Responding to James Carafano’s July 29 critique of New START, William Hartung asserts that the proposed nuclear arms treaty imposes no limitations on U.S. missile defense options. It’s a faithful parroting of the administration line. But given Hartung’s longstanding views regarding missile defense, arms control and nuclear disarmament, this argument—coming from him—is quite disingenuous. Should New START enter into force, it is a virtual certainty that—excepting only the government of Russia—Hartung would be the first in line to state that improving U.S. missile defense capabilities is incompatible with the terms of …
Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli is having quite a day. As Todd Gaziano explains, a federal district court denied the U.S. Justice Department’s request that the court dismiss the lawsuit Cuccinelli filed on behalf of the citizens of Virginia against the unconstitutional mandates in Obamacare. News also broke today that Cuccinelli issued an official advisory opinion on July 30 that was another shot across the bow of the Obama Administration in the ongoing fight over enforcement of federal immigration laws. In response to an inquiry from a state representative, Cuccinelli …
Rep. Pete Stark (D-CA) is one of the more honest members of the left in Congress. Long before President Barack Obama first started pushing Obamacare, Rep. Stark was advocating for a government “Medicare for All” takeover over our nation’s health care system. Rep. Stark’s honest view about the proper role and power of the federal government were on display again last month at a townhall in Hayward, CA. In the video posted, a constituent asks Stark: “If this legislation is Constitutional, what limitations are there on the federal governments ability …
Many state leaders are lobbying the Senate to extend the Medicaid bailout enacted in the February 2009 stimulus bill. While several attempts by Senate leaders to extend the bailout have failed, it will be brought to the floor again on Monday, this time bundled with additional spending on education. Talk about throwing good money after bad. For both Medicaid and education funding, a continued bailout would disproportionately benefit the most irresponsible states and would allow them to delay taking the steps they must to live within their means. Federal taxpayers …
Congress has an important decision to make before the end of the year: Extend the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts or allow them to expire and significantly raise taxes. There is never a good time to raise taxes because higher taxes always come with a steep cost: slower economic growth, fewer jobs and lower wages. To raise taxes now while the unemployment rate lingers at 10 percent is simply reckless and irresponsible. Some like Ed Schultz of MSNBC’s the Ed Show claim that keeping the tax cuts in place won’t …
NEW ORLEANS — Every day at 9 a.m. the Mary Queen of Vietnam community center opens its doors to distribute 25 food vouchers. Several weeks ago people started lining up at 5 a.m. Now the line forms at 2 a.m. This is not the life these proud fishermen envisioned when they settled in eastern New Orleans from Vietnam, but it is reality in the aftermath of the oil spill in the Gulf. Asian-Americans constitute about one-third of all commercial fishermen in the region. Today, many endure the long wait outside …
Secretary of Education Arne Duncan announced the 19 finalists for the final phase of the $4.35 billion Race to the Top (RTTT) competition on Tuesday. The finalists are Arizona, California, Colorado, the District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and South Carolina. In his speech, Duncan called the reform movement a “quiet revolution” and said the program “has unleashed an avalanche of pent-up education-reform activity.” Duncan is absolutely right that this is a “quiet revolution,” because …
In a major blow to an Obama administration seeking to show that the lawsuits challenging Obamacare are “frivolous” by scoring an early dismissal—something it hoped to do before the November elections—a district court ruled to the contrary this morning. Federal District Judge Henry Hudson rejected the motion by the United States to dismiss Virginia’s lawsuit and allowed it to proceed. This is the first decision involving a major case challenging the constitutionality of the individual insurance mandate, and so its impact may reverberate beyond this individual case. The United States …
The last time I traveled to Louisiana to observe the oil spill response, I spent a good deal of time with state and local disaster response officials and the state’s National Guard. On this visit I got to see the problem from the perspective of the federal responders, particularly the Coast Guard. Under the Oil Spill Act of 1990, the Coast Guard is responsible for coordinating the national response to major oil spills. They work with the company responsible for the spill, in this case BP, to affect the clean-up, …
A United States District Court has just announced that Virginia’s lawsuit, led by Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli, may proceed. This lawsuit, file shortly after Obamacare’s passage, represents the state’s direct challenge of the new law. This lawsuit is separate from a larger effort of several states, led by Florida. Earlier this summer, we sat down with Cuccinelli for an exclusive interview to discuss the threat Obamacare poses and his state’s lawsuit. You can read The Heritage Foundation’s research on Why the Personal Mandate to Buy Health Insurance Is Unprecedented and …
