The Heritage Foundation’s Steven Groves and Ben Lieberman are live at the Copenhagen Climate Change Conference reporting from a conservative perspective. Follow their reports on The Foundry and at the Copenhagen Consequences Web site. There is plenty of anti-U.S. sentiment on display here in Copenhagen as we begin the crucial final week of the United Nations climate change conference. Representatives of developing nations brand Americans as energy hogs – enjoying a high standard of living while contributing disproportionately to the global warming damage that will affect everyone else. Thus, these …
In the next few days President Obama will venture to Copenhagen, Denmark to attend the 15th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, which began last week. One of the discussed goals of this conference is the creation of a universal climate change treaty. I am concerned that any job-killing, cap-and-tax style treaty could seriously harm American families, small businesses, and American sovereignty. Our economy is facing a skyrocketing national debt and 10 percent unemployment. The United States must reject any attempt by international …
Last month, Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) rammed through her version of Obamacare almost a week before the agency in charge of running Medicare and Medicaid, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMMS), could issue its non-partisan and independent analysis of the legislation. And for supporters of the President’s plan, it’s a good thing she did. The CMMS report eviscerated almost every single promise the President has made about his health care plan. According to that report, Obamacare: 1) raises health care costs; 2) causes millions of Americans to lose …
The House Cloakroom by Dan Ziegler Analysis: The House will be busy next week trying to wrap up business for the year before going on break. The main piece of legislation on their plate will be finishing up the last appropriations spending bill, which will be used to tack on so called “job creating measures” like unemployment benefits, food stamp programs, and COBRA health insurance subsidies. Make sure to watch Minority Whip Eric Cantor’s (R-VA) speech at Heritage last week where he laid out his “No Cost Stimulus” plan. Also …
Heritage’s Brian Riedl published a new web-memo today examining the earmark projects in the Pork-filled Omnibus bill that’s being rushed through Congress. Riedl reports that the bill: “Includes approximately 5,224 earmarks, bringing the FY 2010 total to 8,939, with a pork-laden defense bill expected to push the final total over 10,000.” Parents and taxpayers who are concerned about the condition of American education may be interested to review some of the large servings of pork that will be dished out by the Department of Education next year. (You can review …
It’s turning out to be a lousy Christmas for D.C. children. Late last night, the House dealt a hefty blow to the future of school choice in the District of Columbia. House leadership passed an omnibus appropriations bill which includes language to phase-out the successful D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program, which provides scholarships of up to $7,500 to low-income children to attend a private school of their choice. The omnibus prohibits any new students from receiving scholarships, phasing it out in the coming years. The omnibus now moves on to the …
Late this December, the Unites States Treasury will reach the $12.1 trillion statutory ceiling on the national debt. It will mark the 91st time Congress has had to raise the debt limit since the original $43 billion ceiling was established in 1940. Many on the left argue that the United States federal government can borrow and spend as much money as it wants, and that any concerns about what it might cost us in the future are just a Phantom Menace. But as the chart to the right shows, we …
Yesterday, Senators John Kerry (D-MA), Joseph Lieberman (I-CT) and Lindsey Graham (R-SC) unveiled an outline of their cap-and-trade proposal. Interestingly, their version of a national tax on American energy is hard to distinguish from earlier proposals such as the House-passed Waxman-Markey or the Senate committee-passed Boxer-Kerry. All of these proposals have one thing in common: they hurt the economy. However, the Senators Kerry, Lieberman and Graham take great care in their 5-page document to detail the benefits of their proposal, and implicitly suggest why it is superior to each. Let’s …
America’s biggest spenders have chosen a wonderful Christmas gift for themselves: More of our money. Last week, deficit spending reached a new extreme. This week, Congress gave our federal government an 8% pay (spending) raise. Next week, they plan to borrow almost $2-trillion more to keep their spending spree alive. No payments until after Christmas, of course—and the bills are sent to the next generation. President Barack Obama led the way in his speech that endorsed “spend[ing] our way out of this recession.” Sadly, Congress and the Obama Administration are …
Timmy: Mommy, where does the new drug I’m taking for my Leukemia come from? Mother: It comes from a drug company. Timmy: But why does the drug company make it? They don’t know me. Mother: Well, partly they make drugs because they help people – the people who work for these companies have kids, too. But mostly they make the drugs because they make money. That’s what they do, just like Daddy when he takes care of patients at the hospital and I do in my office at home. Timmy: …
