Major Senate Floor Action – The Senate will continue proceedings on the tourism bill, which we commented on earlier this week. The bill proposes that a “nonprofit corporation” be established to promote tourism in the United States. There is a $10 tax that would be placed on every visitor. The Senate Appropriations Committee unanimously approved the *FY10 Homeland Security Appropriations bill, sending it to the Senate floor this week. No vote has been scheduled yet. Major Senate Committee Action – The Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions will …
Iran’s clerical dictatorship cracked down on opposition protests today and is sure to mount an even more forceful response to the reported bombing of the mausoleum of the founder of Iran’s Islamist revolution, Ayatollah Khomeini. A suicide bomber apparently blew himself up inside the shrine, wounding two people. It is unclear from initial reports if a group is responsible or if the man acted alone. But the regime is likely to exploit the bombing, which will enrage Khomeini’s many admirers in Iran, and use it as a pretext for a …
The US Navy is shadowing a North Korean freighter that may be transporting military cargo banned by UN Resolution 1874. US defense officials have not identified the suspected military contraband, which could run the gamut from conventional weapons to missiles or even nuclear technology or components. The UN resolution imposed such tightly constrained means for enforcement that it now hinders international efforts to prevent North Korean nuclear and missile proliferation. The UN resolution, passed on June 12 in response to North Korea’s recent nuclear test, is plagued with loopholes. The …
Less than 24 hours after Heritage Foundation President Ed Feulner questioned the veracity of President Obama’s persistent claim that, under his health care proposals, “if you like your insurance package you can keep it”, the White House has begun to walk the President’s claim back. Turns out he didn’t really mean it. According to the Associated Press, “White House officials suggest the president’s rhetoric shouldn’t be taken literally: What Obama really means is that government isn’t about to barge in and force people to change insurance.” How’s that for change …
Stunned by the $1.6 trillion price tag for their health care plan, the Senate Finance Committee is weighing a ‘pay or play’ employer health mandate. Staffers are still negotiating which businesses will fall under the mandate, and how they are to be punished if they fail to offer “affordable” health care to their employers, but the ultimate details matter little: employer mandates are terrible public policy. 1. Employer Mandates Are A Regressive Tax. An employer mandate would be a regressive tax on business that would be directly shifted to employees …
The federal government’s bailout parade wasn’t enough to save California this week. In a move that drew praise from some conservative quarters, President Obama refused to send federal aid to the Golden State. California had asked the Treasury Department to help with its $24 billion deficit. But rather than open the U.S. treasury to ailing states, Obama and Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner decided California must first get its budget in order before relying on a federal bailout. Reacting to the news at this week’s Bloggers Briefing at The Heritage Foundation, …
Secretary of Defense Robert Gates ordered the deployment of the Theater High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) to defend Hawaii should a pending North Korean long-range missile launch pose a threat to the US. The mobile ground-based missile defense system would augment longer-range missile interceptors based in Alaska. The US has also deployed the sea-based X-Band Radar (SBX) from Pearl Harbor to increase detection and intercept capabilities. The Obama administration was criticized for not deploying the highly capable radar prior to North Korea’s April launch of a long-range Taepo Dong-2 (TD-2) …
President Barack Obama’s desire for government-run health insurance, aka the “public option,” is threatening to kill health care reform. Now some Senators are floating a “compromise” plan that would create cooperative plans as an alternative to a government-run public plan. True co-ops have a long and proud tradition in many sectors of the U.S. economy, including health care. But the plan currently being floated in the Senate takes the co-op concept in the wrong direction. The Washington Post reports: In its place, the draft circulated yesterday outlines a co-op approach …
Two competing solar power companies, Ausra and BrightSource Energy, recently filed plans to build plants in the California desert. Both firms’ plans affected wildlife habitat. But only Ausra’s plans were hit with complaints demanding expensive and cumbersome environmental studies. The reason? Ausra had rejected demands that it use only union workers to build its solar farm, while BrightSource pledged to hire labor-friendly contractors. As the New York Times reports today, big labor is using California’s environmental regulations to shake down power companies trying to build new plants in the state: …
Current events always put policy issues in clear and distinct context, and the recent actions of North Korea and the political instability of the Iranian government make a more compelling argument than ever for strong missile defense programs. But as North Korea continues to test nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles that could serve as serious threats to the U.S. and our allies, the Obama administration is standing by its recommendations to cut back on our missile defense programs. The president’s budget recommends cuts of $1.2 billion from missile defense programs, …
