The House passed a little noticed bill, H.R.3940, on a voice vote on December 7, 2009 to provide money to Guam, American Samoa and the U.S. Virgin Islands money to “facilitate public education programs regarding political status options for their respective territories.” The Senate is considering consideration of this measure before the end of the year. This idea would use your tax dollars to fund U.S. territories’ efforts to secure statehood. This is not the first time your tax dollars have been used to push for statehood of a U.S. …
The New York Times got it half-right. Friday’s jobs report was highly discouraging, causing the Times to reflect that “there’s just no positive spin for this.” And you’d better believe they tried. In July, there were 131,000 jobs lost, and the unemployment rate held steady at a worrisome 9.5 percent only because so many potential workers are giving up and leaving the workforce entirely — all adding to the perception of a “dissolving recovery.” The Times complains the Washington policy response has been “inadequate, at best,” and tsk-tsks that a …
There’s a lot of talk these days about patient-centered health care reform. Before Obamacare, health care revolved around employers, and little has changed since passage of the new law. This is primarily due to federal policy regarding the tax treatment of employer-sponsored insurance, which was left untouched by the federal overhaul. In recent research, Heritage’s Gregg Girvan explains how this system has led to one-size-fits-all employer-based plans that offer “little or no personal choice; little or no portability of coverage in a rapidly changing economy where workers are changing jobs …
What happens when parents have the opportunity to exercise choice and send their children to private schools? Children get an education that best meets their unique needs, and taxpayers get to put some hard-earned dollars back in their pockets. Per-pupil annual expenditures in New Jersey public schools now average $17,000, eclipsing school spending in other states. But the Governor’s Study Commission on New Jersey’s Nonpublic Schools recently determined that New Jersey private schools save the Garden State $2.7 billion annually. Yet in the past five years, non-public school enrollment has …
Gulf Coast residents were in Washington last week to explain the high cost of President Obama’s oil drilling moratorium. The president’s policy, they said, halts more than energy exploration: It also hurts the coastal economy and the day-to-day lives of workers. Their trip, which included briefings on Capitol Hill, was organized by Save U.S. Energy Jobs, a project of the American Energy Alliance. “If I was president of the United States, I would not want to be remembered as a president who signed a moratorium that destroys jobs permanently, destroys …
The Purple Heart is a solemn reminder that the men and women of the U.S. armed forces daily continue to put themselves in harm’s way in order to defend the liberties of the American people. Those brave soldiers who receive the Purple Heart are honored by a tradition begun by George Washington on August 7, 1782. The original Purple Heart, instituted by Washington during the American Revolution, was called the Badge of Military Merit. The American patriots at that time were fighting not only for American independence, but also to …
In January 2009 after it became clear that the leftist majority in Congress would pass President Barack Obama’s $862 billion economic stimulus bill without a single vote from a Republican, Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) defended her partisan approach, telling Politico: “Yes, we wrote the bill. Yes, we won the election.” Last Friday, some 19 months after the stimulus bill became law, the Labor Department issued its monthly jobs report showing the U.S. economy shed 131,000 jobs and unemployment tread water at 9.5% as 181,000 workers left the workforce entirely. These …
Analysis: The House adjourned a week ago, but due to a last minute passage of additional bailout funding to states for being unable to manage their own finances, they will come back for another round of spending. On Tuesday, they are set to vote on the Senate amendment to H.R. 1586 that was originally a House FAA authorization bill replaced now with a $26.1 billion bailout that includes $10 billion to teachers’ salaries and $16.1 billion for extension of Federal Medicaid matching rates. The House will take up the measure on Tuesday as …
The immediate effects of Obama’s policies are easily seen. We can observe the workers of which billions of dollars have been spent to employ. We are aware of the entitlement checks given by the pen stroke of congress. It is inferred that the recovery plan actually recovers. However, Obama’s legislative activism has farther reaching consequences. Unfortunately, this administration is not able to see beyond the immediate results of its policy proposals. It is the opportunities forgone, those that are not seen, which prove the truly destructive aftermath of such policies. …
The leftist majority in Congress likes to blame their trillion-dollar budget deficits on the Bush tax cuts of 2001 and 2003, but The Heritage Foundation’s Brian Riedl disagrees. Brian’s research has been the subject of contentious debate, with the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP) responding directly to his claims. Riedl has since picked apart every one of the CBPP’s points. Now you can listen to Brian discuss his research in the latest Heritage in Focus podcast: listen here. To receive weekly updates with Heritage in Focus podcasts, and hear …
