As the Ranking Republican on the Subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere, I am committed to promoting the ideals of freedom, security, and prosperity. And yet we live in an era in which we are reminded every day that freedom is a fragile thing. Around the world, freedom is under attack every day. Many are rightly focused on the dangerous nuclear ambitions of Iran and the rising fundamentalism in Afghanistan. However, I have spoken out at great lengths about the threats to freedom and prosperity that are occurring in our own …
The Senate Finance Committee continued its mark-up of the America’s Healthy Future Act of 2009 on Wednesday, September 30, 2009. President Barack Obama made a couple of very high-profile promises concerning key issues that have emerged during the August recess and in contentious congressional town hall meetings. In his September 9, 2009 address to Congress and the nation in a special session of Congress, the President said that Americans could be assured that in his version of health care reform, there would be no federal funding of abortion nor the …
As Congress tries to knock out the economy in one fell swoop with its economically dangerous cap and trade proposal, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is taking a different approach: proposing smaller, regulatory jabs at the economy with the intent to reduce carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gas emissions. First, the EPA worked with the Department of Transportation to propose new vehicle standards – a 5 percent annual increase in fuel economy starting with the 2012 model year, reaching 35.5 miles per gallon by 2016. Last week, they announced the …
Well, that depends on what your definition of pollution is. As Senators Boxer and Kerry unveil their cap and trade bill, John Kerry’s recent pitch to the American public is yet another example of how mainstream environmentalists have sought to change the definition of pollution. As Kerry explained last week, the bill is not a “‘cap and trade’ proposal but a ‘pollution reduction’ bill. I don’t know what ‘cap and trade’ means. I don’t think the average American does,’ Kerry said. ‘This is not a cap-and-trade bill, it’s a pollution …
On September 30, 2009, The Heritage Foundation hosted “The Year of Miracles: The Fall of the Berlin Wall Twentieth Anniversary.” A reoccurring theme of the event centered on America’s use of government-sponsored broadcasting and its effects on U.S. influence during the Cold War and how it must be used today. While government-sponsored broadcasting was just one of the many successful public diplomacy tools utilized by the United States, former Under Secretary for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs, James Glassman emphasized that the United States still has much to learn in …
Here’s a simple fact: It’s impossible to reform the health insurance markets and create a consumer-driven system based on personal choice and real health plan competition without reforming the federal tax treatment of health insurance. All arguments to that fact, from Republicans and Democrats alike, are nonsensical. So, it’s heartening when self-proclaimed progressive Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) is on the same page as the Heritage Foundation and the nation’s leading conservative health policy analysts on the central issue of federal tax policy. Wyden’s comments today at the Urban Institute underline …
President Obama yesterday met with his top advisers to discuss Afghanistan policy and afterwards word leaked out that Secretary of Defense Robert Gates appears to be wavering on going forward with the Obama Administration’s new strategy for Afghanistan. Yochi Dreazen reported in the Wall Street Journal today that Gates, who has supported the counterinsurgency approach in the past, “now worries that counterinsurgency might no longer be a viable approach for countering the Taliban violence roiling once-stable parts of north and west Afghanistan.” This is yet another sign that the Obama …
The Obama Administration just cannot make the New York Times editorial board happy when it comes to immigration policy. First, the Obama Administration ends the practice of detention and removal of illegal immigrants caught during work site raids. Then, the Obama Administration decides not only shouldn’t they detain and remove illegal immigrant caught during work site raids, but they should give them temporary work permits so that those illegal immigrants will cooperate with prosecutors. Now, the Obama Administration merely lets the employer target know it is coming to do a …
The damage is done. The Empire State Building was lit read and yellow last night to celebrate the 60th anniversary China’s communist revolution. It is hard to imagine a more inappropriate – indeed, offensive – use of an iconic American symbol. No one begrudges China lifting its people from poverty. But that remarkable achievement has been accomplished only over the last 30 years – after China abandoned its communist moorings and began to embrace free market principles. Until then, the Chinese communist party was responsible only for terrible human tragedy. …
From CBS News’ 60 Minutes interview with Commander, U.S. Forces Afghanistan, General Stanley McChrystal: Asked how often he talks to the president, McChrystal said, “I’ve talked to the president since I’ve been here once on a VTC.” “You talked to him once in 70 days?” Martin asked. “That’s correct,” McChrystal replied. From the Los Angeles Times profile of Service Employee International President Andy Stern Moreover, Stern has enjoyed considerable entree to the new administration — starting on Inauguration Day, when he joined Obama and the new president’s family on the …
