House Minority Leader John Boehner (R–OH) made quite a statement on Monday when, on his first day back in office post-elections, he took time out to meet with parents and children enrolled in the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program (DCOSP). In doing so, Boehner sent a clear signal to D.C. families of his support for school choice in the nation’s capital. A statement released on Boehner’s blog noted: Boehner, a former chairman of the House Education & the Workforce Committee, reaffirmed his commitment to renewing the DC OSP despite concerted efforts …
As newly elected lawmakers prepare for the hard work to be done in the next Congress, the future of the hugely unpopular Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act hangs in the balance. In recent analysis, Heritage expert Nina Owcharenko makes the case for the full repeal of the PPACA and provides a framework for replacement with reform that will transform the system to focus on doctors and patients, not government. She writes that: Beyond the unprecedented mandates, new taxes, massive entitlement expansion, unworkable and costly insurance provisions, and its failure …
First it was Sen. Jon Kyl (R-AZ). Then Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX). Then Sen. Scott Brown (R-MA). Now Sen. George Voinovich (R-OH) has added his name to the rapidly growing list of Senators who believe it is wrong to vote on New START in a lame duck. Highlights of Voinovich’s speech today on the floor include: “Political expediency should never be an excuse to rush to judgment on public policy let alone our national security.” “I cannot in good conscience determine my support for the Treaty until the Administration assures …
In an article titled “Scapegoating Federal Pay,” Paul Waldman of The American Prospect predicts that we will hear much more in the coming months about “outsized federal paychecks.” I hope he is right. The labor economics literature, going back more than two decades, is clear that federal workers enjoy a substantial pay premium over comparably skilled private workers. Two separate Heritage analyses have updated that literature for recent years and come to the same conclusion. President Obama’s deficit commission seems to agree, as it has suggested freezing federal pay. Despite …
News Flash: “Nearly three out of four Americans say lawmakers should ratify a nuclear treaty with Russia that’s stalled in the Senate, according to a new national poll.” Or so says CNN. But does this poll really show Americans really support the treaty or that they don’t actually understand the treaty? There is a reason that national leaders like Sarah Palin, Sen. Jon Kyl (R-AZ), and former CIA Director James Woolsey have all come out against considering the NEW START nuclear agreement during lame duck. Here are five questions CNN did …
The Government Accountability Office (GAO) has released yet another dire warning about the nation’s long-term fiscal condition. The report—an annual update of long-term budget simulations—projects that debt held by the public will likely exceed the historical high within 10 years. What was once viewed by many as a distant budget imbalance has suddenly become a near-term crisis. Unfortunately, simply ignoring the issue—the action of choice for most lawmakers to date—exacerbates the problem. The GAO notes the urgency of the situation: With the passage of time the window to address the …
There is a lesson to be learned in the tempest against TSA: be careful what you ask for. After the underwear bomber tried to take down a Detroit-bound Christmas flight last year Congress and the citizenry lined up to cheer lead for deploying body scanners everywhere. Nobody paused to think if that was a wise response. Non-metalic material hidden under clothes has always worried airport screeners. When someone dressed suspiciously there was only one option–an intrusive pat down. The scanner technology offered an option–a less intrusive way to check on …
After President Barack Obama installed Dr. Donald Berwick as head administrator of Medicare and Medicaid by recess appointment, Press Secretary Robert Gibbs was asked at the daily press briefing if “it would have been politically troublesome in an election year to have all these comments aired out about rationing, redistribution that Dr. Berwick had talked about in the past.” Gibbs was ready for this question, though, and shot back: “Did he say things like, ‘rationing happens today; the question is who will do it’? Did he say that?” The bait …
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Administrator Dr. Donald Berwick this morning is expected to testify before Congress in his first appearance since a controversial recess appointment in June. He will talk before the Senate Finance Committee. President Barack Obama’s controversial decision to sidestep protocol and appoint Berwick has been magnified by media coverage of Berwick’s publications and speeches that supported highly centralized health-care systems. While a respected health policy analyst, Berwick has what he calls “romantic” views on the United Kingdom’s National Health Service, which rations care …
SALT I negotiator, START delegate-at-large, Conventional Armed Forces in Europe treaty chief negotiator, and former CIA Director R. James Woolsey in The Wall Street Journal: A number of years negotiating arms-control agreements with the Soviets taught me that, when dealing with Russian counterparts, don’t appear eager—friendly yes, eager never. Regrettably, the Obama administration seems to have become eager for a deal in its negotiations on the follow-on treaty to the recently expired Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (Start). Hopes for a boost in efforts to “reset” relations with Russia, and for …
