This morning Republicans will have their last chance to get answers about the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau before it opens on July 21. The brains behind the operation, Elizabeth Warren, is scheduled to testify before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee at 9:30 a.m. ET. Today also marks the second day of the Roger Clemens trial, which is occurring at a federal courthouse in Washington. The former pitcher is charged with perjury, obstructing Congress and making false statements when three years ago he told congressional investigators and testified in …
What if a sports team continued to lose more and more games, even as it continued to spend more money on brand new uniforms, state-of-the-art facilities, and more coaches? You would probably begin to wonder whether all the new spending was doing any good. Unfortunately, a story like this plays out in America’s public school system. For decades, the federal government has poured more taxpayer dollars into schools, even as the basics like reading and math are neglected. In this new video, The Heritage Foundation explains how more spending on …
According to two top officials, the Navy is operating at an “unsustainable” pace for its current force structure. At a House Armed Services Committee hearing recently, Vice Admirals William Burke and Kevin McCoy described a force that was falling into disrepair and struggling to cover ever-increasing responsibilities with decreasing manpower and money. The Navy’s maintenance issues began in the 1990s when Washington sought a post–Cold War peace dividend. One of the first casualties was manpower, and that led to smaller Navy maintenance crews. At first, the Navy tried to get …
Conservatives, including The Heritage Foundation, support reforming Medicare to provide seniors with a defined contribution to apply to the health care plan of their choice. This approach would address the program’s insolvency, and it is superior to other options—including the President’s plan to allow an unelected board of officials to ratchet down spending—because it would allow consumer choice to catalyze patient-centered innovations and better value in the health care system. Among the straw man arguments liberals have made against this “premium-support” model is the claim that it would be too …
Today, Representative Rob Bishop (R–UT) introduced the A-PLUS bill, which allows states to opt out of the myriad programs funded under No Child Left Behind (NCLB) and use their money for priorities they deem most important. As Heritage Foundation analyst Lindsey Burke notes: There are some 60 competitive grant programs and approximately 20 formula grant programs that fall under NCLB.… The complex application processes of many grant programs waste time and resources that could be better employed in the classroom. A report from the Office of Management and Budget found …
Listening to some politicians recently, you’d think capitalism benefits only those on Wall Street, not Main Street. Yet the benefits of capitalism have proven over history to benefit all of society. The heart of capitalism is the private ownership of property. Without free enterprise, individuals would not be able to have the opportunity to own economic resources and compete in the marketplace. Capitalism provides valuable goods and services, rewards hardworking people and initiatives, creates a higher standard of living for all, narrows the gap between the common person and wealthy, …
Were the founders really committed to eradicating slavery? It is commonplace to dismiss the Founders as racists who may have attacked slavery from time to time in writing but never in action. Critics of the Founders often claim that, since the Constitution did not abolish slavery, the Founders were unconcerned with actively fighting the institution in their lifetime—even if they may have wanted slavery to disappear at some vague point in the future. This argument is both misguided and naïve. On this day in 1787, the Continental Congress passed the …
Catching you up on clips, commentary and news of the day. Sign up for the daily email update from Scribe. Economy Needs Tax Reform, Not Tax Hikes – J.D. Foster Paul Ryan Schools Sebelius at Hearing … Ouch! – Kathryn Nix Republicans Split on Trade Tactics – Vicki Needham NAT GAS Act Isn’t the Solution for Energy – Calvin M. Dooley Welcome to Jimmy Carter’s 2nd term – Charles Hurt The Primary Education of Indiana’s Dick Lugar – Shira Toeplitz In the Murdoch Hacking Scandal, Roger Ailes Stands to Gain – …
India’s financial capital, Mumbai, experienced yet another terrorist attack today that initial estimates say killed at least 20. Terrorists detonated improvised explosive devices (IEDs) in three separate locations of the city almost simultaneously. The first two blasts occurred at around 6:55 pm, one in a jewelry market and one in a business district in southern Mumbai. The third blast occurred around 7:05 pm in a crowded neighborhood in central Mumbai. This is the most significant terrorist attack in India since the three-day Mumbai shooting attacks in November 2008 that killed …
It’s a continued slow pace of recovery for the U.S. economy, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said in testimony today before the House Financial Services Committee. MarketWatch reports: At the moment, Fed officials see a recovery that “will likely remain moderate,” Bernanke said, with the unemployment rate falling “only gradually.” Inflation is expected to subside in coming months, he said. Fed officials have forecast that the economy will expand at around a 3.5% rate over the next 18 months and Bernanke said this remained the forecast. Bernanke also reiterated a line that …
