With the threat of a veto hanging over its head, the National Defense Authorization bill heads to the House floor today for debate. Among the provisions are several dealing with the question of a nuclear weapons armed Iran, and what the United States should do to avert a crisis, prepare to handle the threat, or eliminate the threat altogether.

If ever we need evidence of ideology run rampant, the House vote to eliminate the annual American Community Survey and the Economic Census to provide basic information on the state of businesses and industries in the country and data used for generating quarterly gross domestic product estimates is exhibit A.

Export-related jobs are a huge and important driver of the U.S. economy, and the record of the Ex-Im Bank is clear: Using private funds and with minimal exposure to taxpayers, it has been a major driver of U.S. exports and a driver of jobs and corporate profits in the United States.

Under current law, the U.S. Department of Defense automatically faces significant spending cuts over the next 10 years—cuts that america's civilian and military leaders have cadidly described as "devastating" and "very high risk."

Gov. Bob McDonnell (R-Va.) has long been on almost everyone's short list for the Republican vice presidential nomination. But now McDonnell's national security credentials have come into question, thanks to his mishandling of a bill passed by the Virginia General Assembly.

When he was director of central intelligence, Leon Panetta earned a reputation as an energetic advocate for his agency. When he replaced Robert Gates at the Pentagon, it was reasonable to hope that Panetta would continue to play the role of a senior statesman.

Five years ago today, then-House Majority Leader Nancy Pelosi defied President George Bush's strategy of isolating Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad by going to Damascus. "We do not encourage and, in fact, we discourage members of Congress to make such visits to Syria," the White House spokesman said, calling Syria "a state sponsor of terror."

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.