Posts belonging to Category The Foundry
Posted by David S. Addington on December 12, 2011
On Friday, December 9, 2011, Representative Dave Camp (R-MI), with several cosponsors, introduced H.R. 3630, the “Middle Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act of 2011.” The 369-page bill consists of six titles, main elements of which are discussed below. Title I of the bill gets the government out of the way of a pipeline project so the private sector can create some jobs. The bill provides a mechanism for prompt approval of the Keystone XL pipeline project, to allow oil to flow from Alberta, Canada to U.S. gulf coast … More
Categories: Syndicated Postings, The Foundry
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Posted by Rob Bluey on December 11, 2011
President Obama and Republicans in Congress continue to wage war over an extension of the payroll tax cut. But missing from the debate is any discussion of comprehensive tax reform that would eliminate payroll taxes altogether. Social Security and Medicare payroll taxes are the second-largest source of federal revenue, surpassed only by personal income taxes. This week’s chart from Heritage’s 2011 Budget Chart Book depicts federal revenue by source. That chart would look quite different if Heritage’s tax-reform plan were enacted into law. That plan, part of the Saving the … More
Categories: Syndicated Postings, The Foundry
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Posted by Mike Brownfield on December 9, 2011
If U.S. history is a painting on giant canvas, President Barack Obama’s speech this week in Osawatomie, Kansas, is a thick coat of whitewash layered all over it, and the failure of the last three years lies underneath. The President’s pretense is that, no, it’s not Obamanomics that has caused persistent unemployment, stunted growth and record deficits–it’s supply side economics! Talk about audacity. The President’s speech was a naked portrayal of his vision of America–one where inequality runs rampant, where the American dream is nearly dead, where the rich oppress … More
Categories: Syndicated Postings, The Foundry
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Posted by Alison Acosta Fraser on November 17, 2011
What’s a supercommittee to do? Total national debt just hit a new record at $15 trillion, an increase of approximately $700 billion since the Supercommittee’s August inception. Hard as its members try, they just do not seem to be able to deliver the required $1.2 trillion in deficit reduction measures. The situation has deteriorated so badly that even some Republicans are offering up tax hikes. While this is precisely the wrong solution, it has created another insidious problem. Squabbles over the size of tax hikes are overshadowing the more vital [...]
Categories: Syndicated Postings, The Foundry
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Posted by Sarah Torre on November 17, 2011
The Supreme Court’s announcement on Monday that it will consider the constitutionality of some of Obamacare’s provisions, including the individual mandate, has reignited discussion of the health care law’s many problematic provisions. In addition to increasing insurance premiums and hampering job growth, Obamacare poses significant threats to the religious liberty of institutions and individuals and could have a serious negative impact on families. For Belmont Abbey, a private Catholic college located in North Carolina, the most serious impact is Obamacare’s threats to religious freedom and conscience rights. Late last week [...]
Categories: Syndicated Postings, The Foundry
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Posted by Matt Spalding on November 17, 2011
Congress this week finds itself in a predicament of its own making. To show how serious they are about solving America’s deepening fiscal crisis, Republicans insisted that the 2011 Budget Control Act require the House and the Senate to vote on a balanced budget amendment (BBA) before the end of the year. Yet from a range of BBA options—from weak to mild to robust—the House has chosen to vote on the version that does least to ensure less spending and lower taxes. This is no way to amend the Constitution [...]
Categories: Syndicated Postings, The Foundry
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Posted by Mike Brownfield on November 16, 2011
Americans have heard all about how the Obama Administration gave a $535 million loan guarantee to the now-bankrupt solar company Solyndra, but details are emerging about others who have won a windfall on the taxpayers’ dime. The latest example? President John F. Kennedy’s nephew, Robert Kennedy, Jr., who secured a $1.4 billion bailout for his company, BrightSource, possibly through political connections. BigGovernment.com reports on the story which was uncovered by Breitbart editor Peter Schweizer in his new book, Throw Them All Out: The details of how BrightSource managed to land its ten-figure taxpayer [...]
Categories: Syndicated Postings, The Foundry
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Posted by Lachlan Markay on November 1, 2011
The Senate is slated to take up a resolution of disapproval next week that would prevent the Federal Communications Commission from regulating the Internet. With the economy still dominating the national political agenda, Senate Republicans pointing to the measure’s expected impact on job growth. Net Neutrality regulations, explained Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-TX) at Heritage’s Bloggers Briefing, would set up the FCC as the Internet’s “gatekeeper”: many innovations in the way the Internet is accessed and used would have to be approved by the 5-member panel to ensure they would [...]
Categories: Syndicated Postings, The Foundry
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Posted by Nicolas Loris on October 31, 2011
When the government-backed Solyndra filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, policymakers supportive of the loan-guarantee program said variations of the following: “If this were a venture capital firm and only one out of 10 projects failed, they would be a great success.” That would be fine if it were private money, not taxpayer money. But now a second company is going under. Reuters reports: Beacon Power Corp filed for bankruptcy on Sunday, just a year after the energy storage company received a $43 million loan guarantee from a controversial Department of [...]
Categories: Syndicated Postings, The Foundry
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Posted by Lachlan Markay on October 31, 2011
The White House will not say whether it will comply with a subpoena from a House committee related to its involvement in the Solyndra scandal. Instead, the administration has opted to open its own investigation into the loan program that backed the defunct solar company – though that investigation will not examine Solyndra itself. The House Energy and Commerce Committee announced Friday that it will vote to subpoena a host of White House documents related to Solyndra, including messages from the president’s Blackberry. Reps. Fred Upton (R-MI) and Cliff Stearns [...]
Categories: Syndicated Postings, The Foundry
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