In the wake of the Massachusetts election on Tuesday night, liberals in Congress have once again embarked on a course to change the rules to fit their needs. Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA) intends to introduce a bill that would eliminate the 60 vote threshold to end debate in the U.S. Senate. Ironically, the timing of their newest rule-changing efforts is a direct result of a previous rule-change merry-go-round that they themselves are to blame for. In 2004, Senator John Kerry (D-MA) was running for President, and the Governor of Massachusetts was Republican …
Scott Brown’s remarkable victory in the Massachusetts Senate election speaks loud and clear: Americans across the political spectrum are unhappy with the scale and cost of the congressional health reform legislation, and the lack of transparency in the process. Congress would be wise to see this outcome as a referendum on health care reform. The proper conclusion? It’s time to hit the reset button and scrap the doomed bills in both chambers. Then President Obama should bring together the key leaders of both parties, and craft a far more modest …
One year ago, President Barack Obama delivered his inaugural address at the foot of the Capitol, laid out an agenda of “big plans” for his administration, and chided “cynics” who “fail to understand that the ground has shifted beneath them.” One year later, as voters head to the ballot box in Massachusetts, it seems that the ground very well may have shifted under President Obama. And that ground shift might spell trouble for the President’s health care magnum opus. In a USA TODAY/Gallup Poll released yesterday, President Obama’s approval ratings …
The Mayo Clinic, the American Medical Association, the American Hospital Association and the Federation of American Hospitals have all come out strongly against Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s (D-NV) Medicare buy-in plan for Americans aged 55 to 64. Every one of these core health care providers recognizes that expanding an already unsustainable program would mean disaster for the American health care system. The left in Congress sees it differently. Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-CA)tells the Los Angeles Times: Expanding Medicare is an unvarnished, complete victory for people like me. It’s the …
Even before Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-MA) passed away last week, Congress approved a $5.8 million “planning and design” earmark for the Edward M. Kennedy Institute for the Senate, which would include creating a full-size replica of the Senate chamber. It would be built at the University of Massachusetts, adjacent to the JFK Presidential Library. This summer, Kennedy’s colleague, Rep. Ed Markey, D-Mass., added another $12.6 million earmark (still pending in Congress) to help build the memorial. Honoring the late Senator is understandable, but there are limits on what’s a proper …
WASHINGTON, AUG. 26, 2009—Heritage Foundation President Ed Feulner today issued the following statement on the death of Sen. Edward Kennedy: Even in Washington, it’s possible to disagree without being disagreeable. We should keep that in mind as America mourns the passing of Sen. Ted Kennedy. Sen. Kennedy’s career was marked by the passion he brought to his work, his dedication to serving this great country, his respect for the institution of the Senate and his pursuit of bipartisan compromise. Washington will certainly be less vibrant without him. This is a …
Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-MA) likes to refer to healthcare as “a fundamental right and not just a privilege.” But what exactly does he mean? Is there really a ‘right’ to healthcare? Debate over the purported ‘right to healthcare’ has quieted recently. Or rather, with concrete proposals under consideration, ‘rights questions’ have been drowned out by other concerns—things like cost, taxes, the deficit, a “public option,” end-of-life decisions, and so on. But the rights debate is well worth having because the stakes are so high. If Ted Kennedy is correct—if every …
