When the 112th Congress convenes in January, the House Education and Labor Committee will have a new chairman with a strong record of reform: Representative John Kline of Minnesota. In a press release statement earlier today, Kline stated: My goal for the federal programs and agencies that oversee our schools and workplaces is to provide certainty and simplicity. We must ensure federal red tape does not become the enemy of innovation, and that federal mandates do not become roadblocks on the path to reform. Kline has a solid history of …
Brand-new Congressmen don’t take office until January, but they’re already consumed with worry about the national debt. They’ll be faced with a vote expected next year to raise the debt ceiling beyond its current $14.3-trillion (about $47,000 apiece for everyone in America). The current $14.3-trillion debt ceiling has almost doubled since May 27, 2003, when it was set at $7.4-trillion. Projections show we’ll reach our credit limit around May of 2011, pushed along by three straight years of trillion-dollar deficits, including an expected $1.5-trillion this year. Congress should not feel …
According to The National Bureau of Economic Research, the Great Recession began in December 2007, lasted 18 months, and ended in June 2009. The last recession that lasted this long began in July 1981, lasted 16 months, and ended in November 1982. No two recessions are the same. And no two recoveries are going to be exactly the same either … especially when the presidents that preside over them have diametrically opposed philosophies about what government can or should do. But as Ronald Reagan once said: “Shouldn’t we expect government …
The Wikileaks revelations have been described as the “9/11 of diplomacy”. One not-so-secret revelation, however, is news that the Obama Administration doesn’t hold the transatlantic alliance in particularly high regard. For Obama, America’s European allies are like pawns on a chess board—to be arm twisted into supporting the Democrats political agenda wherever necessary. And nothing is higher on Obama’s agenda right now the New START Treaty. The latest European voice ‘spontaneously’ calling for ratification of the treaty is Anders Fogh Rasmussen, secretary general of NATO. Rasmussen states: “As a former …
For the first time in over a year, Iran and the permanent members of the U.N. Security Council, along with Germany (known as the P5 + 1), held talks for the past two days in Geneva over the Islamic Republic’s shadowy nuclear program. While Iran’s proliferation problems are certainly cause for concern, we would do well to monitor Iran’s growing presence in our own hemisphere. And you don’t have to look hard to find evidence of Iran’s nefarious dealings. Venezuela has allowed Iran access to a gold mine in the …
In a pleasant surprise, a startling new report on the “disappearance of marriage” is getting serious attention from liberal media outlets. It’s a good day for the American family when NPR, CNN and The New York Times all take note of a study warning that divorce, childbearing outside marriage and single parenthood have become the norm—imperiling not only the wellbeing of children but the American Dream itself. The most dramatic finding of the report released Monday is that, since the 1970s, marriage has declined most sharply among “moderately educated” Americans. …
The nation’s unemployment rate stands at 9.8 percent, a post–World War II record 19th month that unemployment has been over 9 percent. President Barack Obama is 7.3 million jobs short of what he promised his failed stimulus would deliver. The American people are staring down the barrel of the largest tax hike in American history. So what do Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D–NV) and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D–CA) have Congress voting on today? Amnesty. Specifically, the House and Senate will be voting on the fourth and fifth versions …
The latest attempt to give millions of illegal aliens amnesty may get a vote in the Senate as early as Wednesday. FOX News is reporting that there have already been three calls this week by administration officials on behalf of President Obama advocating the DREAM Act being pushed by Senators Reid and Durbin. The “Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors Act” is being painted as a way of providing citizenship to children. But DREAM should really stand for “Deviously Replacing Enforcement with AMnesty” since it will basically extend an …
Lost in the framework agreement between the Obama Administration and congressional Republicans on extending tax relief is the future of Coverdell IRAs, savings accounts designed to help families pay for K-12 education expenses and tuition. Like their college counterparts, Coverdell IRAs allow parents to save money for K-12 education expenses tax-free. The Administration has had no problem bailing out special interests in the education industry, passing a $10 billion union assist this past August. Coverdell savings accounts, on the other hand, have provided tax relief for families who want to …
Senate leaders reached an agreement Monday to delay cuts to physician reimbursement rates under Medicare for one year. The details of the negotiations have yet to be ironed out, but if the deal makes it through Congress, doctors will avert a 23 percent pay cut scheduled for January 1. Heritage health policy expert Bob Moffit explains in a recent post that the Sustainable Growth Rate (SGR) formula, enacted in 1997, arbitrarily ties Medicare physician reimbursement to the overall performance of the economy, meaning that when payments grow faster than the …
