#political-leverage

#political-leverage

With each new resolution agreement, it becomes clearer that the Trump administration intends to base the government's relationship with higher education on extortion. In its recently cut deal, Northwestern University will pay the Treasury $75 million in exchange for about $800 million in congressionally approved research funding it had already secured. NU now joins Columbia on the list of institutions that have paid fees to the federal government-Columbia's deal included a $200 million payment to the Treasury over three years.

The White House's decision, announced during the government shutdown, seems designed to put pressure on Chuck Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries, the Democratic leaders in the Senate and House respectively, who both happen to represent New York State. But the specific way in which Donald Trump has decided to block the projects-by imposing an onerous regulatory-review process-is a troubling omen of how he might broadly undermine development across the country.

The United States won't be able to solve the fentanyl crisis without help from its greatest rival. China is the world's largest supplier of the chemicals that drug smugglers use to produce the opioid.