The House Budget Committee yesterday held a hearing, “Economic Recovery: Options and Challenges.” The headliner of the event, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, caused quite a stir with his near endorsement of a proposed second stimulus bill. However, others who spoke at the hearing, such as Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI), and Bill Beach, director of Heritage’s Center for Data Analysis (CDA), raised important questions about the need for, and possible elements in a second stimulus bill. Ranking member Ryan’s opening statement regarding another stimulus bill appropriately warned against hastily increasing …
The Democratic majority’s line of logic appears to work something like this: If taxpayers can afford to spend $700 billion to bailout out the battered financial markets, then they can surely afford to spend $25 billion to bailout the auto industry, $61 billion on bogus “emergencies,” $24 billion for disaster aid, and $16 billion on 2,627 more earmarks. Let’s take a look at how this suspect logic might apply to a personal budget: John Doe makes $1000 a month. If John can afford $600 for rent and $300 for food, …
Congressional Democrats think they have spotted an opportunity. With lawmakers and the American public focused on the pressing financial crisis, both Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) are rushing another massive spending bill through Congress. In ordinary times these bills would be debated at length with significantly more scrutiny. Unfortunately, the Democrat-led Congress is using the current situation to ram bad legislation through the legislature with very little examination. Yesterday, the House passed the multi-billion dollar continuing resolution (CR), including a $25 billion loan guarantee …
With the debris from the current financial storm still swirling, Congress must not overlook the other massive spending bill speeding its way through Congress. As a result of Congress’s stubborn refusal to fulfill their constitutional responsibility to fund the government (not passing a single appropriations bill this session) they must now pass a continuing resolution (CR) to avoid a government shutdown. Unfortunately, instead of crafting a well thought out clean bill, Congress predictably larded it up with billions of dollars in false “emergency” spending, and believe it or not, even …
In a process familiar to any troubled sub prime borrower, the current federal highway reauthorization bill spends more money than it takes in. Historically, any excess spending is paid through the Federal Highway Trust Fund and has always been exclusively funded through the gas tax. However, in an unprecedented action, the House overwhelmingly passed HR 6532, a bill that would transfer over $8 billion in general revenue to the highway trust fund, adding directly to the federal deficit. The Senate is set to take up the proposal as part of …
It’s that time of year again. Congress is facing its annual AMT predicament, and once again Americans must suffer through the same worn out debate thanks to House Democrats. The Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT) is a classic example of a broken Congress. The AMT, created in 1969 to prevent the wealthiest 155 Americans from avoiding taxes completely, was never indexed to inflation and now inadvertently impacts millions of Americans each year. Oddly enough, eliminating this tax is one policy Democrats and Republicans actually agree on. But elimination is not in …
Michael Kinsley once wrote that in Washington, a “gaffe” is when a politician tells the truth. This certainly was the case last week as even Democratic lawmakers admitted that the Democratic budget raises taxes on middle-class families. Over the past few months Democrats have boasted of three special election wins, taking districts previously thought to be safe for Republicans. While many saw these victories as a win for liberals, a vote on the Democratic budget last week revealed a wide ideological divide between the new members, who are closest in …
