Policy Papers
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Supreme Court Update
Today the Supreme Court begins a new term. With 53 cases currently on the docket, and many more expected to be heard this term, the Court will take up questions ranging from the First Amendment to the Senate’s role in the appointment process. Campaign Finance Today, in McCutcheon v. FEC, the Court will consider the constitutionality of contribution limits that a person can make during a two-year political cycle. Under current law, the contribution limit is $48,600 to all candidate... Continue Reading
October 1, 2013
Obama Must Accept Debt Limit Reforms
Congress will begin debate this month on the President’s sixth debt limit increase in his five years in office. The need to strengthen and secure entitlement programs for the future is greater than ever. Instead of refusing to negotiate, the President should accept that our country can no longer avoid a bipartisan agreement to reform entitlements. If he is unwilling to seriously deal with our country’s debt, Congress is left with little choice but to use the debt limit to force him... Continue Reading
October 1, 2013
Reid Ran the Clock, Shutting Down Government
It is now 11 days since the Republican-led House of Representatives passed a bill to keep the government open. Since that time, Harry Reid’s Democrat-led Senate has been running the clock on passing a continuing resolution. This is an emergency, yet Senate Democrats are showing no urgency in passing a compromise bill that would keep the government open. Continue Reading
September 26, 2013
Arms Control: Questions for Rose Gottemoeller
Today the Senate Foreign Relations Committee will hold a hearing on the nomination of Rose Gottemoeller to be the Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security. Ms. Gottemoeller currently serves as the Assistant Secretary of State for Arms Control, Verification, and Compliance. She was the lead negotiator of New START. Senators and the American people should expect her to answer some important questions. Future Arms Control With Russia: A Treaty on... Continue Reading
September 26, 2013
Obamacare Limits Patient Choice and Coverage
President Obama and Washington Democrats first sold their health care law as the best way to reduce the cost of care. When it became clear that many people would see huge price increases for insurance, the Administration changed its sales pitch. Prices might not be lower, but the coverage would be better. It turns out, the revised story is no more true than the original one. In an effort to keep premium costs down and increase consumer plan options in the government exchanges, insurers... Continue Reading
September 24, 2013
Obamacare Exchange Opens Door to Fraud and Identity Theft
“Fraudsters are poised to take advantage of widespread confusion over the Affordable Care Act – also known as Obamacare – to steal Americans’ credit cards, Social Security numbers and other personal information.” -- McClatchy Newspapers, 7/21/2013 The Obamacare Exchange Monster Graphic source: Citizen's Council for Health Freedom The insurance exchanges created by the Democrats’ health care law are scheduled to open in just one week. So far, implementation... Continue Reading
September 23, 2013
FCC’s Dishonest “Net Neutrality” Regulations
In December 2010, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), on a 3-2 party line vote, adopted its Open Internet Order – often referred to as the “net neutrality” rules – that reversed the longstanding policy choice to leave the Internet unregulated. The misguided decision subjects Internet providers to heavy-handed regulations. Proponents of the rule claim it is needed to protect consumers, promote innovation, and ensure the Internet continues to flourish. The... Continue Reading
September 19, 2013
Obamacare Exchange Opens Door to Identity Theft
In just 12 days, Obamacare’s health insurance exchanges open for enrollment. When people use an exchange to apply for health insurance, they will have to provide sensitive personal data – such as Social Security numbers, household income, and other tax return information – which is then entered into a Federal Data Services Hub. Unfortunately, recent news has called into question how good the Data Hub, and other parts of the Obamacare system, will be at protecting this private... Continue Reading
September 19, 2013
On Syria: “There are a lot, a lot, a lot of details that still have to be sorted through”
The United States and Russia, without any participation from Syria, have agreed to a framework purporting to lead to the destruction of Syria’s chemical weapons program. The agreement is essentially a proposal for a decision to be adopted by the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) Executive Council, which would then be put into effect by a U.N. Security Council Resolution. It is a decision requiring Syria to comprehensively declare within one week its entire... Continue Reading
September 18, 2013
CBO Warns Again on Debt, Democrats Silent
This week the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) released its annual report on the nation’s long-term fiscal outlook. Washington Democrats should learn some key lessons from the report. Debt Unsustainable, Despite Democrat’s Tax Increases CBO assumes that revenue reaches 18.5 percent of GDP in 2023 and continues to rise to 19.7 percent in 2038. This may be overly optimistic, as average revenue over the past 40 years has been 17.4 percent of GDP; and during that time period revenues... Continue Reading
September 17, 2013
Five Years Later: Obama Still Making Excuses on Keystone XL
TransCanada submitted its application for a permit to build the Keystone XL pipeline on September 19, 2008. Five years later, President Obama still grasps for excuses to reject it. In June, the President raised the bar for the application when he announced the “net effects of the pipeline’s impact on our climate will be absolutely critical” in determining whether he would approve it. In July, he sneered at the jobs the pipeline would create as a “blip relative to the... Continue Reading
September 17, 2013
Stacking the D.C. Circuit
Majority Leader Reid has made clear his designs to switch the majority of judges on the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. The dwindling caseload on the D.C. Circuit, however, does not warrant the confirmation of more judges to that court. So why the insistence on adding judges to a court that doesn’t need it? Simple: President Obama and his political allies do not like many of the recent decisions handed down by the court, and they recognize that changing the majority of... Continue Reading
September 12, 2013
Barrasso: Obamacare Continues to Hit Middle Class Americans
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) talked about how the President’s health care law is hurting the middle class by making it harder for Americans to find full-time work and increasing health insurance costs for families across the country. Excerpts of his remarks: “I come to the floor today to talk about a new CNN poll. And the CNN poll came out yesterday that said that support for the President's health care law appears to be waning.... Continue Reading
September 12, 2013
CRS: Administration Hasn’t Met HALF Its Mandated Obamacare Deadlines
While the Obama Administration insists its health care law’s implementation is on track, a previously unreleased Congressional Research Service (CRS) analysis raises questions. The CRS memo, dated June 5, 2013, is the third in a series of reports reviewing the Administration’s compliance with Obamacare’s statutory deadlines. CRS’s review cataloged the Administration’s missed deadlines during the first three years of the health care law’s implementation. As of... Continue Reading
September 10, 2013
In Obama’s Economy, More Americans Give Up
The August jobs report shows the economy below where we should be four years after the end of the recession. While the national unemployment rate fell slightly to 7.3 percent for August, the decrease is primarily because 312,000 people stopped looking for work. Labor Force Participation The labor force participation rate is 63.2 percent, down 0.2 from July, and the lowest rate in 35 years. Last month, 312,000 Americans left the labor force. The participation rate last month... Continue Reading
September 10, 2013
Policy by the Numbers
The key number last week was 312,000. According to the August jobs report, 312,000 workers left the labor force last month. This resulted in a labor force participation rate of 63.2 percent, the lowest in 35 years. Other recent numbers that also have major policy implications: Continue Reading
September 10, 2013
The Obamacare Hits Just Keep on Coming
The Obama Administration continues to promise the insurance exchanges created by his health care law will be operational just three weeks from today – on October 1. The White House and its outside political arm plan to spend millions of dollars advertising and promoting its unworkable and unaffordable law. Last week they enlisted President Clinton as “Explainer in Chief.” But even one of the law’s supporters noted that “like everybody else who tries to simplify what... Continue Reading
September 6, 2013
August 2013 Unemployment Report
August 2013 Unemployment Rate: 7.3 percent Unemployed Americans: 11.3 million “Real” Unemployment The “real” unemployment or U-6 rate is 13.7 percent for August 2013, a decrease of 0.3 percentage points. This is the total percentage of unemployed and underemployed workers. The “real” number of unemployed Americans is 21.5 million. These are people who are... Continue Reading
August 19, 2013
ICYMI: Obamacare’s Drumbeat of Bad News
The implementation clock keeps ticking for the President’s health care law (t-minus 43 days and counting), and the law’s problems keep piling up. A Washington Post-ABC News poll revealed that even moderate Democrats are steadily and increasingly turning against President Obama’s health care law. The U.S. Government Accountability Office predicts the Administration’s missed deadlines and program delays show potential for “implementation challenges going... Continue Reading
August 9, 2013
Five National Security Questions for President Obama
President Obama is scheduled to have a press conference at 3PM today. Here are five questions on national security he should address: Debt: Mr. President, earlier this year you said “we don’t have an immediate crisis in terms of debt.” On the other hand, when Admiral Mike Mullen was the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, he said our national debt is the greatest threat to our national security. Even with sequester in place, the deficits of your budgets are still... Continue Reading