June 1, 2020
It is with great pleasure that I announce today that Michael DiMaria has become a Partner and Southwestern Regional Director of Total Spectrum. He will continue to serve on the Board of Directors of the Arizona Chamber of Commerce and Industry. Michael is one of Arizona’s most effective and respected policy strategists, with a wide array of experience at the federal, state, and local levels. He has an extensive record of accomplishment and a proven ability to both create and execute legislative and regulatory agendas.
Read MoreMay 28, 2020
The Senate is out of Washington on a planned home state work week. The House of Representatives is in session, although 70 members of the House have filed public letters with the House Clerk asking to vote by proxy so they would not have to travel to Washington during the public health emergency. Steve Gordon and Erik Paulsen talk about the mood in Washington in this most unusual year, the first signs of economic recovery, the next major COVID-19 legislation and more in Heard on the Hill. With his years of experience working with the Pentagon, defense contractors, and defense appropriation legislation, Al Jackson has filed a report on defense and defense appropriations issues. Dana Marston shares a primer on Congressional coronavirus aid legislation to date.
Read MoreMay 12, 2020
COVID-19 continues to impact our families, our communities, our state, and our country. It created a health crisis, which created an economic crisis – and Washington’s necessary response to both crises may indeed cause a fiscal crisis. Steve Gordon and Erik Paulsen bring you up-to-date on how the Administration and Congress continue to respond to these crises in “Heard on the Hill.” Dana Marston shares highlights of this week’s Congressional hearings, then takes a closer look at the latest unemployment figures, how COVID-19 disrupted this tax filing season, and shares useful briefing sheets on the municipal bond market and the strategic national stockpile.
Read MoreApril 29, 2020
It is a pleasure to welcome former Congressman Erik Paulsen to Total Spectrum and to This Week in Washington. Those of you who met Erik when he represented Minnesota in Congress and served on the House Ways and Means Committee know of both his intellect and uncommon common sense. There has been a great amount of discussion about the significant amount of our health care needs that are manufactured overseas. A bipartisan group of Senators passed a bill – which ultimately became part of the CARES Act – that asked the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine to assess the vulnerability and dependence that overseas production of our health care products puts on our country. Steve Gordon and Erik Paulsen interviewed Joe Carson, a supply side expert, to get his thoughts and ideas on this in our cover story. In Heard on the Hill, Steve Gordon writes about our health crisis, our economic crisis, and our fiscal crisis and how Congress and the Administration are reacting to them. Dana Marston looks at COVID-19 in other ways: the USDA’s plans to assist commodity markets, trends in retail sales due to the virus, and concentrations in COVID-19 diagnoses across the country.
Read MoreApril 16, 2020
The health crisis surrounding COVID-19 and the economic crisis resulting from the decision to shut down America to prevent the spread of the virus continues to impact almost every American. Steve Gordon’s Heard on the Hill summarizes where we are in both crises by the numbers, Washington’s response so far, the additional response that’s sure to come, and thoughts on Standing up America. Ramona Lessen found a speech from her former boss, Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, MD, in which he predicted in 2005 a viral pandemic and made recommendations on how America should both prepare and deal with it. Dana Marston takes a closer look at a few policy changes to ensure our medical workforce can best respond to COVID-19, at who is getting a CARES Act stimulus check, and emergency money allocated to help carry out America’s elections.
Read MoreApril 6, 2020
Arizona has so far escaped the worst effects of the COVID-19, thank goodness. But we are all affected by the impact of the economic shutdown. Steve Gordon, Stephen Ruhlen, and Mike Joyce wrote Heard on the Hill, which focuses on the economic crisis, the recently passed stimulus bill 3, and the discussion around additional stimulus bills 4 and 5. Al Jackson provides a defense update, and Dana Marston looks at the coronavirus’ projected impact on the travel industry, the national mortality rate, unemployment, and finally, a downward trend in gasoline prices. COVID-19 will impact on our health care, our economy, our lives, and our politics. We will continue to cover it from all sides in the next issue of This Week.
Read MoreMarch 26, 2020
The unparalleled events of the last few weeks required an unparalleled response from Washington. Stimulus 3.0 – which the Majority Leader and others are correctly calling a relief bill – provides over $2 trillion in relief, and was passed unanimously by the Senate, and will be passed on Friday by the House of Representatives. The total appropriated in 1.0, 2.0, and now 3.0 is now over $2.308 trillion. Of interest - Stimulus 3.0, at $2.2 billion, is the largest single injection of federal cash into the economy in U.S. history. Steve Gordon and Todd Smith summarize 3.0 -- the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economy Security Act, and provide links to the entire piece of legislation and key sections. Dana Marston looks at coronavirus’ transmission, rates of growth both here and abroad, and how it’s affecting both patients and industries. She also takes a dive into the Defense Production Act. The Senate delayed its planned recess to work on and pass this bill, and then recessed. Members of the House have been working in their districts this week but will pass 3.0 by voice vote on Friday and will return to Washington after Easter. We will monitor activity while the Senate and House are out of town. Stay healthy.
Read MoreMarch 16, 2020
We are again this week exclusively focusing on the health care challenge caused by Covid-19. Steve Gordon in Heard on the Hill writes about the impact of shutting down America to prevent the spread of the Covid-19, and the economic stimulus bills that will help bring cash and confidence to rebuild our economy. Ramona Lessen spent 34 years as executive assistant to three U.S. Senators, during which time she saw 9/11, the Anthrax scare, and the 2008 financial crisis. We asked her to write about her memories of these events, and what we can learn from them as we go through March Sadness and March Challenge. Al Jackson provides an update on Defense appropriations, and Dana Marston shares infographics on the spread of Covid-19, the reasoning behind social distancing, and a map showing where employment has grown during President Trump’s tenure thus far. We’ll publish as often as events warrant. Stay well.
Read MoreMarch 3, 2020
We were going to discuss several subjects that are beginning to gain some traction in Congress – but they can wait until the next edition. We decided to devote this week to the new strain of Coronavirus – COVID 19 – and its potential impact this year on our health, our economy, and maybe November’s elections. Steve Gordon devotes this week’s Heard on the Hill to COVID 19 – and the federal government early response.
Read MoreFebruary 11, 2020
It’s an election year. Campaigns for President, U.S. Senate, and the U.S. House of Representatives will take place at a time when Americans are sharply divided. These divides have been in full display in Washington over the past few weeks, and Steve Gordon provides some context following a historic impeachment trial and the State of the Union address – plus some legislative and regulatory news – in Heard on the Hill. It is not often the we become part of the week’s storyline in Washington, but we did this past week when we announced that former Congressman Erik Paulsen (R-MN) had joined Total Spectrum. Congressman Paulsen was in Congress from 2009 through 2019 where he served on the House Ways and Means Committee with Arizona’s Congressman David Schweikert and was the Chairman of Congressional Joint Economic Committee. Steve Gordon will interview Erik Paulsen for next week’s This Week.
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