A recent report released by the GAO, “Comprehensive Plan Needed to Address Persistent Foreign Language Shortfalls” (September 2009) announces that Foreign Service Officers do not have the necessary language skills they need to do their jobs effectively. While GAO has reported before that State Department personnel working overseas are in profound need of language skills it is disturbing that this trend has continued. According to the report: “As of October 31, 2008 31 percent of officers in all worldwide language designated positions did not meet both the foreign language speaking …
On September 23, 2009, the Senate Finance Committee continued its markup of the Baucus health bill, the “Chairman’s Mark” , of the America’s Healthy Future Act of 2009. While fewer than ten amendments were voted on at the September 23rd mark up of the bill, there are still more than 500 filed. Senator Max Baucus (D-MT), Chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, says he wants to complete the mark-up of the conceptual language (not the actual bill language) by the close of business on September 25th. Senators made a number …
Earlier this morning the Senate Finance Committee, during its markup of the “Chairman’s Mark” of the America’s Healthy Future Act of 2009, voted down an amendment that would have helped ensure that Americans can keep their current coverage. The amendment offered by Senator Orrin Hatch (R-UT) stated the following: “The implementation of Americas Healthy Future Act of 2009 shall be conditioned on the Secretary of Health and Human Services certifying to Congress that this legislation would not cause more than 1,000,000 Americans to lose the current coverage of their choice.” …
When it comes to cap and trade, Secretary of Energy Steven Chu says it’s an economic stimulus. President Obama says it’s a jobs bill. Is it either? Reporters asked Chu if he though the green movement would generate the townhall pushback the health care debate and he responded, “I don’t think so…maybe I’m optimistic, but there’s very little debate” that a new green energy economy will bring economic prosperity. George Mason economist Russ Roberts offers his own facetious response to Chu: “That’s right. It’s a free lunch! There’s no trade-off …
First they came for your car. Then for your cheeseburger. Now those crazy environmentalists want to control how you wipe. No really. The Washington Post reports: There is a battle for America’s behinds. It is a fight over toilet paper: the kind that is blanket-fluffy and getting fluffier so fast that manufacturers are running out of synonyms for “soft” (Quilted Northern Ultra Plush is the first big brand to go three-ply and three-adjective). It’s a menace, environmental groups say — and a dark-comedy example of American excess. The reason, they …
The AP reports today that “a request for new troops from the U.S. commander in Afghanistan may have to be revised now that there is growing uncertainty inside the Obama administration over whether to escalate the American commitment to the eight-year war.” General Stanley McChrystal is set to deliver his troop request, believed to be upwards of 40,000 additional troops, by the end of the week. It is now up to President Obama to decide if he will keep his promise to the American people when he committed to winning …
In a stinging rebuke to corrupt special interests and the status quo the voters handed the President and his favored candidates an overwhelming defeat. Hope has arrived … at United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Local 7 in Colorado. Ernie Duran, Jr. – President of Local 7 – lost his re-election bid to Kim Cordova, a rank and file union member who works at Safeway. Along with Cordova union members voted in a new Secretary Treasurer, a new recording Secretary, and 19 of 25 board candidates who campaigned as part …
#3: State and Local Immigration Enforcement Works Right now, across the country, 287(g) programs are making meaningful progress in tackling the immigration problem. Under 287(g) auspices, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) trains state and local law enforcement to act like ICE agents. In Davidson County, TN, it helped law enforcement get 90 gang leaders off the streets. And across the nation, criminal aliens are not only taken off the streets through 287(g), but also taken out of the country. In this way, this program is making communities safer by helping …
The Washington Post reports: The Obama administration has decided not to seek legislation to establish a new system of preventive detention to hold terrorism suspects and will instead rely on a 2001 congressional resolution authorizing military force against al-Qaeda and the Taliban to continue to detain people indefinitely and without charge, according to administration officials. … The administration’s decision avoids a potentially rancorous debate that could alienate key allies at a time when President Obama needs congressional and public support… The administration has concluded that its detention powers, as currently …
When President Obama touches down in Pittsburgh for the G-20 Summit he has a chance to lead on trade policies that will level the playing field for American workers and small businesses. Trade is critical to U.S. economic growth and vital to global economic development. Trade – especially exports – has been the one bright spot in our economy over recent years, accounting at one point for nearly 60 percent of our economic growth. Forty-two percent of American jobs depend on trade, and exports account for one in every eight …
