Ryan Grim is the Washington bureau chief for The Huffington Post, and a former staff reporter with Politico and Washington City Paper. He won the 2007 Alt-Weekly Award for best long-form news-story for "The Painmaker," a December 2010 Sidney Hillman Award for "The Poorhouse," and is the author of the book, This Is Your Country on Drugs.
Grim appeared as a guest commentator on the third Current TV edition of Countdown with Keith Olbermann, discussing the political implications of President Obama's speech on the mission in Afghanistan.
On the 28 June 2011 edition, he discussed the argument that Republicans are acting unconstitutionally by refusing to raise the debt ceiling because, according to the 1935 Supreme Court ruling in Perry v. United States, failing to pay "a United States government bond" violates Section 4 of the 14th Amendment.
On the 29 June 2011 edition, he discussed President Obama's press conference concerning the continued refusal by Republicans to compromise on corporate tax cuts and increased taxes on the wealthy despite the willingness of Democrats to consider cuts to Medicare and Medicaid in order to meet the August 2nd debt ceiling negotiation deadline, and the President's recommendation that congressional Republicans should ask the opinions of their own Republican constituents before refusing to roll back corporate tax cuts, as well as John Boehner's statement claiming that a bill to raise the debt ceiling will not pass the House of Representatives.
On the 7 July 2011 edition, he discussed the announcement that President Obama is considering making cuts to Medicare and Social Security in order to appease congressional Republicans and finalize a deal in the debt negotiations despite objections from Nancy Pelosi and Bernie Sanders and the continued insistence by John Boehner and Eric Cantor that no tax increases will be acceptable, and Bill Clinton's criticism of the hypocrisy of congressional Republicans regarding debt, as well as the viability of the 14th Amendment counter-argument.
On the 18 July 2011 edition, he discussed the ongoing debt ceiling negotiations in light of the suggestion by the Moody's credit rating agency that the United States government should not raise the debt ceiling but eliminate it altogether in order to reduce uncertainty among bond-holders, and President Obama's insistence that he will veto the Cut, Cap, and Balance Act if it reaches his desk.