The newly formed Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction holds its first meeting this week. The 12-member panel will gather at 10:30 a.m. Thursday for an organizational session, then meet again on Sept. 13 at 10:30 a.m. for a hearing on “The History and Drivers of Our Nation’s Debt and Its Threats.” The committee is chaired by Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA) and Rep. Jeb Hensarling (R-TX) and tasked with the goal of finding $1.5 trillion in savings to reduce the federal deficit. It’s not an easy goal, made even more …
Republican presidential candidates are gearing up for the first Iowa presidential debate tonight. FOX News and The Washington Examiner are presenting the debate, which will take place at Iowa State University in Ames, Iowa. The event leads into Saturday’s Iowa Republican Party Ames Straw Poll, which can be a pivotal moment for campaigns. The Hill reports many Republicans who plan to attend Saturday’s straw poll are still undecided on their candidate, which is highly unusual this close to the event. That makes this evening’s debate even more important. After backing out of …
Rep. Jeb Hensarling (R-TX) is convinced that President Obama has no viable plan to revive the economy and reduce unemployment. Two years after the failed stimulus and a year since the administration’s “summer of recovery,” the unemployment rate now stands at 9.1 percent. Without much hope coming from the White House, Hensarling said lawmakers in Congress are forging ahead with an agenda focused on job creation. “Issues of spending and jobs are inextricably linked,” said Hensarling, who spoke at this week’s Bloggers Briefing at Heritage. “The greatest impediment to job …
Federal spending is out of control. Even President Obama knows it. To really stop the madness, Reps. Jeb Hensarling (R-TX), Mike Pence (R-IN), and John Campbell (R-CA) have proposed a simple solution – a constitutional amendment capping federal spending at 20 percent of the economy. Their proposal puts the debate squarely where it should be: exploding federal spending and the size of government. The authors of the amendment write that “Fiscal reform must begin and end with significant spending restraint. If not – if spending continues unchecked – this generation …
This week’s debate over the Medicare bill (H.R. 6331) ranks as the biggest battle over health care policy since last year’s bitter debate over the reauthorization of the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP). President Bush, vowing to oppose any bill that would curtail the personal choices or benefit options of seniors enrolled in Medicare, vetoed the Medicare Improvement for Patients and Providers Act. Earlier this week, however, the House voted 383 to 41 to override Bush’s veto, and the Senate followed suit, overriding the veto by a vote of …
Reps. John Campbell (R-CA) and Jeb Hensarling (R-TX) have offered a constitutional amendment that would forbid federal spending from growing faster than the economy (as defined by the nominal gross domestic product). Both lawmakers should be applauded for acknowledging that runaway spending – rather than low tax revenues – is the chief budget problem, and that spending caps are a strong solution. Had spending been limited to the overall economic growth rate since 2001, the budget would have been in surplus last year. Spending caps will finally force lawmakers to …
