Bob Greenstein of the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities claims that the Boehner budget is a form of “class warfare.” He says that “if enacted, it would produce the greatest increase in poverty and hardship produced by any law in modern U.S. history.” What Greenstein disingenuously fails to acknowledge is that President Obama has already presided over the greatest increase in means-tested welfare or anti-poverty spending in the history of the nation. At best, the Boehner plan calls for a modest, partial rollback of these massive spending increases. The …
With the Obama administration’s debt deadline less than a week away, Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) is reworking his two-stage debt plan after the Congressional Budget Office revealed it cut less than advertised. The House isn’t expected to vote until Thursday or Friday. Meanwhile, conservatives remain highly suspicious. Heritage Action announced its opposition to the original Boehner plan and Republican Study Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-OH) doubted it would pass the House. Rep. Tim Walz (D-MN) will be stopping by Heritage this morning for an event, “Beyond the Border: The Future of the National …
A former special agent from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms told a House committee that the agency had, in fact, allowed firearms bought in the United States to be transported to Mexico, in the hope that “we could further the investigation” against Mexican drug cartels. The admission came during a line of questioning from Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-UT) at today’s House Oversight and Government Reform hearing on ATF’s Fast and Furious operation. William Newell, the former head of ATF’s Phoenix Field Division and a key player in the …
Rep. James Lankford (R-OK) said his office is fielding significantly more phone calls today following President Obama’s prime-time plea last night. But many constituents are relaying the opposite message from what Obama asked them to deliver on the debt-limit debate. My phone started lighting up last night. Both Twitter, Facebook, texting, people calling me even last night during the speech. It was a reverse effect from what I think he assumed. They’ve been flooded with people contacting me, saying, ‘Stand your ground. Don’t do his plan.’ Now, we’ve had plenty …
Last week, just outside Cuba’s holiest Catholic shrine, government thugs attacked in plain daylight a group of opposition women — beating them, stoning them and stripping them naked to the waist. The women, mostly black and middle-aged, suffered this public humiliation because they were trying to find a dignified way to bring attention to the plight of their husbands, who are in prison for freely speaking their minds. The archbishop of Santiago de Cuba has condemned the attack. You can find an eyewitness account in Spanish in the above video. …
Catching you up on clips, commentary and news of the day. Sign up for the daily email update from Scribe. What really is poverty? – Ed Feulner Cubans Still Suffer, But Media Looks Away – Mike Gonzalez Learning from the Bay State’s mistake – James Stergios & Lindsey Burke Getting to ‘Yes’ – James C. Capretta Why I won’t raise the debt limit – Rep. Paul Broun (R-GA) It’s always a holiday in New Hampshire – Grant Bosse Dodd-Frank Rules May Be At Legal Risk After SEC Court Defeat – Lawrence …
On July 15, the U.N. wrapped up its third and final Preparatory Committee meeting on its Arms Trade Treaty. After a last gathering devoted to procedural matters in early 2012, the U.N. will call a concluding conference in 2012 to adopt the treaty and open it for national ratification. Unfortunately, while the most recent committee improved the treaty, it could not remedy the treaty’s fundamental flaws. This week, the Senate took notice of this fact. A letter drafted by Senator Jerry Moran (R–KS), and signed by 44 other Senators, alerts …
American commentators are beginning to react to a British announcement of a modest increase in defense spending. Any increase is welcome, but there is unfortunately a good deal less to this increase than meets the eye. Start with the amount of the increase, which has been reported in the U.S. as being 30 billion pounds. The correct figure is actually 3 billion pounds (or about 5 billion dollars). That increase will kick in only after 2015, after the next Spending Review, and will be spread over a five-year period. It …
What does it take to keep a small ruling elite in power, living a life of luxury, all while blackmailing the world into sending food to keep a servant population from starving to death? North Korea has figured out the formula—a combination of intimidation via nuclear weapons and outright armed attacks on its neighbor to the south. Heritage’s James Carafano explains in The Washington Examiner that Pyongyang’s methods—which of late have included the unprovoked sinking of a South Korean naval vessel and the shelling of Yeonpyeong Island—are expected to continue: Most Korean …
Modern conservatives look to a variety of historical figures for guidance as they confront progressive liberalism. Some are from the 1700’s and 1800’s, including Edmund Burke, the Founders, and Abraham Lincoln. Others, like Russell Kirk, F.A. Hayek, Milton Friedman, and Ronald Reagan, are from the postwar era. Strangely enough, conservatives rarely turn to the original opponents of progressivism, even though that would seem like the first place to look. And as historian Jonathan O’Neill writes in a new paper, American conservatism was hardly on hiatus during the progressive ascendancy. Opponents …
