Weekly Columns

Distressing new economic headlines just keep coming. Unemployment claims reached a nine-month high in early August. Existing home sales tumbled by 27 percent from June to July, representing the largest one-month drop ever recorded. Sales of new homes reached the lowest levels recorded since 1963. The stock market is down 11 percent, and new GDP numbers are dismal.

One year ago this month, the overwhelming public opposition to President Obama's health care agenda erupted in dozens of spirited town hall meetings across the nation. Many Oklahomans joined the debate, turning out in record numbers to protest the government health care takeover.

Budget-conscious Americans were able to breathe a sigh of relief when Congress adjourned for the August recess. With lawmakers leaving Washington to spend a few weeks back home, taxpayer dollars seemed temporarily safe from the months-long Democratic spending rampage.

Now that the Gulf of Mexico oil spill appears to be contained, the next great challenge is recovery. Although experts have concluded that the oil is disappearing from the water more quickly than anticipated, the spill will remain a significant threat to the environment long after the well is permanently capped. The Gulf Coast economy faces a long road to recovery, as well.

The American people are communicating loudly and clearly to Congress that out-of-control spending is unacceptable. Recent polls rank government debt as the top threat to the future well-being of our country. With a public more vigilant than ever about monitoring the national deficit, big-spending liberals are taking action -- but not by reducing spending.

The Obama administration has devoted an extraordinary amount of time and effort to convincing the American people that the president's big spending agenda is working. According to the Wall Street Journal, President Obama and White House officials have visited 172 cities in the past year and a half to argue -- incorrectly -- that the 2009 "stimulus" plan has helped our struggling economy.

With the popular Bush tax cuts set to expire at the end of the year, House and Senate Democrats scheduled a meeting last week to begin discussing tax policy. Given that the majority party never met a tax hike it didn't like, it's always cause for anxiety when they talk taxes.

President Obama's choice to head the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) will have enormous influence over the future of health care in America. With a budget larger than the Department of Defense, CMS is one of the key government agencies tasked with implementing many significant aspects of the unpopular government health care takeover.