We’ve heard a lot about the IRS’s over-the-top targeting and harassment of conservative and tea party groups and how the agency delayed the groups’ applications for non-profit status. But the hits just keep coming for the IRS. This past weekend, we were treated to the spectacle of IRS employees doing a tax-payer funded line dance […]
Forever Red in Illinois
As the Illinois legislature winds up the 2013 session by creating a new $750,000 “Forever Green Illinois Program” (it’s really there on pp. 8-9 of the 284-page budget bill) that would fund the “maintenance and beautification of greenery,” including grass, weeds, trees, shrubs, bushes, and plants on state or local government property, elected officials should also consider adopting a new official […]
We Agree with David Axelrod
Every once in a while a politician or political operative says something with which everyone can agree. So today, for the first time, all of us at CAGW agree with David Axelrod to the extent that he acknowledged that the government is too big. Obviously we don’t agree that the size of the government excuses […]
The Farmers Love This Bill
“The farmers love this bill, The farmers love this bill, High, HIGH, the dairies go, The farmers love this bill!” While it’s a tortured version of the original, the verse scribbled above represents a more fitting rendition of the classic nursery rhyme these days, given ongoing congressional action. Today, the Senate will markup its version (S. […]
Because They Could
Americans need to take heed to the shenanigans that the Obama Administration has undertaken in response to the sequester, which began March 1. Its action in the recent air traffic control episode to slow down air travel demonstrates arrogance and indifference toward the American people. In response, Congress had to pass legislation to halt the […]
2013 Farm Bill Update – Time to Plant Better Policies
During the 112th Congress, progress was made by both the House and Senate to enact a new Farm Bill. As the House and Senate Agriculture Committees prepare to mark up draft Farm Bills in mid-May, they should examine the progress, as well as the missteps, that were made during the last Congress. Lipstick won’t change the Farm Bill from being a piggy piece of legislation.
Tax Refund Fraud and Identity Theft – an Update
April is the cruelest month for most taxpayers, but for a growing number of them, it is the months that follow that do the most damage.
Bi-, Bi-, Biennial Budgeting!
While not as entertaining as “Bye, Bye, Birdie,” the bobby-soxer romp of the early 1960s, biennial budgeting represents a refreshing change-of-pace from the dour melodrama that Congress’ current fiscal discourse has become. On March 22, 2013, Sens. Johnny Isakson (R-Ga.) and Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) scored a preliminary victory on the issue when the Senate voted 68-31 in favor of their amendment (S. Amdt. 138) to the Senate’s first-in-four-years budget resolution. The Isakson-Shaheen effort provides a matinee preview to their legislation, S. 554, the Biennial Budgeting and Appropriations Act, that would be needed to implement the recommendations included in the upper chamber’s budget resolution, which does not carry the force of law.
The Devil is in the Details on STEM Consolidation
There is little doubt that science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) programs are essential to the nation’s ability to compete in the global economy.
Further Scrutiny for the “Little Crappy Ship”
A senior naval commander believes the troubled Littoral Combat Ship (LCS), or “Little Crappy Ship” as it has been referred to inside the Navy, does not have enough firepower. Other analysts believe the ship is not survivable.