It has been one week since the Senate Majority Leader announced he sent his health care bill to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) and the American people are still not allowed to see Sen. Reid’s (D-NV) version of Obamacare. Late last week, Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC) authored a letter to Reid demanding that Senators be given the opportunity to read the same bill that Reid sent to CBO. The American people have a constitutional right pursuant to the First Amendment to “petition the government for a redress of grievances.” In …
Lawrence Summers, the Director of the White House National Economic Commission recently committed an unpardonable sin – he revealed two unpleasant truths in a single sentence. Summers said, “I don’t find there to be much evidence that suggests that raising the top marginal rates from 35 to 39 percent that will be implicit in the repeal of the Bush tax rates will do substantial damage to the incentives in the economy”. [emphasis added] The modifier “substantial” is the key to the first Summersian truth. Will raising the tax rates cause …
Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s (D-CA) health care plan presumes that about 8-to-14-million American workers will pay fines rather than buy health insurance. Unless they do, there’s a $167-billion hole in her financing plan and everything falls apart. Like the rest of us, this group would face higher-than-ever insurance prices under Pelosi’s proposed bill. Speaker Pelosi, President Obama and others claim they will make coverage cheaper, yet the official projection relies upon millions who would prefer to pay fines rather than join their system. In some cases the individuals would pay the …
Now that the November 7th run-off election in Afghanistan has been canceled and Hamid Karzai announced the official winner of the August 20th election, President Obama should end the uncertainty surrounding the future of U.S. engagement in the region and announce a strategy for moving forward in Afghanistan. The ongoing public debate about Afghanistan has already cost the U.S. credibility with its NATO allies and is confusing our regional partners who are starting to hedge their bets and plan for a decreased U.S. commitment to the region. As well-known Pakistan …
When CNS News reporter asked Nancy Pelosi “Madam Speaker, where specifically does the Constitution grant Congress the authority to enact an individual health insurance mandate?,” her response was “Are you serious? Are you serious?” Is Pelosi serious? Did the Speaker Pelosi really say that asking “is this Constitutional” is a trivial question? Could her statement be a gaffe? Nope. It’s no gaffe. Pelosi’s press spokesman, Nadeam Elshami, clarified for the record that asking the speaker of the House to articulate the Constitutional authority for the health care mandate “is not …
Last week, I wrote a column in the New York Post, questioning the Obama administration’s proposed plan for missile defense in Eastern Europe which will replace the Bush-era ground-based interceptors (GBI) in Poland and radar in the Czech Republic. I especially questioned the ability of the new Obama system to defend the United States against an Iranian ICBM until their land-based SM-3 comes on-line around 2020. This Saturday, the Director of the Missile Defense Agency, Lt. Gen. P. O’Reilly, responded, writing in part: Contrary to Brookes’ assertion, with our long-range …
In the desperate attempt to portray their massive new spending bill as “budget neutral,” Congress and the Obama Administration are relying on more desperate measures to hide the true cost of the legislation. The Senate Finance Committee bill includes Section 1209, aka the “Fail-Safe Mechanism to Prevent Increase in Federal Budget Deficit.” But it is more than just a budget gimmick, it is an unprecedented change in the balance of power from Congress to the President that ought to unite liberals and conservatives in opposition to it. This is either …
A year ago this week, the American people elected a President who had promised during the campaign that he would: “cut taxes for 95% of workers and their families,” expand the Army by 65,000 and the Marines by 27,000, and enact “a net spending cut” for the federal government. Lower taxes, a strong defense and shrinking the size of government. Those are all core conservative beliefs. Accordingly, President Barack Obama entered the White House with sky high approval ratings. But since being sworn into office, President Obama has raised taxes, …
Analysis – After unveiling her 1,990 page health care bill late this week, Speaker Pelosi hopes to have the bill on the House floor by Thursday with work possibly going into Saturday or even into the following week to finish consideration of the legislation. A manager’s amendment is expected to be introduced on Monday with additional details. However, no one is exactly sure how this will play out or if the Speaker has the necessary votes to pass the legislation. You can bet this will dominant the discussion in Washington. …
Analysis – An extension of unemployment insurance benefits will occupy the Senate for most of the week, again. Not only is this the wrong way to address the lack of jobs, but Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) has numerous amendments, including those that may actually spur job creation. Shutting down the amendment process does not bode well for the upcoming health care debate. Americans and Senators are eager to start the health care debate, but Senator Reid has refused to release any details of the legislation. Major Floor Action …
