Maxwell School News and Commentary

Chris Faricy, associate professor of political science, says  "You can tell people you gave them a tax cut, but if they don’t believe it and their refunds are smaller, it’s a hard sell politically," in an article for Bloomberg. 

"The U.S. government’s ties to humanitarian aid to Venezuela are deeply suspect and it’s common knowledge that it’s intended to fast track the military’s defection of current President Nicolás Maduro," writes Gladys McCormick, associate professor of history and Jay and Debe Moskowitz Endowed Chair in Mexico-U.S. Relations. "If it truly is to be humanitarian aid, the Trump administration needs to decouple it from its aggressive, militaristic agenda," she adds.

William C. Banks, professor emeritus of public administration and international affairs, believes there is no "clear, positive legal authority" for active-duty U.S. troops to be at the U.S.-Mexico border.

"Opioids are far more deadly than any drugs that are entering through the U.S.-Mexico border,” says Shannon Monnat, associate professor of sociology and Lerner Chair for Public Health Promotion.

"If enacted, this directive will add an organizational overhead expense for this separation and will create countless bureaucratic fist fights over what goes into which part of this new Department of the Air Force enterprise," writes Sean O'Keefe, University Professor and Howard G. and S. Louise Phanstiel Chair in Strategic Management and Leadership.

Denuclearization will likely be at the center of the meeting later this month between President Donald Trump and North Korea leader Kim Jong Un, says Robert Murrett, professor of practice of public administration and international affairs. “Trade is going to be a part of [their talks],” Murrett says, adding Kim has expressed interest in “bringing their economy into the 21st century.”

Professor Emeritus William C. Banks says the precedent concern is legitimate and "one of the biproducts of this episode might be to impose on Congress the determination to revise the underlying law and make it more difficult for any president in the future to use the mechanism. One of the biggest open areas in the law is that there are no criteria to decide what constitutes an emergency."