The Heritage Foundation yesterday launched its fiscal year (FY) 2012 Appropriations Tracker, which monitors the progress of appropriations bills as they move through the House and Senate. The tracker will be updated regularly to reflect the most recent status of these discretionary spending bills as they progress through each chamber. Appropriators are aiming to meet the $1.043 trillion limit established under the Budget Control Act (BCA), the product of last summer’s debt ceiling negotiations. (The BCA does not specify amounts for individual appropriations bills.) Because this spending target is disturbingly …
The U.S. military has already contributed more to debt and deficit reduction than any other federal agency. Speaker of the House John Boehner (R–OH), recently sent a clear message to the congressional “super committee” charged with producing additional debt reduction plans: The defense budget has already coughed up enough. Noting—correctly—that members of the military have “taken more than their fair share of the hits” this year alone, Speaker Boehner urged politicians to look elsewhere for savings. This is a welcome acknowledgement by leadership to the entire House of Representatives that …
The Senate is slated to take up a resolution of disapproval next week that would prevent the Federal Communications Commission from regulating the Internet. With the economy still dominating the national political agenda, Senate Republicans are pointing to the measure’s expected impact on job growth. Net Neutrality regulations, explained Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-TX) at Heritage’s Bloggers Briefing, would set up the FCC as the Internet’s “gatekeeper”: many innovations in the way the Internet is accessed and used would have to be approved by the 5-member panel to ensure they …
“Are you serious? Are you serious?” then-Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D–CA) famously replied when asked where, specifically, the Constitution granted Congress the authority to mandate that every American purchase health insurance coverage. The question was very serious, it turns out, even if Pelosi’s intent was sarcasm. Four federal courts have already struck down Obamacare in whole or in part on constitutional grounds. And now, with the Supreme Court widely expected to take the case in the coming weeks, three of the individuals who proved Pelosi wrong will address …
In his new book Democracy Denied, Phil Kerpen, vice president at Americans for Prosperity, unravels the extraordinary power grab by the Obama Administration with startling detail. Kerpen explains how Obama is getting his leftist agenda passed without the consent of Congress—and how Congress can stop him. From regulatory czars to “signing statements,” Kerpen leaves no stone unturned to expose what is going on in the executive branch. He writes about the massive amounts of costly regulation that is passing through without congressional approval or public fanfare. It is a power-grab …
The House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigation and Subcommittee on Health held a hearing last week on the future of the unsustainable, poorly designed CLASS program now that it’s on life support (though it still has a heartbeat). As Heritage analysts have already pointed out, there is a lot to look into in this flawed program. CLASS was created as a voluntary, government-run long-term care insurance program. According to the legislation, it would be fully funded from the premiums paid by its beneficiaries, requiring no federal taxpayer …
The Heritage Foundation, the American Enterprise Institute and CNN are pleased to announce that the presidential debate on foreign policy and national security co-hosted by The Heritage Foundation will take place in Washington, D.C. on Tuesday, Nov. 22. The national security debate, a landmark first for AEI and Heritage, moved to November 22 to accommodate this season’s crowded debating schedule. The debate, set in Washington, D.C., will air live nationally at 8 p.m. on CNN, CNN en Español, and worldwide on CNN International, CNN Radio and CNN.com. “The timing couldn’t …
The purpose of a Balanced Budget Amendment to the Constitution (BBA) is to limit the size and scope of the federal government. Some politicians seem to have forgotten that goal. According to USA Today there are 18 pending proposed amendments to the Constitution that purport to be balanced budget constitutional mandates. The House will be voting in two weeks on a “Joint resolution proposing a balanced budget amendment to the Constitution of the United States” and they have yet to settle on specific language. “The overwhelming majority of the members …
According to the Wall Street protesters, American representative government has failed and therefore they are replacing it, “Since we can no longer trust our elected representatives to represent us rather than their large donors,” the Zuccotti Park occupiers explain, “we are creating a microcosm of what democracy really looks like.” In order to prevent corruption “from people behind the scenes,” the protester’s democracy allows everyone to participate, speak, and vote in a general assembly, where no decisions are made unless there is a consensus. This decision making process becomes especially …
A recent New York Times editorial is turning one of the significant nuclear weapons’ benefits for the U.S. national security on its head, charging that the nuclear weapons budget is “bloated.” This is simply incorrect. Nuclear forces have been very cost effective relative to conventional forces and historically have consumed less than 5 percent of the Department of Defense’s budget. After the end of the Cold War, the funding for nuclear weapons infrastructure plummeted. For instance, the U.S. has not developed a new warhead or delivery vehicle for the past …
