The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), seemingly undeterred by the slow economic recovery, is marching ahead with air pollution regulations that would increase electricity prices, raise costs for businesses and consumers, and risk power outages. The EPA’s Cross-State Air Pollution Rule (CSAPR) and the Mercury and Air Toxics Standards (MATS) are scheduled to go into effect in January of 2012 and 2015, respectively. Other pending related regulations include the Boiler MACT and Utility MACT rules, coal ash regulations, and new standards for cooling water intake structures. All of these are expensive …
India is steadily emerging to be one of the world’s top economic players but still faces development challenges and infrastructure bottlenecks that hinder growth. Heritage’s Lisa Curtis has been arguing that the U.S. needs to acknowledge India’s growing global role and the changing Asian strategic landscape. With new relationships emerging in Asia, the United States has an opportunity to strengthen its presence in this vital region. Following the State Department’s announcement that the first round of U.S.–India–Japan trilateral talks will occur before the end of the year, it is time …
The Senate is slated to vote this week on the nomination of Richard Cordray as director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB). If confirmed, the former Ohio attorney general would become the envy of regulatory zealots far and wide—wielding unparalleled powers with virtually no accountability. President Obama, of course, thinks such regulatory hegemony will benefit consumers, but those who embrace a balance of powers within government know better. All of which is to say that Cordray ought to occupy himself in some other way until Congress remedies the bureau’s …
Today at Noon ET, Heritage will host former governor and ambassador Jon Huntsman at its weekly Bloggers Briefing. Watch it here live! Huntsman served as Utah’s governor from 2004 until 2009, when he was appointed by President Obama to be ambassador to China. He’s served three other presidents in various capacities: staff assistant to President Reagan, deputy assistant secretary of Commerce and ambassador to Singapore under President George H.W. Bush, and deputy U.S. trade representative for President George W. Bush. Huntsman was also CEO of the Huntsman Corp. Update: This …
Consider it an illegal fringe benefit for illegal immigrants. Today, 12 states allow individuals who are in the United States illegally to pay the same in-state tuition rates as legal residents of the state without providing the same rates to others in the country who are here legally. And those states are doing it in direct contravention of federal law. In a new paper, Heritage’s Hans von Spakovsky and Charles Stimson explain that in 1996, Congress passed–and President Bill Clinton signed into law–the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act. Under Section …
CNN had an interesting look last week at the “Occupy Wall Street” offices in downtown Manhattan. The fact that they have offices seemed noteworthy in itself, given that Occupiers frequently bill their protests as leaderless and completely decentralized. We decided to look into some of the names that popped up among the group’s staff there. Two of the staffers in particular offer a glimpse into the backgrounds and motives of the people running the supposedly leaderless protests. Han Shan, a former program director for a group called the Ruckus Society, …
America’s out-of-control administrative state can best be compared to a runaway stage coach—trampling American workers and careening away with their money. Next week, Congress will have an opportunity to bring much-needed oversight to America’s regulatory process by voting for the aptly named REINS Act (Regulations from the Executive in Need of Scrutiny), which would require any new regulations costing more than $100 million to be approved by Congress. If passed, the REINS Act will go a long way toward curbing the excesses of unaccountable bureaucrats and restoring the constitutional principle …
The federal government owns vast assets that would be better managed and more productive in the hands of the private sector. Selling some of these makes sense to reduce debt, reduce the deficit, and help shrink our bloated government. However, selling assets is often abused as another Washington ploy that claims to reduce the deficit but becomes a ruse for more spending. There is real money to be had from the sales. Public lands. Unused buildings. And the ever-popular “spectrum auctions” that take bids for the right to use different …
The “super committee’s” failure to reach an agreement to reduce federal spending is supposed to trigger automatic spending cuts—some of which could decrease funding for the Department of Education beginning in 2013. This has the education unions and Secretary Arne Duncan up in arms. Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, stated that this decrease in funding represents “drastic across-the-board cuts to vital programs” resulting in “massive reductions to education programs.” “Massive”? Let’s put this in perspective. The total cuts, if enacted—which some suggest is doubtful—would represent a …
Yesterday on Meet the Press, host David Gregory confronted Obama campaign strategist David Axelrod with the grim reality of America’s employment picture, the still-high unemployment rate, and the fact that 315,000 people dropped out of the work force last month, asking “Do the new numbers change the way the president looks at the economy?” Axelrod’s muddled reply: “We’ve never hung our hat on one number; and, obviously, we continue to have big challenges. But let’s recognize that we’ve created 2.9 million private sector jobs in the last 21 months.” He’s right …
