Just last month, the U.S. Census Bureau revealed that the poverty rate has not changed significantly since the previous year: 46.2 million, or roughly 15 percent, of Americans are defined as “poor.” While poverty in the United States is not the destitution and depravation most people think of when they …
Under a recently proposed rule, a clerical error could send someone to prison for five years. In the latest attempt to criminalize seemingly every aspect of our lives, a group of federal bureaucrats in the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Administration (PHMSA), an agency within the Transportation Department, recently proposed a …
More than half of Americans (51 percent) believe the government spends too much on welfare, according to a new Rasmussen Report. They’re right. Welfare spending has been growing for decades and is at a record level, approaching $1 trillion annually. Putting that amount in perspective, if the cost of welfare …
The Administration’s green jobs initiatives appear to be the Detroit Tigers of the policy world—they are 0-for-4 in the major reports on their success. In the past year, there have been four reports on green jobs by the Department of Labor: two from the department’s inspector general’s office and two …
Hurricane Sandy dealt widespread destruction to multiple cities across the East Coast this week. The storm—cited as the largest in generations—took numerous lives and left in its wake heart-rending scenes of demolished homes and flooded city streets. In the aftermath of the devastation, many faith-based and community organizations have wasted …
A New York Times editorial published in the midst of Hurricane Sandy’s devastation has received a good deal of attention. The article argued that “A Big Storm Requires Big Government,” politicizing and distorting calls for reform of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). A response by The Wall Street Journal, …
After three years of hyper-regulation, the Obama Administration has noticeably slowed its rulemaking in recent months. A variety of major rules have been parked in prolonged “review” by the White House, while the regulatory agenda required by statute has failed to materialize—twice. This flouting of the law is disturbing enough, …
House investigators are probing allegations that a Commerce Department agency has retaliated against numerous whistleblowers who spoke out against financial mismanagement by agency officials, Scribe has learned. The allegations involve the National Institute of Standards and Technology’s Manufacturing Extension Partnership (NIST MEP) program. In a September letter to Commerce’s inspector …
