President Barack Obama recently announced the appointment of 20 private-sector members to the President’s Export Council. Although the President promised to provide Americans an “unprecedented level of openness in Government,” the White House announcement did not mention the numerous financial connections between President Obama and his appointees. To correct that oversight, here is a breakdown of the $2.1 million in campaign donations provided by individuals associated with the business and labor interests now represented on the President’s Export Council, as reported at opensecrets.org and fec.gov. Topping the list? United Association, …
What would it take to lure basketball star LeBron James away from his hometown Cleveland Cavaliers to sign a contract with the Miami Heat? Believe it or not, taxes might have something to do with it, and that’s an important message for all levels of government. In Florida, James’ new place of business, there is no income tax, and the superstar will see a big benefit in his bottom line for playing ball in a Heat jersey. James will make $1.014 million more in Miami than in Cleveland over the …
As newly-hired workers race to clean up the Gulf, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration has raised concerns that workers hired by BP are not receiving the exact amount of hours of training OSHA recommends. There are a number of training courses, including the “hazardous waste operation and emergency response standard” or HAZWOPER, which OSHA has said is only required for supervisors. But according to The Press-Register, contractors have been giving all who sign up the 40-hour HAZWOPER course. Despite the fact that OSHA’s own guidelines state that workers on …
Congress must ratify the New START pact quickly, Sen. John Kerry (D-MA) asserts in The Washington Post. Why? Because “Every day without its verification regime is a day without a clear view of Russia’s nuclear arsenal.” But if Sen. Kerry wants to keep tabs on what Russia’s doing with its nuclear arsenal, he needs to come up with something other than the New START. As Paula A. DeSutter, the former U.S. assistant secretary of state for verification, compliance and implementation, noted in a July 6 Heritage Foundation lecture on the …
In 1996, by a vote of 342–67 in the House and 85–14 in the Senate, the United States Congress enacted the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) and President Clinton signed it into law. Section 3 of DOMA defines marriage as the union of husband and wife for purposes of federal law. Yesterday, a single federal judge in Massachusetts ruled that Section 3 of DOMA violates the U.S. Constitution. The judge concluded that there is no “rational basis” to support DOMA and that DOMA could only have been motivated by “irrational …
This is not Governor Blanco’s Louisiana. Since Katrina, the state has reformed and refitted its ability to respond to disasters to the point that it has become a national role model in many respects. It starts with the Gov. Bobby Jindal. Everyday, Jindal convenes a meeting of the State Unified Command Group which manages the entire state response. Both BP and the Coast Guard brief. Jindal asks the tough questions. If he doesn’t get the right answers, people know it. He sets the tone for everything—and the tone is “make …
It looks like the Obama spin machine is at it again, this time launching a concerted effort to rebut reports this week that President Barack Obama is anti-business. But given Obama’s record of stoking government intervention in the private sector and creating an environment of uncertainty poisonous to business growth, hiring and expansion, it’s no wonder the President is branded with an anti-business scarlet letter. The storyline began in The Washington Post, where columnist Fareed Zakaria endeavored to find out why America’s 500 largest nonfinancial companies are sitting on $1.8 …
Angry. That is the first word that comes to mind listening firsthand to how folks on the Gulf Coast feel about the federal government’s response the oil spill disaster. For many, this far worse than Katrina. That hurricane swept through three states in hours, covering thousands of square miles; wiping out roads, communications, and everything else needed to respond to the disaster. It is understandable why it took aid too long to reach too many. The oil spill, on the other hand, has been a disaster in slow motion. Everyday …
Every year, residents of the Gulf come to Morgan City, Louisiana to celebrate the lifeblood of the region’s economy: seafood and oil. This September marks the 75th anniversary of this symbiotic relationship. The Shrimp and Petroleum Festival emphasizes “the unique way in which these two seemingly different industries work hand-in-hand culturally and environmentally in this area of the ‘Cajun Coast’.” One might think the Deepwater Horizon explosion and subsequent oil spill would significantly mar this relationship, and the seafood industry would vociferously support President Obama’s offshore drilling moratorium. But the …
Lawmakers in Washington are quick to talk the talk of fiscal reform these days. Solutions to the nation’s abysmal financial outlook are at the tip of everyone’s tongue, and even Democrats have conceded that maybe conservatives were right when pointing out that the United States doesn’t have a tax problem but rather a major spending problem. But amidst all this talk, who in Washington is actually willing to walk the walk of actual fiscal reform? Not just hand-wringing. Not just a few symbolic cuts here and raising taxes there, but …
