Washington, D.C
Daniels keeps up ‘Superman’ act for Commanders
LANDOVER, Md. — Commanders quarterback Jayden Daniels wore a diamond-studded No. 5 on a chain around his neck as he addressed the media. For the past four weeks, teammates say he has also worn an “S” on his chest as he helped build a four-game winning streak.
“He came in like Superman,” safety Jeremy Reaves said.
And even on a day when that cape was tugged, Daniels still managed to make plays that caused teammates to go “Wow” as he helped the Commanders continue an improbable start. After a 34-13 win over Cleveland on Sunday, Washington improved to 4-1 for the first time since 2008.
“We can be a really scary team,” linebacker Bobby Wagner said.
The Commanders have already matched their win total from last season and have won consecutive games by a combined 49 points entering their Week 6 game at Baltimore.
“The vibes in here are really high,” receiver Terry McLaurin said.
It has led to some players — who have endured one storm after another during their Washington tenure — to almost pinch themselves to make sure it’s real. Many were here during the turbulent period in which there were multiple investigations into owner Dan Snyder and the culture he created. Washington hasn’t had a winning season since 2016 — only one current player, punter Tress Way, was on the roster that season. Fans abandoned hope.
It’s coming back. In droves.
Reaves, with the organization since 2018, said he told teammate Jeremy Chinn, who signed with Washington in the offseason, “I don’t even know how to process this. It’s never been like this here. I was still in middle school [in 2008].”
Or as defensive tackle Jon Allen, in his eighth season here, said of the overnight change in the organization, “It’s night and day.”
A good chunk of that difference stems from Daniels and what he has done in his first five games. He became the first player in NFL history to throw for more than 1,000 yards and rush for at least 250 in his first five games. He also set an NFL record for completion percentage in the first four games of a season (82.1).
And even when he had his least accurate day — he completed 14 of 25 passes — Daniels still made big plays. On at least three occasions, he left a Browns player pounding the ground in frustration after allowing him to turn the corner for a big run or throw.
One time, Daniels eluded a blitz from safety Grant Delpit and linebacker Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah by rushing to the outside — and then connecting with receiver McLaurin for a 66-yard gain. Another time defensive end Za’Darius Smith grabbed a piece of Daniels’ jersey as he ran to the right. It was nearly a sack; instead Daniels ran away from Smith for a 2-yard again on third-and-1.
Daniels ultimately ran 11 times for 82 yards, including a 34-yarder. He connected with receiver Dyami Brown for a 41-yard touchdown.
“He’s a competitor,” running back Austin Ekeler said. “He is going to show us stuff all year that we’re going to be like, ‘Wow.’”
But one reason Washington is more excited is because on Sunday, Daniels also showed that he’s still a rookie. He tossed an interception at the goal line on one drive and was less accurate than in his first four games.
However, the defense dominated a struggling Browns offense, recording seven sacks, holding them to 212 yards and one-of-13 on third downs. In the past two weeks the defense has allowed just 27 combined points.
It adds up to a team having fun again for the first time in a long time. Players have talked about how much fun they have going to work and playing with one another. After defensive end Dante Fowler Jr. recorded a sack, center Tyler Biadasz was on the sideline mimicking his “sweeper” celebration.
“I haven’t been a part of a quote, ‘good culture,’” said Washington right guard Sam Cosmi, who’s in his fourth season with the Commanders. “Slowly but surely I see it. It’s really cool to see, to be a part of talking and acting on it. I’m excited about that.”
That energy filtered into the stands at a stadium known for often having thousands of opposing fans. Any Browns fans were drowned out Sunday.
“I can’t give any regard for the past,” Quinn said. “What I can say, I thought there was a home-field advantage created.”
Allen credited Quinn for creating an energetic atmosphere. “There’s a reason guys always follow him around the league,” he said.
But, in the end, Daniels’ performance has been almost as invigorating. Linebacker Frankie Luvu, who recovered a fumble and had 2.5 sacks Sunday, said Daniels is already at the facility when he and Wagner arrive around “5 or 6 [a.m.].”
“To see that and what he does on Sundays, it’s not shocking,” Luvu said.
The second overall pick has captivated the fans in Washington — and beyond.
“I’ve got people back home [in Florida] who never watch the Commanders that are blowing up my phone,” Reaves said. “I get more texts about him than about myself. That’s crazy. I’ve never turned on my TV and seen anything Commanders or I’m on Twitter and Commanders is trending in a good way.”
But Daniels remains unimpressed. As someone close to him said recently: He didn’t come to Washington to win games early in the season.
“I’m just excited for those guys to have this feeling,” Daniels said of the players who have been here a while. “It’s exciting times. But we have to get back to work. We’re on to the next week now.”
Washington, D.C
The director of the Congressional Budget Office—known for its gloomy national debt data—is very optimistic that a crisis will be avoided entirely | Fortune
Dr Phillip Swagel is an optimist, both by nature and when he looks at the U.S. economy.
This fact is perhaps at odds with what one might assume: Swagel is the director of the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), the nonpartisan agency that offers independent budgetary and economic analysis to Congress.
Very often—an inevitable occupational hazard—the subject of national debt and the interest the U.S. Treasury pays to maintain is its central focus. The numbers are eye-watering: Public debt stands at more than $39 trillion. The interest expense on that borrowing now exceeds $1 trillion a year. Indeed, the latest budget update from the CBO highlights that the government—according to preliminary estimates—paid out nearly $530 billion between October 2025, when the fiscal year starts, and March 2026. This equates to more than $88 billion in interest payments a month, or more than $22 billion a week.
The CBO’s figures are routinely cited by policymakers, think tanks, and lobbyists as alarming evidence that the U.S. needs to find a more sustainable fiscal path or risk dire straits.
Swagel doesn’t subscribe to the notion that the U.S. will face a crisis of its own making. His justification is simple: He was at the Treasury during the 2008 financial crisis, and joined the CBO months before the COVID pandemic began. He has watched as the U.S. economy, seemingly against all odds, has clawed its way out of economic crises before.
That’s not to say Swagel isn’t a staunch advocate of setting the U.S. on a more sustainable fiscal path—rather, he trusts the people in power to do so when the time comes.
Why the optimism?
Among those concerned about national debt are notable names: JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon, Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell, and Bridgewater Associates founder Ray Dalio. Tesla CEO Elon Musk is also worried about federal spending and has endorsed a plan floated by Berkshire Hathaway founder Warren Buffett that would render members of Congress ineligible for reelection if they allow deficits to exceed 3% of GDP.
On the other hand, optimistic economists suggest that, despite the value of the debt, it’s not actually an issue: the bond market is holding steady, indicating a reliable market of buyers. Likewise, the U.S.’s own central bank buys huge swaths of the debt, meaning, in the simplest of layman’s terms, the economy can essentially print its own money. There are holes in this argument, not least the fact that Fed chairman nominee Kevin Warsh has suggested he would like to reduce the Fed’s balance sheet and may therefore be less inclined to finance borrowing.
Swagel’s positive outlook doesn’t rely on the argument that a crisis hasn’t happened yet, so therefore it never will: “[My optimism] is rooted in my experience,” Swagel tells Fortune in an exclusive interview in Washington D.C. “First being at Treasury during the financial crisis and seeing very difficult times and the country coming together with an effective response—not saying it’s perfect, lots of controversy—but it was effective.”
“The second thing is policymakers are smart, they’re thoughtful. Interacting with members of Congress makes me optimistic. I know you read about all the squabbles … I’m completely aware of this, but the policymakers that are thinking about these things are thoughtful and effective. Not necessarily always effective at passing legislation, but that’s part of our political system, it was set up to make it difficult ot pass legislation.”
Decisions on the horizon
Swagel’s optimism that Congress will be pushed into action will be tested sooner rather than later, likely at some point in the next six years, he told Fortune. This is partly due to the fact that, according to the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget (CRFB) both Social Security and Medicare will become insolvent within that time period.
“Making progress to address the fiscal trajectory would be a positive for the U.S. economy,” Swagel said. “Credible steps would lead to lower interest rates that would make the subsequent adjustment easier, there is a reward to virtue. It’s a positive thing, we can’t go on [with] the scolding narrative. My sense is that members of Congress understand the fiscal situation, it’s not that everyone single one has looked at our one-pager of numbers and understands the debt to the third decimal point, but they understand something needs to be done.”
“It doesn’t have to be done immediately, but at some point reasonably soon.”
Swagel is of the opinion that bond investors haven’t increased risk premiums not because they’re not worried about a fiscal crisis, but because they have priced in preventative action from Congress—in his mind “a vote of confidence that my optimism is not misplaced.”
“As a country, we face up to these problems. It’s not happening now, I’m not sure it’s going to happen in the rest of this year or even the next year, or the next two years. But we will face up to it, and the market in some sense expects us to, because otherwise interest rates would be higher,” he explained.
The Cheesecake Factory
The role of the CBO, to some extent, is to provide policymakers with their options if and when they do choose to take action on federal deficits. It’s a menu not unlike the Cheesecake Factory, Swagel says: Large, inclusive of a range of modifications and options, and delivered without judgement.
“Right now it’s maybe a pick three, and you’re looking at a six or seven course menu,” joked Caleb Quakenbush, director of fiscal policy at the Bipartisan Policy Center, in an interview with Fortune. “The longer you delay, the more you’re gonna have to add to your tab, and those options become more expensive.”
Indeed, economists and analysts aren’t necessarily worried about the absolute level of government debt, rather the debt-to-GDP ratio. Depending on whom you ask, the debt-to-GDP ratio stands at around 122% of GDP at present. This measure demonstrates an economy’s spending versus its growth, and the risk associated with lending to a nation that isn’t growing fast enough to handle its spending. To rebalance that ratio, an economy could either cut spending or increase growth—the latter being by far the less painful option.
The growth option is becoming less feasible, Michael Peterson, CEO of fiscal think tank the Peter G. Peterson Foundation, told Fortune in an exclusive interview: “I think it requires government action because we’ve waited so long. We’ve added so many trillions, and the current deficit is so big at 6% that the level of growth you would need really exceeds what is feasible.
“Growth needs to be a part of it, but it’s sort of a vicious cycle. The longer we delay, the more debt we have, the slower growth is going to be. The more we get this under control, I think the greater optimism there is, interest rates go down, more growth comes from that. It’s sort of a virtuous or vicious cycle depending on your policy response.”
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WCTV) – Seventy-two veterans took a trip Saturday to our nation’s capital to visit memorials honoring their service in the armed forces.
This year marks the 12th trip to Washington, D.C. for Honor Flight Tallahassee.
Early Saturday morning, veterans and their guardians met to take a charter flight up to D.C.
Throughout the day, veterans were taken to the World War II memorial, as well as the Korean and Vietnam War memorials. The veterans also visited Arlington National Cemetery and the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.
More Tallahassee news:
The day ended with a wonderful welcome home celebration.
Our Jacob Murphey, Julia Miller, Taylor Viles, and Grace Temple accompanied the veterans, capturing moments from throughout the day.
The team will have live coverage from Washington, D.C. on Monday to share more from the day’s events.
We will continue to have coverage throughout the month of May, leading up to our Honor Flight special on Memorial Day.
To keep up with the latest news as it develops, follow WCTV on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, Nextdoor and X (Twitter).
Have a news tip or see an error? Write to us here. Please include the article’s headline in your message.
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4 things to know about the weather:
- Chances of rain in the morning
- Gusty Sunday
- Chilly Monday
- Temps will rise again through the work week
Download the NBC Washington app on iOS and Android to check the weather radar on the go.
After a nice and warm Saturday, changes arrive for part two of the weekend.
The first half of your Sunday will have a chance for showers. Winds will pick up with our next system and are expected to gust to about 20-30 mph. Cooler air will settle in, and lows Sunday night fall into the 40s.
Highs temps Monday will reach only into the mid to upper 50s.
However, temperatures will rise through the week, so you won’t need your jackets every day.
QuickCast
SUNDAY:
Showers, then partly cloudy
Wind: NW 10-15 mph
Gusts @ 30 mph
HIGH: Lower 60s
MONDAY:
Partly cloudy
Wind: NW 10-15 mph
Gusts @ 25 mph
HIGH: Upper 50s
Stay with Storm Team4 for the latest forecast. Download the NBC Washington app on iOS and Android to get severe weather alerts on your phone.
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