Dick Lugar Haunts the Free Market from the Grave

By: Daniel Horowitz (Diary)  |  May 23rd at 10:45 AM  | 

You might have thought that we vanquished Dick Lugar from the levers of power a few weeks ago.  But if nothing is done to stop the impending 5-year Farm Bill, he might harm us with his regressive policies long past his time in Washington. Last month, the Senate Agriculture Committee passed a 5-year farm bill that continues to serve as one of the most potent | Read More »

Charting a Path To Reauthorizing Free Markets and Ending Statism

By: Daniel Horowitz (Diary)  |  May 17th at 12:44 PM  | 

When it comes to free-market fiscal policy, Republicans are always manufacturing excuses to exempt themselves from their own doctrine on numerous issues.  There are always excuses why specific industries must be recipients of government interventions.  They say that exporters cannot function without the Ex-Im Bank; farmers cannot subsist without government welfare despite record high prices; the financial markets cannot survive without bailouts.  The latest exception | Read More »

Republicans Already Showing Weakness on Keystone Pipeline

By: Daniel Horowitz (Diary)  |  May 16th at 04:00 PM  | 

Well, that didn’t take long.  Just one week into the conference committee on the highway bill, Republicans are showing signs of caving on their insistence that the Keystone pipeline be approved as part of the deal. Throughout the past few months, we have been chronicling how Republicans have been apathetic to the underlying vices of the highway bill (S. 1813).  They basically told the Democrats | Read More »

Keep Term Limits on Committee Chairmen

By: Daniel Horowitz (Diary)  |  May 16th at 10:40 AM  | 

People often ask me what can be done to move the elected officials within the Republican Party rightward.  Well, for one thing, we need to elect more conservatives.  But more importantly, we need those conservatives to obtain positions of power, such as chairmanships of the committees that set our domestic policy agenda. Not surprisingly, all the relevant committee chairmen are either conduits for leadership or | Read More »

RS Interview: Tom Smith (R CAND, PA-SEN).

By: Moe Lane (Diary)  |  May 14th at 07:30 PM  | 

Pennsylvania’s going to be an interesting place this November: incumbent Senator Bob Casey is in the unenviable position of having to explain to half of his constituents why he’s not really like President Obama, while explaining to the other half why Bob Casey actually is. If you’re wondering how Senator Casey plans to square that circle; the plan is to ensure that he does not. | Read More »

Gay “Marriage” is a Losing Issue…For Democrats

By: Daniel Horowitz (Diary)  |  May 14th at 11:55 AM  | 

We are constantly told by the consultant class that the issue of marriage is a big loser for Republicans.  If you listen to the talking points from almost every elected Republican official in recent days, you will hear them say that the whole issue is a “distraction” from the real issues.  Simply put, they believe the Democrat talking points that they are on the wrong | Read More »

Victory in NC and IN, But There’s More to Do

By: Daniel Horowitz (Diary)  |  May 8th at 11:19 PM  | 

The big news of the night is that Richard Mourdock absolutely eviscerated John Kerry and Vladimir Putin’s favorite Republican 60-40%, an unprecedented feat going up against a 35-year incumbent.  On the other hand, it’s not surprising, and yet, it serves as a potent lesson for the Tea Party going forward. Richard Mourdock wasn’t always this inexorable juggernaut.  He was way behind in the polls for | Read More »

The Cycle of Capitulation Continues

By: Daniel Horowitz (Diary)  |  May 7th at 03:00 PM  | 

In the past, we have chronicled the cycle of capitulation that is so emblematic of Republicans in the 112th Congress.  It goes like this: Democrats propose some odious and profligate legislative idea or budget bill and call for tax hikes as “pay-fors.”.  Conservatives advocate that we uproot the entire premise of the destructive legislation by drawing a line in the sand on the principles that | Read More »

Lamar Alexander Wants to Give Keys of Senate to Democrat Wolves

By: Daniel Horowitz (Diary)  |  May 2nd at 10:45 AM  | 

Here’s a rule of thumb: when you’re in the minority in a legislative body, but enjoy some sort of a check on the majority to lock up legislation, you never surrender your key – certainly not for a worthless promise from the majority.  Unfortunately, Senator Lamar Alexander has not internalized that lesson.  Evidently, he was serious when he said he wanted to resign from leadership | Read More »

The True Meaning of Bipartisanship in Washington

By: Daniel Horowitz (Diary)  |  May 1st at 06:38 AM  | 

We are constantly hearing the DC chattering class bemoan the toxic partisanship that is endemic of congressional politics.  These supercilious wizards of smart contend that if we just had a little more bipartisanship in Washington, all of our public policy troubles would dissipate in short order. The reality cannot be more antithetical to this ubiquitous line of thought from the media.  We suffer from a | Read More »

Romney Must Coalesce Around Conservatives, Not Vice Versa

By: Daniel Horowitz (Diary)  |  April 25th at 08:37 AM  | 

There is an interesting factoid that was overlooked from last night’s largely pro-forma presidential primaries.  According to University of Minnesota’s Eric Ostermeier, Romney was the first GOP frontrunner who failed to reach 60% in contests “conducted after his last major challenger dropped out of the race.”  Romney won just 56% of the vote in Delaware and 58% in Pennsylvania. Over the past few months, we’ve | Read More »

Another Capitulation on Postal “Reform”

By: Daniel Horowitz (Diary)  |  April 24th at 05:00 PM  | 

As we’ve noted in recent weeks, there is an effort to bail out the Postal Service with phony accounting measures.  Democrats are currently voting on amendments to  a bailout bill (S. 1789) that leaves taxpayers on the hook, without reforming the USPS with structural changes that the Postmaster General himself supports. This bill will offer a backhanded channel to grant the USPS $41 billion from | Read More »

Mitch McConnell Does it Again

By: Daniel Horowitz (Diary)  |  April 20th at 10:45 AM  | 

There’s got to be some way to create a legislative scorecard on committee votes. Last month, House Republicans almost unanimously passed the “Ryan” budget resolution for FY 2013.  It established the topline discretionary spending level at $1.028 trillion, just $15 billion below last year’s levels and $19 billion below the cap set in the Budget [Out of] Control Act.  To put that in perspective, the | Read More »

Ron Johnson: The Lone Ranger

By: Daniel Horowitz (Diary)  |  April 18th at 10:45 AM  | 

Senator Kent Conrad has finally made it clear that he has no intentions of passing a budget resolution.  He will offer the “Simpson-Bowles plan” without allowing any amendments or even a committee vote, much less a floor vote.  That’s some budget resolution.  Without a budget resolution to guide the topline spending numbers, the Senate Appropriations Committee has already begun markups on the 12 appropriations bills | Read More »

Watch Live! Wisconsin Senate Debate

By: Caleb Howe (Diary)  |  April 11th at 07:45 PM  | 

Please join us in watching this critical primary debate, brought to you by The Franklin Center and Wisconsin Reporter. Debate will begin streaming live at 8pm, ET. Citizens can submit questions for the candidates in the following ways: E-mail questions to WIDebate@WisconsinReporter.com Tweet questions on Twitter using the hash tag #WIDebate Post questions on the Facebook pages of Wisconsin Reporter or Franklin Center Submit a YouTube video (via e-mail or Facebook) for a chance to have your question | Read More »