Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-TX), in an exclusive interview with Heritage, criticized her liberal colleagues for opposing Social Security reform, warning that they would rather increase taxes on businesses. Hutchison singled out Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) for his repeated assertions that Social Security is not in trouble. Reid has gone so far as to call it a “myth” perpetuated by conservatives. “It’s clearly in trouble if its own trustees say its going bankrupt in 25 years,” Hutchison said in the interview. “If that’s not a signal to …
“America’s economic strength and standing in the world economy are directly linked to our ability to equip students with the knowledge and skills to succeed in the 21st-century economy….We must insist on standards that will prepare our high-school graduates for the demanding challenges they will face.” So wrote former Florida Governor Jeb Bush (R) along with former Chancellor of New York City schools Joel Klein last week in a Wall Street Journal editorial arguing for the Common Core—a set of nationwide education standards. No one would disagree with the statement …
Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) spent 31 years in manufacturing before his election to Congress last November. He’s not letting that experience go to waste. Johnson is out with a new video this morning to coincide with President Obama’s visit to Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh to promote manufacturing. He criticizes Obama’s recent comments blaming inventions like the ATM for unemployment. “This is a depressing display of economic ignorance,” Johnson says. He adds: “Technological innovations create jobs. They drive our economy forward, by helping workers be more productive. That raises everyone’s …
It’s difficult to find a television program that holds conservative ideals, let alone refrains from mocking them. Hollywood, it seems, is monolithically liberal. This is because conservatives underestimate the value of narrative and emotion, author Ben Shapiro contended in his talk “Primetime Propaganda: The True Hollywood Story of How the Left Took Over Your TV,” held last week at The Heritage Foundation. “Narrative matters,” Shapiro said. “Unfortunately, conservatives have abandoned narrative as an emotional tool…you hear it on talk radio all the time. We have all the logical arguments; we …
Shell spent five years and more than $3.5 billion while waiting for the Environmental Protection Agency to grant a permit for drilling in Alaska. Now lawmakers in Congress hope to force the hand of EPA bureaucrats by mandating a six-month deadline to review permit applications. The Jobs and Energy Permitting Act is set for a House vote Thursday and is expected to easily pass with bipartisan support. The White House declined to issue a veto threat Tuesday. There is a companion bill in the Senate, but its fate is uncertain. …
Government policies have made life difficult for middle-class families like Thomas and Melissa Clements. Their business in Broussard, LA, has suffered from the Obama administration’s offshore drilling moratorium and subsequent permitorium. Tomorrow morning Thomas is coming to Capitol Hill to talk about his struggles at a congressional hearing. Clements recently appeared in a video produced by Heritage and the Institute for Energy Research on the moratorium’s economic impact. His business, Oilfield CNC Machining LLC, has suffered from the government’s delays in permitting. This week’s hearing, organized by the Senate Health, …
Welcome to the new Foundry.org! Today, The Heritage Foundation is excited to re-launch The Foundry, the foremost conservative blog for public policy news. It was only 18 months ago that we introduced you to our former Foundry design. Since then, Washington policy debates have grown even more critical, and so has keeping you informed of their impacts. The face of digital news and media has also changed tremendously, and we are committed to ensuring that our product remains a pioneer among our peers.
Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT), ranking member on the Senate Finance Committee, outlined a comprehensive plan for reforming Medicaid yesterday at Heritage. Medicaid is a program for low-income Americans, one of the big three entitlements. Hatch’s vision corresponds with the wishes of more than two dozen Republican governors, who wrote him this week to express their desire for greater flexibility with Medicaid. Democrats, including 41 of Hatch’s Senate colleagues, have publicly voiced their opposition to any meaningful reforms to the program offered by Republicans. Before his Heritage speech, Hatch sat down …
As a member of European Parliament, Daniel Hannan has seen our future, and it isn’t pretty. The fiery British politician (and YouTube sensation) was at The Heritage Foundation last week to discuss his new book, “The New Road to Serfdom: A Letter of Warning to America” and to sound the alarm to Americans of the creeping European-style socialism that is gaining ground among our government. Before his lecture, he sat down with us to discuss his warning to America and made clear that the core principles undergirding Western democracies are under …
Anywhere else it would have been grounds for dismissal. But when J. Michael Bailey, Professor of Psychology at Northwestern University, allowed demonstrations with sex toys as a part of a course, he was immune to firing, let alone outside pressure, because he had tenure. That was just one of the examples author and former Wall Street Journal editor Naomi Schaefer Riley gave while discussing the problems of university tenure in her talk “The Faculty Lounges and Other Reasons Why You Won’t Get the College Education You Paid For,” held Wednesday …
