House Democrats continued to block passage of a terrorist surveillance bill today, rejecting a measure by Rep. Heather Wilson (R-N.M.) to add the Senate-passed FISA bill to the fiscal 2009 Intelligence authorization bill. The amendment was defeated by one vote in the House Intelligence Committee, the latest proof that …
Frustrated by inaction from Democrats on earmarks and gas prices, House Republicans are tying the two issues together in hopes of forcing Congress to act. Legislation introduced by Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) would suspend the 18.4 cents per gallon federal gas tax for the summer. To avoid impacting the Highway …
The House Appropriations Committee’s newest member, Rep. Jo Bonner (R-AL), visited The Heritage Foundation’s weekly blogger lunch today to pitch his new “Commitment to Reforming a Broken Process.” Bonner faced a hostile crowd of conservative bloggers who did not see why Bonner was willing to support a one-year moratorium on …
USA Today’s take on the mortgage mess posed a crucial question: “Should taxpayers in Vermont be asked to bail out home buyers in Nevada?” The nation’s No.1 newspaper went on to note: “The answer now taking shape in Washington appears to be, ‘Yes.’” But the multi-billion dollar question for taxpayers …
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. …
Despite “the most sweeping ethics reform since Watergate” and promises from the new House leadership to cut the number of earmarks in half, it appears the House is on its way again to absurd levels of pork-barrel spending. Roll Call reports that member earmark requests to the House Appropriations Committee …
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 …
The House Republicans have released an alternative to the Democrats’ budget. Instead of following the Democrats’ path of raising taxes by more than $3,000 per household to finance large spending hikes, the GOP would maintain current tax rates, repeal the Alternative Minimum Tax, and rein in runaway discretionary spending. Importantly, …
