reform

Campbell Brown seemed surprised when Stephen Colbert took her to task for promoting a lawsuit against teacher tenure in New York City. While pro-union teacher supporters and protesters rallied outside the studio, the ex-CNN anchor had a hard time inside defending her anti-union stance to Colbert's audience.

Protests in Kiev spread out to the rest of the Ukraine, forcing President Viktor Yanukovych to address reform measures, as well as promise to release many of the imprisoned protesters. The protests were amplified by an anti-protest law pushed through last week, backfiring for the government.

The White House is considering a proposal to split the work of the single military commander who now oversees both the National Security Agency and cybersecurity operations, presenting an opportunity to reshape the spy agency in the wake of harsh criticism of its sweeping surveillance programs.

A bill passed the California legislature that would allow undocumented immigrants to apply for and receive drivers' licenses. This is part of the effort local and state officials are making toward immigration reform. The same reform has stagnated at the federal level.

Once again, Newt Gingrich is telling hard truth and offering good advice to Republicans. There is almost no chance the GOP will listen, even as he has something interesting to say about the GOP, health care reform and obstructionism.

Under current Senate rules, it’s staggeringly easy for important legislation to be derailed. Just the threat of a filibuster by a minority of senators can stop a bill in its tracks — and we’ve seen it happen over and over. In 2009, the American Clean Energy and Security Act — which would have represented substantial progress in addressing the climate crisis — died in the Senate under the threat of a filibuster. Over the past six years, almost 400 Senate bills have stalled this way.

In Thursday’s Wall Street Journal, Republican Sen. John Barrasso has an irate oped intended to rally the public against Democratic proposals to end filibuster abuse. But in his tirade he neglects to mention one important fact: the Democratic proposals still allow minority filibusters.