By now, you are well aware of the infamous “Buy American provisions” inserted into the $787 Billion stimulus package. These were even watered-down and reworded after concerns their language lead to outrage from many of the United States’ key trading partners. In the end, language was added to alleviate international fears stating the provisions “shall be applied in a manner consistent with United States obligations under international agreements.” The purpose of this was to ensure that trading partners like Canada and Mexico were not effected by the provisions because of …
Heritage’s Conservative Bloggers’ Briefing was honored to have North Carolina Representative Patrick McHenry (R) speak to some thirty or so young conservative bloggers, journalists and activists. Rep. McHenry represents North Carolina’s 10th Congressional District and is Ranking Member on the Census Subcommittee. During his discussion with those in attendance, the Congressman focused on some recent behind-the-scenes political maneuvering regarding the upcoming U.S. Census count. Rep. McHenry mentioned past attempts by liberals in Congress to abandon the Census Bureau’s time honored standard of a “hard count” for a statistical sampling. The overwhelming …
Heritage Fellow James E. Roberts has been one of the earliest and most vocal trade experts urging the reinstatement and expansion of the Mexico Trucking program. The pilot program, intended to ensure American compliance with the North American Free Trade Agreement, was recently ended by Congress and President Obama because of the poison pill provision slipped into the Omnibus Spending bill. As a result of this action, the government of Mexico retaliated by placing tariffs on nearly 90 U.S. products worth an estimated $2.4 billion. Yesterday, at an international trade …
Last week, with the signing of his pen on the Omnibus Spending Bill, President Barack Obama ended a pilot program designed to allow Mexican trucking companies to ship goods deep inside the United States. While controversial with some quarters of the American public, the program was necessary to ensure U.S. compliance with the North American Free Trade Agreement, commonly known as NAFTA. With the program no longer funded, the United States would be willingly violating that trade treaty. As a result, the government of Mexico announced plans to retaliate against …
Words can’t describe what occurred at yesterday’s hearing of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions. After encouraging the audience to applaud his remarks on the Employee Free Choice Act, Chairman Tom Harkin (D-IA) was forced to scold union members when they become belligerent — hissing, booing and even throwing things at Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-TN). [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cMnmpD1fwnw[/youtube]
Warren Buffet is a known supporter of the Death Tax, a long-time Democrat, was an unofficial adviser on economic policy to President Obama during the 2008 campaign and he recently served on the President’s Economic Advisory Board during the transition between presidential administrations. Oh, and he revealed this morning that he also opposes ending secret ballots for union organizing elections: [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iH0SmNFfFTQ[/youtube] As scholars here at Heritage have chronicled, the bill has been a top priority of Big Labor for years. The bill’s intent is to strip away worker’s ability to …
As the world continues to deal with the global economic downturn, Pascal Lamy, the Director-General of the World Trade Organization, publicly urged all nations to overcome protectionist instincts as they work to return growth to their national economies. Lamy made his remarks while speaking to the Lowy Institute for International Policy, Australian think tank. Director-General Pascal Lamy said protectionist instincts are completely understandable in the current economic climate but that such regulations would be equivalent to “shooting their own foot.” “People want to protect their jobs, they want to protect …
Tomorrow President Barack Obama will travel and make the traditional first foreign trip of American Presidents as he visits our “Neighbor to the North” – Canada and its leader Prime Minister Stephan Harper. Heritage Scholars James M. Roberts and Ray Walser, Ph. D explain why this trip is so vital for continuing America’s partnership on a number of crucial issues. Canada is one of America’s closest friends, as “reflected in the staggering volume of bilateral trade—the equivalent of $1.5 billion a day in goods—as well as in people-to-people contact. About …
Latin American exporting powerhouse Brazil, one of the highly-touted “BRIC” nations, has indicted they will not wait for the ink to dry on President Obama’s signature of the trillion dollar debt plan before they challenge the controversial “Buy American” provisions within the bill to the World Trade Organization. Brazil may challenge the legality of a “Buy American” clause in the recently approved U.S. economic stimulus package at the World Trade Organization, Brazilian Foreign Minister Celso Amorim said on Monday. “It’s a complex legal analysis, but we’re doing it,” Amorim said. …
L. Brent Bozell, president of the Media Research Center and nephew of the late National Review founder William F. Buckley Jr., visited Heritage last week to promote Buckley’s last book “The Reagan I Knew.” Published in October after Buckley’s death, the book documents the 30-year friendship with the late president. Bozell, humbled in his role as spokesman for the book, told the assembled group how more than 900 books have been written about President Ronald Reagan. He explained how Buckley was perhaps the former president’s closest friend. In Buckley’s last book, he gives …
