Hillary Clinton will be feted this Friday at a “world summit” event hosted by Tina Brown, the editor in chief of Newsweek. This week Brown relaunched the magazine with a cover story featuring Hillary as one of the “150 Women Who Shake the World.” Clinton and other public figures such as Christiane Amanpour and Nancy Pelosi as well as pop culture icons like Mia Farrow and Susan Sarandon own the message on strong women. They embody the identification of so-called “women’s issues” with left-leaning politics. But conservatives don’t have to …
Earlier today, the Scholarships for Opportunity and Results (SOAR) Act, a bill sponsored by Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) to reauthorize the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program, passed out of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee and is now on its way to consideration in the House. The bill passed by a margin of 21 to 14. Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA), chairman of the OGR committee, issued the following statement: Today’s vote continues the bipartisan momentum to restore educational choice and opportunity for schoolchildren in the District of Columbia. Independent studies …
Spending is out of control. We are under a tremendous debt and it is getting worse. Is there anything that can be cut? We are joined by Heritage’s Budget expert, Brian Riedl. Brian has written extensively on the budget, including a paper on $343 billion worth of programs that can be cut, and a more recent one that points out the budget gimmicks the Obama Administration is using with the FY 2012 budget. Brian will be taking your questions on what programs can be cut and how we can get …
As Libyan dictator Muammar Qadhafi’s forces ramp up their attacks on rebel fighters, talks in the U.S. of a no-fly zone over the country are intensifying as well. Washington needs to look carefully at the crisis instead of impulsively implementing a no-fly zone just to do something. Rather than giving the appearance of action while not making policy, the U.S. would do better to actually show leadership in the situation. Qadhafi’s air force is just one factor—and a limited one at that. The aged and poorly maintained planes, mostly from …
In one of the most poignant moments of the Homeland Security hearings chaired by Congressman Peter King (R–NY), Congressman Keith Ellison (D–MN) broke down during his remarks. As reported by The Washington Post, “Ellison was talking about Mohammad Salman Hamdani, the American Muslim firefighter who died on 9/11. Because Hamdani, Ellison said, was a Muslim, he was the subject of conspiracy theories for months after his death. A NYTimes editorial later clarified: ‘Mr. Hamdani’s remains had been found near the north tower, and he had gone there to help people he …
Even the more jaded observers of Washington politics had to be disappointed with the performance of federal pay defenders during yesterday’s House Oversight Committee hearing. As was written on Monday, defenders had to deal with a mountain of empirical evidence that federal workers are paid above-market compensation, and I was looking forward to a vigorous discussion of that evidence. Instead, defenders of the existing pay system avoided that discussion almost entirely. John Berry, director of the Office of Personnel Management, was the worst offender in this regard, going so far …
Despite the prevalence of TV shows detailing the tawdry lifestyles and nonchalant hook-up scene of the supposedly typical American teenager, more young people are choosing to remain abstinent. According to a recent report from the National Survey of Family Growth, more than a quarter of young men and women between 15 and 24 years old report never having had sexual contact. Likewise, as shown in new charts on FamilyFacts.org, more than half of all U.S. high school students report remaining abstinent, an 18 percent increase since the 1990s. The increase …
Recent hearings in both the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigation and the Senate Finance Committee took a closer look at fraud within Medicare and Medicaid. Spending on Medicare and Medicaid is on an unsustainable path due to rising health care costs and an aging population. Meanwhile, fraud within the program contributes to the program’s cost by an estimated $60 billion a year. Medicaid, the federal–state partnership to provide health care to the poor and disabled, is a victim of abuse as well. Reducing health care costs …
The U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis today announced that U.S. exports for January were $4.4 billion higher than in December. This is good news for U.S. exporters. The bureau also reported that Americans imported $10.5 billion more in January than in December. This is good news, too. As President Obama’s Council of Economic Advisers recently reported, economic growth in other countries leads to increased U.S. exports. When people in other countries escape poverty and become richer, more of them are able to afford U.S.-made products. Just as economic growth in …
If lawmakers are serious about tackling out-of-control government spending, they have no choice but to tackle entitlements. Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security are the three largest entitlement programs and together represent 40.2 percent of the President’s fiscal year (FY) 2012 budget. For the sake of comparison, total spending on national defense amounts to less than half of that at 19.3 percent. Though President Obama’s rhetoric acknowledges the need for reform, his actions indicate unwillingness to address the issue. The President’s FY 2012 budget includes no substantive commitment to reduce entitlement …
