Yesterday afternoon, President Barack Obama told his Economic Recovery Advisory Board: “I realize that we are facing an untenable fiscal situation. What I won’t do is cut back on investments like education.” Meanwhile what our Commander in Chief is very willing to cut is defense. In Bob Woodard’s new book Obama’s War , the President is reported telling Secretary of State Hillary Clinton: “I am not spending a trillion dollars” on war costs. And he told Vice President Joe Biden exactly why: ”I can’t lose the whole Democratic Party.” Since 1960, federal spending on …
Today is “first Monday,” the beginning of the Supreme Court’s 2010 term. With the beginning of the term comes a flurry of cases added to the docket for the year. These additions form a significant portion of the select few cases that the Court chooses to hear during the course of the term: less than 100 out of more than 10,000 vying for review. Among the cases that the Court added to the docket late last week is Stern v. Marshall—the unending case of Anna Nicole Smith (actually her estate) …
“Filibuster reform” is the new cause of the left. Senator Mark Udall (D–CO) has drafted up a rules change that would chip away at minority rights in the Senate by severely limiting the filibuster. This idea would narrow transparency, limit opportunities to offer amendments, and limit debate in the Senate for Members of the minority party. The filibuster is the Senate rule contained in Rule 22 of the Senate’s standing rules that forces 60 out of 100 Senators to vote to end debate on legislation or a nominee. These rules …
Greater federal control is not the answer to improving the nation’s education system. And Rep. John Kline (R–MN) agrees. Speaking of the current push for states to adopt national education standards—specifically the federal government tying federal Race to the Top (RTTT) and Title I funding to states’ adoption of the standards—the Congressman told Education Week: I’m very leery when [the action] shifts over to the U.S. Department of Education providing either rewards or punishment [for adopting certain standards]. That’s dangerous.
President Obama and his supporters have said that one of the major benefits of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act would be a drop in health insurance premiums. But a new Hewitt Associates study shows that insurance costs will continue to rise for 2011. The study projects an 8.8 percent average premium increase for employers, compared with a 6.9 percent rate jump in 2010. Additionally, employee contributions toward health coverage are expected to soar by $2,209, or 22.5 percent. This is up 12.4 percent from 2010, when employees contributed …
The National Science Foundation (NSF) is “an independent federal agency created by Congress in 1950 ‘to promote the progress of science; to advance the national health, prosperity, and welfare; to secure the national defense.’” It can now add “fund plays on climate change” to that list. The New York Times reports that the federal agency will award $700,000 of taxpayer money to a New York theater company to produce a show on climate change. Titled, “The Great Immensity,” the production will explore “the emotional and psychological aspects of the current …
Congressional Budget Office (CBO) Director Douglas Elmendorf recently testified before the Senate Budget Committee on policies that might give the economy a helpful lift in the near term. Congress is right to be concerned. But for an inventory surge last winter, the economy remains stuck in low gear at about 1 percent growth. This is too slow even to prevent unemployment from rising over time, let alone helping the ranks of the unemployed find new jobs. As the muddling economy shows painfully clearly, what Congress has wrought so far—massive stimulus …
A featured op-ed in The Wall Street Journal last week documented the recent, surprising successes of Bangladesh. Henry Kissinger dubbed it a “basket-case” at its inception. It has little economic freedom, and many in the international community saw little hope for it, but it has made some large achievements in recent years. The economy is on an upward spiral, birth rates are down, and commendable progress has been made in tackling the influence of Islamist extremism in a Muslim majority country. The current government has helped with these upswings, but …
Well deserved kudos to the Department of Homeland Security and Secretary Janet Napolitano. Since the failed December bombing attempt over Detroit demonstrated gaps in airport security DHS has been engaged in an extensive outreach around the world. Convening regional meetings in every corner of the globe, DHS has worked the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) to develop an agreement on an international set of standards for security in the aviation industry. To be sure, Americans can’t outsource its security to other nations. But it is all the more worthwhile and …
As a nation, we shouldn’t have to choose between defense and education. Yet, in a recent ABC News This Week roundtable, the President’s top political advisor, David Axelrod, criticized cuts to the education budget, suggesting that education spending is our defense budget of the future. There is absolutely no doubt that education is essential to a strong nation. However, it is the duty of the federal government to fund a strong national defense, and it is up to the states to govern their education systems. So why is spending on …
