Earlier this week in New Hampshire, Republican presidential candidates touted the benefits of a Medicare premium support system — the approach to entitlement reform embraced by House Budget Chairman Paul Ryan (R-WI) and The Heritage Foundation. Ryan’s recent partnership with Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR) helped thrust the idea of premium support back into the national spotlight. Their bipartisan framework represented a breakthrough on Capitol Hill after liberals spent much of the year making false charges about Ryan’s plan. Given the misleading information about premium support, let’s first take a moment …
As one of the 12 members of Congress on the Super Committee, Sen. Pat Toomey (R-PA) had a front row seat for all the negotiations. Since the committee’s announcement late last month that they had failed to reach a deal on at least $1.5 trillion in savings, Toomey has been very vocal that we cannot now ignore our nation’s fiscal crisis and that a deal still much be reached. He visited Heritage this week to discuss the fallout. We caught up with him in his Senate offices to discuss what happened and …
Catching you up on clips, commentary and news of the day. Sign up for the daily email update from Scribe. At 50, the Chinook remains the Army’s workhorse – Michael Hoffman, Army Times Graves eyes upper rungs of conservative ladder – Daniel Malloy, The Atlantic Journal-Constitution Lawmakers: Revamp disaster recovery system – Deborah Barfield Berry, Clarion Ledger A major victory, but the battle rages on – Peter Brookes, New York Post The green-jobs fallacy – Ed Feulner, St. Paul Pioneer Press Obamanomics: Hollow out defense, fatten up cronies – James …
In its latest video railing against reform of Medicare and Social Security, AARP pushes for a pinch hitter to solve Washington’s spending problem—and a poor one at that. The organization charges Congress to cut wasteful spending and close tax loopholes instead of reducing Medicare and Social Security benefits. Once again, they get it wrong on how to balance the budget and put the nation on a fiscally sustainable path. Congress can work to eliminate waste, fraud, and abuse to demonstrate it is serious about controlling spending and using taxpayer dollars …
As soon as the U.S. Treasury was cleared to start borrowing again, it quickly borrowed $238 billion more and reached a milestone. Our national debt is now more than $14.5 trillion, which means that it has surpassed the size of our total annual economy. The federal government now owes more than is being produced by the entire USA-every person, every company, every business, all in combination. Financial markets figured out immediately just how disastrous it is to have that level of debt-especially because it’s still growing and the budget plan …
Treadmills for shrimp and poetry in zoos. The AARP recently decried these examples of government spending as part of a recent TV campaign against Medicare and Social Security reform proposals. AARP says that in order to balance the budget, Congress should consider cutting funding for these types of programs, instead of considering Medicare and Social Security reform. AARP’s campaign refuses to acknowledge that current Medicare and Social Security spending is on an unsustainable path. Getting the nation’s spending—and ultimately the debt—under control cannot be done solely by cutting funding for …
Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT), ranking member on the Senate Finance Committee, outlined a comprehensive plan for reforming Medicaid yesterday at Heritage. Medicaid is a program for low-income Americans, one of the big three entitlements. Hatch’s vision corresponds with the wishes of more than two dozen Republican governors, who wrote him this week to express their desire for greater flexibility with Medicaid. Democrats, including 41 of Hatch’s Senate colleagues, have publicly voiced their opposition to any meaningful reforms to the program offered by Republicans. Before his Heritage speech, Hatch sat down …
A chart created by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP) has been circulating among liberal bloggers such as Ezra Klein, James Fallows, and Andrew Sullivan. The chart, seen to the right, purports to show that the next decade’s deficits are entirely the result of the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts, wars, bailouts, recession, and stimulus. Their methodology fails statistics 101. Imagine a basketball team that loses 100-98. It would make no sense to cherry pick one single basket by their opponent and blame it for 100 percent of the …
Rep. Tom Graves (R-Ga.) — a self-described “pro-life, pro-gun constitutional conservative” — never expected to serve on the House Appropriations Committee. As he puts it, he didn’t come to Washington to be “a part of spending money.” Now, even though he serves on Appropriations, he still makes spending cuts his focus. “I’m thankful leadership has allowed me to be who I am, to ask tough questions and to take a different approach in the committee process,” Graves said yesterday at Heritage during The Bloggers Briefing. “My hopes are that we …
After one year, Obamacare remains just as unpopular as ever. The fight for repeal has gained ground in both Congress and the states. But repeal is only the first step in setting a new agenda on health care. In her recently released paper, Heritage expert Nina Owcharenko explains the four steps necessary to creating lasting reform that is truly market-based and patient-centered: “Unlike Obamacare, Congress should pursue an approach to health care reform that preserves the doctor–patient relationship and cutting-edge innovation while controlling costs and expanding access to private health …
