Despite last week’s damning revelations about Iran’s continued duplicity on the nuclear issue, the Obama Administration remains wedded to engaging Iran, which has broken numerous attempts at engagement in the past. Yesterday, Press Secretary Robert Gibbs, responding to criticism of the Obama administration’s plans to start talks with Iran tomorrow in Geneva, defensively argued that the Bush Administration had refused to talk to Iran and stated “It resulted in a whole lot of nothing.” This statement is factually inaccurate. It promotes the misconception that the Bush Administration made no effort …
For even more Fox lies… This is how the White House capped off a “Reality Check” on their website earlier today responding to commentary on the Fox News Network regarding the President’s trip to Copenhagen to lobby for the Olympics to come to Chicago in 2016. Rahm Emanuel, the Chief of Staff famous for storming across the House floor to condemn Congressman Joe Wilson calling the President a liar, is ultimately responsible for the website’s content, so is this the case of selective civility? Of course.
The White House put out talking points on Tuesday in an attempt to deflect the debate on the multitude of tax increases in the health care plan working through the Senate Finance Committee. These tax increases almost uniformly violate (again) the President’s plan not to raise taxes on middle-income Americans. The White House asserts that fees on insurance companies, drugmakers, devicemakers, etc. won’t be passed on to consumers as a hidden tax. They offer three explanations. “First, the fees are lump sum, not per unit, so you should not expect …
Residents and visitors of New York City will experience an odd phenomenon tonight. The Empire State Building, a symbol of American strength, determination and might will be colored Red and Yellow to honor the 60th anniversary of China’s communist regime taking power. Lighting the building for special occasions is not abnormal, as it has been lit to honor everything from the Fourth of July, to Caribbean tourism, to the Yankees and Mets, or to honor the film, The Wizard of Oz. But is it appropriate to honor what happened in …
Today, in Upper Senate Park (across the street from the Capitol Building) thousands of kids, parents, and interested parties, cried out in unison: “Put Kids First!” Seems like it should be common sense, but, sadly, here in Washington, common sense rarely rules the day. The kids at the rally were from charter and parochial schools in DC that were a part of the DC Opportunity Scholarship Program. The program is highly successful and keeps kids out of failing, violent schools. It is truly sad that Washington is ruled by special …
The cap and trade bill introduced by Henry Waxman (D-CA) and Edward Markey (D-MA) and passed in the is 1,427 pages and includes much more than a cap and trade system to reduce carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gas emissions. We’ve been detailing these economically harmful provisions in our cap and trade calamities, but Kathleen Hartnett White at the Texas Public Policy Foundation provides a tremendous synopsis of the entire bill and asks many tough questions in her policy paper, A Federal Leviathan: The American Clean Energy and Security Act …
Senators Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) and John Kerry (D-Mass.) introduced the Senate companion to the Waxman-Markey climate change legislation today and while many pieces are missing, the framework in place spells bad news for every American energy consumer, especially low income ones. Like Waxman-Markey, the focus is a cap and trade system, but takes the House bill’s 17 percent reduction of 2005 emissions by 2020 to a more stringent 20 percent cut. Unlike the House version, which gives away emission allowances to special interests groups that lobbied hard to protect their …
“Show me the money!” is one of the most memorable lines from a movie—Jerry Maguire—in the last twenty years. Coincidentally, that movie came out in 1996, which was a reelection year for President Bill Clinton. Not coincidentally, President Clinton in fact showed them the money in 1996 when the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) issued more disaster declarations—157—than any year before or after. In “States: Stop Subsidizing FEMA Waste and Manage Your Own Local Disasters,” we detail the tendency over the last sixteen years to define disaster down so that …
On Tuesday, September 29th, 2009, the Senate Finance Committee resumed its mark-up of the America’s Healthy Future Act of 2009. The Committee debated many highly contentious issues, including whether to add a government-run health plan to the bill, the role of comparative effectiveness research and rationing, and the scope of the individual mandate. The Defeat of Two Versions of the Public Option. (Rockefeller Amendment C6, Schumer Amendment C1) Senator John Rockefeller (D-WV) and Senator Charles Schumer (D-NY) both introduced amendments to Chairman Max Baucus’ (D-MT) health care bill that would …
Politico reports: Congress is on the verge of giving itself a bump in its annual budget — even as local governments, families and businesses across the country are tightening their belts in the worst recession in decades. Under a House-Senate conference measure, approved by the House last week and poised for passage in the Senate on Wednesday, spending for the legislative branch will increase 5.8 percent this year, boosting Capitol Hill’s annual budget to $4.7 billion. As terrible as it is that Congress wants to increase their own budgets while …
