Policy Papers
Democrats’ National Energy Tax: Costing Jobs and Squeezing the Middle-Class
Today, the Obama administration unveiled the centerpiece of its agenda to impose a national energy tax on the American people. The administration will require states to severely restrict carbon emissions from existing power plants, radically curtailing coal’s share of electricity generation. This will raise energy prices, undermine electric reliability, and destroy jobs – effectively slamming the brakes on the American economy. U.S. share of world carbon emissions plummets,... Continue Reading
May 22, 2014
Obamacare Contractor Under Fire
Taxpayers footed the expensive bill for an Obamacare federal exchange contractor. They should want their money back. On May 12, 2014, KMOV in St. Louis broadcast an alarming report that Serco – a company that the Department of Health and Human Services hired to process paper applications through the federal exchange – is actually paying its employees not to work. An anonymous Serco whistleblower, employed at the company’s Wentzville, Missouri, processing facility, claimed that... Continue Reading
May 21, 2014
Republican Solutions: Energy
The Senate has not passed an energy bill since the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007. In the intervening six-and-a-half years, America’s shale oil and gas revolution has turned the world’s energy economy upside down. A Republican-led Senate would modernize the Department of Energy and update America’s energy policies to reflect new market realities, generate economic growth, and create productive careers. Senator Lisa Murkowski, ranking Republican on the Energy and... Continue Reading
May 21, 2014
Shutting Up Free Speech
Last week Majority Leader Reid announced his intention to amend the U.S. Constitution by advancing a proposal first introduced by Senate Democrats last year. The proposal would cripple Americans’ First Amendment rights by allowing Congress to decide what qualifies as acceptable political speech. By taking up the proposed amendment in the coming weeks, Senate Democrats are advancing a political strategy designed to help their short-term electoral gain, no matter the long-term harm to free... Continue Reading
May 21, 2014
Senate Democrats Embarrassingly Ineffective
“As far as an open amendment process, I think that was then and we are here now.” – Sen. Harry Reid, 11/18/13 Senate Democrats have introduced 676 amendments to bills on the floor since last July — 669 were blocked, and only seven got roll call votes. In speeches and press releases, Democrat Senators talk up the importance of these amendments to their constituents. But Senate Democrats have been embarrassingly ineffective in securing votes for their own important... Continue Reading
May 15, 2014
Obamacare’s Embarrassing and Costly State Exchange Flops
Obamacare mandates states have an online exchange where consumers can buy health insurance. The law gives states the option to build their own exchange, use the exchange built by the federal government, or create a hybrid of the two. Every state received a grant to determine what kind of insurance exchange it wanted to implement. States that decided to build their own exchange got additional grant money to cover the costs. According to a March 28, 2014 Congressional Research Service report, the... Continue Reading
May 14, 2014
Keep the Internet Open
On Thursday, May 15, 2014, the Federal Communications Commission will meet to consider initiating a process to impose “net neutrality” regulations. Net neutrality is the idea that Internet service providers, such as Verizon and Comcast, should treat all internet traffic equally. For years, the principle thrived under market forces and the light-touch regulatory approach of both Democrat and Republican administrations. To maintain a high quality of service on networks, ISPs wanted to... Continue Reading
May 14, 2014
May 2014: Policy by the Numbers
The key number for May is $474 million. Four failed exchanges – Nevada, Massachusetts, Maryland, and Oregon – wasted $474 million in federal funds for exchanges that must now either start over or shift to the federal exchange. Other recent numbers that also have major policy implications. Continue Reading
May 13, 2014
Democrats’ Energy Plan: Uncertainty and Unaccountability
President Obama’s policy on coal, oil, and natural gas projects keeps billionaire activists donating, radical environmentalists politicking, project supporters hoping, and potential investors hesitating. By slow-walking permit decisions or punting them past the next election, Democrats remain unaccountable to their constituents. By playing politics with American energy, the president jeopardizes desperately needed jobs. The administration has been exploiting its existing permitting... Continue Reading
May 13, 2014
Tax Extenders: Obamacare Taxes Destroy Jobs and Raise Premiums
This week the Senate will debate a tax extenders package drafted by Senator Wyden and the Finance Committee. As several Democrats have said, this bill includes many provisions that will promote jobs and economic growth. But Democrats failed to address two important tax laws that are having detrimental effects on job growth and the economy. Republicans sought votes in committee to postpone Obamacare’s medical device tax and health insurance tax. Finance Committee Democrats blocked... Continue Reading
May 9, 2014
White House Tries to Shift Surveillance Debate
On May 1, the White House released a 68-page report addressing the commercial use of “Big Data” – the large, complex collections of information that governments and technology businesses collect and analyze. The report correctly recognizes the enormous benefits of data and technological advances in our daily lives. However, the administration’s report appears to be an excuse for more regulation and an attempt to shift the surveillance debate to the private sector. The... Continue Reading
May 8, 2014
Obamacare’s Health Insurance Tax Costs American Jobs
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, the law violates the President’s pledge not to raise taxes on families making less than $250,000 per year. For example, section 9010 of the health care law imposes a tax on health insurance providers starting in 2014, based on net premiums in the fully insured market. The aggregate tax in 2014 is $8 billion.... Continue Reading
May 6, 2014
Partisan Transportation Policy, Only from Obama
On April 29, 2014, the Obama administration delivered a four-year transportation proposal to Congress, with a massive price tag of $302 billion. Blatantly disregarding the Senate’s bipartisan efforts to “promot[e] fiscal responsibility” in the transportation bill, the president’s proposal calls for an approximately 38 percent annual spending increase over the current two-year transportation funding bill, known as MAP-21. The Senate Finance Committee is scheduled to hold... Continue Reading
May 6, 2014
“Have You Read The (Benghazi) Email?”
Last week, it was revealed that an email explicitly mentioning Benghazi had not been produced by the Obama administration in response to congressional requests for documents about Benghazi. Incredibly, White House Press Secretary Jay Carney says that was because the document in question was not about Benghazi. Congressional investigators last year sought documents from the executive branch related to the terrorist attack on the diplomatic post in Benghazi, Libya. When that happens, the... Continue Reading
May 6, 2014
Jobs Report: Declining Labor Force Participation
In April, the national unemployment rate fell to 6.3 percent. It came, however, with a decline in labor force participation, which is now the level it was during the Carter presidency. While some of the decline is due to baby boomers retiring, declining labor force participation is concerning. “… wages remained flat, nearly 10 million unemployed people are looking for jobs, and millions more have become so disenchanted that they have given up on finding work... Continue Reading
May 6, 2014
May 2014 Policy Calendar
May 6, 2014
Obamacare on Mother’s Day: Higher Costs, Fewer Doctors, Less Care for Women
Sunday, May 11, is Mother’s Day. While the president pretends Obamacare is “working just fine,” women are losing coverage, losing doctors and pediatricians they trust, and paying more. Here’s what President Obama isn’t saying about how his health care law hurts women. Women Are More Likely to Lose Employer-Sponsored Insurance CBO estimates the president’s health care law will cause eight million people to lose the employer-sponsored coverage they have today.... Continue Reading
May 2, 2014
April 2014 Jobs Report
Unemployment Rate: 6.3 percent Unemployed Americans: 9.8 million Labor Force Participation The Department of Labor reported that the labor force participation rate in April was 62.8 percent, down 0.4 percent from March and tied for the lowest level in 36 years. Labor force participation fell by 806,000 in April. If the labor force participation rate were the same as when President Obama took office, the unemployment rate would be 10.4 percent. The share of American adults with jobs in... Continue Reading
May 1, 2014
Obamacare’s Back End Nightmare
While the administration worked desperately to improve HealthCare.gov’s “front-end” consumer experience, the “back-end” administrative components (payment systems and enrollment application transfers) were put on the back burner. Today, critical system components remain unfinished – and the administration’s deadlines to fix them keep changing. In mid-November 2013, testifying before the House Energy and Commerce Committee, CMS Deputy Chief Information... Continue Reading
May 1, 2014
Earned Income Tax Credit Can Help but not Obama's Way
The Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) has been the subject of several reform proposals recently. President Obama and Senator Patty Murray have proposed expansions of the EITC without further reforms. Republicans have proposed reforms that would provide a fairer and more efficient social safety net. The EITC provides refundable tax credits to people who work but earn less than the program’s phase-out amount (over $43,700 for a single parent with two chilren). Originally enacted in 1975, the... Continue Reading