The 2074 page Reid Health Bill (H.R. 3590) generally follows the Senate Finance and HELP versions on Medicaid and in the creation of a new health care program, the Community Living Assistance Services and Supports (CLASS) Act. Curiously, in the short term (2010-2013), the Reid bill helps fewer people gain coverage than the Senate Finance bill. The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimates 2 million will lose Medicaid/SCHIP coverage each year in this period compared to current law. But, by 2019, Medicaid/SCHIP enrollment will increase by 15 million, accounting for nearly …
Green energy investments are coming from every direction. Whether it is the stimulus package or the cap and trade bills proposed in Congress, the government is eager to invest taxpayer dollars in renewable energy technology. As Americans become desensitized to the copious amounts of money the government is spending, clean energy investments are growing from millions to billions. And companies are chomping at the bit: Last month, for example, President Barack Obama announced $3.4 billion in government-stimulus grants for power-grid projects. About one-third of the recipients are GE customers. GE …
The Reid health bill (H.R. 3590) leaves small businesses, and particularly small business owners, largely out of the picture. Small businesses, and particularly small businesses that currently do not offer health insurance coverage, will not get much break from this bill. Reid’s bill outlines a “small business tax credit”, which only lasts for two years and largely excludes small business owners, small businesses with high-average payrolls, and firms with 25 or more workers. After all exclusions, essentially the only eligible firms are those firms with 10 or fewer workers as …
Last week Senator Max Baucus joined several mainstream environmentalists in adding pine beetle outbreaks to a long list of things that can be blamed on climate change. As Baucus said in a Congress Quarterly report, Running on the trails by my home in Helena, seeing the red forests destroyed by pine beetles or seeing sustained drought and increased wildfires, we feel the impacts of climate change.”
With the takeover of health care and frenzied government growth front and center, many are wondering when we will – if we haven’t already – reached a tipping point that fundamentally alters America. Much of what’s been done is described as a temporary fix. However, as President Reagan noted, “There is nothing so permanent as a temporary government program.” With this reinvigorated discussion of how big is too big, it is worthwhile to remind Americans of just how massive the Federal government already was before our current woes began. There …
The President’s recognition in last night’s Fox News interview that exports play an important role in bolstering U.S. economic performance was welcome, but missed at least half of the trade story. Imports benefit America, too, through lower prices to consumers and manufacturers that raise incomes and boost productivity and competitiveness. The President promised a thorough review America’s trade policy over the first half of 2009 and a new road map for U.S. trade relations this summer – a promise that remains unfulfilled as the year comes to a close. The …
Heritage senior fellows Brian Walsh and Hans von Spakovsky have a new article out at NRO on the jail time provisions that exist in both the House and Senate bills. Read the whole thing, but here are some key graphs: By transforming a refusal or failure to comply with a government mandate into a federal tax violation, the “progressives” are using the brute force of criminal law to engage in social engineering. This represents an oppressive, absolutist view of government power. … The idea of imprisoning or fining Americans who …
Last night, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid released his giant version of the Senate health care bill, H.R. 3590. A first look at the bill – which is 2,074 pages long – shows yet another attempt to use taxes to punish uninsured Americans and punish companies that hire workers from low-income families, especially single parents. If you wanted to punish the poor and kill the job prospects of people who need jobs the most, this would be an effective way to do it. The Individual Mandate. First, there is the …
President Obama didn’t accomplish much on his Asia trip. He has the media covering for him, though. They’re not praising him, they’re making bigger errors than he did, especially on the U.S. and China. Tough times have made people pessimistic about America’s future, and with good reason. Elements of the media have picked that up and run (and run and run), to the point of claiming the U.S. is economically subservient to the PRC. This is not just wrong, it’s outrageously wrong. Not to pick on CNN (OK, maybe a …
Congress needs someone like Mike Rowe to do the dirty job that politicians won’t touch. Our $1.4-trillion (and rising!) annual deficit and $12-trillion accumulated debt are not caused by the economy. They’re caused by runaway spending. Unable or unwilling to specify and enforce spending cuts on their own, some in Congress are calling for help by establishing a new commission that would both identify ways to cut back and force Congress to vote on it. It’s not a substitute for the immediate self-discipline that lawmakers need, but it could help. …
