Market-based measures of public pensions funding may better informstate governments and taxpayers of the liabilities and risks they face.

Atwo-year congressional budget would bring a slightly longer view on national priorities, and two-year appropriations would allow some time in off years for oversight.

Either the Navy is retiring these ships too early or its lifecycle estimates are hopelessly optimistic. But service leaders cannot have it both ways. Similarly, the administration cannot realistically “pivot” to Asia—a region defined by the “tyranny of distance”—and cut the fleet at the same time.

But few inside Washington think Americans are concerned about sequestration. House Armed Services Committee Readiness Subcommittee Chairman Randy Forbes (R-Va.) wants to change that. He’s embarking on the “Defending Our Defenders” national tour to conduct installation oversight and hold local town-hall meetings to better understand the real impact of sequestration.

In this keynote address, Rep. Adam Smith (D-WA), ranking member of the House Armed Services Committee, will reflect on the state of America’s armed forces, including strategic goals; force posture; and, in this environment of fiscal strain, funding needs.

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This statement is available here as an Adobe PDF.  

For decades, the challenges of school reform in cities like Dallas seemed nearly insuperable. Even as they spent as much or more than nearby suburbs, city schools struggled under the weight of poverty, broken families, turgid bureaucracies, depressing conditions, and low expectations. The result has been dismal performance.