American businesses shed 80,000 jobs in March and 232,000 jobs in the first quarter of 2008, confirming that economy ground to a halt in the first quarter of 2008. The unemployment rate rose to 5.1% — the first time it climbed above 5% since September 2005 — although that’s still lower than the average unemployment rate for the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s. Heritage’s Rea Hederman offered his analysis on CNBC today: [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lbj1HyguMuc[/youtube] The bad news is already prompting new calls for action from Capitol Hill. “Democrats are focused on the …
Over the next eight weeks, a group of freshmen Republican senators will be spreading the conservative message on health care. Through coordinated media education and speeches on the floor of the U.S. Senate, these senators will define the stark contrast between liberal government-controlled health care and the conservative vision that would allow Americans to own and control the health care plans for their families. Yesterday at Heritage, three of those senators — David Vitter (R-La.), Richard Burr (R-N.C.) and Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) — outlined their health care reform plans and …
The expectations were low for the Senate Fiscal Reform Working Group, so today’s proposal to bring greater transparency, debt reduction and oversight can’t be viewed as a total disappointment. It demonstrated that even some of the Republican Party’s biggest porkers acknowledge that the favor factory needs to be cleaned up. But as earmark warrior Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) said today, it should be viewed as a first step, not a final solution. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), a notorious appropriator, deserves praise for recognizing the problem with earmarks. The …
Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff sat down with a handful of bloggers yesterday to talk about some of the issues facing his department, including completion of the fence along the U.S.-Mexico border, compliance with Real ID and the prospects of immigration reform in 2008. Following his somewhat contentious testimony to Congress yesterday, Chertoff used the interview to dispel myths associated with the Real ID law, which has come under attack from liberals and civil liberties groups who incorrectly call it a national ID. Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) accused …
The recent failures of Bear Stearns and the Carlyle Group, coupled with turmoil in the housing markets and overall pessimism about the economy, has Congress rushing to microphones to promise a legislative quick fix. Meanwhile, President Bush and the Federal Reserve are being second guessed by liberal economists for not promising more government intervention. What is the best course of action for the government to take? Today former congressman Ernest Istook, a distinguished fellow at Heritage, sat down with Heritage’s top economists, Bill Beach, David John and J.D. Foster, to …
If today’s oral arguments in the D.C. gun ban case are any indication, the nation’s most restrictive gun-control law could soon be ruled unconstitutional. Today’s hearing before the Supreme Court revealed that Justice Anthony Kennedy is far more inclined to support an individual right to keep and bear arms than anyone might have suspected. Supreme Court reporter Lyle Denniston of SCOTUSblog offered this take on the oral arguments: The Supreme Court’s historic argument Tuesday on the meaning of the Constitution’s Second Amendment sent out one quite clear signal: individuals may …
The list of members of Congress who have given up earmarks seems to grow by the day. According to the Club for Growth’s tally, it now totals 33 House members and seven senators. And despite the setback last week in the Senate, that hasn’t dissuaded members from coming out for a voluntary one-year moratorium. Rep. Dave Reichert (R-Wash.) announced last Friday in a YouTube video that he would voluntarily swear off earmarks this year. Reichert said he was proud to support the GOP’s call for a moratorium in January. But …
Earmark reformers in the Senate failed to temporarily shut down the favor factory tonight, losing their vote for a one-year moratorium, 29-71. Appropriators managed to emerge victorious after nearly all Democrats voted against the measure. Just five Democrats voted for Sen. Jim DeMint’s (R-S.C.) amendment to temporarily freeze the earmarking process. Supporters included the three presidential candidates, Sens. Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.), Barack Obama (D.-Ill.) and John McCain (R-Ariz.). Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) also voted in favor of the amendment. DeMint managed to secure the support of Minority Leader Mitch McConnell …
As the House prepares to vote on the Democrat budget resolution, let’s take another look at what the plan would mean for hard-working Americans: It raises taxes by $1.265 trillion over five years and $3.911 trillion over 10 years, or more than $3,135per household annually; It includes 17 reserve funds that could be used to raise taxes by hundreds of billions more; It increases discretionary spending by 8 percent and does not terminate a single wasteful program; It completely ignores the impending explosion of Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid costs; …
The International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) is famous for striking to prevent docks from using technologies that reduce the need for union labor. The last time the ILWU went on strike it cost the economy $2 billion a day. But for the union’s efforts, it negotiated an average wage-and-benefit package of $150,000, with American consumers footing the inflated wage bill through higher costs. Not bad for jobs that do not require a high school degree. Good luck trying to get hired as a Longshoreman without union connections, though. Now …
