Policy Papers
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Health Care Policy Update: Taxing Health Insurance Makes It More Expensive
President Obama’s health care law imposes more than $1 trillion in new taxes on employers, manufacturers, and middle class families. According to the Joint Committee on Taxation (JCT), the law violates the President’s pledge not to raise taxes on families making less than $250,000 per year. The health care law’s tax hikes come as our nation’s fragile economy continues to struggle. The Congressional Budget Office predicts that unemployment will remain above seven percent... Continue Reading
March 6, 2013
The Sequester Begins
Last Friday, OMB released its sequestration report. The appendix details the cuts required to each budget account. The report does not detail cuts at the “program, project, and activity” (PPA) level as required by the Budget Control Act and the 1985 Gramm-Rudman-Hollings law. So the report does not resolve the question of how much discretion the Administration has in implementing the cuts. The report does detail the cuts at the account level and it also gives the percentage and... Continue Reading
March 5, 2013
Are Taxpayers Getting Their Money’s Worth?
The federal government has grown too big, too unaccountable, and too wasteful. The American people, the President, and independent evaluators have all put forward programs for termination, yet many of these programs continue on, with little action from Congress. The federal government will spend $31,000 per household this year, among the highest in American history, and $5,000 more than in 2008. The question has to be asked: are we getting our money’s... Continue Reading
March 5, 2013
Parade of Pinocchios
In less than one week, the Washington Post Fact Checker closely examined at least five statements from Obama Administration officials regarding the impact of sequestration. The Post concluded that four statements were completely misleading and the jury is still out on the fifth: At the end of last week, President Obama finally conceded that the sequester “is not going to be an apocalypse, I think, as some people have said.” Meanwhile, the American people are still waiting to find... Continue Reading
March 4, 2013
Caitlin Halligan’s Record of Activism
Last Congress, the Senate expressed its will and rejected the nomination of Caitlin Halligan to the United States Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia. This Congress, President Obama ignored the Senate’s advice and re-nominated Ms. Halligan. The Senate is expected to take up consideration of this nomination in the near future. Ms. Halligan’s well-documented record as a committed advocate of extreme positions suggests she would not be a fair and impartial... Continue Reading
March 1, 2013
Health Care Policy Update: Health Care Law’s Premium Bills Come Due
This week, The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, and U.S. News and World Report all noted that Americans – particularly young adults – should brace for very high health insurance premiums starting next year. Why? President Obama’s health care law. Recall that in 2009, while the health care battle raged in Congress, leading accounting and actuarial firms (Oliver Wyman, PriceWaterhouseCoopers, Hay Group, Milliman) released reports quantifying how much the President’s plan... Continue Reading
February 28, 2013
Obama Sequester Exacerbates Obama Defense Cuts
Democrat plans to reduce the deficit entail nothing more than cutting defense spending massively and enacting class warfare tax hikes on hardworking Americans. Defense Cuts Proposed Prior to Sequestration In its fiscal year 2012 budget request, the Department of Defense committed to cutting its own budget by $78 billion over the next five years. Two months later, President Obama announced his intention to seek an additional $400 billion in defense cuts over the next 12 years. In effect, the... Continue Reading
February 26, 2013
Anatomy of the Sequester
February 26, 2013
Too Much Waste in Washington
President Obama and Senate Democrats have been bewailing the effects of the $85 billion sequestration. What they have not done is offer a serious alternative in the four months since the President declared sequestration “will not happen.” Instead of moving the goalposts, they need to follow (not misinterpret) the law of what sequestration is: to cut spending (not increase taxes). For years, the President has paid lip service to cutting wasteful spending in Washington. But when it... Continue Reading
February 25, 2013
Fed Monetary Assistance Not Easing Soon
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke will provide Congress its biannual “Humphrey-Hawkins” monetary policy report tomorrow. The Fed continues to provide monetary assistance in part due to the President’s failed fiscal policies. For the first month of 2013, the Labor Department announced an increase in the unemployment rate to 7.9 percent. The national unemployment rate has been hovering around eight percent for more than a year now. All indications are there will be little to... Continue Reading
February 13, 2013
Questions for Treasury Secretary Nominee Lew
The Constitution requires the Senate consent to many senior executive branch nominations, which provides the Senate a fixed and critical point to review the President’s policies. Nominee Jack Lew has served as White House Chief of Staff and Office of Management and Budget Director in the Obama Administration. The Administration’s budget failures are well known. Here are a set of questions related to how Jack Lew, if confirmed as Secretary of the Treasury, might advise the President... Continue Reading
February 12, 2013
North Korea Continues to Test Obama’s World View
North Korea, in the form of an underground nuclear explosion today, presented another test to President Obama’s efforts to ratify the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) and his dream of a world without nuclear weapons. Early reports indicate the test is North Korea’s most powerful to date using the smallest device so far. Under President Obama’s watch, North Korea: Sank a warship of ally South Korea, causing the murder of the 46 sailors aboard. Conducted three separate tests... Continue Reading
February 12, 2013
Democrats’ Ideas on the Sequester: More Taxes
All indications are that Democrats will propose a sequester delay that is just more taxes on hardworking taxpayers. The tax increases buzzed about among Democrats in Congress and the White House so far include: Buffett Rule: $5.00 billion in first year Oil Tax Provisions: $4.75 billion in first year Carried Interest: $1.30... Continue Reading
February 12, 2013
SOTU: Another “Pivot to Jobs”
With a contracting economy and still high unemployment, the Obama Administration is leaking word that in his State of the Union address the President will “pivot to jobs.” This address needs to be different from the half-dozen or more times the President has claimed he would pivot back to jobs. He needs to follow up his speech with clear and constant leadership on the economy. In his first State of the Union, President Obama promised he was focused on jobs. He immediately lost focus... Continue Reading
February 6, 2013
Not “More than Halfway” to Fiscal Stability
Yesterday, the Congressional Budget Office released its 2013 Budget and Economic Outlook with a new budget baseline and economic forecasts. The CBO report makes it clear that meaningful entitlement reform is critical to restoring our nation’s long-term fiscal health. The President has said that we are “more than halfway” to the amount of deficit reduction we need. CBO’s 10-year projections show this is not the case. Even though discretionary spending cuts and revenue... Continue Reading
February 6, 2013
Questions for CIA Nominee Brennan
John Brennan currently serves as President Obama’s lead adviser for counterterrorism and homeland security. Prior to that, he was a 25-year veteran of the Central Intelligence Agency, the agency he has now been nominated to lead. Below are questions concerning intelligence matters relevant to his nomination. Alien Terrorists Deprived of Liberty Receive Greater Rights than Citizen Terrorists Deprived of Life Then-Senator Obama consistently held the position that alien al Qaeda terrorists... Continue Reading
February 1, 2013
Income Tax Hits 100
“The difference between death and taxes is death doesn't get worse every time Congress meets.” – Will Rogers On February 3, 2013, the 16th Amendment – authorizing the federal income tax – will celebrate its 100th birthday. Talk of tax reform has increased in recent years, and there is hope that this centennial could finally be the year our tax code is made simpler, flatter, and easier. Brief History of the U.S. Tax System The Articles of Confederation The Articles... Continue Reading
February 1, 2013
January 2013 Unemployment Report
January 2013 Unemployment Rate: 7.9 percent Unemployed Americans: 12.3 million “Real” Unemployment The “real” unemployment or U-6 rate is 14.4 percent for January 2013. This is the total percentage of unemployed and underemployed workers. The “real” number of unemployed Americans is 22.7 million. These are people who are unemployed (12.3... Continue Reading
January 30, 2013
Global Zero Questions for Chuck Hagel
According to its web site, the Global Zero movement advocates the elimination of nuclear weapons. In furtherance of that goal, Senator Hagel and others issued a report last year for this organization proposing a U.S. nuclear force posture and policy for the 21st century. This past Monday, his co-authors on that report issued a press release purporting to set “the record straight on Chuck Hagel’s global zero position on nuclear weapons.” That press release raises more questions... Continue Reading
January 30, 2013
Needed: Economic Security and Opportunity
Today we learned the U.S. economy has turned negative for the first time in 3 ½ years. Real GDP in the fourth quarter of 2012 contracted at an annualized rate of 0.1 percent. The economy for all of 2012 grew at only 1.5 percent (fourth quarter to fourth quarter). With this negative quarter, down sharply from growth of 3.1 percent last quarter, the U.S. is in danger of slipping back into recession. Republicans are offering pro-growth solutions. Meanwhile Democrats are doubling down on tax... Continue Reading