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US Rep. Scott Peters (D-California) serves California's 52nd Congressional District, which is located in San Diego and the surrounding region. Peters currently serves on the House Energy and Commerce Committee and on the House Committee on Veterans Affairs. Peters joined me in a podcast interview before Thanksgiving to talk about a few critical issues facing lawmakers in Washington, including tax reform, the controversial "SHUSH fund," where taxpayers unknowingly have been paying to settle har

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iofHr8-z9mk&t=23s American attorney and constitutional scholar Jonathan Turley appeared on Fox News recently to discuss the sexual harassment scandal surrounding Democratic Rep. John Conyers and others on Capitol Hill. Turley says many politicians in Washington "put their ethics on layaway during the Clinton presidency, and that bill is suddenly due." Conyers settled a complaint -- using taxpayer money -- against a former staffer who says she was fired for rejec

President Trump has radically increased the number of U.S. airstrikes overseas. That should trouble America's voices on the antiwar left and non-interventionist right. Especially since this increase follows up on Obama's own drastic increase in U.S. drone strikes over the Bush administration. And the Bush administration itself was the subject of intense criticism for drastically increasing the amount of U.S. bombings overseas compared to the Clinton era. What all these presidents have in comm

Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), one of the "Big Six" responsible for crafting the GOP's comprehensive tax reform bill admitted to the New York Times Friday that the tax reform plan underway will raise taxes on some middle class Americans, claiming he "misspoke" when he recently said otherwise: "I misspoke on that. You can't guarantee that absolutely no one sees a tax increase." The Republican leader added that "what we are doing is targeting levels of income and looki

During a time of deep political dysfunction in the United States, it is easy to assume that American democracy has gone off the rails, perhaps for good. But if Americans can look past the slow-motion travesty unfolding in Washington, DC, they will find that it is still within their power to effect meaningful change. BERKELEY – It has been one year since Donald Trump was elected president of the United States, and America’s democratic institutions are clearly under strain. A mere 20% of American

If any U.S. senator ever deserved the term "maverick" it might actually be Rand Paul, not his colleague from Arizona. Another term that indisputably applies to the Tea Party Republican is "leader." Most junior senators make it to the U.S. Senate chamber for the first time and lie low, often for years, and go along with the party's agenda for the most part, build up some political capital, and then start to influence the process. Paul rode into Washington guns blazing from day one, drawing the

Shortly after the Second World War, a Republican legislator sought to temper criticism of a Democratic president. Senate Foreign Relations Committee chairman Arthur Vandenberg declared that we should stop “partisan politics at the water’s edge.” Today, partisan warfare knows no bounds. Democrats and Republicans routinely rationalize placing their own interests ahead of the national interest. Their mutual, unceasing attempts to subvert the other party’s political fortunes are now subverting a co

The experiment to save American democracy is happening, right now. And if you’re an American desperate to see a solution to the corrupt status quo, you should be paying attention. In late 2015, the people of Seattle voted to free their political system from the corrupting influence of big money. Through a ballot measure, they created Democracy Vouchers, a simple yet revolutionary system where each Seattle voter can give up to four $25 vouchers to candidates running for city office. The catch?

One of the most interesting and important legal fights going on right now centers around the scope of the First Amendment rights of political parties. In a variety of contexts, the parties have asserted their rights over the rights of the people. How can it be, however, that the rights of parties formed by the people can trump the rights of the people, through their elected government or otherwise, to determine how their elections for their public officials can be organized? What are the right

Eighteen attorneys general were anticipating this day in court. The day they believed a judge would strike down the Trump administration's order denying payment of Obamacare subsidies. The payments from the federal government had kept health care costs down and affordable for low-income families. However, the US District Court Judge ruled in favor of the Trump administration, paving the way for skyrocketing Obamacare premiums next year. Judge Vince Chhabria Judge Vince Chhabria of the US Dist