7:15am – Neil Irwin, Washington Post; 7:45am – Rep. Bill Pascrell (D-NJ); 8:30am – Rich Lowrie, Friends of Herman Cain; 9:15am – Abigail Pogrebin, New York Magazine

The Senate Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on African Affairs held a hearing on China’s foreign aid in Africa.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) briefed reporters on the upcoming Senate agenda. Following the Majority Leader’s remarks we heard from Senate Republican Leaders.

President Obama signed a proclamation in the Oval Office declaring Fort Monroe in Hampton, Virginia a National Monument.

Press Secretary Jay Carney conducts a daily briefing at the White House.

State Department Spokesman, Victoria Nuland conducts a daily briefing at the State Department.

Sean Lengell, Washington Times; Joseph Minarik, Bipartisan Policy Center Debt Reduction Task Force; John Wonderlich, The Sunlight Foundation

House lawmakers held a hearing today on Environmental Protection Agency rules governing hazardous air pollutants. The GOP majority on the Oversight and Government Reform Committee want to know if the regulations, known as Maximum Achievable Control Technology (MACT), have an effect on job creation.

America’s Voice for Conservation, Recreation & Preservation, a 600 organization coalition, made the economic case for preserving federal conservation programs at a forum discussion in Washington.

Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain is in Washington today and attended events at the American Enterprise Institute and National Press Club. Mr. Cain has been polling at or near the top of the 2012 GOP presidential field over the last few weeks.

State Department Spokesman, Victoria Nuland conducts a daily briefing at the State Department.

President Obama signed an executive order aimed at preventing shortages of prescription drugs.

The White House Council on Environmental Quality kicked off the 2011 GreenGov Symposium featuring environmental and energy policy leaders discussing ways the federal government can lead in sustainability.  Participants in the event included OMB director Jack Lew and environmental advocate Phillippe Cousteau Jr.

House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) was in Kentucky, the home of Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, to give a speech on jobs and the economy. He spoke at the University of Louisville McConnell Center. Boehner discussed the Republican agenda on job creation, which consists mostly of cutting taxes and regulations.

• Grover Norquist, Americans for Tax Reform
• Eric Schmitt and Thom Shanker, New York Times
• Albert Teich, American Association for the Advancement of Science

Gene Sperling, the Director of the National Economic Council and an adviser to President Obama, spoke at an event today hosted by the Economic Club of Washington, DC.

In the early 20th century, members of the National Woman’s Party used cartoons and banners to convince the public, and the President, to grant women the right to vote. The National Archives and Sewall-Belmont House and Museum host a panel of scholars who focus on the visual propaganda used by advocates for women’s rights.

After his grandfather’s death, Harry Truman worked on his family’s 600 acre Missouri farm. In the 12 years he worked the farm before he left to serve during World War I, Truman proposed to his childhood friend, Bess, joined the Masons and the National Guard and honed his skills as a negotiator—all of which proved to be assets in his later political career. University of Central Missouri History Professor Jon Taylor talks about this rarely discussed period of the president’s life.

7:10: Jennifer Jacobs, Des Moines Register

7:45: Katrina Vanden Heuvel, The Nation

This week, we’re back at Bowling Green State University for the second part of professor Scott Martin’s class on the history of opiates in America.