Michael A. Levi and Daniel P. Ahn say, "If lawmakers decide to go ahead with further deficit reduction, they would be remiss not to take a hard look at higher oil taxes as part of the deal."

Throughout Chuck Hagel's marathon confirmation hearing, America's decade-long war in Afghanistan was noticeably overlooked. But it is curious to see the next secretary of defense receive so few inquiries from senators about the war whose end he will presumably oversee in the coming years, says Gayle Tzemach Lemmon.

Shannon K. O'Neil says after Republicans' election-year drubbing, the United States has an historic opportunity to fix its broken immigration system. And the arguments against reform simply don't hold up anymore.

Senator John Kerry gave these remarks during his confirmation hearing at the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, on January 24, 2013.

The 113th Congress continues the trend in a gradual increase in religious diversity that is mirroring trends in the country as a whole.

Julia E. Sweig says the recent "fiscal cliff" deal marks the end of the grand bargain, and "the new normal in Washington is one of hyper partisanship, in which the Republicans have learned that if they wait long enough the Democrats will soften at the end of negotiations."

After coming to a slow crawl on the fiscal deal, this Congress will leave a legacy of the fewest enacted laws than any since 1947; Jonathan Allen writes that the best the 112th Congress has been able to do is "avert the worst."

Americans want to see Congress and the president make a deal on the "fiscal cliff," but the incentives are strongest for policymakers to act only after the cliff has come and gone—and wreaked a great deal of havoc in the process, says Gayle Tzemach Lemmon.

Politico provides a guide to the dance of getting to a deal on the fiscal cliff.

Micah Zenko says, "Like Dick Cheney 21 years ago, Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta has engaged in an exhaustive effort to avoid both sequestration and any further reductions in the Pentagon's budget. The distinction between Panetta and his predecessors, however, is in the tactics he has employed to protect his bureaucratic turf."

This CFR Issue Tracker looks at the United States' relationship with Pakistan and presidential candidates' stances on the issue.

Frank G. Klotz says the United States needs to rebuild its icebreaking capability in Antarctica, otherwise protecting U.S. interests—in both polar regions—will become even more challenging.

Pundits predicted that the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling on the Affordable Care Act would make history.

Gregory Bovt writes that Russia is a low priority on the list of foreign policy issues for both Democratic and Republican candidates and advises avoiding excessive anti-Russian or anti-U.S. rhetoric from both sides.

Peter Orszag explains that privatization would allow the U.S. Postal Service to free itself from congressional shackles and manage its operations more efficiently.

John B. Bellinger III argues that Congress should reconsider the International Criminal Court.

Peter Orszag makes the case that increasing electoral participation would improve American democracy.

Robert Rubin explains how the pressures of the "fiscal cliff" will present U.S. political leaders with a rare second chance to make critical fiscal reforms after the 2012 elections.

Thomas E. Mann and Norman J. Ornstein discuss their new book, It's Even Worse Than It Looks: How the American Constitutional System Collided with the New Politics of Extremism.

"North Korea's impending nuclear test is just the latest illustration of Barack Obama's weakness and naiveté abroad," writes special advisor to Mitt Romney's presidential campaign, Richard Williamson, who served in the Reagan White House as an assistant to the president in the 1980s and as the president's special envoy to Sudan in the 2000s.