Yesterday, Sen. John Thune (R-SD) spoke at Heritage on the urgent need to rein in federal spending and reform the budget process. As Thune explained, there are 26 committees and subcommittees dedicated to spending, but not one to cutting spending. Afterward, he sat down with us for a short interview about his proposal, his position on the confirmation of Elena Kagan to the Supreme Court, and the new START treaty.
Monday, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) filed cloture on the tax extenders package. The bill would extend a variety of tax provisions that expire yearly and require Congress to pass them annually to prevent tax increases for many taxpayers, further extend unemployment benefits, and prevent a 21 percent decrease in payments to doctors that treat Medicare patients – the so-called “doc fix.” The extension of the expiring tax provisions is a long-overdue exercise for Congress and should be relatively uncontroversial. But Congress – as usual – could not restrain …
“It’s very telling that the first vote that we’re going to make on health care, Neil, is to add a quarter of a trillion dollars to the federal debt.” [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KSP28MjkeAI[/youtube]
