Last week, the House Judiciary Committee held a hearing on Over-Criminalization of Conduct/Over-Federalization of Criminal Law. Heritage fellow Brian Walsh wrote at the time: We should applaud Reps. Bobby Scott (D-VA) and Louie Gohmert (R-TX) for holding a bipartisan hearing today to examine how federal law can make a criminal out of anyone, for even the most mundane conduct. Federal law in particular now criminalizes entire categories of activities that the average person would never dream would land him in prison. … Consider small-time inventor and entrepreneur Krister Evertson, who …
The House health care reform bill would establish a new entity called the Health Choices Administration, headed by a presidential appointee to be called the Health Choices Commissioner. Sounds wonderful, right? A government official whose only job is to make sure you have health care choices, right? No. If you read the bill – Title I, Subtitle E, Sections 141-143, on pages 41-48 – it turns out that the Health Choices Commissioner’s job is, essentially, to make your health choices for you.
The federal government is estimated to run a 2009 budget deficit of $1.845 trillion. While it is true that President George W. Bush handed President Barack Obama a $1,186 billion deficit for the year, Obama has only added to that total to the tune of $659 billion. Worse, President Obama’s budget shows average deficits of $855 billion over the next decade, which would double the publicly held national debt by 2019. And that does not even count Obama’s budget-busting health care spending. But don’t worry; the Obama Justice Department just …
The national gas price average is $2.51 for July 28, 2009, far less than the $3.96 it was one year ago to this date, but still high enough to make you groan as you wait for a seemingly-endless long time for that click of the pump, letting you know your tank is full. And, just like every other time gas prices increase to uncomfortable levels, people are passing the buck to oil speculators. From the Wall Street Journal: The Commodity Futures Trading Commission plans to issue a report next month …
Rep. Dave Camp came to Heritage’s weekly bloggers briefing today. He made specific recommendations for health care reform that leaves the individual in charge and actually reduces costs without raising taxes. “80% of Americans have health care, and they don’t want to see it change in a fundamental way,” he said, adding that reform should include 3 things “that get the cost out of health care.” Common-sense liability reform that reduces doctors’ need to practice defensive medicine. Regulatory reform, so small businesses can group together in insurance pools. Strong anti-fraud provisions.
Competitive Enterprise Institute Senior Fellow Marlo Lewis explains the truth about global warming in his film Policy Peril: Why Global Warming Policies Are More Dangerous Than Global Warming Itself. The movie includes cameos from Heritage’s Ben Lieberman and David Kreuzter and is full of talking points to debunk the common catastrophic global warming stories you always hear. The entire forty minutes is well worth watching.
Political scientist Jacob Hacker claims in the Washington Post that the “Blue Dog” Democrats’ opposition to Obama’s “public plan” is not in the interests of their constituents – particularly farmers, ranchers, small business owners, and low- and middle-income workers, who would supposedly benefit from premium assistance and from the cost reductions he claims a Medicare-like public plan for the non-elderly would bring, as well as from the requirement that “all but the smallest of employers make a meaningful contribution to the cost of coverage.” On the contrary, it is precisely …
Bart Stupak, Democratic representative from Michigan, stated in an interview last week that Democratic leadership in the House has blocked all amendments to spending bills that would ban federal funding for abortion. “We are not even allowed to offer the amendment on the floor. And there are members who are not pro-life, who are pro-choice, but who think it is wrong of leadership to deny me and others the opportunity to express our judgment on this issue,” Stupak said in the CBS News interview. Stupak, a member of the Blue …
The Obama administration’s favorite think tank published a new memo on health care reform yesterday: LGBT Issues in Health Reform. The Center for American Progress goes on to write: Transgender individuals with access to health insurance can rarely find coverage that fully meets their health care needs. Most insurance plans, both private and public, do not cover the costs associated with transitioning, or moving from one gender to another. … Current proposals for health care reform incorporate a council comprised of health experts to determine minimum standards for health insurance …
The Friedman Foundation for Educational Choice released a new poll finding: More than seven out of ten registered voters in the District of Columbia support the federally funded DC Opportunity Scholarship program, which provides tuition scholarships for low-income students to attend private schools… Seventy-four percent say they either “strongly favor” or “somewhat favor” the scholarship program and a majority (56 percent) support expanding the program to provide scholarships to all children who have applied. The results also indicate that 68 percent oppose ending the program. Congress earlier this year cut …
