Penn Washington News & Comment
Washington Can’t Decide if China Is a Rival or a Consumer
In January 2025, Chinese startup DeepSeek released an AI model that appeared to match America’s best —built for a fraction of the cost using chips crippled by U.S. export controls….
Making AI Work for the People: Penn Washington Staff Reflection from Georgetown’s Tech & Society Week
On March 25th, I attended the “Making AI Work for the People” panel hosted by Georgetown University’s Initiative on Artificial Intelligence and Democratic Citizenship (AIDC) and the Georgetown Democracy Initiative. The recent discourse from many universities…
Penn Washington supports Perry World House student fellows’ learning from the practitioners of statecraft
A century ago, the world was about to plunge into a global depression that would empower fascist leaders bent on expansionist war that would leave more than 70 million people…
Making Bipartisanship an Option Again
It’s no secret that Congress isn’t functioning as the founders envisioned, one where there is a constant building and reshaping of coalitions to create the nation’s laws. Instead of fostering…
AI and the Future of Workforce, Energy, and National Competitiveness: Penn Washington Staff Reflect on the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Technology Summit
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s Technology Leadership Summit on March 11, 2026 offered a useful opportunity to consider how questions of technology leadership increasingly cut across domestic and global policy. In this joint reflection, Nikki…
Alex Noyes Joins Penn Washington as Visiting Scholar
Penn Washington is proud to welcome Dr. Alex Noyes as a Visiting Scholar. He will be researching Irregular Warfare, Resilience, and developing policy recommendations to address the challenges of both….
Penn Washington Celebrates International Women’s Day
To mark International Women’s Day this Sunday, Penn Washington is proud to highlight the women who make up our team, bringing their experience and insight to the policy challenges facing…
Penn Washington Announces Nikki Hinshaw as Global Policy Programs Coordinator
Penn Washington is pleased to announce that Nicole (Nikki) Hinshaw has joined the team as Global Policy Programs Coordinator. Hinshaw comes to Penn Washington from Purdue University’s Institute for Tech…
Penn Washington Welcomes Arctic Policy Expert Iris Ferguson as Visiting Scholar
Penn Washington is pleased to welcome Iris Ferguson as a Visiting Scholar focused on Arctic strategic competition and advancing stability and security in the region. Iris joins Penn Washington following…
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…