Good news: At the end of July, the federal government announced it will not be implementing President Obama’s spread-the-wealth “Supplemental Poverty Measure.” The Census Bureau reported: Since the FY 2011 federal budget did not include the funding requested by the President for the Supplemental Poverty Measure (SPM) initiative, the Census Bureau and the Bureau of Labor Statistics do not currently have the resources necessary to move the Supplemental Poverty Measure from research mode to production mode. The proposed measure would have resulted in a major reconstruction of the definition of …
After a night of fun in New York, President Obama will welcome the Super Bowl XLV Champion Green Bay Packers to the White House today, despite the bitter rivalry between the President’s beloved Bears and the Cheeseheads. The Packers will be honored for their victory and team efforts. They will also be recognized for their philanthropic efforts. Last night’s presidential debate in Ames, Iowa was anything but calm. Minnesotans Michelle Bachmann and Tim Pawlenty had perhaps the most significant heated exchanges, with the presidential hopefuls trading a set of fiery one-liners. The …
The folks at the National Whistleblowers Center (yes, there is one) like to tell of Samuel Shaw and Richard Marven, two sailors who landed in the brig in 1778 in retaliation for blowing the whistle on the commander of the Continental Navy, who had “treated prisoners in the most inhuman and barbarous manner.” Their bravery was not in vain. In very short order, the Continental Congress enacted the new nation’s first whistleblower protection law. Now, some 223 years later, lawmakers are at it again. The latest effort is less heroic: …
The voters weighed in on Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker’s (R) agenda on Tuesday. Government unions organized recall elections against state senators who voted to limit collective bargaining in government contracts. But Wisconsin voters re-elected a majority of the law’s supporters who were on the ballot. The government union agenda is not as popular as many pundits thought. This should not come as a surprise. Government unions organize against voters and taxpayers. They use collective bargaining to pressure government to serve their purposes, not the common good. Collective bargaining in government …
State governments across the nation are looking for ways to tighten their belts in the face of declining tax revenues and growing budget shortfalls. In Pennsylvania, legislators have offered a measure that would, they claim, dramatically reduce the state’s construction costs on public works projects by bringing contractors’ wages in line with the prevailing market rates. On Thursday, the Pennsylvania Assembly’s Labor and Industry Committee debated a measure offered by Rep. Ron Miller (R) that would bring the prevailing wage – or the wage contractors must pay workers when working …
Turkey finds its “zero problems with neighbors” foreign policy severely compromised by upheaval in the Arab world. Relations with its closest friends, such as Syria, appear to be irrevocably damaged. On Tuesday, Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu held marathon talks in Damascus, calling President Bashar Assad and his socialist-nationalist Alawi minority regime to stop bloodshed. Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Davutoglu are facing a complex regional and international environment. Their nine-year investment in friendship with the Assad regime is backfiring. In 2009, Turkey and Syria signed a strategic partnership …
The former number two official in the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives tried to put a stop to the Fast and Furious gunwalking operation months before the fatal shooting of an American border patrol agent, a batch of newly released DOJ memos show. According to the memos and other internal communications obtained by the Los Angeles Times, ATF Acting Deputy Director William Hoover attended a March 2010 briefing with officials from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, who said they were concerned that Fast and Furious …
The Department of Education announced Monday that they will be issuing waivers to states to avoid No Child Left Behind’s onerous provisions. But if states accept the waivers, they’ll be getting some temporary relief from federal regulations while ceding more control to Washington. In exchange for temporary relief, they’ll be required to implement the administration’s preferred education reforms, including national standards and tests – an unprecedented federal overreach. Click here to join the chat! We are joined by Education Policy Expert Lindsey Burke. She is taking your questions about the implications of …
President Barack Obama visited a federally funded advanced battery plant in Holland, Michigan, today to tout the success of his green jobs initiative. But there’s another highly touted green company in Michigan that the President didn’t visit—and with good reason. About 170 miles away in Oak Park, Michigan, the state-government-funded hybrid bus company Fisher Coachworks sits dormant. It’s out of business just two years after it drew acclaim for being part of Michigan’s green future, despite millions in state taxpayer funding and a contract to sell buses to be purchased …
Congressional leaders led a national debate in July 2011 about the problems of federal overspending and overborrowing. Unfortunately, at the end of the debate, Congress enacted a so-called Budget Control Act that did little to control overspending and vastly increased borrowing. Congress then scooted out of town for the month of August. Congress left behind a new Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction, which some call a super-committee, to make recommendations on getting spending and borrowing under control, with a statutory goal of reducing the deficit by “at least” $1.5 trillion …
