Congress is scheduled to end the year this week with a flurry of legislating, suprises, new spending and deal making. Conservatives need to watch Washington, D.C. this week to see how many bills pass in the waning hours of this session of Congress that spend more of your tax dollars. The battle over the extension of the payroll tax will play out this week in the Congress. | Read More »
Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) had tough words for President Obama and Attorney General Eric Holder following a speech today at The Heritage Foundation. He criticized Obama for a failure to lead and voiced concern about Holder’s handling of the Operation Fast and Furious scandal. “Unfortunately, the president is already campaigning, trying to channel Harry Truman, railing against a ‘do-nothing Congress’ when he’s apparently given up | Read More »
The Balanced Budget Amendment to the Constitution and a bill to allow Americans to use conceal carry firearms permits over state lines are scheduled for votes in the House this week. The Senate is expected to schedule a vote on the second ”Mini-Bus” appropriations measure this week. The Super Committee gets closer to the date they need to vote on a plan and they may increase taxes. This week shall | Read More »
The House and Senate have another Continuing Resolution (CR) on the agenda that would fund the federal government into next month. The House will consider a measure aimed at over regulation by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The Senate will debate a bill addressing China’s currency and trade issues. The Super Secret Committee marches on behind closed doors to cut a deal on $1.2 trillion | Read More »
Download Podcast | iTunes | Podcast Feed On today’s edition of Coffee and Markets, Brad Jackson and Ben Domenech are joined by Senator Mike Lee to discuss the debt ceiling deal, and his new book, The Freedom Agenda: Why a Balanced Budget Amendment is Necessary to Restore Constitutional Government. Then Francis Cianfrocca discusses the wild week for the markets and the latest jobs report. We’re | Read More »
Because a Balanced Budget Amendment (BBA) is the only type of budget reform capable of binding future Congresses, it is disappointing that the pending debt ceiling bill does not contain the Boehner bill’s requirement that a BBA be approved by Congress and sent to the states. However, there is some good news for BBA supporters in the bill (the Budget Control Act of 2011 or | Read More »
(1) House Republicans are walking into an enormous trap. The Boehner plan is sufficiently similar to the Reid plan, in virtually all important respects, that its passage will lead to the following compromise: The adoption of Boehner’s ten years of sham cuts,which will be ephemeral beyond fiscal year 2012. Even John McCain said tonight that Gramm-Rudman (whose “sequestration” provisions are the enforcement mechanism for Boehner) | Read More »
First off this morning, I hope you will call Senator Ron Johnson (R-WI) today at (202) 224-5323 and tell him thank you for standing up to both Democrats and Republicans yesterday in a valiant attempt to force transparency on debt talks. Johnson declared his intend to grind the Senate to a halt by ceasing to give his consent to further Senate business by unanimous consent. | Read More »
A number of conservatives and conservative groups in Washington, D.C. are pushing yet another pledge. This one is to cut, cap, and balance. They want you to pledge to urge your Senator and Congressman to oppose any debt limit unless all three of the following conditions are met: (1) substantial cuts in spending; (2) enforceable spending caps; and (3) passage of the Lee-Cornyn-Hatch Balanced Budget | Read More »
Members of the Tea Party and the conservative movement need to be prepared for some serious disappointment if news reports are correct. News reports have emerged indicating that that “dollar for dollar” cuts to spending promised as part of a grand bargain to increase the debt ceiling may be pro-rated over 10, 20 or even 25 years. It is easy for politicians to promise future | Read More »
Senator Mike Lee (R-UT) and Matt Kibbe, President of Freedom Works, joined me at CPAC for a joint interview, last Friday. We talked about two things: The future of the Tea Party and the Balanced Budget Amendment. Both topics are subject to lots of controversy. In fact, there’s been much discussion that a Balanced Budget Amendment would mean, axiomatically, that taxes would increase. When I | Read More »
In 1997, the United States Senate voted on a balanced budget amendment. It fell just one vote short of the necessary 67 votes required for passage. 49 of the 50 states are required to balance their budgets, but Congress, like Vermont, has no such requirement. Complicating that is the legitimate argument that should a Balanced Budget Amendment go forward, it could just be an excuse | Read More »
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