Tad DeHaven
Obama’s Stimulus: A Bit of Pork, a Lot of Opportunism
Boehner’s Bogus Debt Ceiling Line in the Sand
On to the Next Manufactured Fiscal Crisis
It seem like it was just yesterday that congressional Republicans took the national debt hostage even though shooting it was never an option. Having just taken back control of the House on a wave of popular discontent over the federal government’s mounting red ink, the pressure was on the GOP to deliver.
It didn’t — and now the rout is on.
Bill Shuster Gets the Transportation Committee Gavel
Rep. Bill Shuster (R-PA) is the new chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. His father, Bud, chaired the committee from 1995-2001 and would have been a first-ballot inductee into the Porker Hall of Fame if one existed. Having ridden his dad’s coattails into office, the big government apple hasn’t fallen far from the tree.
How Rep. Tim Scott Voted on Program Terminations
South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley has announced that Rep. Tim Scott (R-SC) will replace the departing Jim DeMint in the Senate. Scott is a member of the 2010 “Tea Party Class” of Republican freshmen and is considered a solid fiscal conservative. So let’s take a quick look at how he voted this year on opportunities to terminate federal agencies and programs.
The good:
Sen. Casey Finds Political Opportunity in NHL Lockout
The Small Business Administration was created in the 1950s to make it appear as though federal politicians cared about the plight of the “little fellow.” A more helpful expression of concern would have been a rollback of the federal government’s increasingly heavy hand in the post-New Deal economy. Instead, they went with the more politically alluring option of using the heavy hand to deliver handouts.
Sad Federal Employees
Federal employees are overpaid and underworked (probably a good thing), but a tear-jerker in today’s Washington Post reports that “job satisfaction a
Promises to Restrict Future Spending are Worthless
It appears likely that congressional Republicans are eventually going to accept a tax increase in exchange for real spending cuts smaller spending increases in the future. If and when that happens, Speaker Boehner should surround himself with Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny, and the Tooth Fairy at the press conference on the deal.
The U.S. Postal Service vs. Greece
Postmaster General Michael Donahoe has occasionally remarked that the U.S. Postal Service will end up in a Greek-like crisis if Congress doesn’t allow it to reduce costs and operate with more flexibility. Michael Schuyler, now with the Tax Foundation, examines the analogy between Greece and the USPS in a paper that was released on Monday.
Conservatives Bash Boehner Over Purge…But What About Paul Ryan?
Conservatives are hammering House Speaker John Boehner over the purging of reliably limited government Republicans who weren’t afraid to buck the GOP leadership. But what about Paul Ryan?