Defense Secretary Robert Gates indicated on September 1st that staff would recommend President Obama veto any legislation that continues to fund the F136, the alternate engine for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter (JSF). “We feel strongly there is not a need for the second engine,” he told reporters. That same day, however, General Electric and Rolls Royce offered to sell the F136 to the military through a fixed-price contract, an arrangement that some say could cut costs by 20%. The primary engine, the Pratt and Whitney F135, by contrast, is …
Contrary to the White House’s video, member of Congress in the House Ways and Means Committee already have exempted themselves from a government-run health plan with the defeat of an amendment by Rep. Dean Heller (R-NV). The amendment, which would have required members of Congress to enroll in the newly created public health insurance plan, failed with 21 Democrats voting no. Here’s the truth behind the entirely private coverage options offered to Congress and government employees through the successful Federal Employees Health Benefits Program. [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IVr3HsBFKeU[/youtube]
In a cover story today, the Washington Examiner highlights the continuing exodus from traditional public schools in the D.C. school system: By Monday’s first school bell, charters project at least 28,000 students, or about 2,400 more than last year, while D.C. Public Schools expect about 45,000, or 2,000 fewer than in spring.dc This year’s decline follows a trend that has continued for decades. According to the Examiner, nearly 30,000 students have left the city’s public school system. Much of the exodus has been into the charter school system, which has …
Cheerleading for his administration’s economic performance yesterday, President Barack Obama said: I absolutely agree that our long-term deficit is a major problem that we have to fix. … As I will discuss in a moment, the key to dealing with our deficit and debt is to get a handle on out-of-control health care costs … Fixing our health care system will certainly require resources, but in my budget, we’ve made a commitment to fully pay for reform without increasing the deficit, and we’ve identified specific savings that will make the …
Heritage Senior Research Fellow for Middle Eastern Affairs James Phillips watched President Barack Obama’s first televised interview and comments: President Obama offered a new tone but little substance. He proclaimed that “we are ready to initiate a new partnership based on mutual respect and mutual interest.” But he displayed amazing naivete in defining what those common interests are, suggesting that al-Qaeda leaders “seemed nervous” because their ideas are bankrupt: “There’s no actions that they’ve taken that say a child in the Muslim world is getting a better education because of …
