Got milk? The European Parliament sure does. European dairy farmers were in Brussels this week to protest proposed changes in dairy regulations. Protestors doused the parliament building with milk and capped off a rough 10 days for the European Union (EU) capital following a failed summit last week over the …
A recently released report from the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments, “Strategic Choices: Navigating Austerity,” argues that allowing some hollowing out of our military forces is acceptable. The report is raising eyebrows around Washington, mainly because it is so at odds with what Pentagon leadership is saying. The individuals …
The Uranium Working Group (UWG)—established by Governor Bob McDonnell (R–VA) to help Virginia state legislators determine the regulatory requirements for uranium mining—released its final report today. Though we are still reviewing the 125-page report, some cursory conclusions are appropriate. The most obvious takeaway is the comprehensive nature of the report. …
Chinese advances on the cultural and informational fronts have not gone unnoticed in Washington. While U.S. international broadcasting continues to struggle with budget cuts, Chinese TV (CCTV) this year launched itself on the Washington scene with sparkling new office facilities close to Capitol Hill, and the Chinese news agency Xinhua …
Bringing the number of tombstones in Heritage’s Green Graveyard to 20 is ReVolt Technology, a Portland-based company, which specialized in developing zinc-air flow battery systems. ReVolt earned its place in the Graveyard when it declared bankruptcy, despite the fact it had been offered a whopping $10 million in funds from …
Would spending more money on unemployment benefits create jobs? The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) thinks so. According to a new CBO report, extending the current 73 weeks of unemployment insurance (UI) benefits would lead employers to create 300,000 new jobs. This seems highly implausible. Economists widely agree that UI causes …
Earlier this year, the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments conducted an exercise that purported to show how a smaller defense budget wouldn’t be so bad after all. However, the assumptions behind this exercise have significant shortcomings. The exercise forced the participants to accept defense funding levels mandated in the …
In one of heaven’s sweeter ironies, President Obama today launched the defense of his fiscal cliff proposal at a factory that makes…tinker toys. The setting perfectly reflected the Administration’s level of seriousness about the budget. The “plan,” presented to Republican leaders yesterday, consists of $1.6 trillion in tax hikes over …
Yesterday marked the first oil and gas lease sale of the Obama Administration’s five-year program for the Outer Continental Shelf. The federal government raked in $157.6 million from more than 20 million offshore acres up for lease in the western Gulf of Mexico. Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar praised …
