If you are tired of our nation’s year-long health care debate and you were hoping that the passage of President Barack Obama’s health care bill would settle anything, then Politico has some bad news for you: the real fight is just getting started. Starting today, a coalition of leftist groups will sink millions of dollars into television advertising and astroturf events selling the plan to the American people. But as a Washington Post poll conducted after passage last week shows, the Obama administration and their leftist allies face a steep …
In Los Angeles, in the heart of California’s anemic economy, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and the Department of Water and Power (DWP) hope to massively raise energy rates by a whopping 21% next year, with other rate increases slated through 2014, for a total 37% hike. Are the increased rates intended to pay for a budget shortfall? No. Are they going up because the cost of energy is going up, too? Not exclusively. The increased rates would raise money to “invest” in renewable energy. In fact, Villaraigosa thought the hike was …
Environmentalists are taking a page from North Korea, encouraging Americans to turn off the lights in celebration of “Earth Hour” tonight. The Communist dictatorship, of course, is in the dark every night. Tonight’s event, scheduled for 8:30 local time, is sponsored by the World Wildlife Fund. It’s the third year environmentalists have embarked on the campaign asking people around the globe to cut the lights. They claim to have swayed 80 million Americans and 318 U.S. cities to flip the switch last year. Some notable landmarks included the Empire State …
On Tuesday, The Heritage Foundation hosted a public discussion on Russian anti-Americanism, which has risen since 2000. So, what are the root causes of anti-Americanism, how do they affect US-Russian relations, and how should they be addressed? Helle Dale and Dr. Ariel Cohen, both senior research fellows at The Heritage Foundation’s Allison Center for Foreign Policy Studies and Davis Institute, as well as Daniel Kimmage, a senior fellow at the Homeland Security Policy Institute, agreed that the Russian government uses anti-Americanism to create an external enemy, to unite domestic support, …
MOSCOW – After more than a year of negotiations on a follow-on to the 1991 Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START), Presidents Barack Obama and Dmitry Medvedev finalized the agreement this week. It now appears that the new START will be signed on April 8 in Prague, to commemorate the first anniversary of Obama’s “getting to zero” speech. Getting to zero denotes an unrealistic goal of the world free of nuclear weapons. Before anyone breaks out the champagne, however, one should remember that it could be months before a START follow …
The Senate’s health care bill became law earlier this week, but the fight against a government overhaul of our nation’s health system continued in the Senate. Senators voted on many amendments to the reconciliation bill passed by the House as a “fix” to the massive Senate health bill, H.R. 3590. This process proved extremely important, since it underscored some very key policy issues that have surfaced in the national debate. Forget what lawmakers say; look instead on how they act. Votes on key issues tell a big story. Consider the …
Obamacare has not even been the law of the land for one week and already major Fortune 500 companies are announcing hundreds of millions, and even billion, dollar hits to their bottom line. Heritage’s health care team has gone through the legislation and produced the following timeline (pdf) of major policy implementation. Highlights from each year include: 2010: Establishes a requirement to provide coverage for non-dependent children up to age 26 to all existing health insurance plans starting six months after enactment. 2011: Increases the additional tax for Health Savings …
Chicago witnessed one small victory for urban school reform and parental choice yesterday as the Illinois State Senate voted 33-20 to approve a pilot voucher program for low-income Chicago students currently attending the city’s worst performing schools. The School Choice Act, sponsored by Democrat James Meeks, provides children in Kindergarten through 8th grade state-funded vouchers to attend a private or parochial school in the city. Senator Meeks testified to the voucher program’s importance in providing low-income students a way out of the underperforming Chicago public schools. “‘By passing this bill, …
“AT&T Inc. will take a $1 billion non-cash charge in the first quarter” the Associated Press reported today. And by “take a non-cash charge” what they really mean is that President Barack Obama’s health spending plan just ate $1 billion out of AT&T’s bottom line. And that’s to pay for just one of the tax hikes wrought by Obamacare. AT&T is just one of many companies that subsidize Medicare drug coverage for their retirees. The new health law slaps a tax on those subsidies, effective next year. In addition to …
Back in January, President Obama said that he has no intention of sending U.S. troops into terrorist havens. However, in addition to working with regional partners to support the Dijbouti Peace Process, the administration is currently playing a direct role in providing Somalia’s Transitional Federal Government (TFG) with increased support in an effort to stabilize the country against insurgent groups, many connected to the terrorist organization, al-Shabaab. In an effort to beef up the U.S. counter-terrorism strategy, the United States is committed to denying al Qaeda and other terrorist organizations …
