Congress owes America better start for 2012, and not to repeat the way it ended 2011. Even if the Senate is hopelessly dysfunctional, the House could do better. The final House session of 2011 was a prime example of how to lose public confidence. The body was gaveled into session on short notice Friday morning, December 23rd, and a mere ten members approved legislation for the entire 435-member House. The others had left for the holidays, so instead of a roll call vote on a controversial two-month lowering of the …
‘Twas the day after Christmas, And all ‘cross the land All the people were saying, “Wasn’t Christmas just grand?” The children were joyful, The parents were tired, And grandfolks, aunts and uncles Had been really inspired. The stockings still hung by the chimneys with care But the toes were now empty; there was nothing left there. All the presents were opened The carols all had been sung We’d enjoyed our big gathering Where we’d seen everyone. But beneath all the clutter, the leftovers and toys Was the meaning eternal, and …
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 …
Where can Congress’ “super committee” find its $1.2-trillion target in savings? The answer is hidden in plain sight. The money could come from Obamacare, to avoid implementing its huge expenses. Repealing the health care law would solve the super committee’s dilemma, yielding more than enough savings to fulfill their mission. Yet Obamacare has been placed “off-limits” for no good reason. As POLITICO noted: “Anyone tracking the super committee has heard the mantra: Everything is on the table. But there’s one big item that doesn’t appear to be on that gigantic …
If something is too big to swallow, you cut it into bite-sized pieces. But that won’t improve the taste—unless you jettison any stinky stuff. Likewise, the notion of splitting-up President Obama’s Senate-rejected 326-page “jobs bill” won’t improve any of the proposals. It’s good that the break-up would prevent the classic congressional strategy of blending the good and the bad together into one piece of legislation. That strategy expects that Congressmen will hold their noses and vote for a package when they’re not given a choice to remove the worst parts. …
Give two U.S. Senators credit for trying to do something about the smoke-and-mirrors games in Washington. The “Honest Budget Act” by Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL) and Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-ME) goes to the heart of public distrust of Congress, namely the dishonest budget gimmicks and accounting tricks. The public is rebelling because too many “budget cuts” have turned out to be spending increases or, at best, promises that a future Congress will curtail spending. By no means does the senators’ legislation fix all the problems, but it’s definitely a good start. They …
Has Congress forgotten Obamacare? All the promises to repeal it mostly faded into the background months ago, even as the health law disrupts our economy. Fortunately, at least one lawmaker is still trying to undo that disruption. Senator Richard Shelby (R-AL) is forcing the Senate to confront the issue. He’s sponsoring an amendment that would deny money for Obamacare during the upcoming fiscal year (which starts Oct. 1st). The law was structured to provide $105-billion worth of automatic funding and $1.4-trillion over the next 10 years, so the money gets …
President Obama is accustomed to having his way—like trying to dictate the date and time when Congress would assemble for him to address a special joint session. But that’s small stuff. The big stuff is the dictatorial flood of regulations that Obama is imposing. He can’t get his big-government agenda through Congress anymore, so now he does it through the executive branch. A regulation is a law made by the executive branch—permitted only because Congress over decades passed a multitude of vague laws that empowered bureaucrats. Obama is taking advantage …
President Obama plans a big jobs announcement—right after he finishes his vacation in Martha’s Vineyard. Expect him to say that green jobs are the key to recovery—that they will generate millions of jobs and a new era of prosperity. Oh, you’ve already heard that one? So has everyone else. Even The New York Times has begun to debunk Obama’s claim, headlining, “Number of Green Jobs Fails to Live Up to Promises.” Obama’s claim is getting quite old and quite expensive, but remains just as false as ever. If Congress’ “super-committee” …
As soon as the U.S. Treasury was cleared to start borrowing again, it quickly borrowed $238 billion more and reached a milestone. Our national debt is now more than $14.5 trillion, which means that it has surpassed the size of our total annual economy. The federal government now owes more than is being produced by the entire USA-every person, every company, every business, all in combination. Financial markets figured out immediately just how disastrous it is to have that level of debt-especially because it’s still growing and the budget plan …
