Over the course of three presidential debates, John McCain and Barack Obama have tackled many policy issues — but often in the form of sound bites without much context or detail. Enter a project called VoterWatch. By making it easy to annotate video with its interactive media player, VoterWatch allows users to add their own commentary to the screen itself as the candidates are talking. Several organizations and pundits agreeed to use VoterWatch during the presidential debates, including Heritage. With so many familiar topics playing a major role in Wednesday’s …
USA Today, the country’s largest newspaper, came out firmly against the Employee Free Choice Act today, concluding the legislation known as “card check” would undermine democratic principles. Heritage has written extensively on the legislation, most recently criticizing the measure for eliminating the secret ballot for union organization. USA Today didn’t think very highly of that provision either: Under a major rewrite of U.S. labor law being promoted by unions, when more than 50% of employees sign authorization cards, the NLRB would have to recognize the new union. No campaign. No …
John McCain made a point of mentioning Citizens Against Government Waste during all three presidential debate. He cited the National Taxpayers Union in the last two. Today both organizations responded with a list of government waste that’s just waiting to be cut. NTU’s research arm, the National Taxpayers Union Foundation, through its BillTally program has compiled a list of pieces of legislation in the current Congress that would reduce spending, including examples like H.R. 5957, which would eliminate $35 billion worth of agricultural subsidies over five years. NTUF also holds …
During last night’s presidential debate in Hempstead, N.Y., Barack Obama said, “I think tax policy is a major difference between Senator McCain and myself. And we both want to cut taxes, the difference is who we want to cut taxes for.” Obama is half right here. As Obama adviser Austan Goolsbee admitted this summer, Obama and McCain both want to preserve the vast majority of President Bush’s tax cuts. The difference between Obama and McCain on taxes is that where the two do propose minor changes, Obama wants to use …
The presidential candidates take vastly different approaches to addressing American’s health care needs. Heritage’s Bob Moffit and Nina Owcharenko today offered detailed reports on the health care plans offered by John McCain and Barack Obama. It is important to understand their differences and their impact, so we sat down with Owcharenko today to outline the things you need to know. [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5aOSTytuE1Y[/youtube]
The Heritage Foundation’s Center for Data Analysis has just released a study of Barack Obama and John McCain’s tax plans. Using tax models and tax information from other sources as inputs into Global Insight’s U.S. Macroeconomic Model, the study estimates the side-by-side economic effects of the two plans. The study concludes: “Each presidential candidate achieves his stated goal,with Senator McCain generating the most new jobs, growth, and additional income for individuals. Senator Obama’s plan drives up the tax rate for individuals with annual incomes above $250,000 and redistributes money to …
Presidential candidates John McCain and Barack Obama are offering ambitious, comprehensive and expensive health care reform plans. Both would greatly expand health insurance coverage for millions of Americans. Examining the key elements of these two competing plans, one can discern clearly two very different visions of America’s health care future. They are polar opposites. The Obama health plan would centralize power over health care financing and delivery in Washington. The McCain health plan would decentralize control over health care financing and decision-making among individuals and families, while retaining authority in …
Bill Beach, director of Heritage’s Center for Data Analysis, talked about the economy and the presidential candidates’ proposals to fix it this morning on WTTG in Washington. Beach also addressed John McCain and Barack Obama’s tax plans. [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CcI14dlpxMw[/youtube]
This morning, The Lewin Group, a non-partisan health care econometrics firm, released its long-awaited report on the presidential candidates’ health plans. Lewin is “the gold standard of independent health-care analysis.” Its report revealed profound differences in the candidates’ directions for health reform. Barack Obama clearly favors an expansion of government programs (and the creation of new ones); more regulation handed down from Washington; new mandates, rules, and penalties; and restrictions on individual choice. John McCain advocates empowering consumers; reigning in government programs; freeing up insurance markets; and enabling individuals and …
Barack Obama has frequently called the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) “a bad deal.” During one Democratic primary debate, Obama even said he would unilaterally “use the hammer of a potential opt-out” to “renegotiate” the entire treaty. But after he secured the nomination, Obama changed his tune, admitting that NAFTA was not so bad after all, and telling Nina Easton: “Sometimes during campaigns the rhetoric gets overheated and amplified.” If you find Obama’s rhetoric on trade inconsistent, do not expect to learn much from his voting record either. He …
