Join us on Friday from 12-1 ET for our “Lunch with Heritage” live online chat. We will be joined by the Director of Heritage’s Center for Data Analysis and will be taking your questions about the different budget proposals put forth b…
Yesterday in the Senate, America bore witness to the glaringly obvious division in Washington, as stark as the contrast between high noon in the desert and midnight in the mountains. On the one hand is Majority Leader Harry Reid’s (D-NV) failure to pass a budget over the past three years. And on the other hand is leadership from conservative senators and representatives who have put forward serious proposals to rescue America from its debt and spending crises. That division was laid bare inside the Capitol yesterday afternoon as the U.S. … More
Fellow Americans: It has been over three years (1,111 days to be precise) since the U.S. Senate last passed a budget. The last time Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) fulfilled his legal responsibility, Conan was still on NBC, Tea Parties hadn’t come together and the iPad hadn’t yet been introduced. This is one of the biggest abdications of power we have seen on the part of our government in modern time. And there is no excuse. The Senate needs only 51 votes to pass a budget. Democrats have had … More
By Andrew J. Coulson
Californians may be forgiven for expectorating coffee over their morning newspapers today, as they learn that their state deficit is not $9 billion, as Governor Brown’s administration had predicted, but rather $16 billion. Oops. Further increasing the breakfast table choking hazard is the Governor’s “solution”: raise taxes. Gov. Brown is pushing a fall ballot initiative [...]
California Knows How to Party… $16 Billlion Too Lavishly is a post from Cato @ Liberty – Cato Institute Blog
It’s one thing to talk a good game about cutting spending, but it’s quite another thing to actually do something about it. This week, the House of Representatives has an opportunity to finally set some limits on Washington’s spending spree while also ensuring that the U.S. military has the resources it needs to defend America. Here’s the lay of the land this week in the nation’s capital. On Thursday, the House is set to take up a spending reduction plan known inside the beltway as “reconciliation.” Under the measure, Congress … More
The House Ways and Means Committee just released a report that shows that the most successful companies would save billions of dollars if they stopped offering coverage to their employees and dumped them into the taxpayer-funded Obamacare exchanges. On a confidential basis, 71 Fortune 100 companies supplied information to the committee regarding the cost and coverage of their health insurance plans. The committee used the data to calculate the potential savings of dumping employees into the exchanges and paying the employer mandate penalty. The report’s findings will likely scare the … More
It’s pretty clear to most Americans that Washington is broken and spending money well beyond the country’s means. In fact, Sunday marked three years since the U.S. Senate last passed a budget. Getting the fiscal house in order clearly isn’t their top priority. But just how bad is the country’s spending and debt crisis? Heritage has the answer in its newly released 2012 Edition of the Federal Budget in Pictures. Whether you’re interested in learning how fast federal spending is growing, how big the tax burden is, what debt will … More
April 29 marks the third year that the U.S. Senate has not passed a budget. Now more than ever, it is crucial that Americans understand what our nation’s spending, taxes, and debt mean for them and their families and why Congress must urgently get back to budgeting. The Heritage Foundation’s newly released Federal Budget in Pictures 2012 edition (previously called the Budget Chart Book) offers a unique tool to learn about the federal budget in a clear and compelling way. Debt and Deficits chart 1 shows that publicly held debt … More
April 29 marks the third year in which the U.S. Senate has not passed a budget — a staggering dereliction of duty, particularly given the country’s near-$16 trillion debt. But that’s not the Senate’s only blockbuster failure under the leadership of Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV). From spending to jobs to energy policy, the Senate has totally dropped the ball, leaving one to wonder, “What’s the Senate thinking?” But it’s not just a matter of a simple failure or benign neglect, like forgetting to take out the trash. The way … More
Over the past week, President Obama has been on the road making an appeal to young Americans, offering a sales pitch on lower interest rates for their burdensome student loans. What he didn’t mention, though, is the even bigger nightmare they’ll face down the road. The president’s meme is one that USAToday picked up on this morning, describing the plight of Millennials, their piles of debt, and their high rate of unemployment: Today’s twentysomethings hold an average debt of about $45,000, which includes everything from cars to credit cards to … More
