Entries for 'Heritage Foundation'

...federal health experts told them via email that CLASS would result in an "insurance death spiral." Congress passed it anyway.... 

President Obama proposes to pay for his $447 billion jobs bill mainly by limiting tax deductions for wealthy Americans. Unfortunately, if enacted, this policy will likely dampen charitable giving....

The President's words yesterday come after nearly three years of being weak on Israel, failing to condemn those who threaten the country's existence, and failing to draw a distinction between a freedom-loving nation and those who seek to wipe it off the map.

The Obama Administration is smack in the middle of several growing scandals: the Operation Fast and Furious gun-running debacle and the crony capitalism wrongdoing involving Solyndra and LightSquared.

Two years ago, as the United States was coming out of the last recession, President Obama was asked how raising taxes on anyone would help with the economy. The President's answer? "Normally you don't raise taxes in a recession, which is why we haven't, and why we've instead cut taxes."

It's a "glut the beast" strategy the President has employed before--increase spending as much as possible, and then argue that the only answer to the massive deficits is to increase taxes.

"[W]e can see the positive impacts [of the stimulus] right here at Solyndra." -- Barack Obama

It's been one week since President Barack Obama announced his latest "stimulus" plan, and despite a cross-country road show aimed at selling his proposals to the American people, the commander in chief is finding that his message of more taxes and spending isn't hitting home.

While opinions about America's post–9/11 policies come and go, facts remain: The U.S. has thwarted 40 terrorist plots through an aggressive and prioritized plan of offense to protect America. That is not a plan to abandon now, in an age of increasingly high-tech terrorism.

What President Obama didn't tell America as he was pleading for more spending--and what the Census Bureau didn't report--is what it really means to be poor in America.

Heritage’s Preserve the Constitution Series will feature the nation’s most respected judges, legal scholars, and policy analysts as they discuss how to combat these attacks on the rule of law and the Constitution.

Thanks to important policies put into place after 9/11, America has been able to thwart at least 41 publicly known terrorist attacks....

...last night in a speech to a joint session of Congress, the President demanded that it spend another $450 billion on more of the same "stimulus" that has left America with zero job growth and continued economic stagnation.

 The good news is that there is another way, and there are things the President can do to pave the way for businesses to create new jobs.

... the four major measures Obama has taken to prevent job growth in America ....

... for many on the left, it's the only way they can think of to get the economy moving again, and they think some sort of new New Deal should be included in President Obama’s much-touted jobs speech on Thursday....

For 14 million unemployed Americans and their families, this Labor Day will not be a happy one....

... for the first time since 1945, no new jobs were created—Zero....

...four federal agencies known as the Interagency Working Group (IWG) have delivered a plan to drastically censor food advertisers with products deemed to be “too high” in sodium, sugar, or fat that cater to any viewing audience between the ages of two and 11. These advertisers would lose key slots during some of America’s most popular shows, like American Idol, America’s Got Talent, and Glee....

A U.S. government gun-trafficking investigation gone horribly wrong has resulted in the death of a U.S. Border Patrol officer, some 2,000 firearms in the hands of criminals, and the dismissal of a 24-year veteran law enforcement official. This is the story of Fast and Furious....

Sometime next week—we don't quite know when—President Barack Obama is due to announce his latest jobs plan ....

...Since September 11, 2001, at least 40 Islamist-inspired terror plots aimed at the United States have been thwarted....

As the effects of the storm continue with "epic" flooding being reported in Vermont, pundits and politicians alike are already calculating its implications on government policy....

...Americans' confidence in the economy is sitting at its lowest point since March 2009, and in every state in the country, a vast majority of Americans see the economy as getting worse. Meanwhile, the number of people claiming new jobless benefits rose again last week....

...the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is becoming distracted by responding to routine natural disasters instead of preparing for catastrophic natural disasters such as hurricanes, earthquakes, and volcanic eruptions....

On Friday, the NY Times printed a harsh assessment of the state of the "green" economy—including a conclusion that the President's promise to create five million green jobs over 10 years has proven to be nothing more than "a pipe dream"....

The Administration’s short-sighted effort to score a quick and easy military victory over Qadhafi’s regime failed to end the threat to civilians in “days not weeks,” as President Barack Obama promised. The administration now must scramble to develop and implement a long term strategy for a post-Qadhafi Libya.

...as NASA sends its shuttles to museums, China is making great strides in its space program—with preparations under way for the launch of a Chinese spacelab in the next few weeks....

We must remember how we stood as a nation with a shared purpose and intensity on September 12, 2001 and in the days following. That collective and eternal vigilance is still essential. Never quit.

Yesterday, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta held a joint press event in Washington in which they cautioned that U.S. debt is jeopardizing America's ability to ensure national security and preserve its interests abroad.

The President's tour began yesterday in Cannon Falls, Minnesota, where in one breath he pointed his finger at Washington's broken politics and in the next he blamed "a string of bad luck ... "

With its ruling, the court affirmed the principle that the Constitution means what it says—Congress does not have unfettered power to force the American people to comply with any and all dictates it creates.

In the 1993 comedy Dave, a small-town presidential impersonator is called on to pretend to be the actual President of the United States when the commander in chief takes ill. Dave steps into the White House, takes his new role too far, and with wide-eyed innocence promises America, "I'm initiating a program to try to find a decent job for every American who wants one."

This afternoon, a three-judge panel of the U.S. Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta ruled that the individual mandate in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), more commonly known as Obamacare, is unconstitutional.

First, the electromagnetic shock can disrupt electrical devices. The second effect is similar to lightning—a power surge that would burn circuits and immobilize electronic components and systems. The third is a pulse effect that flows through electricity trans­mission lines, damaging distribution centers and fusing power lines.

Yesterday in Wisconsin, Democrats tried to recall six GOP senators in an attempt to gain a foothold in the state's legislature—they lost in four of the races, failing to regain a majority in the state senate. Those losses came despite a $14 million effort waged by unions and liberal groups from across the country, including the AFL-CIO, UAW, AFSCME, MoveOn.org, Teamsters, UFCW, NEA, SEIU, and People for the American Way.

"With the new school year fast approaching and still no bill to reform the federal education law known as No Child Left Behind, the Obama administration will provide a process for states to seek relief from key provisions of the law, provided that they are willing to embrace education reform."

...the spending reductions in the deal negotiated by President Obama to raise the debt ceiling were inadequate, and S&P reacted as we predicted....

At yesterday's press briefing, White House spokesman Jay Carney admitted: "The White House does not create jobs." As the Examiner's senior political columnist Timothy P. Carney (no relation) later noted, conservatives should greet this statement as "a true and long-awaited admission of government's limits."

Americans are paying more for gasoline today than they were six weeks ago when President Obama released 30 million barrels of oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. In the Gulf of Mexico, meanwhile, 10 drilling rigs -- more than one-third of the fleet -- have left on Obama’s watch.

This incomprehensible energy policy is not only costing Americans more money at the pump. Bureaucratic delays in Washington are also stunting job growth and adding to the budget deficit.

Americans are disappointed. They are disappointed that the debate over our debt limit was about the needs of politicians instead of the needs of the country. They are disappointed with a broken government that refuses to fix itself. And they are disappointed that the Budget Control Act that passed the House last night and is likely to pass the Senate today does not make the transformative changes this nation requires. 

 Put the security of the nation at risk or raise taxes. This is the sour "deal" liberal lawmakers are offering in exchange for insufficient spending cuts, according to reports of this weekend's debt negotiations in Washington....

Even if the Boehner bill passed and became law, America would continue its downward spiral into a fiscal abyss with no end in sight....

Say goodbye to cars and trucks as you know them. Say hello to a brave new future ushered in by the Environmental Protection Agency. It's one where the federal government reshapes a major U.S. industry by administrative fiat, all in pursuit of a policy goal that will cost money, jobs, and lives—all to satisfy the left's environmentalist factions while dishing out taxpayer dollars to an Obama-favored unionized industry.

Do you heat your home? Light your rooms? Buy and cook food? Watch TV? If the answer is "yes," then you've fallen under federal regulation. And you're paying for it, too. Gattuso and Katz explain how every product imaginable costs more because of regulations....

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D–NV) introduced legislation to raise the debt ceiling this week. In evaluating his plans for future government spending, it becomes clear that budgeting for prudent defense is considered just another line item.

Americans tuning in last night to watch President Barack Obama's primetime address from the East Room of the White House might have thought they stumbled upon yet another re-run from the networks.

 [T]here's a certain element of waiting for the markets to weigh in and show Congress that they have to get serious here...You see the Administration almost kind of, almost daring the markets to respond, yesterday saying that the Congress had to act by 4:00 yesterday afternoon before the Asian markets started to open.

Yesterday marked the first anniversary of the Dodd Frank Wall Street Reform and Protection Act, Obamacare is just over one year old, it has been more than 800 days since the Democrat-controlled Senate passed a budget, and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau opened its doors on Thursday--the first new federal agency in nearly a decade. You'll notice that no one is celebrating any of them.

On one side are those who have come to realize it would be madness to let the political class borrow more without imposing a serious check on government spending. They have produced budgets and now an actual legislative plan to get things under control.

On the other, you find those who consider more spending, taxing, and borrowing a royal prerogative. They have produced nothing but rhetoric and empty promises and have pushed this debate to the brink.