Though the idea has been thoroughly discredited, the President and Members of Congress are still considering a large, thoroughly bogus “savings” option to help cover their profligate spending: They intend to claim war spending that was never going to be spent as “savings”—and then spend it on something else. It is one of the most embarrassingly transparent gimmicks in town, and it should be shunned permanently. The alleged “savings” come from a reduction in estimated projected spending on U.S. activities in Iraq and Afghanistan. But those activities—termed Overseas Contingency Operations …
Few issues before Congress have united online activists like the current debate over the Stop Online Piracy Act in the U.S. House and its Senate companion, the PROTECT IP Act. Both bills attempt to address the theft of intellectual property. But critics say the legislation would do more harm than good. “The legislation addresses a legitimate problem,” noted Heritage’s James Gattuso in an analysis of SOPA, “but it may have unintended negative consequences for the operation of the Internet and free speech.” We discussed those consequences on this week’s Scribecast …
Six conservative U.S. senators voiced concerns Friday over the substance and procedural context of controversial legislation to block Internet piracy, noting potential economic damages and free speech restrictions the legislation might impose. Sens. Chuck Grassley (R-IA), John Cornyn (R-TX), Orrin Hatch (R-UT), Jeff Sessions (R-AL), Mike Lee (R-UT), and Tom Coburn (R-OK), sent a letter to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) on Friday expressing their concerns. The letter, whose signatories include the ranking Republicans on the Budget, Finance, and Judiciary Committees, warns of “breaches in cybersecurity, damaging the integrity …
If you listen to Vice President Joe Biden, the most effective way to prevent rape and murder is more federal stimulus spending. In the Vice President’s defense, at least this is a new argument, considering the others—jobs created, bridges built, energy generated—have all miserably failed. But this desperate argument, while fresh, is also incorrect. The Vice President made the remarks first in a speech on Tuesday at the University of Pennsylvania, saying additional stimulus would put police on the streets and lower crime, adding that he wished conservative lawmakers “had …
Apparently unemployment is not much of a problem in the private sector. At least Senator Harry Reid (D–NV) thinks so. Debating the Senate’s proposed $35 billion bailout for state and local governments, Reid argued, “It’s very clear that private sector jobs have been doing just fine. It’s the public sector jobs where we’ve lost huge numbers, and that’s what this legislation is all about.” Senator Reid is not just mistaken; he has his facts exactly backwards. If the recession has barely touched one sector of the economy, it is …
What’s the latest plan from the left to pay for President Obama’s latest batch of stimulus spending? More taxes on high-income earners, of course. And if Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) gets his way, the United States’ average marginal top tax rate would be higher than all but two of the 30 most economically developed countries in the world. Reid has proposed a 5.6 percent surtax on incomes of married filers earning over $1 million starting on January 1, 2013–and that would push the average top U.S. income rate to 55 …
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) blocked a vote on President Barack Obama’s American Jobs Act tonight. Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) had pledged to offer an unchanged version of the President’s American Jobs Act as an amendment to the Currency Exchange Rate Oversight Reform Bill (S. 1619). Reid stopped a vote on the President’s so called jobs bill by filling the amendment tree. Last year I wrote about Reid’s obstructionism and argued that Reid’s strong arm tactics by constantly filling the amendment tree as a means to block out all amendments were against the spirit …
Senate Republicans sought to answer President Obama’s demands for a vote on his jobs plan this afternoon, but were thwarted by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV), who used a parliamentary maneuver meant to block amendments on the Senate floor. Reid then proceeded to accuse Republicans of “obstruction” and engaging in a “political stunt.” Reid used a procedural move known as “filling the tree” – a tactic Reid has perfected during his tenure in the Senate leadership. Filling the tree involves loading legislation with amendments until the limit is reached. …
By the time Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) took to the floor Monday to berate Republicans for supposedly blocking emergency disaster aid, the Federal Emergency Management Agency had already announced it did not need the money Reid claimed was being blocked. FEMA’s disaster relief fund became a key issue in the continuing resolution the Senate passed Monday night, funding the federal government through Nov. 18. A record number of emergency declarations this year by President Obama stretched FEMA’s fund to the brink. Republicans offered an additional $1 billion in disaster aid, but coupled …
Listening to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) or reading The New York Times yesterday gave the impression that disaster relief victims were suffering from a lack of government aid. “Without additional funding,” Reid warned, “thousands of people who have lost literally everything they owned will be forced to go without food and shelter.” The New York Times, reporting from Tunkhannock, Pennsylvania, noted, “Uprooted and desolate, hard-working people in this part of the country expect a bit more from their government.” Yesterday, with Reid on the brink of forcing a government …
