Policy Papers
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Obama’s $4.5 Trillion Tax Hike
Unless President Obama changes course, one-quarter of all job creators will see their income taxes increase in 2013. In an economy like this, we can’t afford to raise taxes on anyone—especially not on small businesses and America’s job creators. Income Taxes Go Up $4.5 Trillion Next Year Total scheduled individual income tax increases are $4.5 trillion over 10 years. Under the Obama tax hike plan, a typical family of four earning $50,000 will send an extra $2,000 to Washington... Continue Reading
April 16, 2012
Buffett Tax Doesn’t Add Up:
April 13, 2012
Another Budget Deadline Comes and Goes Under Democrats
Democrats have gone a record three years in a row with no budget. They last passed a budget in 2009 so that they could pass the President’s health care law through reconciliation. April 15th is the Legal Deadline for Passing a Final Budget Resolution • Sadly, Congress has failed to pass a final budget resolution by the legal deadline three times since Democrats won the majority in 2007 (for fiscal years 2011, 2012, and 2013). • In addition to not bringing up their own proposal... Continue Reading
April 12, 2012
Buffett Tax and Distract
As tax day approaches, President Obama and Senate Democrats want Americans to send even more money to Washington to pay for their spending binge. Instead of passing a budget or cutting spending, they are proposing the Buffett Tax. This new tax proposal won’t create a single job, ease the pain at the pump or reduce the debt. Buffett Tax is a Stunt The Buffett Tax is a purely political stunt. Since the Senate Democrats’ bill creating the new tax would affect revenue, it is also... Continue Reading
April 6, 2012
March 2012 Unemployment Report
March 2012 Unemployment Rate: 8.2 percent Unemployed Americans: 12.7 million Employment The Department of Labor reported an unemployment rate of 8.2 percent for March 2012, down 0.1 percent from February, and an increase of 120,000 nonfarm jobs. Most of the new jobs were professional and business services, leisure and hospitality, manufacturing, financial services, and health care positions. This makes 38 straight months under President Obama with unemployment over 8 percent. The... Continue Reading
March 29, 2012
EPA’s Red Tape on GHG Begins
In 2008, then-Senator Obama said, “if somebody wants to build a coal plant, they can - it's just that it will bankrupt them, because they are going to be charged a huge sum for all that greenhouse gas that's being emitted.” This week, President Obama’ Environmental Protection Agency continued to make energy more expensive for families by proposing the first-ever national standards to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from new power plants. The new requirements will,... Continue Reading
March 28, 2012
Fact: Raising Taxes Won’t Lower Gas Prices
On Monday the Senate voted to proceed to S. 2204, a bill that would repeal tax incentives available to American oil and gas companies. As gas prices reached $3.92 per gallon this week, this is the only energy-related bill Democrats have brought to the Senate floor. It is yet another demonstration that the Democrats have no energy policy. Democrats Do Not Have an Energy Policy Raising taxes on oil producers will not lower gas prices. Neither will any of the other measures proposed or implemented... Continue Reading
March 27, 2012
April 1st is No Joke for U.S. Workers
April 1st – U.S. Corporate Tax Rate Becomes the World’s Highest The United States has not lowered its corporate income tax rate in more than a quarter of a century – since the Tax Reform Act of 1986. After that Act, the United States had the sixth-lowest corporate income tax rate in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. Since then, the rest of the world has realized the negative consequences of high corporate income tax rates and gradually lowered... Continue Reading
March 26, 2012
Question and Answer: Medicare and the House Budget
This week the U.S. House of Representatives will consider its Fiscal Year 2013 budget resolution authored by House Budget Chairman Paul Ryan. Instead of proposing their own budget, which has not been done in more than three and a half years, Democrats are playing politics. One such claim is that the House budget would “end Medicare.” This claim is flatly untrue. Does the House budget preserve Medicare? Yes. In fact, Politifact termed the claim that the House budget would “end... Continue Reading
March 23, 2012
Obama’s Red Tape Problem
The president’s bureaucracy has ignored his executive orders to reduce red tape. The number of economically significant regulations and their costs has increased, while promises of regulatory relief have gone largely unfulfilled. White House Claim #1: Fewer Regulations President Obama did issue fewer regulations in his first three years than President Bush did in his first three years. But that does not tell the full story. During his first three years, President Obama finalized 230... Continue Reading
March 20, 2012
Drs Coburn & Barrasso Release New Health Care Report on “Side Effects” of the President’s Health Care Law
(WASHINGTON, D.C.) – U.S. Senators and doctors Tom Coburn (R-OK) and John Barrasso (R-WY) today released a report examining the impact and providing new conclusions about the consequences of the President’s health care law, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. The report titled, “Warning: Side Effects, A Check-Up on the Federal Health Law”, is their third oversight report since the enactment of the federal health law, two years ago. Drs. Coburn and Barrasso... Continue Reading
March 20, 2012
Supreme Court Takes Up the Health Care Law
Beginning Monday, March 26, the Supreme Court will hear six hours of oral arguments over three days on key components of the Affordable Care Act (ACA). The case comes almost two years to the day after President Obama signed the legislation into law. While there have been nearly 30 different legal challenges to various aspects of the ACA, the Supreme Court has agreed to hear arguments on four issues that are closely related to Congress’s constitutional authority to enact the... Continue Reading
March 20, 2012
Running on Empty
Instead of proposing an “all of the above” energy plan, President Obama continues to deliver speeches full of excuses about rising gas prices. From his “Energy Blueprint” to his “Energy Agenda,” the president consistently distorts the facts and misleads the public. This week, President Obama will deliver four more big speeches about rising gas prices. You can expect to hear his same old energy claims over and over. Meanwhile, gas prices continue to rise, and... Continue Reading
March 20, 2012
Path to Prosperity vs. Obama Downgrade
House Republicans today released their FY 2013 budget blueprint. Below are highlights. Fiscal Stats Spending • FY 2013 total spending o House budget: $3.5 trillion o Obama budget: $3.7 trillion • FY 2013 discretionary o House budget: $1.028 trillion o Obama budget: $1.047 trillion • FY 2013 – 2022 total spending o House budget: $40.1 trillion o Obama budget: $45.4 trillion • FY 2013 – 2022 discretionary o House budget: $11.2 trillion o... Continue Reading
March 16, 2012
Red Tape Review 031612
Regulations by the Numbers for 2012: 423 Days: Since the President’s Executive Order on Regulations 250 Days: Since the President’s Executive Order on Regulations for Independent Agencies 0 Rules: Economically significant rules repealed this year 176 Rules: Regulations deemed significant under Executive Order 12866 $26.3B:... Continue Reading
March 16, 2012
Obama Budget Means Trillions in New Debt, Deficits, and Spending
The Congressional Budget Office released today its estimate of the president’s fiscal year 2013 budget. The United States will record a deficit of more than $1 trillion for every year of Obama’s first term. The CBO estimate confirms what we already knew: the president’s budget is bad for jobs, bad for seniors, and bad for the economy. Debt: $16 trillion at the end of fiscal year 2012 Deficits: $3.5 trillion more in deficits over current law Spending: $1.2 trillion more spending... Continue Reading
March 15, 2012
Obama Intentionally Distorts Facts on Gas Prices
President Obama continues to talk about his energy “blueprint.” The following is an analysis of how his statements don’t match up with the reality of his policies. • Claim #1: America only has 2 percent of the world’s oil reserves. Truth is proven and undiscovered oil resources total seven times that amount. • Claim #2: An “all-of-the-above” energy strategy. Truth is the president’s policies are hostile to low-cost domestic fuels,... Continue Reading
March 14, 2012
Obama’s False Predictions on the Economy
President Obama has repeatedly promised that his break-the-bank policies will deliver more good-paying jobs and robust economic growth. His policies consistently fail to meet his predictions. Instead of changing direction, the president doubles down with more taxpayer-funded projects and says that this time it will be different. America Needs Stronger Growth Last year the American economy grew by a disappointing 1.7 percent. President Obama has predicted four percent GDP growth three different... Continue Reading
March 13, 2012
Senate Democrats Wrong on Judges
Unprecedented Maneuvering on Judges Yesterday, Senate Majority Leader Reid made an unprecedented maneuver to jam the minority and their constituents by filing cloture petitions on 17 nominees for lifetime judicial positions. Despite Democrats’ complaints about Republican treatment of President Obama’s judicial nominees, any way you look at it, President Obama’s nominees are being treated just as well as President Bush’s. President Obama already has more lower court... Continue Reading
March 13, 2012
Health Care Law FAILS Patients, Doctors, and Taxpayers
Two years ago, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi famously said Congress had to pass President Obama’s health care bill to find out what is in it. Now, we know what’s in this law and how it clearly breaks the President’s promises to the American people. Broken Promise #1: “If you like your plan, you can keep it” Candidate Obama promised “[y]ou will not have to change plans. For those who have insurance now, nothing will change under the Obama plan... Continue Reading