Contributing to the peace and development of Africa, Sudan in particular, was a major priority for the Bush Administration and now looms as the single largest African issue on the Obama White House’s agenda. On January 9, 2011, the final and most significant step of the peace agreement will occur when an estimated 4 million southern Sudanese will vote to decide whether to remain part of a unified Sudan or establish a new, independent country. With one of the most diverse populations on the continent, Sudan has suffered near constant …
During his speech this afternoon at The Heritage Foundation, Senator Lamar Alexander (R-TN) blasted the effort by some Senate Democrats to strip the filibuster from the Senate, stating “The brazenness of this proposed action is that Democrats are proposing to use the very tactics that in the past almost every Democratic leader has denounced, including President Obama and Vice President Biden, who has said that it is ‘a naked power grab’ and destructive of the Senate as a protector of minority rights.” To highlight his point, he also played a …
Technically, the District of Columbia offers school choice. However, as a Washington Post article pointed out this weekend, there is a difference between school choice and real school choice, the latter available to too few students in the nation’s capital. D.C. children who attend an underperforming school are allowed to transfer to other public schools—including charter schools—of their choice. Yet while D.C. may be seen as “a showcase for school choice”—as its “14-year-old charter school law is considered to be one of the strongest in the nation”—most D.C. public schools …
The year 2010 will stand as a watershed in regulation. In all likelihood, government at every level imposed more dictates on more facets of citizens’ lives than ever before, from the timing of stock trades to the proper size of showerheads. Lawmakers and regulators construct complex cost–benefit calculations to justify the rules, but they never account for the erosion of liberty inherent in each and every one. Some regulations are far worse than others, of course, exacting disproportionate costs—fiscal and otherwise. The 10 listed below rank as particularly egregious, and …
If you want prime examples of what is wrong with our federal courts and our immigration policies, two recent cases show how much harm liberal activists who masquerade as “impartial” judges can do—and how illegal immigrants not only game our enforcement system but actually make money off of it. The first case involves an illegal immigrant, Cecil Harvey, who was deported back to Barbados in 2007, although that did not stop him from filing a lawsuit courtesy of the Cardozo School of Law. Harvey has just been paid $145,000 by …
The House Republicans will soon debate and vote on a series of changes in the rules that govern how the House operates during the 112th Congress. Some of these rules are designed to facilitate the goal of greater spending restraint and, as a consequence, are being vigorously opposed by the trade associations whose members benefit from federal spending. In particular, proposed amendments to Rule XXI—which addresses the federal highway program—would amend the existing rule that was put in place earlier to guarantee full funding of the infamous SAFETEA-LU, a piece …
When does a day last three weeks? When Senate Democrats want to rewrite the rules of the Senate to make it easier for the Majority Leader to end debate and block the amendment process. This Wednesday, the United States Senate is set to meet for its first “legislative day” of the new Congress, and a group of progressive Senators are expected to introduce changes to the Senate rules designed to limit the use of the filibuster. But the left has not settled on a single rule change plan. To buy …
Fulfilling their constitutional power to “determine the Rules of its Proceedings,” this Wednesday, January 5, 2010, the newly assembled House of Representatives will adopt the Rules of the House for the 112th Congress. Speaker-designate John Boehner has proposed a series of changes to the House rules designed to make the House more transparent and help eliminate unnecessary Federal spending. The Top Five New Rules include: The new rules require a member of the House who wishes to introduce a bill to submit for publication in the Congressional Record a statement …
This Wednesday, all 435 Members of the House of Representatives and the 33 incoming Senators will perform a constitutional rite that harkens back to the country’s founding. “The Senators and Representatives before mentioned,” reads Article VI of the Constitution, “shall be bound by Oath or Affirmation, to support this Constitution.” The Members of Congress will be sworn in by taking the following oath: I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will …
Michael Barone has an interesting piece today highlighting a recent article by George Mason University economist Tyler Cowen in The American Interest that explains how rising U.S. living standards across the board have “spread the wealth” far more efficiently than any statist program the Obama Administration can dream up. Cowen demonstrates how the greatly improved access that ordinary Americans have gained in the past 50 years to better clothing, food, consumer electronics, and medical care has reduced “the inequality of personal well-being.” He makes his case by reviewing the dropping …
