NPR, PBS and other public broadcasting outlets are asking taxpayers to fork over $445 million in funding for the next fiscal year. But not if Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC) and Rep. Doug Lamborn (R-CO) have anything to say about it. The conservative lawmakers want to defund the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, the steward of the federal government’s “investment” in public radio and TV. Congress created CPB in 1967, and DeMint and Lamborn think it’s time to cut it off from the federal trough. Their move comes as the agency prepares to report to …
An effort funded by a major left-wing environmentalist group is looking to appeal to conservative and libertarian thinkers through an initiative that proposes center-right solutions to environmental problems. The Meridian Institute’s “Twelve Big Ideas for 2012″ is funded by the Environmental Defense Fund, a group that uses its massive lobbying footprint – it has spent more than $6.3 million on lobbying efforts since 2009 – to push primarily for cap and trade legislation and bills related to Gulf Coast cleanup efforts, among other initiatives. EDF is fond of referring to …
Three prominent members of Congress, all of Cuban descent, spoke out against the State Department on Thursday for its decision to grant a visa to Mariela Castro Espin, daughter of Cuban dictator Raul Castro, and herself a member of the Cuban dictatorship. Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) called the decision “outrageous and an enormous mistake,” while Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) said the move “sends the wrong message to the [Cuban] regime and to Cuba’s struggling opposition movement.” Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL), who was born in Havana and now chairs the House …
The youngest B-52 bomber rolled off the assembly line 50 years ago. Remarkably, it’s still flying. Like many of the aircraft still used by the U.S. military, the B-52 is telltale example of America’s geriatric aviation force. At a time when our military is asked to do more with less, fiscal constraints have hampered its modernization and recapitalization strategy. Heritage is highlighting these challenges as part of Protect America Month and a three-part America at Risk video series. The B-52 might be among the Air Force’s most recognizable planes. Its …
Later this week the U.S. Senate will consider a budget resolution introduced by Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) that cuts the size of the federal government in half by 2025 and achieves a balanced budget by 2017. It’s among the boldest plans presented in Congress. Lee’s budget is based on the reforms outlined by The Heritage Foundation in its Saving the American Dream plan. With the Senate nearing a vote on his plan, Lee will visit Heritage for a preview at The Bloggers Briefing today at noon ET. Under the direction …
The U.S. State Department has decided to grant a visa to Mariela Castro Espin, daughter of Raul Castro, the country’s President and Premier, neice of notorious Cuban dictator Fidel Castro, despite laws precluding such visas from officials of the Cuban dictatorship. Castro Espin, who is the director of Cuba’s state-funded National Center for Sex Education, is scheduled to speak at a San Francisco conference held by the Latin American Studies Association starting May 23. A LASA spokesman confirmed that she is scheduled to attend in person. Castro Espin’s organization is …
Sen. Jon Kyl (R-AZ) has been among the Senate’s strongest proponents of a robust national defense. In his role as Republican Whip, he is now leading the charge against efforts to shortchange our Defense budget, and warning of potential dire consequences for national security. Kyl spoke at the Heritage Foundation on Thursday as part of its Helms lecture series, where he discussed national security and the launch of Heritage’s Protect America Month. He explained why the federal government’s constitutional obligation to provide for the common defense must remain a bedrock principle of …
Video from 2007 shows then-Sen. Joe Biden (D-DE) claiming that coal power and corn syrup are more deadly than terrorism. The remarks will likely prove a headache for an administration that is trying to distance itself from its anti-coal image. As Scribe reported on Friday, the Obama campaign adjusted its website to promote its work with “clean coal” in the wake of an embarrassing showing in the Democratic primary in coal-intensive West Virginia. Obama lost 41% of the vote there to federal prison inmate – a fact the state’s Democratic …
After coming under fire for its consistent hostility to the coal industry, the Obama campaign quietly adjusted its energy policy website to include “clean coal” among the president’s energy initiatives. The energy policy page of BarackObama.com now includes a section for “clean coal,” claiming the stimulus package “invested substantially in carbon capture and sequestration research.” But until recently, that page made no mention of coal. Its Google cache shows a section for “energy efficiency” where “clean coal” now appears. The change comes mere days after Obama lost 41% of the …
Scribe first reported that former Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott (R-MI) is now lobbying for corporate and environmental interests on behalf of the U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea, also known as the Law of the Sea Treaty (LOST). His lobbying efforts stand in stark contrast to his position while in the Senate, when he warned that LOST would create a “U.N. on steroids.” Ratification of LOST, he warned in 2007, would “cede our national sovereignty – both militarily and economically” by subjecting maritime disputes to U.N. authority. …
