As the media and the public awaited the next steps in the Republican party’s efforts to overturn the Affordable Care Act, we got the political equivalent of a “Coming Attractions” trailer for the next big thing in Congress: the debt ceiling. At a June 9 press conference, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin spoke about resorting to
“Those were lies, plain and simple” – Fired FBI director James Comey On Thursday, May 11, I attended the Senate Intelligence Committee hearing on worldwide threats. The most anticipated topic of discussion was Russia’s interference with the U.S. elections, and more specifically, Director of the FBI James Comey’s firing that happened barely 48 hours before.
Given the intransigence of the Freedom Caucus in the House, it seems likely that we may see the return of the “debt ceiling” or “debt limit” to news headlines this year. Here’s a stripped-down summary of the concept; there’s a lot more detail available from Wikipedia, of course, but this should save you some digging.
Torchlight is proud to announce a new feature on the site: the Roundtable, in which members of the staff get together to discuss the news. This week’s panel consists of Senior Managing Editor Josh Kyu Saiewitz, Politics Editor Christopher Dahlin, Tech Manager James Griffith, Writer Jeremy Rosenlund, Art Director Blake Smisko, and Editor-in-Chief Tom Rich.