Policy Papers
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September 2014 Unemployment Report
Unemployment Rate: 5.9 percent Unemployed Americans: 9.3 million Employment and Unemployment The Department of Labor reported an unemployment rate of 5.9 percent for September 2014, a decrease of 0.2 percentage point. It reported an increase of 248,000 nonfarm jobs over last month. Employment for July was revised upward from 212,000 to 243,000 jobs created, and August was revised up... Continue Reading
September 23, 2014
113th Congress: Leader Reid and the Broken Senate
The majority leader continues to fill the tree … to block roll call votes on hundreds of amendments ... while committees have been locked out Number of times Rule 14 has been used to bypass committees Continue Reading
September 23, 2014
Obamacare Unleashes IRS on Americans
This paper has been updated to reflect the instructions IRS released last week for draft IRS Form 8962 and draft IRS Form 8965. Over the past month, the IRS released drafts of seven new tax forms it will use to monitor Americans’ compliance with Obamacare’s individual and employer mandates, as well as the law’s complicated subsidy scheme. Together, these forms take 13 pages and contain 206 lines for entries. Instructions for these forms make up another 46 pages. Even many of... Continue Reading
September 17, 2014
GAO: HealthCare.gov Still a Security Risk
Yesterday, the non-partisan Government Accountability Office released a report detailing ongoing problems with the security of HealthCare.gov. Moreover, GAO accused the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services of accepting significant security risks when it allowed the website to launch on October 1, 2013. Following the hack of HealthCare.gov in July in which malicious software was installed within the website’s network and went undetected for over a month, the GAO report highlights... Continue Reading
September 16, 2014
Five Ways Obamacare Is Failing Families
To pass their health care law, the president and congressional Democrats promised to lower premiums, promised that people would be able to keep their insurance and doctor, and promised that the law would not increase Washington’s deficits. We now know that these promises to Americans were made just to pass the law, and all have been broken. Rather than deal with any of the law’s problems this Congress, Senate Democrats ignored all attempts at bipartisanship while Americans struggled... Continue Reading
September 16, 2014
Five Ways Obamacare Is Failing Families
To pass their health care law, the president and congressional Democrats promised to lower premiums, promised that people would be able to keep their insurance and doctor, and promised that the law would not increase Washington’s deficits. We now know that these promises to Americans were made just to pass the law, and all have been broken. Rather than deal with any of the law’s problems this Congress, Senate Democrats ignored all attempts at bipartisanship while Americans struggled... Continue Reading
September 12, 2014
Obama ISIS Strategy Speech: Good, Bad, and Ugly
On the eve of the remembrance of the September 11, 2001, attacks, President Obama described to the nation his plan to address the threat of the Islamist terrorist group ISIS. This group emerged as a direct consequence of the president’s decision to withdraw from Iraq and, as the Washington Post said on Wednesday, his “failure to come to grips” with the Syrian conflict. Good: A proper framing of the threat and a stated objective to destroy it There were commendable elements of... Continue Reading
September 12, 2014
Obamacare’s War on Work and Wages
The Labor Department confirmed last Friday that more than five years after the recession ended, the labor force participation rate continues to collapse. It sits at 62.8 percent, near its 36-year low and down 0.5 percentage point from this time last year. This news follows a gloomy assessment by the Congressional Budget Office late last month that projected the rate will continue to plummet – to 61.5 percent in 2021. CBO was much more optimistic in 2011. Back then it expected that the... Continue Reading
September 12, 2014
American Energy Underwrites Foreign Policy
As President Obama noted in his prime-time address on Wednesday, America continues to face grave threats around the world. A comprehensive response to those threats – in the Middle East, Eastern Europe, and other unstable regions – should incorporate America’s abundant fossil energy resources. The Obama administration has focused too much of its foreign policy attention on more dubious priorities like climate change, which it blames on carbon emissions from burning fossil... Continue Reading
September 9, 2014
September 2014 Policy Calendar
September 9, 2014
Jobs Report Disappoints
In the face of a disappointing jobs report last Friday, the Obama administration tried to spin the “progress” our economy has made since the recession ended more than five years ago. Any reasonable look at the data shows that our economy continues to lag and millions of Americans are still struggling to find work. Employment and Unemployment The Department of Labor reported an unemployment rate of 6.1 percent for August 2014, a decrease of 0.1 percentage point. It reported an... Continue Reading
September 9, 2014
A Strategy to Respond to ISIS
It has been more than three years since President Obama called on Syrian President Assad “to step aside.” It has been more than two years since then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said it was only “a matter of time” before the Assad regime fell. Because they did not back up those words by supporting the moderate opposition in Syria in a meaningful way, many in the region have thrown their support to the ISIS terrorist group. President Obama has said, “our... Continue Reading
September 9, 2014
Obamacare Keeps Getting Worse
With cringe-worthy memories of the disastrous launch of the Obamacare exchanges a year ago, the Obama administration is trying to delay another catastrophe until after this fall’s elections. That has done nothing to stop the tide of painful headlines and bad news. Here are 10 things we learned about the president’s health care law over the past month. 1. Premiums Are Increasing As key Obamacare mandates and regulations took effect, insurance premiums went up dramatically for millions... Continue Reading
September 5, 2014
August 2014 Jobs Report
Unemployment Rate: 6.1 percent Unemployed Americans: 9.6 million Employment and Unemployment The Department of Labor reported an unemployment rate of 6.1 percent for August 2014, a decrease of 0.1 percentage point. It reported an increase of 142,000 nonfarm jobs over last month. Employment for June was revised down from 298,000 to 267,000 jobs created, and July was revised up from 209,000 to 212,000. Economists surveyed by the Wall Street Journal had anticipated job growth... Continue Reading
August 15, 2014
Obama’s Iraq Withdrawal Decision
Iraq has become a strategic and humanitarian disaster on President Obama’s watch. So he has led his administration and his surrogates in trying to revise the history of how this came to pass. It was obvious from the 2008 campaign that he intended to withdraw all U.S. troops from Iraq based on a political timeline instead of conditions on the ground – and without any regard for the consequences of such an action. Those consequences include an Islamist terrorist group that has taken... Continue Reading
August 1, 2014
July 2014 Unemployment Report
Unemployment Rate: 6.2 percent Unemployed Americans: 9.7 million Employment and Unemployment The Department of Labor reported an unemployment rate of 6.2percent for July 2014, an increase of 0.1 percentage point. It reported an increase of 209,000 nonfarm jobs over last month. Economists surveyed anticipated job growth of 230,000. Employment for June was revised up from 288,000 to 298,000... Continue Reading
July 29, 2014
Waiting for Senator Reid: Bipartisan Jobs Bills
Here are 10 bills – passed by clear, bipartisan majorities in the House of Representatives – that will create jobs while strengthening our energy security, improving health care, cutting red tape, and making government smarter. Despite President Obama’s false claims, it is Majority Leader Reid and Senate Democrats who have refused votes on jobs bills. Energy Northern Route Approval Act (H.R. 3) approves the Keystone XL pipeline, as well as the thousands of jobs that... Continue Reading
July 29, 2014
Republican Solutions: Technology
Technology policy needs a refresh under Majority Leader Reid. Senate Democrats have failed to find common ground on updating a number of laws that have become obsolete in the wake of technological advances. These include the Electronic Communications Privacy Act of 1986; the Telecommunications Act of 1996; and other statutes and regulations governing intellectual property, cybersecurity, the corporate tax code, access to the best workers, free and fair trade, the use and availability of licensed... Continue Reading
July 29, 2014
Medicare and Social Security in Trouble
Yesterday the trustees for Medicare and Social Security released reports outlining the finances of these two programs that made up 41 percent of all federal spending in 2013. The trustees’ findings reveal a bleak outlook. As with every other report on the long-term budgetary health of our nation, they show the need to stop delaying and to start strengthening these programs. Social Security Social Security Trust Funds Go Broke Combined OASDI trust funds The disability and old age trust... Continue Reading
July 22, 2014
Democrats’ Electricity Tax: All Pain, No Gain
Tomorrow, the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee will hear testimony from Gina McCarthy, administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, regarding the regulation at the center of President Obama’s agenda to impose an electricity tax on the American people. Last month, the administration proposed a rule that requires states to severely restrict carbon emissions from existing power plants, radically curtailing coal’s share of electricity generation. It offers states... Continue Reading