Federal authorities have ruled that the drinking water in Dimock, Pennsylvania, which some claimed had been contaminated by nearby natural gas drilling efforts, is safe to drink. The statement lends some factual weight to a political debate wrought with emotion and more than the occasional doom-and-gloom proclamation. Dimock has become a lightning rod in the fight against the natural gas extraction technique hydraulic fracturing. Anti-natural gas activists have used the town in a years-long campaign to prevent the practice, which they insist contaminates drinking water supplies. But the Environmental Protection …
As the fight continues against the one-size-fits-all changes enacted under Obamacare, some states continue to work on health care reform specific to the needs of their residents. Florida is one such state. Its Medicaid Reform Pilot passed with bipartisan support in 2005 and has been implemented in five counties over the last five years. It has been a remarkable success, shifting a failing government health program away from the status quo of top-down micromanagement toward consumer-driven, patient-centered care. In a detailed analysis written for The Heritage Foundation, Tarren Bragdon, CEO …
The accounting methodology used to measure the cost to taxpayers of federal loan guarantee programs such as the one that financed defunct solar company Solyndra may dramatically understate the programs’ financial risk to taxpayers. Simply put, the federal government ignores administrative costs and the risks of borrowers defaulting on their obligations. Under the Federal Credit Reform Act of 1990, the cost of federal financing is measured according to a discounted rate based on the cost of lending Treasury securities. That includes the cost of average losses from loan defaults, but …
House Cloakroom: December 5 – December 9 Analysis: This week the House of Representatives will take up two major bills relating to regulations. The Regulations from the Executive in Need of Scrutiny (REINS) Act would require that major regulations from executive agencies be approved by Congress. The Farm Dust Regulation Prevention Act would block a new EPA rule that imposes regulations on the dust kicked up by farming activities. The House could also take up legislation related to expiring programs including payroll taxes, unemployment insurance and the Sustainable Growth Rate …
Ready to trade in your car for a bike, or maybe a subway instead? Interested in fewer choices for your home, paying more for housing, and being crammed into a denser neighborhood? You can have all this and more if radical environmentalists and “smart growth” advocates have their way and local, state, and the federal government impose the policies set forth in the United Nations’ Agenda 21. You might have heard of this nefarious-sounding policy in a recent Republican presidential debate, but even if you haven’t, here’s some background information: …
Following the failure of the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction, Sen. Pat Toomey (R-PA) criticized liberals for insisting that any deal include a massive tax hike. In a speech at Heritage last week, he said tax revenue isn’t the problem facing the United States in the future; it’s the massive increase in federal spending. “It’s actually arithmetically impossible to solve this problem on the tax side alone,” said Toomey, who noted that Democrats on the Super Committee wanted to hike taxes by $1 trillion without making any fundamental reforms …
This month marks the 70th anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor and the U.S. declaration of war on Japan, Germany and Italy. December 1941, according to historian Craig Shirley, transformed America in ways that might be unimaginable today. In a new book called “December 1941: 31 Days that Changed America and Saved the World,” Shirley documents the rapid shift of a war-weary country to one that mobilized instantly after the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor. Each chapter of the 656-page book documents the events of one day during the …
As one of the 12 members of Congress on the Super Committee, Sen. Pat Toomey (R-PA) had a front row seat for all the negotiations. Since the committee’s announcement late last month that they had failed to reach a deal on at least $1.5 trillion in savings, Toomey has been very vocal that we cannot now ignore our nation’s fiscal crisis and that a deal still much be reached. He visited Heritage this week to discuss the fallout. We caught up with him in his Senate offices to discuss what happened and …
Silicon Valley is one of the few bright spots in the U.S. economy today, but a new report warns that Washington’s outdated regulation and antitrust policy threatens to stifle growth among innovative technology companies. The report, produced by the Progressive Policy Institute, analyzes the impact of acquisitions in the technology sector. It concludes that acquisitions lead to economic growth and job creation. There’s just one problem: Washington bureaucracy. The federal government’s process of approving acquisitions — a problem well-documented by Heritage’s James Gattuso — can slow down innovation, hamper growth …
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). If passed, this law would require any new, major regulation—defined as one that would cost more than $100 million, lead to a major increase in consumer prices, or adversely affect employment—to be approved by Congress. The REINS Act would go a long way toward curbing the administrative state and restoring the constitutional principle of self-government. This leads to the …
