With its November 23 deadline fast approaching, the “super committee” created by the Budget Control Act is back in the news, and it is still grappling with its mandate to find $1.5 trillion in deficit reduction savings. One of the ideas being bandied about is a continued call to raise taxes in order to reduce the […]
The eight Republican presidential candidates have confirmed they will attend the Nov. 22 debate hosted by The Heritage Foundation and American Enterprise Institute on CNN. The debate will focus exclusively on foreign policy and national security. The debate will take place in Washington, D.C., at a location to be announced shortly. It will air nationally […]
There are many ways to balance a budget. Most of us, for example, spend 30 percent or more of our income on housing. Skipping mortgage payments is a sure-fire way to make ends meet – until they take your house away. Health insurance can be a real waste, too, if you’re healthy. Dropping it may […]
As Washington ties itself up in knots over what the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction, better known as the Supercommittee, will recommend to Congress, thirty-three Senators are standing tall against continued overspending and overborrowing. In a letter of November 3, 2011, to the Members of the Supercommittee, Senators Jim DeMint, John Cornyn, Kelly Ayotte […]
Kenny LeBaron, left, and his brother Joshua moved to North Dakota from Minnesota to take advantage of higher salaries due to an oil boom there. Here they service a gas and oil well near Watford City, North Dakota, on September 27, 2011. (Glen Stubbe/Minneapolis Star Tribune/MCT) As goes Williston, North Dakota, so goes the nation? […]
Tomorrow, the Senate Judiciary Committee will begin debate on legislation that would repeal the federal Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA). In 1996, Congress passed DOMA by wide margins, and President Clinton signed the bill into law. DOMA defines marriage as one man and one woman for purposes of federal law and makes clear that no […]
The U.S. military has already contributed more to debt and deficit reduction than any other federal agency. Speaker of the House John Boehner (R–OH), recently sent a clear message to the congressional “super committee” charged with producing additional debt reduction plans: The defense budget has already coughed up enough. Noting—correctly—that members of the military have […]
The purpose of a Balanced Budget Amendment to the Constitution (BBA) is to limit the size and scope of the federal government. Some politicians seem to have forgotten that goal. According to USA Today there are 18 pending proposed amendments to the Constitution that purport to be balanced budget constitutional mandates. The House will be […]
As expected, “Palestine” succeeded in gaining membership in the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) on October 31 with a vote of 107 in favor, 14 against, and 52 abstentions. The result was a foregone conclusion after UNESCO’s 58-member executive board voted 40–4 with 14 abstentions earlier this month to let the membership […]
How goes the battle for the border? Heritage Foundation Latin American specialist Ray Walser and I spent some time on the border at Laredo, Texas, with Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and the U.S. Border Patrol. Laredo is America’s largest inland port of entry. Last year, 1.64 million trucks passed through the port, representing about $70 […]
