There’s only one reason nearly 2 million American former workers are without unemployment benefits today: Senator Reid (D-NV) and his Democratic colleagues’ addiction to deficit spending. The Senate is expected to try to extend these benefits soon. There are arguments pro and con, but if the benefits are extended, then the $34 billion cost should be paid for with spending reductions elsewhere. Surely in the great mass of over $3.5 trillion in federal spending built up over the years and to which President Obama, Reid, and Speaker Pelosi (D-CA) have …
Secretary of Defense Robert Gates told Senate Republicans last week that he would try to fix the problem caused by the Obama Administration’s mixed messages about its commitment to the war in Afghanistan. Alex Bolton Friday reported in The Hill that Gates told a group of Republican Senators in a closed door meeting on Tuesday that he also was frustrated by the inconsistent statements on Afghanistan policy made by various members of the Administration and that he would do his best to clear up the uncertainty in the future. Senator …
House Cloakroom: July 19-23 Analysis: Only two legislative weeks remain until the House adjourns for the August recess on August 2nd – a week earlier than expected. This coming week, the House may consider H.R. 5618, the Restoration of Emergency Unemployment Compensation Act – legislation which would extend unemployment benefits through November 2010. Without offsetting spending cuts, the bill would add $34 billion to the deficit over 10 years. Potential legislation for next week also includes H.R. 2693 and H.R. 5716, two bills related to the Gulf oil spill. H.R. …
Imagine arriving at your neighborhood polling place on Election Day and seeing two men guarding the entrance, dressed in paramilitary uniforms, wielding a deadly billy club, shouting racial epithets and menacing voters. Would you walk through the door? Now imagine political appointees in the Department of Justice (DOJ) refusing to pursue the case, the U.S. Attorney General stonewalling and refusing to enforce lawful subpoenas in the face of questions about that decision, and the mainstream media remaining silent on the story for a year. This isn’t a case of pure …
Editor’s Note: The Heritage Foundation drew heavily from The Washington Times and other news reports to compile this cast of characters. From the New Black Panther Party Jerry Jackson—On Election Day 2008, Jackson was one of two New Black Panthers to visit a Philadelphia polling place wearing paramilitary garb. In response, the Department of Justice brought a lawsuit against the New Black Panther Party, Jackson, and two others. An elected member of Philadelphia’s 14th Ward Democratic Committee, Jackson was credentialed to be an official Democratic poll watcher. After the DOJ …
To clarify the issues at stake in the New Black Panther case, The Heritage Foundation has compiled two timelines from news reports — including The Washington Times’ timeline of events — and government documents, especially those from the United States Commission on Civil Rights. Both timelines are posted here. The first reviews highlights from the case, concluding with the case’s dismissal on May 19th, 2009. The second, more comprehensive timeline details more meetings between the Department of Justice and the White House and extends through July 2010. Highlight Timeline: Tuesday, Nov. …
In the past few months, the Senate has made several attempts to extend the Medicaid bailout included in the stimulus package. States share the cost of Medicaid with the federal government, and because of the influx of new beneficiaries due to increased job loss, the federal government increased the portion of the cost that it would cover. This was bad policy. Congress should avoid another bailout that would treat low-income Americans inequitably from state to state and further delay reforms to increase the fiscal sustainability of Medicaid. Recent analysis by …
Russian and Iranian energy ministers Sergei I. Shmatko and Massoud Mir-Kazemi, signed a “roadmap” to future economic cooperation in the oil, gas, and petrochemical industries, according to ITAR-TASS, a Russian news-wire. Just weeks after Russia supported United Nations sanctions against Iran for developing a rogue nuclear program, and just as President Dmitry Medvedev demanded that Iran explains its nuclear program, the Russian Ministry of Energy stated that “sanctions will not hinder us in our joint cooperation” with Iran. On Monday, Russian President Medvedev said that Iran is approaching the point …
Marriage is under intensified assault in two federal courtrooms. Last week a federal district judge in Massachusetts acted alone to overrule 427 members of Congress who voted in 1996 to adopt the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), a measure signed into law by President Clinton. DOMA has two major provisions. First, it affirms that the definition of marriage and related words like spouse and husband in federal law refers only to relationships between one man and one woman. Second, the law sets forth the intent of Congress that none of …
Alan Greenspan recently gave a Bloomberg News interview with Judy Woodruff. His agenda was redemption. Hers was politics. She got what she wanted. In the course of the interview, Greenspan acknowledged the economy was slowing, a more modest appraisal than that recently signaled by his former colleagues at the Fed who see a significant chance of a downturn and deflation. He also acknowledged that “this is not going to be a full-blown recovery.” He noted one reason for the weak recovery is that “an ever-increasing part of the American economy …
