Sen. Coburn Speaks at Heritage
April 10, 2007 | By Nathaniel Ward
Sen. Tom Coburn speaks at The Heritage Foundation Tuesday.
Health care reforms based on principles of free enterprise will bring about “increased health, increased quality of life and decreased costs,” Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK) said today at The Heritage Foundation.
Speaking in Heritage’s Lehrman Auditorium, Coburn argued that his free-enterprise reforms would provide “universal access to affordable care.” He would achieve this goal through various regulatory reforms and the mechanism of a refundable tax credit, which he said would benefit “the vast majority of Americans.”
Click here to read more about Sen. Coburn’s proposal.
Big labor’s anti-business campaigns
After decades of declining membership, labor unions are becoming increasingly desperate to sign up more members. The latest big labor tactic to accomplish this, Heritage labor economist James Sherk reports, is to blackmail businesses into recognizing a worker union—even if the workers themselves don’t vote to unionize.
Click here to read more about unions’ blackmail campaigns and how they cost workers their rights.
National Review: Heritage is ‘God’s Gift to Cable News’
The Heritage Foundation’s new Heritage in Focus video series is making a splash in the media—and a leading publication says they’re likely to draw even more attention to Heritage from news networks.
By producing these videos, writes National Review Online editor Kathryn Jean Lopez, Heritage has become “God’s Gift to Cable News.” She notes that “Heritage is making bookers’ jobs way too easy.”
Nostalgic for the ’70s
Who doesn’t miss the block-long lines at the pump, the odd-day/even-day fill-up regime, and the “malaise” that went with it? Certainly not Rep. Bart Stupak (D-MI). He wants to bring back that whole 70’s vibe by imposing gasoline price caps.
Click here to read more about the failures of price controls from Heritage’s Jim Weidman.
This week on the Hill
While the House of Representatives remains out on recess, there are a number of issues that remain salient on Capitol Hill. The three most important are the supplemental bill to fund the war in Iraq, immigration reform and federal funding for embryonic stem cell research, explains Brian Darling, Heritage’s Director of Senate Relations, in a new Heritage video.
Click here to watch Darling’s take on Iraq funding, immigration and embryonic stem cells.
In other news
- President Bush has signaled his intention to veto legislation expanding federal funding for research on stem cells from human embryos.
- Military authorities are cracking down on deserters and others absent without leave, The New York Times reports. It should be unsurprising that the number of desertions has fallen as a result.
- A White House spokesman noted that the current economic expansion—spurred in large part by the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts, which reduced the penalties on work and investment—is by many measures stronger than that under President Clinton.
- Michigan lawmakers have put forward a cockamamie plan to buy an iPod music player for every student in the state. If they truly seek to improve the state education system, lawmakers would be better served by looking to initiatives like school choice instead of simply throwing more money around.
- Members of Congress are again playing politics with global warming, requiring defense and intelligence agencies to report on the security consequences of alarmist predictions.
- Heritage ideas are taking hold among presidential candidates. Former Gov. Mitt Romney (R-MA) plans to announce today an initiative to maintain defense expenditures at four percent of GDP.
- Radical immigration activists are calling for a repeat of last year’s pro-amnesty marches in cities around the country. Despite their protests, though, rewarding lawbreakers is still the wrong thing to do.
Coming up at Heritage
To attend the following Heritage Foundation events, RSVP at Heritage’s events website. Or you can watch these events live online at Heritage.org. All times are Eastern.
- On Wednesday, April 11 at 9:00 a.m., a panel of experts will examine America’s immigration laws and how they impact those blackmailed into supporting terrorist activity.
- On Wednesday, April 11 at 2:00 p.m. Assistant U.S. Trade Representative Wendy Cutler examines the importance of the new Korea-U.S. Free Trade Agreement.
- On Thursday, April 12 at noon, Dr. Allen C. Guelzo of Gettysburg College will discuss the importance of prudence to 19th century political thought.
Nathaniel Ward is the Editor of MyHeritage.org—a website for members and supporters of The Heritage Foundation.
