On Thursday, twenty-two sitting U.S. senators sent a letter to the Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) demanding their constitutionally ordained power to provide advice and consent on the New START treaty. They believe the current actions of the Senate Democratic leadership and the White House are undermining this important constitutional function of the Senate: We take the advice and consent powers granted to the Senate by the founding fathers very seriously. Rushing a matter of this magnitude through the Senate is not what they had in mind when they established …
Today the Labor Department released its monthly jobs report, which showed that the U.S. economy added an anemic 39,000 jobs this month and that the nation’s unemployment rate rose to 9.8 percent. That marks the 19th month in a row that the unemployment has been over 9 percent, a post–World War II record. So how is this lame duck Congress, a Congress that was thoroughly rejected at the polls just last month, greeting this news? By raising taxes on the American people by $700 billion. Is this what the American …
Join us on Today from 12-1 ET for our “Lunch With Heritage” Online Chat. We will be joined by senior policy analyst Curtis Dubay and he will be talking about the President’s Fiscal Commission report that was released yesterday that calls for a massive tax hike among other things. We will be taking your questions relating to the Fiscal Commission’s report. Lunch With Heritage feat. Curtis Dubay
President Barack Obama’s Debt Commission includes $100 billion in defense cuts a year by 2015. That represents over one-seventh of the defense budget. Since the military is already straining to meet all its missions now, these cuts would simply force the military to stop doing certain things. This is not just Heritage saying this. The force structure outlined by the Pentagon in its recent Quadrennial Defense Review as the minimum capabilities necessary could not be sustained this these cuts. Since the White House has already shown that it plans to …
National Review Online reports that Senator Ben Nelson (D–NE) does not buy into the Obama Administration’s heated rhetoric that the New START nuclear arms control treaty must pass through the Senate immediately. Senator Nelson is quoted as saying: Most of the [legislation] being dealt with right now should be held over until 2011, because we should be focused on jobs, taxes, and debt reduction. … I think we can hold off on START; I don’t want it to crowd out taxes, debt reduction, and jobs. Senator Nelson is only saying …
The “readout” from Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano’s November 30 visit to Mexico City constitutes a soothing tidbit of information—bureaucratic Muzak: In the face of ever-evolving, multinational threats, the U.S. is committed to working with our international partners to enhance information-sharing and our mutual security. We look forward to our continued partnership with the Mexican government as we forge an unprecedented international security framework that facilitates legitimate trade and travel while protecting our citizens. Not once does the Secretary mention the raging war against the drug cartels.
The Cartel, a searing education documentary, opens nationwide on Wednesday. The film, by director Bob Bowden, exposes where our multiplying education tax dollars are going. Spoiler alert: In too many instances, they aren’t going toward teaching children. Bowden focuses on New Jersey, a state that spends over $17,000 per student annually. A few simple calculations show the real picture: Instead of being chronically under-funded, as union advocates claim, each classroom in the state costs the taxpayer between $300,000 and almost $450,000 annually. But the reality is that charter schools, such …
One month ago today, millions of Americans voted to reject big-government and the backroom deals that defined the Obama presidency. Now, some of the same Senate Republicans who rode that momentum to electoral victory appear to be on the verge of ignoring that message by striking a deal to trade passage of the dangerous New START treaty for an extension of the current tax rates. To be crystal clear, we will view any deal on the extension of the current tax rates followed by Senate consideration of the New START …
The Daily Caller recently reported on and posted an embargoed Department of Homeland Security Inspector General audit of a FEMA fire prevention grant to the ACORN. In fiscal year 2007, ACORN created the ACORN Institute to specifically apply for a $1 million FEMA grant to help urban communities prevent fires. According to the Inspector General audit, FEMA’s grant application review panel recommended against awarding ACORN grant funding because of concerns over ACORN’s lack of fire prevention experience and doubts about the proposed project’s effectiveness. Despite the panel’s rejection based on …
There is no such thing as secret diplomacy anymore, maybe not even plain old diplomacy. This week’s mammoth WikiLeaks dump of State Department Internet traffic has ensured that henceforth all diplomacy may end up in the public domain at the push of a button. WikiLeaks is nothing less than an assault on the rights of free, sovereign nations to manage their foreign policy and conduct diplomacy in the interest of a safer world. U.S. national security and ability to be a global leader has suffered as a consequence. What American …
