NASF Washington Forum

This year's Washington Forum promises to be one of the best yet! The event will feature nationally known commentators and top policy experts on issues affecting the future of surface technology in North America.

Participate in strategic briefing sessions, meet industry colleagues and tell Congress that the nation's fiscal future and economic security depend on an improved climate for manufacturing.

Last April, very popular NASF Washington Forum keynote Andy Friedman gave members a compelling and accurate read on how Washington decisions on taxes and the deficit would play out for businesses. Andy will be back again this April at the Forum to talk with NASF on the state of debate and what it means for manufacturers.

Andy reminded us recently that while Washington negotiators reached a compromise to avoid the “fiscal cliff” on New Year’s Eve, the compromise left the country with a series of new short-term deadlines that compel Congressional action, action expected to involve more tax changes likely to affect many Americans.

His recent white paper, Still Poised On a Cliff: The Prognosis for 2013 Congressional Action and its Effect on Investors, sets out the details of the fiscal cliff compromise, discusses what we might expect from Washington this year, and provides some steps to consider in light of the changing tax landscape. His paper on the outlook and related tax policy issues can be accessed at www.thewashingtonupdate.com.

Norman Ornstein is a long-time observer of Congress and politics. He writes a weekly column for Roll Call called "Congress Inside Out" and is an election eve analyst for CBS News. He served as codirector of the AEI-Brookings Election Reform Project and participates in AEI's Election Watch series. He also served as a senior counselor to the Continuity of Government Commission. Mr. Ornstein led a working group of scholars and practitioners that helped shape the law, known as McCain-Feingold, that reformed the campaign financing system. He was elected as a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2004.

His many books include The Permanent Campaign and Its Future (AEI Press, 2000); The Broken Branch: How Congress Is Failing America and How to Get It Back on Track, with Thomas E. Mann (Oxford University Press, 2006, named by The Washington Post one of the best books of 2006 and called byThe Economist "a classic"); and, most recently, the New York Timesbestseller, It's Even Worse Than It Looks: How the American Constitutional System Collided With the New Politics of Extremism, also with Tom Mann, published in May by Basic Books.