01/13/20
Our expectations were low for the year-end legislative activity in DC, but Congress managed to undershoot them. One win – multiple losses! Read More...Tags: appropriation bills, logrolling, Impeachment inquiry, border barriers, USMCA, multiemployer pension plans, Rep. Nancy Pelosi, Sen. Mitch McConnell, President Donald Trump, President Bill Clinton, balanced budget, omnibus appropriation bills, redesignation of military construction funds, Sen. Chuck Grassley, Sen. Lamar Alexander, UMW pension plan, Export-Import Bank, paid family leave, Business Roundtable, taxes on healthcare, renewal of extenders
12/23/19
Our year-end entry discusses three visionary speeches (Lincoln, Volcker, Barr); two have stood the test of time, the third is just starting to sink in. Read More...Tags: Lincoln Memorial, Gettysburg Address, President Abraham Lincoln, Edward Everett, Fed Chairman Paul Volcker, President Jimmy Carter, President Ronald Reagan, Tax Foundation, inflation, Attorney General William Barr, Federalist Society, Ted Olson, Barbara Olson, Bush 41, Bush 43, Revolutionary War, Articles of Confederation, Constitutonal Convention, Alexander Hamilton, Thomas Jefferson, unitary executive theory, President Donald Trump, the Resistance, CFPB, oversight demands, DACA, judcial review, nationwide injunctions
12/16/19
SAFE seeks to enlist Sen. Rand Paul as an ally who could help to build support for our suggestion that balancing the budget should be the top issue in the 2020 presidential race. Read More...Tags: Sen. Tom Carper, balanced solution, Fiscal Commission, Bowles-Simpson commission, President Donald Trump, Rep. Nancy Pelosi, Rep. Kevin McCarthy, Sen. Mitch McConnell, Sen. Chuck Schumer , Sen. Chris Coons, Chris Wallace, Russell Vought, Sen. Rand Paul, Sen. Mike Enzi, Joint Select Committe re budget process, Democratic primaries debates, Republican tax cuts, special tax breaks, USA Today, Joe Biden, Ross Perot
12/09/19
It’s too late for real tax reform, but let's not make things worse by starting new spending programs no one wants to pay for and assuming billionaires & big corporations will pick up the tab. Read More...Tags: Flat tax, FairTax", StimpleTax, TCJA, Bipartisan Budget Act, Joe Biden, Emmanuel Saez, Gabriel Zucman, corporate income tax, Pete Buttigieg, tax extenders, tax gap, carbon tax, European welfare state
12/02/19
Don’t blame sporadic, ineffective government on the current president. This pattern has been developing for years, and barring corrective action it will keep getting worse. Read More...Tags: Sen. Bernie Sanders, President Donald Trump, appropriation bills, continuing resolution, border fencing, Bipartisan Budget Act of 2019, multiemployer pension plans, joint select committee, Rep. Sherrod Brown, Sen. Orrin Hatch, Congressional Budget Office, NAFTA, USMCA, Rep. Nancy Pelosi, Sen. Mitch McConnell, Mexican President Lopez Obrador, presidental vs. congressional roles, Pew Resarch polling, Tax Cuts and Jobs Act
11/25/19
Political revenge is not a good reason for the impeachment inquiry, and the ideas being offered in the Democratic primary debates seem uninspiring. Read More...Tags: President Donald Trump , public support for impeachment, Rep. Adam Schiff, Rep. Jerrold Nadler, Cory Booker, Tulsi Gabbard, Amy Klobuchar, Pete Buttigieg, Elizabeth Warren, Joe Biden, Bernie Sanders, Kamala Harris, Andrew Yang, Tom Steyer, Rachel Maddow, Andrea Mitchell, Kristen Welker, Ashley Parker, Ronald Reagan, climate change, wealth tax, Freedom dividend, family leave plan, Michael Horowitz, Sen. Lindsey Graham, John Durham, William Barr, Hunter Biden, Petro Poroshenko