Category Archives: Government spending

Congress IS Getting a Special Deal Under Obamacare

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The Obama Administration cut Congress a break when it allowed them to keep their health insurance subsidies. Will Congress at some point be forced to vote on that special deal? [Credit: Getty Images]

The Oba­ma Admin­is­tra­tion cut Con­gress a break when it allowed them to keep their health insur­ance sub­si­dies. Will that spe­cial deal prove polit­i­cal­ly viable?  [Cred­it: Get­ty Images]

[Updat­ed Octo­ber 1, 2013]

The new health care exchanges opened for busi­ness today, even as most fed­er­al gov­ern­ment oper­a­tions shut down.

That result is exact­ly the oppo­site of what House Repub­li­cans intend­ed when they set­tled on their strat­e­gy of link­ing gov­ern­ment fund­ing with Oba­macare “defund­ing.” They insist­ed that their tac­tics would keep the gov­ern­ment open while stop­ping the health law in its tracks, though nei­ther Sen­ate Democ­rats nor the Pres­i­dent seem inclined to go along. Con­tin­ue read­ing →

Welfare or Work: A Difficult Choice

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The choice between welfare and work is not always an easy one, according to a new study by the Cato Institute. (Credit: LA Times)

The choice between wel­fare and work is not always an easy one, accord­ing to a new study by the Cato Insti­tute. (Cred­it: LA Times)

(NOTE: This post was updat­ed on Sep­tem­ber 23 to incor­po­rate the gov­ern­men­t’s new­ly-released pover­ty rate data.)

If forced to choose between a full-time job that paid $24.40 per hour and enrolling in a pack­age of gov­ern­ment ben­e­fits that paid a com­pa­ra­ble amount, which would you choose? Con­tin­ue read­ing →

The Moral Hazard of Government

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Sting wrote the stalker's anthem, "Every Breath You Take," a song that takes on new meaning in light of newest NSA revelations. [Credit: Davids Zondy]

Sting wrote the stalk­er’s anthem, “Every Breath You Take,” a song that takes on new mean­ing in light of newest NSA rev­e­la­tions. [Cred­it: Davids Zondy]

The intel­li­gence community’s gild­ed rep­u­ta­tion, already tar­nished by months of unau­tho­rized dis­clo­sures, was dragged into the realm of the creepy last Fri­day when an NSA offi­cial told a reporter about an agency employ­ee who had tapped secret gov­ern­ment data to spy on his ex-wife. Con­tin­ue read­ing →

Republicans Getting Deficit Reduction, But President Getting His Way

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The President and Speaker are headed for another budget confrontation. [Credit: Fox News]

The Pres­i­dent and Speak­er are head­ed for anoth­er bud­get con­fronta­tion. [Cred­it: Fox News]

Con­gress is on hol­i­day, rest­ing up for the next round of bud­get wars that will resume after Labor Day. The issues they will face when they return are famil­iar: the fed­er­al gov­ern­ment is about to lose author­i­ty to do what it does best (or, at least, most nat­u­ral­ly) – bor­row and spend. Con­tin­ue read­ing →