The United States today hit an all-time high debt, passing $14 trillion, according to Associated Press reports. And with $45,300 of debt for every man, woman and child in the United States, it’s clear as day that spending is the problem. Yet Washington has yet to come to an agreement on a way forward, either in the short term or the long term, though the budget plan passed by the House of Representatives would fundamentally alter this debt-ridden path the nation is on. It’s time to get serious about cutting …
America was victorious in killing Osama Bin Laden but the war against terrorism wages on. Congresswoman Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA), Vice-Chair of the House Republican Conference, traveled to Afghanistan just days after Bin Laden was killed and came away strengthened by a novel idea: empowering women in Afghanistan is an important step to winning the war on terror. “Empowering women is a key to our national security efforts to ensure that Afghanistan is not a haven for terrorists,” said McMorris Rodgers in an interview Friday afternoon. “Terrorists gain strength by …
The California hotel workers union is pushing a bill that requires all hotel mattresses to have fitted sheets instead of flat sheets. They argue that the heavy lifting required for flat sheets is causing back injuries for workers. The problem is, the regulation comes with a price tag of $30-$50 million dollars charged to the taxpayers, according the California Hotel and Lodging Association. With a $15 billion dollar deficit, more costly regulations are the last thing the state should be considering. Not only that, but hotel operators say the fitted …
On Tuesday, May 10, 2011, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services released a report on the uninsured population and their ability to pay their hospital bills. One of the more interesting takeaways from the report is that if you add up all the savings of the uninsured with incomes over 400 percent of the federal poverty level (or about $88,000 for a family of four), it will cover about 37 percent of their total hospital bills. How do the uninsured get away with not having the assets to …
The just released 2011 Medicare trustees report does not contain any big surprises. Much of what the trustees say in this report they have said before: Medicare poses enormous challenges for patients and taxpayers alike, and its financial condition continues a downward slide. Some key findings: Medicare’s unfunded obligations increased by $2 trillion. A key indicator of the true cost of the program is the cost of the promised benefits that are not financed by dedicated revenues. Using their standard 75-year projection (2011–2085), the trustees estimate this year that Medicare …
Yesterday, members of the House Armed Service Committee, under the leadership of Representative Michael Turner (R–OH) increased the funding for the Ground-Based Midcourse Defense (GMD) program in the fiscal year (FY) 2011 budget. Members of the committee decided to increase the funding for this program by $100 million above the Obama Administration’s $1.2 billion request. By taking this step, the committee attempted to remedy an almost 15 percent cut from the missile defense program in the FY 2010 compared to the FY 2009 level that would have left the United …
It’s 1776 all over again, as former Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Stewart Baker quips. This time, however, we are not talking about unjust taxes or the right to a trial by jury, and no one is dumping tea into Boston Harbor. Instead, the issue is U.S. ability to preserve its own security. Earlier this month, the European Parliament announced its plan to postpone a vote on sharing Passenger Name Records (PNR) with the United States. Essentially, the parliament is reneging on years of negotiations and a standing agreement to share information …
Over the past few months, the House Education and the Workforce Committee has been conducting a series of hearings to examine the impact of the federal role in education on local schools. Presentations by school superintendents, education policy experts, and charter school operators painted a picture of the burden of federal involvement and regulation—resulting from approximately 150 programs operated by the Department of Education. Chairman John Kline (R–MN) noted recently that: Virtually every program has its own application process, separate or duplicative reporting requirements, and different eligibility criteria. It’s a …
How Will This Report Affect the Social Security Debate? The debate about whether Social Security faces a problem and needs to be fixed is over. The 2011 trustees report, which was released this afternoon, shows that the program already faces massive permanent annual deficits. In 2010, Social Security spent $49 billion more in benefits that it took in from its payroll tax. This year, that deficit will be approximately $46 billion. Now is the time to focus on solutions. Instead of just blindly defending the current program, both Congress and …
Rewarding failure is a fundamental precept of The Bureaucratic Code, which helps to explain why government’s regulatory powers grow in spite of its incompetence. Examples are legion, of course, including the recent case of the State Department and passport fraud. The General Accounting Office (GAO) has on several occasions investigated the department’s procedures for processing passport applications and found them dangerously wanting. In 2009, for example, the GAO “easily” obtained passports using counterfeit documents. A 2010 investigation also yielded passports despite numerous discrepancies and suspicious indicators within each application (including, …
