Keystone XL: Parallels to the Alaska Pipeline

Jim West/ZUMA Press/Newscom As the U.S. commemorates the 40th anniversary of passage of the Trans-Alaskan Pipeline Authorization Act of 1973, it is worth remembering the challenges the project overcame and how they mirror the challenges facing the Keystone XL Pipeline today. An 800-mile engineering marvel, the Alaska Pipeline was completed in two years and two […]

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6 Things the Next U.S. Budget Should Do

It’s time for Congress to make a real budget—and not just any budget. It’s been four years since the U.S. had a real budget. While the House of Representatives has passed budgets, the Senate has stopped each one. Instead, the Senate under Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) has done short-term, stopgap measures to keep the […]

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30%+ of U.S. Population Unemployed

The number of Americans designated as “not in the labor force” in February was 89,304,000, a record high, up from 89,008,000 in January, according to the Department of Labor. This means that the number of Americans not in the labor force increased 296,000 between January and February. The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) labels people […]

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Obama Budget to Be Submitted Even Later

Newscom The Obama Administration is on track to beat former President Bill Clinton for second-longest delay in submitting a presidential budget on time. First place for the latest budget in history? That also goes to President Obama. In 2009, he did not submit a budget until 98 days after the statutory deadline. Though the White House […]

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Sessions and Ryan to LaHood: Halt the High-Speed Train to Vegas

Senate Budget Committee Ranking Member Jeff Sessions (R–AL) and House Budget Committee chairman Paul Ryan (R–WI) sent a letter yesterday to Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, urging the Department of Transportation to reject a $5.5 billion gamble on high-speed rail. The train, called XpressWest, would run from Victorville, California, to Las Vegas, Nevada. As Heritage Foundation […]

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Advancing Economic Freedom: Leading from Behind Doesn’t Work

The 2013 Index of Economic Freedom Advancing economic freedom around the world has markedly stagnated in recent years, particularly due to the lack of America’s leadership, says Terry Miller, chief editor of The Heritage Foundation’s Index of Economic Freedom, in a recent interview with the Langley Intelligence Group Network. According to Miller: Historically, the United […]

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$253.5B—Obama Borrowed Nearly 6x as Much in February as Sequester Cuts All Year

(CNSNews.com) – During the month of February–as President Barack Obama was warning Americans they would see dramatic effects in their lives if “sequestration” of some planned federal spending kicked in–the federal government’s debt climbed by $253.5 billion. That one-month increase in the debt was nearly six times as much as the $44 billion in spending […]

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No Sequestration for Chinese Military Spending

Newscom The Chinese yesterday announced new defense and internal security budgets. In keeping with the average double-digit annual increases of the past 20 years, Chinese military spending will rise by 10.7 percent. These consistent massive increases, announced ahead of the 12th National People’s Congress—the world’s largest parliament—have allowed Chinese military modernization to gain by leaps […]

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2 Problems With House Spending Plan

The House version of the continuing resolution (CR) — necessary to fund the government through the end of the fiscal year on September 30 — was Congress’s opportunity to reprogram cuts from sequestration or cut even further. Regrettably, the bill fails to deliver on both counts. Worse, because of the Obama Administration’s decision to spread […]

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China Is Not Our Banker

China has fallen behind Japan as the largest foreign holder of U.S. securities. The Department of the Treasury’s new numbers are good only through June 30, 2012, but it puts Japan at $1.84 trillion and China at $1.59 trillion. There are lots of things to say about this, but one stands out: The loose talk […]

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