Senate Analysis – The Senate will continue their push to complete the four remaining appropriations bills, as the fiscal year nears an end. Senate leadership had hoped by this point health care would be completed and they would be on the verge of passing a cap-and-trade bill. Major policy work on health care, global warming taxation and financial reform will continue in the background for much of September. Major Senate Floor Action – Senators will continue work on the Transportation-HUD appropriations bill, which increases spending by 22.6% over last year’s …
President Obama has decided to apply heavy tariffs to passenger car and light truck replacement tires made in China. This is the latest and worst episode in an ill-advised assault on free trade with the PRC. Taking WTO-compliant steps to counter Chinese subsidies or other mercantilist behavior is entirely reasonable. (That doesn’t mean any WTO-compliant action is a good idea — the “Buy America” provisions passed as part of the stimulus package may be WTO-compliant but are still terrible policy.) The problem here is that American actions are occurring in …
It’s perhaps the most important job no one has ever heard of. Yesterday, Harvard professor Cass Sunstein was confirmed by the Senate as the administrator of the White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, otherwise known as the nation’s “regulatory czar.” Nowadays, the mere mention of a czar tends to get eyes rolling in Washington, as President Obama has crowned more czars than did the Romanovs. Yet this czar-dom isn’t a newly minted Obama Administration post. The job goes back to President Reagan. The mission: to be the regulator’s …
Having returned from its summer recess, Congress will soon construct its legislative agenda for the rest of the year. Given that today marks the eighth anniversary of 9/11, Congress should honor the memory of that tragedy by solidifying its homeland security agenda. That means taking the right steps to keep the nation safe, free, and prosperous. Heritage analysts Jena Baker McNeill, James Carafano, and Matt Mayer outline some dos and donts for Congress’ Protect America Agenda. Congress Should: Amend the Stafford Act. The 1988 Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and …
President Obama gave a nice, thematic speech Wednesday night. But that was the speech he should have given in April or May at the latest. It is now September and four congressional committees have already completed their work. The President said there is agreement on “about 80 percent of what needs to be done …”. That is probably not true because about 80 percent of what is in the current legislation is not needed in order to achieve the three basic goals outlined in the speech. The speech is a …
While cross cultural communication has been deployed throughout the ages, most notably during WWII and the Cold War, it has now become “unavoidable” if the United States is to succeed in Afghanistan and Iraq, according to Col. Glen Ayers, who until retirement last year was chief of the Psychological Operations Division of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Col. Ayers was part of the book panel discussion at Heritage on Sept. 10, focusing on the anthology, Cultural Intelligence for Winning the Peace, edited by Dr. Juliana Geron Pilon of the Institute …
Rep. Jeb Hensarling (R-TX) clearly and succinctly explained to Fox’s Megyn Kelly why Americans have every right to believe Obamacare would end up paying for health benefits for illegal immigrants. Watch: [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PKbgqT2C15Y[/youtube]
As the Senate prepares to consider the FY 2010 defense appropriations bill, members of Congress would be wise to listen to Appropriation Committee chairman Daniel Inouye (D., Hawaii). In his opening statement at Wednesday’s subcommittee markup hearing, Inouye said, “As we go forward today killing the F-22, the presidential helicopter, the Combat Search and Rescue helicopter, the Kinetic Energy Interceptor, we do so with the hope that today’s military and civilian leaders are more prescient than their predecessors in predicting our future needs.” As my Heritage Foundation colleague Jim Talent …
On this 8th Anniversary of the September 11th terrorist attack, we are without question safer today than we were on that crisp, clear September morning in 2001. With each passing year, the challenge to remain vigilant grows harder as many Americans struggle to make ends meet after losing their jobs, large percentages of their retirement funds, and, in some cases, their homes. The cacophony of noise surrounding America’s debate on health care drowns out the unity of purpose we all felt as the sun set just eight years ago. After …
The debate over health care reform need not be an all-or-nothing affair. Lawmakers should take a deep breath and remind themselves that there’s a great deal of agreement on the major goals of reform. Both sides of the aisle want to restrain spiraling costs, give consumers more choices and improve quality of care. Yes, liberals and conservatives disagree greatly over which policies would best achieve these objectives. But that doesn’t mean they must slug it out until one side wins at the other’s expense or—worse—everyone walks away without making any …
