Douglas Goodman

Bio

Retired military and Quality Assurance / Warehouse Operations and Distribution Manager. Have enjoyed politics since the Kennedy/Nixon debates. Besides good political discussions, I've been involved in campaigns at all levels as well as having served on school, city, and county committees and boards. Been called weird because I enjoy reading government legislation and other government rules and regulations.
There are about 65 days remaining in 2013. The House of Representatives is scheduled to be in session 19 of those days. According to Politico, Speaker John Boehner is considering reducing that number because there is no crisis facing lawmakers.…
Article I, Section 8, Clause 1 of the U.S. Constitution assigns the responsibility to pay the debts of the United States to the Congress. Section 4 of the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution states "The validity of the public debt of the United…
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is so blinded by his contempt for Iran that he ignores the prime tenant of Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur, the Jewish High Holy Days. The ten days between the Jewish New Year and Day of Atonement are meant to…
The perfect storm, when all things come together and create a disaster. The last debt ceiling deal, sequester, Obamacare, NSA, partisanship, 2014, Syria ... Is this the perfect storm as we head into the debt ceiling debate? Members of Congress…
We’ve all heard the proverb about the difference between giving a man a fish or teaching him how to fish. Fast forward a few hundred years to 2013. “Give a man $100 and he can buy something. Give a man a laptop, JavaScript books, and two months of…
In 1964 the movie Seven Days In May was nominated for three Oscars. The movie was a disaster movie in the sense it revolved around a military overthrow of the president and a nuclear attack against the U.S. by the Soviet Union. Fast forward to 2013.…
Every year since 1997, as part of the Congressional budget debate, the subject of what to do with the cumulative decrease in Medicare and TriCare reimbursement rates to doctors is usually kicked down the road. I wrote about this problem, lovingly…
The secretary of defense and the joint chiefs of staff continue to cry wolf. The easy and most terrifying spending cuts — personnel, training, and maintenance — will have to be reduced to levels that put the ability to defend the nation at risk…
Because of the Edward Snowden case, government officials held a joint hearing on June 20. The purpose was to examine how Congress can improve the accountability and oversight of the the security clearance system.  Edward Snowden was granted a…
On July 18, the No Labels Problem Solvers took a giant step forward formally announcing a package of nine bills they will use to break the gridlock on Capitol Hill. Except for one, these bills are not controversial. They are designed to encourage…
Following a four-hour, closed-door caucus of the full Senate, it appears, once again, that the legislative body has avoided a political disaster. The "nuclear option," a change to Senate filibuster rules that could have stalled Senate action on any…
On July 10, Speaker of the House John Boehner (R-Ohio) met with members of his party to discuss how to proceed with immigration reform in the House of Representatives now that the Senate has passed a bipartisan, comprehensive reform bill. Their…
The NSA spies on Americans. The IRS targets political groups. President Obama orders federal employees to tattle on their co-workers or go to jail. What? You read that correctly. Working for the federal government now requires you to spy on your…
Earlier this week, the Senate passed a bipartisan comprehensive immigration reform bill. Fourteen Republican senators joined all 32 Democrats in voting for the bill. Supporters of the bill rejoiced but the battle is far from over. It could be said…
Student loan debt is more than $1 trillion. Congress is struggling to prevent rates from doubling in less than two weeks. Yet a report released this week indicates the federal government stands to make a profit of $50 billion this fiscal year. This…
Speaker of the House John Boehner (R-Ohio) announced this past weekend that any immigration reform legislation will follow regular order, i,e. go through committee hearings before he will bring it to the floor. He added that a majority of the…
Following the Vietnam War, Americans wanted to ensure this country never again committed our military to long conflicts without either a declaration of war or other formal approval of Congress. They wanted Article 1, Section 8 of the Constitution…
In less than six months, campaigns for all 435 seats in the House of Representatives and 33 seats in the Senate up for election in 2014 will start in earnest. Unless the two major parties all of a sudden decide to end the hyper-partisanship that has…
The full Senate is expected to debate, amend, and most likely pass a comprehensive immigration reform bill this month. A bipartisan group of representatives drafting a House version has a similar goal for starting debate. Details of the…
Since his first campaign in 2008, one of President Obama's priorities has been to reform our immigration system. Given the importance of this issue, one would expect him to present his ideas to Congress and guide the process, to control its destiny,…