Penn Washington News & Comment
Penn Washington Joins Ground Shift as Inaugural University Partner
Penn Washington has joined Ground Shift, a new cross-partisan initiative dedicated to developing bold ideas for the future stewardship of America’s public lands and waters. Ground Shift brings together thought-leaders,…
Sasha Nicholas Takes Role as Domestic Policy Programs Coordinator at Penn Washington
Penn Washington is excited to announce that Sasha Nicholas has joined the team as Domestic Policy Programs Coordinator. Nicholas brings experience spanning AI policy, early childhood education, and federal program…
Daniel Schneiderman Joins Penn Washington as the Inaugural Director of Global Policy Programs
Penn Washington is pleased to welcome Daniel Schneiderman as our new Director of Global Policy Programs. In this role, Daniel will lead the development and execution of Penn Washington’s global…
Congressional power, ending with a whimper, not a bang?
Penn Washington Senior Fellow Steven Pearlstein contends that Congress has become so consumed by partisan gamesmanship that it’s ceding power to an overreaching president and activist Supreme Court. The result,…
Why a deal isn’t coming together on health care
Penn Washington Senior Fellow Steven Pearlstein‘s latest piece in Roll Call examines the congressional dysfunction preventing consensus on health care premiums. Twenty-four million Americans face big premium hikes in January…
Penn Washington Hosts Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson for a Timely Dialogue on Protecting Democracy
Penn Washington was honored to host Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson and Washington Post reporter Maegan Vazquez for an engaging dialogue on protecting democracy and bringing passion to public…
In shutdown deal, bipartisan legislating trumped party unity
Penn Washington Senior Fellow Steve Pearlstein’s new piece in Roll Call on the compromise that ended the government shutdown, part of our continuing “Fixing Congress” series. Pearlstein argues that the…
U.S. Needs Stronger Regulatory Oversight of Deep-Sea Mining
Penn Washington Director of Domestic Policy Programs, Elizabeth Klein, writing for Kleinman Center for Energy Policy on the need for greater regulation in deep-sea mining. “The federal government is rushing…
Whom to blame for shutdown? All 535 members of Congress
In his recent opinion piece for Roll Call, Penn Washington Senior Fellow Steven Pearlstein rejects the partisan finger-pointing and instead blames all members of Congress for choosing political gamesmanship over…
Trump Plan for a Second Putin Meeting Undercuts Ukraine Push
In a recent article in Bloomberg, Celeste Wallander, the Executive Director of Penn Washington, cautioned that without a plan from the White House to impose costs on Russia, a second…
Shutdown serves as exhibit A into why Congress does not work
We are now in the second week of another government closure and there should be no doubt about its root cause: that members of Congress pay no political penalty for…
Has Congressional Failure Reached a Tipping Point?
Has Congress now fallen so far into dysfunction that its Members are ready to do something about it? That is the question posed by three excellent columns that have appeared…
The inescapable answer to America’s problems? Fix Congress
The always perspicacious Jonah Goldberg has a new column at The Dispatch, which he edits, that could easily serve as the mission statement for Fixing Congress. “The abdication of…
Penn Washington names Celeste Wallander as inaugural executive director
This story was originally published on April 29, 2025 in Penn Today Wallander will assume leadership and operational management of Penn Washington, and its mission and bridge Penn research with policy discussions…