Later this month, the Obama Administration is expected to submit a plan to Congress seeking additional power to cut specific items from spending bills. This proposal is commonly called the “Line-Item Veto,” named after the law ruled unconstitutional in the 1990’s. However, line-item vetoes did not require Congressional approval, while …
You may not realize it but government regulations affect each American every day. As the Environmental Protection Agency cheerfully notes in their pro-regulation video contest introduction: Even before you leave the house in the morning, government regulations help set the price of the coffee you drink, the voltage of electricity …
Americans are endlessly paying taxes–on their income, on their property, on almost anything they purchase. But the heavy burden that the U.S. government places on its citizens does not stop there. It continues with a slew of hidden taxes imposed by an ever-larger number of government regulations. These regulatory taxes …
Last January, Senators Jeff Sessions (R-AL) and Claire McCaskill (D-MO) introduced an amendment which would have taken the first steps toward restoring fiscal responsibility in Washington. While the amendment failed to attain the necessary 60 votes for passage, it did gain strong bipartisan support, with 16 Democrats joining all but …
Our nation is on an unsustainable fiscal course. The three major entitlements – Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid – alone are set to eclipse historical tax levels by 2052 and a realistic assessment of the Congressional Budget Office baseline shows the government piling on an additional $13 trillion over the …
Senator Tom Coburn (R-OK) has a radical alternative to raising the debt limit: spend less money. In an amendment introduced last week Senator Coburn proposed saving approximately $120 billion by, “consolidating more than 640 duplicative government programs, cutting wasteful Washington spending, and returning billions of dollars of unspent money.” The …
After quietly increasing the federal debt limit from $12.1 trillion to $12.4 on Christmas Eve, the US Senate is beginning debate today on yet another increase. Hoping to avoid making the skyrocketing debt levels an election issue; this time around they want to pass an increase large enough to feed their …
Today, the House of Representatives passed the $32.2 billion Interior-Environment Appropriations conference report, including a continuing resolution to fund the remaining portions of the federal government at FY2009 levels until December 18th. This bill, a 17 percent increase over last years levels, represents Congress’s continued disregard for mounting federal debt …
The latest video from Political Math does well in explaining how mandatory spending, consisting mostly of Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security, will crowd out other spending from the federal budget. [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=70lkobYY0Hc&feature=player_embedded[/youtube]
For some, the ongoing recession means tightening the belt on gratuitous spending. Congress clearly doesn’t share this sentiment. Curiously, they seem to believe now is the perfect time to upgrade their private jet fleet. At a measly $550 million taxpayer dollars, why not? After scolding “The Big Three” auto executives …
