President Barack Obama begins another jobs tour this week. On this trip he is highlighting new efforts to boost advanced manufacturing in the country, according to reports from The Washington Post and The New York Times.

The trip stems from a new executive order the president issued mandating more transparency and better data-sharing between government and the private sector. The order is targeted at helping entrepreneurs and small business owners. The president will also push for a one-time $1 billion payment to establish Institutes for Manufacturing Innovation. The institutes would be a collaborative effort of governments and businesses aimed at making the country’s manufacturing sector competitive at a global level. The establishment of such organizations may have a slim-to-none chance of becoming reality.

As The Times’ Michael Shear reports, the GOP has been “cool to the idea,” and not in the cool-awesome way. Republicans have not exactly been negotiable parties though. The three big bipartisan deals — a 2010 deal to extend the Bush-era tax cuts, a deal to raise the debt ceiling in August 2011 and the recent fiscal cliff deal — only came about because Washington was in crisis mode.

It’s possible, some may argue, to draw comparisons between the Republicans of today and the Democrats from the years of George W. Bush. Democrats won control of Congress in 2006 by opposing an unpopular president and his policies. Republicans won the House of Representatives in 2010 because they ran against a semi-unpopular president and his controversial health care law.

But the American Enterprise Institute’s Norm Ornstein doesn’t think that the comparison is apt.

Because Bush assumed the presidency under poor circumstances — Bush v. Gore and hanging chads, anyone? — Democrats could have opposed his initiatives, but instead they provided crucial votes for Bush’s education reform legislation as well as what have been dubbed the “Bush tax cuts,” he said.

Ornstein said that the GOP opposition to Obama is “strategic as well as tribal.”

“I think that’s not just a feeling or an impression, it’s pretty obvious if you look at the policies,” he said.

It’s not just apparent in policies or rhetoric though. The Senate has ground to a halt thanks to the arcane procedural hurdle known as the filibuster — which requires a supermajority of 60 votes, rather than a simple majority, to proceed. The Century Foundation, which describes itself as a progressive nonpartisan think tank,  provides a handy little graph showing the rapid rise of such maneuvers.

It should be noted that the Democrats are not blameless in the process. They held the record for filibusters from the 1995-96 Congress until the 2009-10 Congress, which the GOP set a new high.The Democrats had a filibuster-proof majority for some of that session, but either way, the Republicans forced Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid to file about 140 cloture motions.

There is probably no end in sight. Because Republicans are set against “Obamacare” and Democrats are determined to protect it, there will be plenty of filibustering on health care alone.

— By Andrew Hedlund, Medill News Service

WASHINGTON — “See something, say something” was the theme of the first hearing on the Boston bombings held by the House Committee on Homeland Security Thursday.

Former Sen. Joseph Lieberman called on leaders and members of Muslim-American communities to better serve the U.S. by “identifying early stages of radicalization.”

Lieberman argued that the Boston Marathon victims might have been spared if the leaders of the Boston mosque that expelled suspected bomber Tamerlan Tzarnaev for his extremism had said something to the police or done something to counter his radicalism.

“The cost of silence, as we learned again on April 15, can be enormous,” said Lieberman, who urged Congress and the Executive Branch to continue “post mortem investigations” of the bombing.

Boston Police Commissioner Edward Davis agreed with the need to better communicate with the law enforcement.

“We need to explain to the community that they have a responsibility to their community and their nation to report the activity of those brothers before the bombing,” Davis said.

The bombing will be a learning experience for Boston, he said. “Everything we did has to be reviewed so that we make sure this doesn’t happen again,” said Davis.

Kurt Schwartz, Undersecretary for Homeland Security and director of the Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency, said Boston was as ready as it could have been.

“On April 15, the public safety community was prepared,” Schwartz said. He noted that on race day, an 80-person team was ready and waiting at the Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency. Boston’s police, fire and EMS representatives, as well as public safety personnel from the other seven cities and towns along the 26.2 mile course were also present.

“The response by the public in the moments after the blast was incredible,” Schwartz said. “And the public safety response was equally incredible.”

Commissioner Davis concluded his remarks with a familiar message about the bombers: “They had no effect on the city of Boston except for making us stronger.”

WASHINGTON — South Korea President Park Geun-hye brought her tough talk to a joint session of Congress on Wednesday, declaring her nation would not tolerate a nuclear-armed North Korea.

Any violent intent from her northern neighbor would be “met decisively,” Park said.

She took efforts, though, to note that her nation wants peaceful resolution to the current tensions.  “I will remain steadfast in pushing forward a process of trust-building on the Korean Peninsula,” Park told House and Senate lawmakers.

It’s the second day of Park’s visit to the United States. On Tuesday, she met with President Barack Obama and the two stood strongly together in the face of new threats from North Korea.

“Following on our meeting yesterday, President Obama and I adopted a joint declaration,” said Park. “We are determined to embark on another shared journey toward peace on the Korean Peninsula.”

Park said she believes trust will win out.

“And with the trust that gradually builds up, through exchange, through cooperation, we will cement the grounds for durable peace and eventually peaceful reunification,” said Park.

Park went on to say that Korea’s economy is stable and Asia suffers from disconnect between growing economic interdependence and national security cooperation.

The alliance between South Korea and the U.S. will help face these challenges, she said. 

“We are expanding cooperation on global issues like counter-terrorism, nuclear non-proliferation and the global financial crisis,” Park said. 

The U.S. trade deficit to South Korea in March was $1.3 billion, compared to $551 million a year earlier, according to Bloomberg analysis. Also, the value of U.S. exports to South Korea declined to $3.85 billion from $4.2 billion last year.

The U.S. and South Korea have a free trade agreement that went into effect just 14 months ago.

“Our economic partnership must also aim higher and reach further into the future,” said Park. “Our chorus of freedom and peace, of future and hope, has not ceased to resonate over the last 60 years and will not cease to go on.” 

— John Burfisher, Medill News Service

Delaware legalized same-sex marriage Tuesday. Rhode Island did the same late last week. That brings the total number of states permitting such partnerships to 11.

Just under a decade ago, in the 2004 elections, 11 states put gay marriage ban propositions on the ballot. All 11 of them passed. But, oh, how times change.

Maryland, Minnesota and Maine all passed ballot propositions allowing gay marriage in the last year. Minnesota rejected a ban on gay marriage.

At the federal level, the Supreme Court has agreed to hear two cases regarding the wedge issue — one on the constitutionality of the Defense of Marriage Act and the other a challenge to California’s ban on gay marriage — in what already promises to be a blockbuster Supreme Court session.

The sitting president supports marriage equality, and filed a brief with the Supreme Court calling for the nine justices to rule California’s law unconstitutional, but stopped short of asking the court to declare same-sex marriage a constitutional right.

The about-face of public opinion on this issue has been almost overnight. In looking for empirical data, we need to look no further than Gallup. The polling firm keeps a list of all the questions it has asked regarding marriage over the years. Interracial marriage and the social taboos that once surrounded it are somewhat akin to the controversy surrounding gay marriage.

The numbers show that when asked about marriage between a black person and a white person, it took until the early 1990s to get even a simple plurality and until 1997 to get a majority. (Note: Several years lapsed between the asking of these questions.)

What’s more, this social issue that was once a core conservative cause has almost faded from view; this is rooted in one simple reason: younger voters overwhelming support the right to marriage, regardless of sexual orientation.

If the Republican Party cares to evolve with the electorate, gay marriage needs to become a non-issue with their base, as 18- to 29-year-old voters constituted for 19 percent in November’s election, meaning this age group had a larger turnout than the 65-and-over age group.

A poll conducted by The Washington Post and ABC News showed that 70 percent of 18- to 39-year-olds favors legalizing same-sex marriage. This is the precise group that Republicans need to win over to avoid future losses.

- By Andrew Hedlund, Medill News Service

On Tuesday morning, a group of five volunteers with Organizing for Action met with a representative from the office of Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA) in support of the immigration reform bill currently working its way through the Senate.

The group’s coordinator, Marilyn Karp, a resident of Virginia’s Prince William County, is a Neighborhood Team Leader with OFA, which means she’s tasked with coordinating local volunteer activities in support of President Obama’s agenda. Ms. Karp said that because of her position with the organization, OFA asked her to put together a lobby day on behalf of the bill. Ms. Karp used the OFA website and her personal network to recruit volunteers.

Karp, who is now retired, said she formerly served as a Vice-President at Merrill Lynch, as well as running her own business. She said the current version of the immigration bill was “far from perfect,” but that its passage would provide a framework that could be improved upon later.

“I think my immigrant grandparents would be proud of me,” Karp said in explaining her support for the legislation.

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As part of Mental Health Awareness Month, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration recognized singer Demi Lovato for her work as a mentor to adolescents with mental health conditions Tuesday.

Lovato is extremely outspoken about her struggles with bipolar disorder, bulimia and self-injury and has seen an overwhelming flow of support from her fans, as well as her peers. During her talk, however, Lovato emphasized that her experience is not unique.

“Every young person faces challenges as they work toward becoming an independent adult, and for those with mental health challenges, it can be even more of a struggle,” said Lovato.  “I want those young adults to know that your life has meaning and you can reach out to someone you trust for support and overcome any challenges in your life.”

In her turn at the podium, SAMHSA Administrator Pamela Hyde reinforced Lovato’s statement that mental health conditions are extremely common. In fact, Hyde said, nearly 20% of young adults aged 18-25 suffered from a mental health condition last year.

And of these 1.3 young adults with mental health disorders, Hyde said, more than a third were also dealing with a substance abuse disorder.

In addition to this drug and alcohol abuse, young adults with mental health conditions are also more likely to drop out of school, be unemployed, be arrested and experience homelessness, according to a recent SAMHSA report.

 “We say this often, but I think it bears repeating that we have no higher obligation as a society … than keeping our children safe and protecting their health,” said Kathleen Sebelius, Secretary of Health and Human Services, at the Tuesday briefing. “But when it comes to mental health issues, we continue to fall short … we must do better.”

-By Lauren Cook, Medill News Service

Newly appointed SEC Chair Mary Jo White said its proposed budget is essential in moving forward with the regulation and oversight that is required by the Dodd-Frank Act in a hearing with the Financial Services and General Government Appropriations Subcommitee Tuesday.

The fiscal year 2014 budget requests $1.7 billion. This would be a 27 percent increase from last year, and a 33 percent increase over the sequester.

Chairman of the Subcommittee Ander Crenshaw, R-Fl., said in his prepared remarks, “I believe many of these problems are symptomatic of fundamental problems within the SEC’s organization and structure.”

Crenshaw is concerned over what the SEC is doing to implement the new rules adopted by Dodd-Frank.

“We rely on the input we get form our own rules, and the comments we get from those that are effected by it. We certainly do monitor our rules,” said White.

Ranking chairman of the subcommittee Jose E. Serrano, D-N.Y., asked White, “Can what happened in 2008, happen again?”

“There’s no question, none of us want that to happen ever again,” said White.

White said the SEC has 90 rulemakings in the Dodd-Frank act. She said though the rules must be implemented, sequestration makes it impossible to follow those rules.

And Serrano agrees, “We cannot discuss the fiscal year 2014 budget request without talking about the elephant in the room- Congress’s failure to come up with a comprehensive solution to sequestration.”

-By John Burfisher, Medill News Service

The debate on what role the federal government should play in state and local levels regarding education continues to be a debate.

As Congress examines the reauthorization of the Education and Secondary Education Act (ESEA).

“Congress needs to reauthorize the Elementary and Secondary Education Act as soon as possible, providing all schools and students with relief from the broken, outdated components of current law,” said Chris Richardson, Northfield Public Schools superintendent from Northfield, Minn., at a House education committee hearing Tuesday.

ESEA provides federal funding for elementary and secondary education.

The latest ESEA reauthorization is the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB).  But it expired five years ago and still acts as law without a revision.

Before NCLB, states used different ways to keep track of graduation rates making it hard to measure how many students were actually graduating high school on time. 

“If the states had been doing its job, the federal government wouldn’t have had to step in,” said Rep. John Tierney, D-Mass., at the hearing. But he said he does agree the reauthorization of ESEA is important.

Therefore, the Department of Education set federal requirements for each state and local school district. Some of the requirements include testing standards. Schools must publicly report adequate yearly progress or AYP.

But now, the department has granted NCLB waivers to some states that allow flexibility from federal requirements, such as AYP.  Thirty-four states have been approved and 11 are under review.

The waivers allow states to reform its education system with academic goals that fit its structure. But in return, states must also adopt some new standards under the waiver.  Among the standards are adopting college- and career-ready expectations and teacher- and principal-evaluation systems. 

But Rep. John Kline, R-Minn., said these waivers aren’t the key to fixing, what some call, a broken education system.

“As more states adopt the administration’s waivers, my concerns grow,” said Kline at the hearing. “These waivers are a short-term fix to a long-term problem, and leave states and school districts tied to a failing law.”

At the hearing, members heard from witnesses’ hailing from the education field on what they thought the federal government’s role should be at state and local levels.

“Basic parameters should be set but states should further refine those parameters,” said John White, Louisiana state superintendent of education.

The meeting adjourned without a definitive answer as to what the federal government role should be. The reauthorization of ESEA will likely be an uphill battle.

—By Brina Monterroza, Medill News Service

WASHINGTON—Hundreds of same-sex couples are expected to check out Sunday’s 4^th Annual Same Love, Same Rights Gay and Lesbian Wedding Expo.

The expo will feature gay and gay-friendly vendors in a welcoming environment where couples can plan their weddings without having to “translate” themselves, said Marianne Puechl of RainbowWeddingNetwork.com, the expo’s organizer.

Couples “don’t have to explain anything, they get to be themselves,” she said.  “They get to be giddy and silly and they know that everyone in the room supports them.”

Same-sex marriage has undergone enormous change in the decade since the wedding expos started, both legislatively and socially.  Nearly half of Americans now support gay marriage, according to a recent Pew study. 

On Thursday, Rhode Island became the 10^th state to legalize gay marriage, and Delaware is on track to become No. 11.  (Washington began issuing same-sex marriage licenses in 2010.)

The gay wedding industry has also taken off in recent years: Rhode Island’s economy could see a $4.5 million boost in the first year alone thanks to the added business and tourism brought in by same-sex weddings, according to a UCLA School of Law study released this month. 

Puechl said the expo’s vendors are “savvy” to capitalize on this new market, but they’re not just after the “gay dollar.”

“Our exhibitors tend to be very authentic,” she said.  “They’re actually there because they care about the issue.”

Sunday’s event reflects a change in the gay community itself.

Many believed marriage rights “couldn’t be realized in their lifetime,” Puechl said.  ”Couples tend to be pretty darn excited.”

The expo will run from 1-4 at the Renaissance Hotel in Dupont Circle.  Attendance is free, but a $5 donation is suggested.  More information can be found at http://www.samelovesamerights.com

-Nadya Faulx, Medill News Service

In this morning’s The Washington Post’s Morning Fix, Chris Cillizza penned an insightful analysis of immigration reform vs. a grand bargain on the nation’s debt. To sum up his argument, immigration reform is much easier to find common ground on because it isn’t the Republican Party’s signature issue and changing demographics make inaction on something this significant politically perilous for the GOP. More than 70 percent of the Hispanic vote went for President Barack Obama in last November’s election, a potential harbinger for Republicans. 

As recently as 2004, then-President George W. Bush garnering 44 percent of the Hispanic vote. Despite conservative tendencies in many areas, Bush actually had a moderate immigration reform plan he pushed. But amid Hurricane Katrina, a slowing economy, and a war of which the public grew weary, it got lost in the shuffle. And that brings us to where we are today. Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney talked about “self-deportation ” last year or, more bluntly put, making life so difficult for undocumented immigrants that they voluntarily leave.

A large obstacle stands in immigration reform’s way: the House of Representatives. Speaker John Boehner and the GOP leadership in the lower chamber often face a conservative revolt, something that Politico’s Jake Sherman outlined yesterday. Many blame Republican redistricting as the culprit of this. The argument says that redistricting essentially put the GOP House majority on lock for the next decade, meaning many districts are substantially more conservative than they would otherwise be.

There are competing views of this. Two prominent analyses were published in February examining this. Sam Wang, who runs the Princeton Election Consortium, argued in The New York Times, agreed with the redistricting argument while political scientists Danny Hayes and John Sides rebut this idea in The Washington Post’s Wonkblog. The idea bears a second look because the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee is scheduled to begin hearings on immigration reform legislation next week. 

The unwritten Hastert Rule is essential for maintaining support among the House Republican caucus for Boehner. This idea says that any legislation a speaker brings to the floor should have a majority of the majority backing it. The conservative tendency of many House GOP lawmakers though might make this very difficult. Thus, the Ohio Republican may rely on Democratic votes to put a moderate immigration plan over the top — or at least an immigration plan that stands a chance of passing the Democratic Senate. 

Perhaps the easiest way to force House action on immigration legislation is to amass 70 votes or more in the Senate in favor of the Gang of Eight’s immigration plan. This would mean at least a majority of the minority caucus supported any overhaul that might hit the Senate floor. Such a bipartisan majority would alienate conservatives in the House, forcing them to either accept the blame for the plan’s failure or move to the center. Similar scenarios happened at the end of 2011 when Congress renewed the temporary payroll tax cut and on the fiscal cliff deal. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, who is normally in lockstep with Boehner, abandoned the speaker, leaving him between a rock and a hard place. 

Failure to pass an immigration reform plan leaves the House majority vulnerable on an important issue in next year’s midterm election. Last year, the Democrat’s new governing coalition, of which Hispanics make a substantial portion, proved 2008 was not a fluke. If the president can get these same voters fired up and convince them to turn out for a midterm election, which is more difficult than ratcheting up turnout in a presidential year, the Republicans might lose seats, particularly if approval ratings stay where they are. 

- Andrew Hedlund, Medill News Service