China´s three biggest airlines plan to add at least 273 planes in the next year. However, civil aviation is allowed to take up to only 20 per cent of China´s airspace as the rest of it controlled by China´s air force. Military controls about 52 per cent of airspace in eastern China, where the major cities Beijing and Shanghai are. Therefore, newly added planes might lead to traffic congestion. China, which is the world´s most populous nation, has increasing air travel demand as the country´s economic growth rises. China Southern Airlines Co., China Eastern Airlines Corp. and Air China Ltd. are expected to extensively contribute to enlargement of China´s commercial air craft, which is supposed to increase from current 2001 to 4,200 in 2020.  Chinese business hopes that the new leadership might release more air space to accommodate the rapid economic growth.

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According to nonpartisan Congressional Research Office, President Obama´s new budget proposal would cut more than $1.1 trillion from the government’s projected deficits over the next 10 years. Recently, the deficit has been cut by $200 billion due to earlier tax increases, spending cuts and a strengthening economy. Additionally, the $85 billion in cuts to domestic and military programs, called the sequestration has already affected the debt. New proposal, if enacted into law, should further lower deficit to 2 per cent, which is considered a deficit safe in long term. However, new proposal probably won´t be the priority of the administration now, as the fiscal cliff was avoided and immigration, gun laws and foreign policy issues, such as Syria receive the most attention.

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U.S. Congress is rethinking 9/11 law on military force, which gives president broad authority. The law was initially designed to give President George W. Bush the authority to launch the invasion of Afghanistan and target al-Qaida as it is only the Congress, who has the legal power to launch a war, according to U.S. constitution. Critics of the law fear that President Barack Obama has overused the power given by the law to target suspected terrorists with lethal drone strikes and that the law is blank check for using military force worldwide. Secret program of which the drone strikes are part of, was revealed last year and president Obama promised to explain his drone policy, which has killed between 2,424 and 3,967 people. According to Pentagon official, the law should remain unaltered as the U.S. are still in the war on terrorism, which was the reason behind 9/11 law.

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Some countries started their race for paragraphs in new U.S. immigration bill, which will secure them special conditions for obtaining visas. Ireland and South Korea arranged to have fixed number of the highly sought special visas for guest workers seeking to come to the U.S.  Polish citizens will be allowed to travel to the United States as tourists without visas. Citizens of Canada, who are 55 and older and not working, will be able to stay in the United States without visas for as much as 240 days each year, up from the current 182. Countries use lobbyists in the campaign. For instance, South Korea hired a former CIA analyst, two White House veterans and a team of former Congressional staff members and paid $1.7 million to lobbying firms this year. So far, Obama administration officials say they are confident that simplifying the tourist entry process will not create a problem as immigration bill package should include exit-tracking system as safeguard.

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