America’s manufacturing sector is experiencing a renaissance, thanks in large part to unprecedented access to abundant supplies of natural gas from shale. Natural gas is the chemical industry’s primary feedstock, and with U.S. natural gas prices as low as they are, America’s chemistry industry is in a strong competitive position for the first time in years. That means our downstream partners who rely on our industry to produce medicine, cars, computers, building materials and other essential goods are in a more competitive position.

This week, President Barack Obama will be in Mexico to meet with Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto. Though security has been at the center of the U.S.-Mexico agenda in recent years, the relationship encapsulates much more than that. This trip provides a vital opportunity to refocus the agenda on our economic ties and build upon the success of NAFTA, but President Obama has instead been concentrating his attention on completing negotiations for the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) and beginning a Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) with Europe. These are commendable initiatives, but the administration has not informed us of the advantages of these agreements as compared to others. Nor has it offered a realistic strategy to achieve either of them.  

U.S. nuclear power plants have been generating electricity for more than 50 years, but the nuclear industry and the federal government have yet to figure out what to do with nuclear waste, which remains dangerously radioactive for thousands of years. On April 25, a bipartisan group of senators — Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.), Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) and Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) — released draft legislation addressing this intractable problem.
 
Their proposed bill, which mirrors the recommendations of the president’s Blue Ribbon Commission on America’s Nuclear Future, would lay the groundwork for an interim storage facility that would hold nuclear waste until the government builds a permanent repository. No argument with that.

It is one of the great myths of our political debate that we must choose between economic growth and environmental protection. Gina McCarthy, President Obama’s nominee to head up the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), has spent her career proving this a false choice.
 
McCarthy has been an advocate for crafting solutions to environmental challenges, while simultaneously increasing market certainties and creating opportunities. For the business community, certainty translates into confidence, and confidence leads to more investment, more jobs and more robust growth.

Consider a home-plate umpire named Jefferson or Thomas. He adjudges balls and strikes; keeps a count of balls and strikes; decides whether to call a game on account of rain; and ejects a batter who, having been made by a knuckle-baller to look like an amateur, expresses his profound disappointment by throwing his bat.

Imagine a home-plate umpire named Hamilton or Sotomayor, who declares that baseball arbitration is unconstitutional; orders a triple-A minor-league baseball team to change its player-selection standards; declares that the Yankees’ numbers-only uniforms deny equal protection; and prohibits use of designated hitters later than the second trimester of any one season.

It's the culture, not the structure.

In recent months, the American military has seen a series of controversies over justice, accountability, and command authority. In February, a former soldier killed two police detectives in California when they went to question him about allegations that he had tried to sexually assault a co-worker. The ex-soldier, who died in a subsequent shootout with police, turned out to have been twice accused of rape while in uniform. Rather than prosecuted him, the army allowed him to leave the service.

Here we go again.

Recent news stories that Congress is once again fighting over whether to double the interest rates on many student loans is distressing and all too familiar.

As the mother of a high school senior who is applying to colleges right now, I know that it may come down to what we can afford — and how much debt she will be able to carry into her life after school.

The cost of the rates doubling—about $1,000 a year -- may not seem like a lot, but it is to those of us who struggle to make ends meet every day.

This week, scores of surgeons are visiting Capitol Hill, and the Auto Alliance is pleased to join them in supporting “Decide to Drive,” a campaign to help reduce distracted driving. Their timing is perfect, because we have arrived at a crucial crossroads in addressing distracted driving.
 
Recently, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) released guidelines for reducing distracted driving that articulate a perfectly calibrated goal -- one with which automakers agree. That goal is to get drivers to connect their phones to the integrated, built-in systems in vehicles -- systems increasingly operated by voice commands -- so drivers can keep their eyes on the road and hands on the wheel.

On May 1, thousands of people will take part in rallies and demonstrations nationwide to recognize that all workers – regardless of their immigration status – have rights and protections. That’s because May Day is also International Worker’s Day.

So there is no better time to reflect on the needs of immigrant workers, especially those from Asia and the Pacific Islands, who have a long history of immigrating to the United States in order to start a new life and provide for their families back home.