--- title: Morning Must Reads: May 23 description: In the News: Secretary Hagel, Bob Dole on VA scandal; Tennessee bringing back the electric chair; Putin to CNBC: Economic sanctions hurt country administering them; Snowden talks to Brian Williams; and 47% of unemployed Americans give up work search canonical: https://time.com/110201/morning-must-reads-may-23/ author: Maya Rhodan article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-05-23T12:32:06.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-21T08:00:58.056Z article:section: Politics og:title: Morning Must Reads: May 23 og:description: In the News: Secretary Hagel, Bob Dole on VA scandal; Tennessee bringing back the electric chair; Putin to CNBC: Economic sanctions hurt country administering them; Snowden talks to Brian Williams; and 47% of unemployed Americans give up work search og:url: https://time.com/110201/morning-must-reads-may-23/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb24c27fcf0ec0da8/6986837dcd6848a30809364f/morning-must-reads1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3000 og:image:height: 1688 og:image:alt: Morning Must Reads og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Morning Must Reads: May 23 twitter:description: In the News: Secretary Hagel, Bob Dole on VA scandal; Tennessee bringing back the electric chair; Putin to CNBC: Economic sanctions hurt country administering them; Snowden talks to Brian Williams; and 47% of unemployed Americans give up work search twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb24c27fcf0ec0da8/6986837dcd6848a30809364f/morning-must-reads1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Morning Must Reads: May 23 > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, twice a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3/newsletters?i=db86ee25-bbd2-40a1-b155-569294be73e3&cr=time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3-v1) by [Maya Rhodan](https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/) ## Maya Rhodan May 23, 2014 12:32 PM UTC  The early morning sun rises behind the US Capitol Building in Washington, DC. The early morning sun rises behind the US Capitol Building in Washington, DC. Mark Wilson—Getty Images by [Maya Rhodan](https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/) ## Maya Rhodan May 23, 2014 12:32 PM UTC * Obama is about to face a new Syria crisis moment \[[TIME](http://time.com/109197/barack-obama-syria-crisis/)\] * Julian Castro tapped for Secretary of Housing and Urban Development \[[Washington Post](http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-politics/wp/2014/05/22/obama-to-nominate-julian-castro-as-hud-secretary/)\] * Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel: Someone must be held accountable for VA troubles \[[CBS This Morning](http://www.cbsnews.com/videos/veteran-hospital-scandal-someone-must-be-held-accountable-for-delays-hagel-says/)\] * Bob Dole on VA: “I don’t want to be critical of the president, but he waited 23 days before he responded, and I think he should have done it sooner.” \[[USA Today](http://www.wusa9.com/story/news/nation/2014/05/22/va-shake-up-dole/9464901/)\] * Brian Williams interviews Edward Snowden \[[NBC](http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/nsa-snooping/exclusive-edward-snowden-gives-wide-ranging-interview-brian-williams-n110351)\] * 47% of unemployed Americans have stopped looking for work \[[TIME](http://time.com/109335/unemployed-americans/)\] * “The IRS will rewrite, without holding a public hearing, a proposed rule on the political activities of nonprofit groups, regulations that stemmed from the tea party controversy that rocked the agency last summer.” \[[Politico](http://www.politico.com/story/2014/05/irs-rewrite-nonprofit-rules-amid-criticism-107015.html#ixzz32XaI6j2T)\] * Putin to CNBC: ““Economic sanctions as a tool of political pressure are eventually going to attack the economy of the countries who have initiated the sanctions.” \[[CNBC](http://www.cnbc.com/id/101700307)\] * Russian companies active in Syria at risk of U.S. sanctions \[[Bloomberg](http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-05-23/russian-companies-active-in-syria-seen-at-risk-of-u-s-sanctions.html)\] * Democrats threw down a deadline for immigration reform, here’s what happens next \[[National Journal](http://www.nationaljournal.com/congress/democrats-just-threw-down-a-deadline-for-immigration-reform-here-s-what-happens-next-20140522)\] * Someone just spent $1.5 million on a GOP Senate candidate. We’ll probably never know who. \[[Mother Jones](http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2014/05/no-one-knows-who-is-behind-arkansas-ad-buy)\] * Tennessee will bring back the electric chair \[[AP](http://bigstory.ap.org/article/tennessee-signs-bill-allow-electric-chair)\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/110201/morning-must-reads-may-23/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/110201/morning-must-reads-may-23/"},"headline":"Morning Must Reads: May 23","datePublished":"2014-05-23T12:32:06.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T08:00:58.056Z","description":"In the News: Secretary Hagel, Bob Dole on VA scandal; Tennessee bringing back the electric chair; Putin to CNBC: Economic sanctions hurt country administering them; Snowden talks to Brian Williams; and 47% of unemployed Americans give up work search","url":"https://time.com/110201/morning-must-reads-may-23/","keywords":["Morning Must Reads"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb24c27fcf0ec0da8/6986837dcd6848a30809364f/morning-must-reads1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Maya Rhodan","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb24c27fcf0ec0da8/6986837dcd6848a30809364f/morning-must-reads1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Morning Must Reads","caption":"Capitol","creditText":"Mark Wilson—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/110201/morning-must-reads-may-23/","name":"Morning Must Reads: May 23"}}]}] ```