In the wake of federal Judge Roger Vinson’s ruling that Obamacare’s individual mandate is unconstitutional, yesterday, the Senate Judiciary Committee held a hearing to further examine the issue. The individual mandate forces Americans to purchase a level of insurance deemed appropriate by the federal government or else pay a fine. Heritage’s legal experts write that the individual mandate is both unprecedented and unconstitutional. Its proponents claim that Congress holds the authority to compel Americans to purchase private insurance under the Commerce Clause, which allows Congress to “regulate Commerce with foreign …
As the Treasury Department reminded us on Wednesday, the federal government will likely reach the debt limit sometime between April 5 and May 31. Hitting the debt ceiling provides a rare moment when Congress and the President are forced to take a stand on a most fundamental and difficult issue: whether the federal government will continue to deficit spend. A central question in the debt limit debate is whether the government would risk defaulting on its outstanding debt. Contrary to disappointing Administration inferences, the answer is that there is no …
Drudge’s top storylines for the morning feature energy shortage problems in a number of states across the country because of the exceptionally cold weather. Increased demand from the inclement weather has put strains on suppliers, and in some cases, the weather itself has adversely affected energy output. New Mexico is calling for a state of emergency because of natural gas shortages, natural gas pipes in Texas are experiencing low pressure, and several other states are managing rolling blackouts and record-high energy usage. While the recent energy turmoil is a result …
Quiz: How many times has the left argued that “amnesty will make the economy better”? Answer: Zero. Zilch. Nada. The left, however, is always telling the American public how enacting comprehensive immigration reform can help the economy. Newsflash: “Comprehensive immigration reform” is Washington’s new (and not so new) code phrase for amnesty. Why all the word games? Because Americans by and large don’t support amnesty. That’s why Americans supported the attempt by Arizona to actually enforce the law.
The Organization of American States (OAS) is an enthusiastic backer of its CIFTA treaty, the Spanish-language abbreviation for the Inter-American Convention Against the Illicit Manufacturing of and Trafficking in Firearms, Ammunition, Explosives, and Other Related Materials. President Clinton signed CIFTA in 1997, but it has not been ratified by the Senate. That is fortunate, for CIFTA is a bad treaty: It poses serious risks to liberties guaranteed by the First and Second Amendments and would undermine U.S. sovereignty by legally binding it to fulfill obligations that some current signatories already …
Education reform is taking shape across the nation, and for many states, the next wave of change is coming as state leaders push for teacher tenure reform. Florida, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Nevada, and New Jersey have proposed to eliminate or dramatically restructure the current form of teacher tenure. Additionally, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg “has campaigned aggressively for the state to end ‘last in, first out’ protections for teachers.” At present, public school teachers receive tenure after a few years of teaching, at which point they can be fired only …
The decision of the Egyptian authorities to turn on the Internet yesterday after a week of interruption reversed a massive, shortsighted mistake. While controlling the Internet may have seemed like an obvious solution to a situation rapidly spiraling out of control, the Internet actually provided an outlet for the pent-up rage of young Arabs. That rage quickly found expression on the streets instead. In the attempt to control the growing unrest, the Egyptian government played catch-up on the Internet front. Protestors demanding the resignation of President Hosni Mubarak relied heavily …
This Sunday is President Ronald Reagan’s 100th birthday. It’s hard to comprehend the debt of gratitude our nation owes the 40th President of these United States. As Heritage Foundation Distinguished Fellow in Conservative Thought Lee Edwards details, Reagan embodied many of the classical virtues that the best political leaders possess: courage, prudence, justice, and wisdom. And he used each of these virtues to create an environment where the U.S. economy could strongly recover from our last great recession. The current occupant of the White House ought to take some better …
As oil prices continue to climb, a backlog of more than 100 offshore drilling plans for the Gulf of Mexico are awaiting approval from the Obama administration, according to federal data. The federal government has not approved a single new exploratory drilling plan in the Gulf of Mexico since lifting its deepwater drilling moratorium on Oct. 12. There are currently 103 plans awaiting review by the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement. The information reveals that the Obama administration — not the oil industry — is the culprit …
Each week, The Heritage Foundation highlights one of its nearly 300,000 Facebook Fans on its “Featured Fan” page. This week’s fan is Peter Redpath, Vice President and Director of The Federalist Society’s student division. Read his story, below, and be sure to become a fan of Heritage on Facebook! Just after earning his undergraduate degree from the University of Dallas, Peter Redpath landed an internship at the National Journalism Center in Washington. The aspiring law student was out performing some tasks when he first heard of the organization that would later …
