Reuters reports: Obama to work to pass Bush trade deals WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President-elect Barack Obama wants to win approval of stalled free trade deals with Colombia, Panama and South Korea, but more work is needed on two of the pacts, Democratic lawmakers said on Wednesday. “The president-elect wants to work with Republicans and Democrats to get those trade agreements moving,” House of Representatives Ways and Means Committee Chairman Charles Rangel said during an meeting to outline the panel’s priorities for the year. This would be a welcome departure from …
Earlier today, House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Charlie Rangel (D-NY), told reporters that the tax cut provisions in the economic stimulus plan will be cut, without offering further details. You may remember that earlier in 2008, Chairman Rangel was investigated for violating a number of House ethics rules, which led to three separate investigations. During this time period, he admitted that he failed to report at least $75, 000 of income made off of his beachside condo in Punta Cana. He is also currently under investigation for failing to …
The Washington Post reports today: An influential group of large U.S. corporations and environmental organizations have forged a detailed blueprint for limiting greenhouse gases in the hope of shaping and pushing forward climate change legislation this year. The U.S. Climate Action Partnership says its ability to reach consensus is a crucial step forward since its 32 members include corporate giants such as General Electric, Conoco Phillips, Duke Energy, DuPont and General Motors as well as the Environmental Defense Fund and World Resources Institute. The Los Angeles Times reports today: Supporters …
Looking ahead to today’s Senate Judiciary Committee confirmation hearing for Attorney General nominee Eric Holder, ranking member Sen. Arlen Specter (R-PA) says he is worried about Holder’s “ability to maintain his independence from the president.” This is the wrong question. The proper question is one of judgment: Does the nominee demonstrate the kind of judgment necessary to advise the President in a responsible and constitutionally appropriate way? There are at least five issues which raise serious questions about Holder’s judgment: Pardoning Terrorists: As deputy attorney general, Holder played an active …
“We have tried spending money. We are spending more than we have ever spent before and it does not work.” Sound like, oh, Rep. John Boehner of Ohio or some other exasperated Republican stalwart lamenting proposals to spend our way out of the recession? Listen again: “I want to see this country prosperous. I want to see people get a job. I want to see people get enough to eat. We have never made good on our promises.” Sound more like a liberal Democrat pushing job creation — say, Harlem’s …
The Sino-American trade conflict I wrote on last month has just become more likely. Chinese trade numbers show exports declining and imports collapsing at the end of 2008, the latter plunging 21% in December. The grave weakness in imports puts paid to the once-popular but unfounded notion that China could help fight the global economic contraction. It also means there will be more pressure on Chinese exports in coming months. Chinese exports and imports are tied by the processing trade, where raw materials and unfinished products are brought in and …
One big worry for big government lovers who are pushing for Obama’s stimulus plan to include more government spending and less tax cuts is that “there’s a limited supply of ‘shovel-ready’ projects that can be started soon enough.” Thanks to mother nature this worry is now entirely misplaced. As the pictures below indicate there are thousands, if not millions, of shovel ready projects across the United States today. And when it snows again, all these jobs will be re-created all over. So hurry up Congress and get these shovelers some …
A number of news outlets reported yesterday that 61 former Guantanamo Bay detainees, or about 11 percent of those who have been released, returned to the battlefield to fight the United States. While this is distressing, it is not news. The Heritage Foundation has long recognized that any system designed to assess the threat Guantanamo detainees pose to America will never be perfect. The Administrative Review Board system, established in 2004, to assess annually whether each enemy combatant in Guantanamo should be released or transferred always posed some risk. As …
The Washington Post’s Ruth Marcus noticed that Obama’s labor secretary nominee Rep. Hilda Solis (D-CA) was a little less than forthcoming at her Senate confirmation hearing yesterday: Should President Obama lift the Bush-era executive order requiring that federally funded construction projects be open to both union and nonunion contractors? “Senator, I would just say to you that that is an item of great interest to me. I think that that is something that I am not able to speak to you [about] at this time but will like to review …
Defending the Troubled Asset Relief Program The Washington Post’s Steven Pearlstein writes: Of course, because money is fungible, critics can always say that the Treasury money is now being used to pay excessive salaries or dividends, or finance unnecessary acquisitions — or, for that matter, to clean the toilets or support local Little League teams. But unless the government wants to get into the business of making every spending, lending and investment decision at every major bank, then we have to pretty much have faith that, in a free-market system, …
