Policy Papers
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
August 2, 2013
Obamacare’s Headlines = More Bad News
Week after week, there is more bad news for President Obama’s health care law. Rather than own up to the law’s failures, the President goes back to what he does best: campaigning. But the bad news just keeps on coming: IRS Union Says No to Obamacare. The IRS is one of the chief agencies responsible for enforcing the health care law. But the union representing many of the agency’s employees asked its members to actively oppose congressional efforts to require IRS staff to buy... Continue Reading
August 2, 2013
July Unemployment Report
July 2013 Unemployment Rate: 7.4 percent Unemployed Americans: 11.5 million “Real” Unemployment The “real” unemployment or U-6 rate is 14.0 percent for July 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 22.1 million. These are people who are unemployed... Continue Reading
July 31, 2013
GDP Report: Obama Tax, Spend Policy is Failing
The economy grew at an annualized rate of 1.7 percent in the second quarter of 2013. This comes after subpar real GDP growth of 2.5 percent, 1.8 percent, and 2.8 percent in 2010, 2011, and 2012, respectively. Growth in the first quarter of 2013 was 1.1 percent, revised down from 1.8 percent. Today’s release includes revisions of GDP data going back to 1929, intended to more accurately measure GDP. The new revisions show that in the middle of President Obama’s “recovery”... Continue Reading
July 30, 2013
FHFA Director in Charge of $5 Trillion in Mortgages
Soon the Senate will consider the nomination of Rep. Mel Watt to be director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA). The director of the FHFA is not only a regulator, but also conservator of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, two extremely large, highly complex businesses. Vast Authority, Little Oversight Congress created the FHFA in 2008 and gave it enormous power to oversee Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and the Federal Home Loan Banks. In September 2008, the FHFA director used his authority to... Continue Reading
July 30, 2013
Obama Sneers at Keystone XL Pipeline Jobs
This past weekend, President Obama sneered at the jobs the Keystone XL pipeline would create as a “blip relative to the need” -- even though his State Department projects the pipeline construction could support 42,000 jobs across the country. He is the last man standing between Americans and the jobs, economic growth, and energy security the pipeline will generate. Earlier this month, the President spoke about the need to “clear the red tape” and get such projects... Continue Reading
July 30, 2013
Mel Watt’s Risky Record
President Obama’s nominee to run the Federal Housing Finance Agency, Congressman Mel Watt, was wrong on housing issues in the lead-up to the financial crisis. There is no indication that his policies have changed. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, both government sponsored enterprises, are badly in need of reform – but not in the vision of Congressman Watt. Watt ‘On the Record’ In a May 2013 interview with the Wall Street Journal, Watt didn’t know answers to some... Continue Reading
July 25, 2013
Bipartisan Opposition to Obamacare Continues to Grow
It has been three years since Washington Democrats forced passage of their health care law on a party-line vote. On March 28, 2010, Senator Schumer – then Vice Chair of the Senate Democratic Conference – claimed on Meet the Press, “[A]s people learn about the bill, and now that the bill is enacted, it’s going to become more and more popular.” Senator Schumer’s prediction never came true. The law remains unpopular, with one survey showing 55 percent of... Continue Reading
July 24, 2013
Obama Campaign Rhetoric vs. Governing Reality
During the 2008 presidential campaign, then-Senator Obama decried the practice of rewarding political favorites with Administration jobs, stating, “When it comes to hiring people in my administration, the litmus test we’ll apply will not be based on party or ideology, but qualification and experience ... The days of using the White House as another arm of the Republican National Committee are over.” He added, “this is the kind of politics that will end when I am... Continue Reading
July 24, 2013
Taking on Genuine Tax Reform
The Senate Finance Committee has started with a “blank slate” approach to tax reform, in which all tax expenditures are eliminated. Advocates can add tax provisions back in if the provision grows the economy, increases tax fairness, or achieves “other important policy objectives.” The Chairman and Ranking Member note that Congress has made more than 15,000 changes to the tax code since the last tax reform in 1986. It is no wonder that it costs Americans 6.1 billion hours... Continue Reading
July 23, 2013
Obama says law: “Doing what it’s designed to do”
“Nobody counted on the hiccups turning into cardiac arrest.” – Kimberley Strassel, Wall Street Journal, July 19, 2013 President Obama plans to travel the country this summer to convince people that his health care law is a good deal for them and the nation’s economy. Rather than admit his law costs too much and fails to work the way he promised, the President and Democrats just keep trying to sell it. As the President asks the American people to trust his campaign-style... Continue Reading
July 23, 2013
President Re-re-re-Focuses on Economy
The President will hit the road starting this week for campaign-style speeches in Illinois, Florida, and Missouri. The President plans once again to “pivot” to jobs. His senior advisor wrote Sunday evening the President will talk about “what it means to be middle class in America: job security, a good education, a home to call your own, affordable health care when you get sick.” Five years in office, and four years after the recession ended, our country needs more than... Continue Reading
July 18, 2013
Obamacare’s New York Miracle
Local officials and insurance carriers are slowly releasing proposed 2014 Obamacare state exchange health plan rates this summer. They show how the health care law affects coverage costs in both the individual and small group markets. This week, the state of New York released the rates New Yorkers will have to pay to buy health insurance in its health care exchange. State insurance regulators said the approved individual market rates “represent a 53 percent reduction” compared to... Continue Reading
July 16, 2013
Harry Reid Makes Senate Committees Irrelevant
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has created a Senate where he matters infinitely more than committees do. Under his rule, Senate committees have deteriorated. Bills routinely bypass markup and go straight to the Senate floor under the Leader’s use of Rule XIV. Authorization bills get punted past their deadlines. Conference committees are a rarity. And oversight of the executive branch has been severely neglected. Nonfunctioning on Nominations When it comes to executive nominations, the... Continue Reading