Weekly Columns
Every year since 1974, the House of Representatives has passed a budget resolution. No matter which party was in power or whether the economy was booming or struggling, the House has never failed to pass a budget blueprint setting spending limits for the year. Until now. For the first time in decades, Democratic leaders announced, House members will not get to vote on a budget plan.
The White House budget director inadvertently made a very revealing statement recently when he admitted that it would be "fruitless" for the Obama administration to push for immediate spending cuts because such a request would "go nowhere" in the Democratic-controlled Congress.
Last week marked a sad milestone: 50 days since the explosion on British Petroleum's Deepwater Horizon rig triggered the oil spill that is still gushing out of control. Sadly, almost two months into the disaster, precisely zero progress has been made in stopping the flow of oil into the Gulf of Mexico.
Recent developments on the Korean peninsula provide a stark reminder that – even in the post-Cold War era – peaceful nations remain vulnerable to the threat of conventional military attack. An international investigation has confirmed that North Korea is responsible for an unprovoked torpedo strike that sank a South Korean warship in March, killing 46 sailors.
If the Democratic majority's latest stimulus legislation is good for the economy, why have the nation's leading job creators opposed it? The U.S.
Arizona lawmakers are under fire for daring to attempt what the Obama administration has failed to do: enforce immigration laws. The state's new law simply grants law enforcement officials the authority to investigate the status of individuals suspected of being in the country illegally.
Last summer, House Democrats passed a "climate change" bill that, for all practical purpose, is nothing more than a national energy tax. I opposed the legislation because it was sure to result in increased utility costs for families and punishing taxes on the energy industry that would be particularly damaging for energy-producing states like Oklahoma.
The deepening financial crisis in Greece has officially gone global, sending stocks plummeting on Wall Street and around the world. Economists fear that neither the riot-inducing tax hikes and spending cuts nor the $146 billion in rescue funds from other European nations will be enough to prevent Greece from undergoing an economic collapse with worldwide repercussions.
During the health care debate, House Speaker Pelosi famously declared Congress would have to pass ObamaCare before we could "find out what is in it." A new report from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) on the effects of the law illustrates exactly why proponents wanted to keep the details quiet.
Almost two years into the financial crisis, we remain without reforms to protect consumers from another Wall Street meltdown. Policies proposed by the Obama administration will do little to change that and will actually hinder economic recovery by punishing community banks that had nothing to do with the crisis -- while promising special treatment to those that did.