The number of Americans dependent on the federal government has exploded over the past five years, reaching a record 67.3 million people, according to Heritage’s annual Index of Dependence on Government. That means 1 in 5 Americans (21.8 percent) today receive some level of assistance from the federal government. This week’s chart — one of 15 featured in this year’s report — depicts the percentage of the U.S. population who receive government assistance and the total number of individuals who are dependent on the federal government. Fifty years ago, before …
Gov. Scott Walker delivered a passionate defense of Wisconsin’s reforms at the Conservative Political Action Conference on Friday night. The embattled Republican governor used his keynote speech at CPAC to outline what’s at stake in Wisconsin and other states if his budget reforms are rolled back. “Our most powerful tool is the truth,” Walker told an excited crowd of conservatives, who gave him two standing ovations. He defended his actions as courageous with labor unions mounting a recall campaign to remove him from office. Unions have already financed recall efforts …
Seven years ago Erick Erickson took the reins at RedState to transform the conservative blog into one of the most influential sources of news on the right. He’s led online activists to challenge Republicans and conservatives, unafraid to go to battle on a range of issues. Today he hosts the Erick Erickson Show on WSB Radio in Atlanta and frequently appears on CNN as a political contributor. He was in Washington this week for CPAC and hosted his radio show from Heritage’s Robert H. Bruce Radio Studio. We spoke to …
State public service officials are gathered in Washington, D.C., this week for the winter meeting of the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners. One of shining stars involved in NARUC is a Georgian named Tim Echols, who hopes to transform America’s system of nuclear waste management. Echols won a statewide election in November 2010 to serve on the Georgia Public Service Commission. Today he leads the commission as its chairman. With nuclear energy making a strong resurgence in Georgia — two new plants are under construction — Echols has taken …
President Obama has used his executive power in many ways to expand the role of government. But there’s one area that stands out: Obama’s frequent and repeated use of the Federal Emergency Management Agency to issue emergency and disaster declarations. Heritage’s Matt Mayer reports that Obama “eviscerated the record books by issuing 243 declarations in 2011,” continuing an alarming pattern that begin under President Bill Clinton and President George W. Bush. Mayer says FEMA has become a “political pork-barrel spending agency.” The trend is illustrated in this week’s chart, which …
The U.S. Department of Transportation imposed new regulations on airlines Jan. 24 that were supposed to benefit consumers. The rules require all government taxes and fees to be included in advertised fares and allow passengers to withhold payment for 24 hours after making a reservation, if it’s one week before the flight’s departure. Some consumers might be jumping for joy that the nanny state is imposing new rules on airlines. But for low-cost carries like Spirit Airlines, Southwest Airlines and Allegiant Air, it’s grounds for a lawsuit against the federal …
President Obama’s choice of a Michigan trial lawyer to serve on the Consumer Product Safety Commission would shift the balance of power at the agency and ensure a pro-regulatory majority through most of 2013, regardless of who is in the White House next year. Last week Obama nominated Marietta S. Robinson to take the seat of Thomas H. Moore, who left the CPSC last fall. The commission is currently operating with four members — two Democrats and two Republicans. If confirmed by the Senate, Robinson would give Democrats a 3-to-2 …
President Obama’s illegal non-recess appointments are unconstitutional and defy the process the Founding Fathers intended, Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) told a House committee Wednesday. The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee invited a handful of constitutional law experts to discuss the four controversial appointments Obama made in January. Citing delays in the Senate, Obama installed Richard Cordray (pictured) as director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and Richard Griffin Jr., Sharon Block, and Terence F. Flynn as members of the National Labor Relations Board. Lee, a constitutional expert and scholar, …
New legislation introduced in the U.S. House yesterday would prohibit the use of federal money for advertisements attacking products like Coke and Pepsi. Rep. Scott DesJarlais (R-TN) introduced the bill to counter a growing trend of anti-obesity ads that are funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, a division of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Scribe reported in October the money was included in President Obama’s economic stimulus law. The federal government has provided $230 million in funding to at least 25 communities for a …
Members of Congress will vote Wednesday to freeze their salaries through 2013 and impose the same pay limitation on non-military federal workers. The vote in the U.S. House comes just two days after the Congressional Budget Office confirmed that federal workers are paid 16 percent more in total compensation — a conclusion similar to research conducted by The Heritage Foundation and American Enterprise Institute. “Study after study has shown that when compared to the private sector, the federal government on average pays more than required to recruit and retain a …
