When Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius recently addressed a crowd of health policy experts about the issues surrounding the nation’s physician shortage, she had the opportunity to highlight the fundamental problems doctors have been shouting about, like medical malpractice reform. Alas, she mostly stuck to the tired talking points that more primary-care physicians would flock to the profession if there were only more preventive services, more health information technology and better coordination of chronic diseases. That’s not to knock any of those measures, but they fail to address …
House Republican Whip Eric Cantor (R-VA) today spoke at The Heritage Foundation’s President’s Club meeting and delivered the following remarks on America’s national security policy: Thank you for the kind introduction. It’s a pleasure to have the opportunity to participate and offer my contributions to Protect America month. I want to start by acknowledging the tremendous job by civilians and law enforcement in their vigilance surrounding the failed terrorist plot in Times Square this past weekend. We are gathered here today to make a sober assessment of the condition of …
Politico, April 22nd 2010: New energy powers up lobbying – “Alternative energy used to be just a speed bump on K Street. In 1998, the entire sector spent only $2.4 million lobbying the federal government … In 2009, alternative energy spent $30 million on lobbying, 12 times its 1998 amount.” The Washington Post, May 3rd, 2010: More tech firms setting up offices in Washington area to get federal business – “In general, high-tech jobs in the region have been multiplying at a disproportionately high rate. … The number of software …
With all the damaging bills coming out of Congress today, and promises of more to come, it is easy to lose sight of necessary positive policy changes that Congress should be making to improve the tax code and increase economic growth. Representatives Jim Jordan (R-OH) and Jason Chaffetz (R-UT) look to fix that by proposing a series of changes to the tax code that will finally make those long-needed advancements. Their bill, H.R. 5029, proposes the following: 1) Eliminate the tax on capital gains. The current tax code taxes capital …
During Protect America Month, it is important to remember the extraordinary success our counter-terrorism programs have had. Since 9/11, at least 30 terrorist plots against the United States have been thwarted, in large part because our counter-terrorism officials have had the tools they need to keep us safe. However, since taking office, President Obama has consistently scaled back or scheduled for elimination many of the very tools that have been so successful over the past decade. He has threatened to close down Guantanamo Bay, slackened support for the PATRIOT Act, …
Times Square bombing suspect Faisal Shahzad has apparently told investigators that he was not acting on behalf of any international terrorist organization. However, given that he spent several months in Pakistan just prior to returning to the U.S. to conduct the attack indicates he may well have been in contact with international terrorist networks. Given the increasing fluidity of group membership and cross-pollination of the various terrorist groups operating inside Pakistan, it may take time for investigators to discern exactly with whom he may have been working and what was …
This past Saturday President Barack Obama turned the commencement speech at the University Michigan into a full-throated defense of his big government agenda. At this Monday’s Heritage Foundation President’s Club meeting, nationally syndicated talk-show host and New York Times Best-Selling author Mark Levin responded: In a speech on Saturday, Obama said that “what troubles me is when I hear people say that all of government is inherently bad. When our government is spoken of as some menacing, threatening foreign entity, it ignores the fact that our democracy, government is us.” …
Marty Sullivan, a frequent commentator on tax policy, has now apparently decided the United States needs a value-added tax (VAT). To advance the cause, he penned a brief column on “VAT Lessons from Canada” [“VAT Lessons From Canada”, Martin A. Sullivan, Tax Notes, May 3, 2010.] However, in trying to portray the Canadian VAT in the best possible light, Sullivan airbrushed a couple of the more relevant facts. The most important fact for the United States and one stunning by its absence in Sullivan’s piece is that the only reason …
Fans of Obamacare promised it would be good for small and large employers alike. They should’ve checked with employers first. Mercer, a human resources consultancy, did just that. Its latest annual survey of businesses finds that “[38 percent] of the nation’s employers…have at least some employees for whom coverage would be considered ‘unaffordable’ under the newly enacted Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA).” Under Obamacare, these employers may get slapped with penalties for not giving these workers what the Feds decide to be an appropriate level of coverage. They …
Ohio is struggling with double-digit unmployment, but not all workers are facing tough times. State government employees in Ohio are doing quite well. In fact, nearly 1,800 of them earn more than $100,000 per year. The contrast couldn’t be more stark between bloated government bureaucrats and struggling private-section workers in a state with an 11 percent unemployment rate. What’s most alarming is the rapid rise of state employees making salaries of $100,000 or more. Just look at the rapid increase over the past six years. Thanks to public data compiled …
