Level (FPL). The original legislation threatened to strip states of Medicaid funding if they refused expansion, but the Supreme Court found this provision to be unconstitutional. The federal government is paying 100% of the cost of Medicaid expansion until 2017 and then pays for 90% of the costs until 2022. Twenty states have opted not to expand Medicaid, with some governors citing concerns about the state costs of expanding the program in future years.
Although the Scottish independence referendum failed last week, the cloud of secession still looms over Europe. Catalonia, a region located in Northeastern Spain, is pushing for an independence referendum. Catalans view their culture as separate from that of the larger Spanish state and the country’s economic problems have led growing numbers of Catalans to conclude that they would be better off if they went their own way. A day after the Scottish independence referendum failed, Catalonia’s regional parliament authorized Catalan President Artur Mas to call a “consultation” (a fancy name for a referendum) on independence. The Spanish government, headed by Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy, says that a Catalan independence vote would violate the Spanish Constitution and they have vowed a legal challenge to the measure. Since the Catalan secession issue might drag out for the remainder of the year, extempers should be prepared to talk about the subject at tournaments..JPG/448px-2012_Catalan_independence_protest_(102).JPG)
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Here is our weekly survey of news stories to round out the week of September 15th-21st, 2014.