All Posts Tagged With: "Congress"
Do-Nothing Congress?
The 112th Congress is being judged as do-nothing because it passed only 80 bills in 2011, the smallest number since 1947. It shouldn’t be judged by how many bills it passed, but by how many laws it repealed.
24Jan2012 | Sheldon Richman | 55 comments | ContinuedVoting, Accountability, and the Rise of Executive Power
Here’s what I want to know: Does Congress matter these days?
3Nov2010 | William L. Anderson | 8 comments | ContinuedWashington’s Lies
During his campaign President Obama and his congressional supporters estimated that overhauling the nation’s health care system would cost $50–$65 billion a year. On June 15 the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) reported that Obama’s overhaul would cost at least $1 trillion. It’s clear that Obama’s cost estimates are untrue, and over ten years, it’s likely [...]
22Sep2010 | Walter E. Williams | 6 comments | ContinuedAttacks on Freedom
Something’s happened to America, and it isn’t good. It’s become easier to get into trouble. We’ve become a nation of a million rules. Not the kind of bottom-up rules that people generate through voluntary associations. Those are fine. I mean imposed, top-down rules formed in the brains of meddling bureaucrats who think they know better [...]
22Sep2010 | John Stossel | 7 comments | Continued“The Taxing Power, My Dear”
The legal committee soon broke into a row because the legal problems were so terrible. The constitutional problem was the greatest one. How could you get around this business of the State-Federal relationships? It seemed that couldn’t be done. We continued to wrangle about it for days. But one day I went out to tea, [...]
12Jul2010 | FEE Admin | 0 comments | ContinuedSee? Repealing the Law of Scarcity Is Easy!
To the surprise of no one who understands Congress, ObamaCare passed, and the Usual Suspects are celebrating this leap into the abyss.
24Mar2010 | William L. Anderson | 19 comments | ContinuedDemocrats End Debate on Health Care
“The Democratic-controlled Senate, voting 60-40, swept aside Republican objections and moved to close off debate on health overhaul legislation, marking a milestone moment for President Barack Obama’s most pressing domestic initiative. “All 58 Democrats and two independents voted to approve the first — and most crucial — of three motions needed to break off action, [...]
21Dec2009 | Mike Van Winkle | 0 comments | ContinuedMysteries of the Universe
If I bribe a congressman, it’s a crime. If a congressman bribes a congressman, it’s glorious democracy in action.
23Nov2009 | Sheldon Richman | 0 comments | ContinuedTGIF: Let's Ignore Congress
I spent a good part of Wednesday night closely skimming — my conscience won’t let me type “reading” — the Republicans’ alternative healthcare “reform” bill. It’s 219 pages of legalese. I know it’s one-tenth the size of Speaker Pelosi’s bill, but that doesn’t make for easier navigation. Figuring out how it all would work is [...]
7Nov2009 | Sheldon Richman | 0 comments | ContinuedThe Myth of Unregulated Tobacco
On June 22, President Obama signed the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act (FSPTCA), a law that gives the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulatory authority over tobacco products. The law requires the FDA to develop a new tobacco-regulation center with all related costs to be covered by fees paid by the industry. [...]
19Aug2009 | Bruce Yandle | 0 comments | ContinuedSotomayor, Freedom, and the Law
The dreary Senate hearing on the nomination of Judge Sonia Sotomayor to the U.S. Supreme Court left me so in the doldrums that my only chance for solace was to dig out my copy of Freedom and the Law (1961) by Bruno Leoni. Leoni (1913-1967) was a professor of legal theory and a lawyer in [...]
17Jul2009 | Sheldon Richman | 0 comments | ContinuedTGIF: Sotomayor, Freedom, and the Law
The dreary Senate hearing on the nomination of Judge Sonia Sotomayor to the U.S. Supreme Court left me so in the doldrums that my only chance for solace was to dig out my copy of Freedom and the Law (1961) by Bruno Leoni. The rest of TGIF is here.
17Jul2009 | Sheldon Richman | 1 comment | ContinuedThe Misrepresentation of Health Care Reform
In the debate over medical reform, everyone can find a public-opinion poll to support his or her position. Robert Reich, who favors deeper government involvement in health care than we already have, wrote recently, “In the most recent Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll, 76% of respondents said it was important that Americans have a choice [...]
26Jun2009 | Sheldon Richman | 3 comments | ContinuedTGIF: The Misrepresentation of Healthcare Reform
Why should the people get something through government–that is, at the point of a gun–simply because they want it? The rest of TGIF is here.
26Jun2009 | Sheldon Richman | 0 comments | ContinuedTake a hike
From the Wall Street Journal: After sparking a four-day mystery about his whereabouts, South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford’s spokesman said the governor had been hiking along the Appalachian Trail. Until late Monday night, Mr. Sanford’s whereabouts hadn’t been revealed since Thursday, when he took off in a sport-utility vehicle normally driven by a bodyguard, turned [...]
23Jun2009 | Mike Van Winkle | 0 comments | ContinuedHow Washington Works
On the day before Thanksgiving in 1991, the U.S. Senate voted to vastly expand the emergency powers of the Federal Reserve.Almost no one noticed.The critical language was contained in a single, somewhat inscrutable sentence, and the only public explanation was offered during a final debate that began with a reminder that senators had airplanes to [...]
1Jun2009 | Sheldon Richman | 0 comments | ContinuedThey Don't Read the Bills
Rep. Maxine Waters of California admits that members of Congress don’t read the bills they vote on. (Of course, we already knew this.) She made the confession during an interview Friday with Norah O’Donnell on MSNBC. The subject of the interview was the provision in “stimulus” bill that prohibited interference with contractual bonuses at bailed-out [...]
20Mar2009 | Sheldon Richman | 0 comments | Continued-
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