You searched for:

Pilt and the Farm Bill: Why Americans No Longer Trust Their Elected Officials
Blog Articles
heritageaction.com/blog/pilt-farm-bill-americans-longe...

Christmas may have been last month, but the House of Representatives just jammed through a $1.111 trillion appropriations bill and it looks as if it's preparing to pass another trillion-dollar bill in the coming weeks in the form of the much-maligned food stamp and farm welfare bill. The two bills have much more in common than their trillion-dollar price tag, though. They are intimately connected by an obscure program known...

Washington's Weapon Against Conservatives
Blog Articles
heritageaction.com/blog/washingtons-weapon-conservativ...

My Foundry column this week discusses one of the tricks the Washington Establishment uses against conservatives: Over the past several decades, big-government lawmakers and lobbyists have developed a wide array of techniques they have used to successfully advance their own interests, usually to the detriment of our nation. If conservatives are to be successful in changing Washington and saving the country, we must first understand the tools of their self-indulging...

Conservative Reformers Need to Make Dc Listen
Blog Articles
heritageaction.com/blog/conservative-reformers-need-ma...

My Federalist column today explains that "reform conservatism" has been alive and well for years, and it is about time pundits start taking notice: Ross Douthat's recent New York Times column argues the most consequential recent development for the GOP has been "the fact that reform conservatism suddenly has national politicians in its corner." Indeed, Douthat writes: Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) and Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) have presented reform ideas...

House Passes $1 Trillion Food Stamp and Farm Bill
Press Releases
heritageaction.com/press/house-passes-1-trillion-food-...

Washington - This morning, the House passed a $956 billion food stamp and farm bill. Heritage Action released the following statement from chief executive officer Michael A. Needham: Nearly 18 months ago, conservatives made a simple request: instead of combining farm policy and food stamps into a single legislative vehicle, Congress should begin advancing one issue at a time. For decades, the unholy alliance created by combining these disparate policies...

Opportunity or Cronyism?
Blog Articles
heritageaction.com/blog/opportunity-vs-cronyism

Remember last year when progressives were declaring victory? My Foundry piece this week explains how conservatives pushed back, and won: Last year, many in the consulting class warned America had turned a corner, and they urged conservatives to moderate their principles in pursuit of electoral victory.After a year of policy defeats on guns, amnesty and cap-and-trade, President Obama's former press secretary Robert Gibbs declared 2013 the "lost year for the...

The Comprehensive Veterans Health and Benefits and Military Retirement Pay Restoration Act Of 2014
ScoreCard Votes/Cosponsorships Session: 113
heritageaction.com/scorecard/votes/s46-2014

Allegedly designed to extend and expand health care programs for veterans as well as job-assistance and education benefits, this multibillion dollar bill fails to make necessary reforms to the Veterans Affairs system that is already overburdened and flawed, harming both veterans truly in need of assistance and taxpayers in the process. The Congressional Budget Office score of the bill shows it would cost roughly $24 billion over ten years.

Why More Lawmakers Should Have Fought the Debt Ceiling Suspension
Blog Articles
heritageaction.com/blog/lawmakers-fought-debt-ceiling-...

My Foundry piece this week explains the clean debt ceiling suspension is just the beginning of a sustained effort to abdicate fiscal responsibility. Some Republicans are discussing the possibility of reinstating the "Gephardt Rule," a mechanism that allowed for approval of legislation increasing the nation's statutory debt limit without an actual vote in the U.S. House of Representatives. Reinstating this rule would supposedly allow lawmakers to avoid periodic debt ceiling...

A Vision to Unite America
Blog Articles
heritageaction.com/blog/vision-unite-america

My National Review post this week focuses on some of the true leaders of the House GOP conference, who will step in a fill a leadership void in the years to come: Unfortunately, courage is in short supply in Washington. Republican leaders have no compelling vision for the future, which means their only strategy is to recede to the shadows and hope that Obama's unpopularity produces a Republican Senate. Majorities...

Sanders' Veteran Bill Asphyxiates the Va System
Blog Articles
heritageaction.com/blog/sanders-veteran-bill-asphyxiat...

Most Americans would agree that those who have sacrificed in service of this nation deserve the care and gratitude of their government. The importance of quality veteran care is undeniable, but members of Congress must be careful not to simply support any measure with the word "veteran" in the title. This week, the Senate is likely to consider S.1982, an omnibus veterans bill sponsored by Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT). As...