Families and businesses have budgets, yet Washington doesn’t — and it hasn’t for the last three years. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) doesn’t think this major omission is that big of a deal, and the White House has no opinion on the matter. Fortunately, there are leaders in the House who see the importance of passing a budget and getting runaway spending and escalating debt under control. For Congress, the budget is an outline of how and where money will be spent across the federal government and how high …
When John F. Kennedy was President, just over a quarter of federal spending went to fund programs paying for some 21.7 million Americans to be dependent on Uncle Sam. But as high as that spending and dependence on the federal government was then, it has exploded today, with one in five Americans — more than 67.3 million — depending on Washington for assistance. The Heritage Foundation’s 2012 Index of Dependence on Government shows an alarming trend under the Obama Administration of a level of dependence on our government that has …
As someone who grew up in inner-city Atlanta, I understand there are times when people need whatever help they can find. The social safety net—in conjunction with generosity from neighborhood groups, churches, charities, and private companies—can help lift Americans out of poverty and toward the path of self-reliance and individual prosperity. However, that “net” should never turn into a “hammock”—and that is what this President and his policies are allowing. What we see today with our vast social safety net is a growing and frightening dependency on the federal government, …
Dark clouds hover over the nation’s finances and threaten a perfect storm of massive debt and crushing taxation unless Congress starts acting—soon. Washington must demonstrate that it is serious about reining in ever-rising spending and reducing annual deficits. Passing commonsense reforms to our major entitlement programs (Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security), the main drivers of future spending and annual deficits, is crucial. As the population ages and health care costs rise, spending on entitlements is projected to more than double by 2050, as this Heritage Budget Chart Book chart shows. …
The Super Committee failed to meet its Thanksgiving to cut $1.2 Trillion from the federal budget. Now what? Click here to join our live “Lunch with Heritage” online chat. We are joined by Heritage’s Director of Economic Policy Studies Alison Fraser. She is taking your questions about why the Super Committee failed, the next steps, and what they should focus on. Lunch with Heritage feat. Alison Fraser
Tax hikes were the focal point of the contentious, failed supercommittee negotiations designed to reduce the national debt by at least $1.2 trillion. Democrats wanted massive tax hikes. Republicans flirted with a tax reform deal lowering rates and closing loopholes. But the fact that tax hikes were at the center of the debate indicates that the committee – which includes Michigan Reps. Dave Camp and Fred Upton – fails to grasp the true nature of our debt crisis. Overspending, especially on entitlements such as Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, is …
With its November 23 deadline fast approaching, the “super committee” created by the Budget Control Act is back in the news, and it is still grappling with its mandate to find $1.5 trillion in deficit reduction savings. One of the ideas being bandied about is a continued call to raise taxes in order to reduce the deficit. But as the chart below shows, inadequate tax revenue is NOT the problem, too much spending is. (Article continued below infographic) In their new paper “Three Pillars of Reform for the Super Committee,” Heritage’s Alison …
Medicare—on its current path—cannot be sustained. At a recent hearing held by the Senate Special Committee on Aging, Ranking Member Senator Bob Corker (R–TN) stressed the importance of Medicare reform. According to Corker, in 2011, “The U.S. spent $572 billion on Medicare, and spending is projected to increase to $1 trillion in 2021.” The relationship between the amount citizens pay in to Medicare and the benefits they receive presents another losing equation for taxpayers. If an average couple combined makes $87,000 a year, they will pay $119,000 (including their employers’ …
Inefficient programs that don’t solve problems and are passed against the will of the American people seem to be the Obama Administration’s forte. Now their high-minded aspirations of a health care revolution are quickly unraveling as fatal glitches in Obamacare become apparent. Next up for implosion? The Community Living Assistance Services and Supports Act, otherwise known as the “CLASS Act,” which creates a government-run long term care insurance program too costly to sustain. At a time when entitlement programs in America have spun out of control, liberal proponents of Obamacare were …
Two years ago, as the United States was coming out of the last recession, President Obama was asked how raising taxes on anyone would help with the economy. The President’s answer? “Normally you don’t raise taxes in a recession, which is why we haven’t, and why we’ve instead cut taxes.” Fast forward to today, as America is struggling with zero job growth and a stagnant economy, and the President has dramatically changed his rhetoric, proposing $1.5 trillion in new taxes on the American people and the country’s job creators. Those …
