You’re too fat, and vending machines are to blame. The government says so and is doing something about it. To temper the snack food cravings we are supposedly incapable of controlling, Congress is forcing vendors to post the calorie counts of vending machine items. Thus, we’ll supposedly pick the healthier brand of potato chips, cookies, candy, and soft drinks. According to the designated enforcer, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the new regulation will add 14 million hours of extra work each year to vending machine operations.
This morning a number of House Republicans, joined by Senators Jeff Sessions (R-AL) and Mike Lee (R-UT), met outside the Senate to demand action from their Senate colleagues and the White House to prevent a government shutdown. The press conference, one of six over as many days, is designed to put the spotlight on the failure of the Senate to help prevent a looming government shutdown. Reading from a prepared statement, organizer Rep. Rick Crawford (R-AR) kicked off the event by placing the blame for the lack of a deal …
When Obamacare was passed into law, its proponents touted the Congressional Budget Office’s analysis showing that it would reduce the deficit. A lot has changed since then. Heritage research reveals that “a close examination of what CBO said, as well as other evidence, makes it clear that the deficit reduction associated with [Obamacare] is based on budget gimmicks, sleights of hand, accounting tricks, and completely implausible assumptions.” Now, a recent hearing held by the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Health has further revealed that the cost of Obamacare will …
In a sweeping victory for school choice, a bill to reauthorize and expand the successful D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program (DCOSP) passed in the U.S. House last Wednesday. During what turned out to be an at times intense debate on the House floor prior to the vote, legislators spoke passionately about the DCOSP. Unfortunately, some Democrats who stood in opposition to the program didn’t seem to get their facts straight. For example, Representative George Miller (D–CA) proclaimed: “There are a number of concerns about this [DCOSP] bill. First, and most importantly, …
Realizing the costs and folly of instituting a massive greenhouse gas regulatory regime, Members of Congress stopped cap-and-trade legislation to cut greenhouse gas emissions, most notably carbon dioxide (CO2), from becoming law in the last Congress. But their job is not complete. Now unelected bureaucrats at the EPA are attempting to bypass the legislative process through regulatory dictate by using The Clean Air Act to regulate carbon dioxide. The problem is that Congress never intended The Clean Air Act to cover CO2 and the result of doing so would extract …
Microsoft has filed a complaint with the European Commission (EC) alleging unfair business practices by Google. The EC is the very same government body that hounded Microsoft for years on antitrust allegations, culminating in the company’s loss of intellectual property and billions of dollars in fines. That Microsoft now seeks assistance from its former persecutor reflects the degree to which government regulation has supplanted market competition as the weapon of business rivals.
It has been more than 40 days since the House passed a budget for 2011, cutting spending by $61 billion. The task was left undone by the previous Democrat-controlled Congress, the first time since 1974, an embarrassing feat for a body charged with holding the purse strings. Today that task remains incomplete, and the moment until a partial government shutdown is growing near, easily measured in hours, not days. It’s time for action and leadership, not press conferences and finger pointing. But yesterday a press conference is exactly what we …
Except in Jeopardy!, questions usually come first, followed by answers. Likewise, when criticizing public policy studies and their underlying methodologies, it typically helps to see the policy study and methodology used before one embarks on criticism. Today at 8:37 a.m. ET, Matt Yglesias of the Center for American Progress’ Think Progress blog released a critique of the Heritage Foundation’s Center for Data Analysis (CDA) econometric analysis of the federal budget for FY 2012 proposed by Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI). Yglesias’ posting preceded Heritage’s public release of the CDA’s study and …
Following Attorney General Eric Holder’s announcement Monday that the United States would try Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and his four co-conspirators in military commissions at Guantanamo Bay, The Heritage Foundation’s Senior Legal Fellow, Cully Stimson, testified at a House Judiciary Committee hearing Tuesday on the 9/11 trials. Stimson’s message? The right decision on military commissions has finally been made; now Congress and the White House must stand by it and fully resource them to ensure their success: [T]he administration and Congress must take every reasonable step to ensure that the trial …
House Budget Chairman Paul Ryan (R, WI) has proposed a budget for grown ups. Washington’s big spenders have responded with the tired clichés we expect from defenders of big government: “Pulling the rug out from under seniors,” says Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D, MI). “Waging war on American workers,” says Rep. Xavier Becerra, D-Calif. “A path to poverty for America’s seniors and children,” claims House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D, CA). “The tea party has hijacked the Republican caucus,” says House Budget Committee Ranking Member Chris Van Hollen (D, MD)
