The 2010 fiscal year just ended, but America’s fiscal crisis has just begun. In 2010, the Congressional Budget Office’s (CBO) preliminary estimates show that the federal government spent $3.45 trillion, amassing a deficit of $1.3 trillion. Spending on entitlement programs, which include Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security, comprised 41 percent …
Should the Tea Party movement throw the likeliest bums out of Congress, conservatives still will need to be vigilant, RedState founder Erick Erickson told a Heritage audience Thursday afternoon. Otherwise, he said, surviving legislators – as well as the new guys – will fall back into spend-happy ways. Following the …
In late September–early October, China’s People’s Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF)’s SU-27 fighters participated for the first time in the Turkish military’s aerial maneuvers. By including the PLAAF in these maneuvers (known as “Anatolian Eagle”) Ankara is signaling another shift in its geopolitical orientation, as well as the emergence of …
Preliminary figures from the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) show that Washington ran a $1.291 trillion deficit in 2010, just slightly less than last year’s $1.416 trillion. To put these figures in perspective, the annual budget deficit between 1789 and 2008 never reached $500 billion. As a percentage of the gross …
The outlook for seniors’ Medicare Advantage (MA) plans is grim under the new health care law. Though seniors’ premiums will drop 1 percent in the new year, this will be the exception to the rule over the next decade. Medicare Advantage is a popular alternative to traditional fee-for-service, allowing seniors …
On October 23, 2009, a reporter asked Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA): “Madam Speaker, where specifically does the Constitution grant Congress the authority to enact an individual health insurance mandate?” Speaker Pelosi shook her head dismissing the question: “Are you serious? Are you serious?” Pressed for a more substantive response later, …
Four years after Democrats campaigned on the promise of using pay-as-you-go budgeting, their record is dismal. Since gaining control of Congress in 2007, they’ve gamed, ignored or employed PAYGO on 32 occasions to justify new spending or tax increases. Once hailed as a budgetary tool to stop deficit spending, PAYGO …
Lunch With Heritage Chat feat. Matt Spalding
When Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) was asked by a reporter “where specifically does the Constitution grant Congress the authority to enact an individual health insurance mandate,” she responded, “Are you serious? Are you serious?” Today comes an answer from Florida, 19 other states, and the National Federation of Independent Businesses: …
