Last night, elections were held in several states across the nation, and by most independent observations, the results served as a warning to liberals. Whether it was Republican victories in Virginia, New Jersey or even in typical liberal bastions like Westchester County, New York, the post-analysis was framed on what does this mean on Capitol Hill, and more importantly, what does this mean for the conservative movement. However, last night did not represent a new day for conservatives. On Monday, the same could have been said: the state of conservatism …
Do Americans have a right to government-run health care? Is it “the consent of the governed” to be forced to obey the dictates of unelected bureaucrats? Does religious liberty allow our government to impose a secular culture? These are among great questions of the day to which Americans ought to apply the guiding principles of our nation’s founding, Matthew Spalding, a constitutional scholar at The Heritage Foundation, argues in his new book “We Still Hold These Truths: Rediscovering Our Principles, Reclaiming Our Future.” Spalding is sure to talk about “We …
On November 9th, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear oral arguments challenging the constitutionality of juvenile life without parole (JLWOP) sentences. In preparation for oral arguments, JLWOP: Faces & Cases will be an on-going series on The Foundry that will tell real stories about juvenile offenders who are currently serving LWOP sentences. Defendant: Chawa See (16) Victim: Robert Trevino Crimes: Murder with special allegations and other crimes Crime date: October 1, 2006 in Visalia, California Summary Chawa See shot a 15-year-old boy in the head with a .380 caliber semiautomatic …
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tkPiJayiuUA[/youtube] “The most outrageous detail in the current House bill is the philosophy on which it is premised. It is premised on the philosophy that the government knows best how to organize 1/6th of our economy,” said Rep. Ryan (R-WI) today before visiting Heritage’s Bloggers Briefing. Ryan was speaking about the current House health bill, a behemoth piece of legislation weighing in at 1,990 pages and costing $1.5 trillion.
According to The New York Times/ClimateWire, there is a new version of the Kerry-Boxer cap-and-trade legislation. For those keeping track, that makes no less than five different versions in just 36 days. Let us recap: September 29 – 684-page draft version September 30 – 801-page updated draft version September 30 – 821-page bill, as introduced October 23 – 925-page chairman’s mark November 3 – 959-page updated chairman’s mark
Last week, Speaker Pelosi and the House leadership introduced their 1,900 page health care monstrosity, H.R. 3962. But they have not taken the bill to the House floor as they prepare yet another version called a “manager’s amendment.” This manager’s amendment will sweep in new provisions targeted to specific members of Congress in order to get their support on behalf of some special interest group. These will be a style of earmarks that may be hard to trace back to its source. Some will be undecipherable, directing more favorable Medicare …
On the campaign trail, then Senator Obama set a course for universal coverage of children through the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) and opposed an individual mandate. H.R. 3962, as introduced by the House leadership, repeals the SCHIP program in 2014 and includes an individual mandate. Moreover, the bill would send millions of young, healthy adults into Medicaid which will increase the cost of insurance for every one with private coverage because of the cost shift and “crowd out effect” associated with Medicaid.
As critics have repeatedly point out, once Congress starts specifying minimum mandated coverage requirements for health insurance there will be no end to the lobbying to maximize the “minimum” that you will have to pay for in your health plan. Well, it turns out Congress is already behaving exactly as predicted — and they haven’t even passed a bill yet! The earlier House “Tri-Committee Bill” (H.R. 3200) lists in Section 122(b) the “Minimum Services to be Covered.” The new “Pelosi Bill” (H.R. 3962) includes the same language, only this time …
It has been one week since the Senate Majority Leader announced that he had sent his health care bill to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) and the American people still have not seen Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s (D-NV) version of Obamacare. Last week 40 Senators signed a letter asking Reid to make all materials he sent to the CBO public. Yesterday, Senator Reid finally responded, but not with transparency. Instead he wrote a Dear Colleague letter to all Senator in response: We are now working to take these publicly …
Today, Republican Senators boycotted the scheduled markup of the Kerry-Boxer (S.1733) cap-and-trade bill because the Environmental Protection Agency did not complete a comprehensive economic analysis of the legislation. Senator Boxer (D-CA), who chairs the committee, had threatened to break with committee precedent and move forward without the participation of Republicans. According to CQ Politics: Because two members of the minority party must attend in order for a markup to proceed, Boxer has scheduled a “committee business meeting” — an apparent procedural gambit designed to allow work without a GOP quorum.
