The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA), the tax bill passed in Congress last year, represents the most substantial change to the nation’s tax code in a generation. This change has greatly benefited the U.S. economy as American businesses have become more competitive globally while American workers have seen an increase in their wages. Economists […]
President Trump tweeted this week that “Tariffs are the greatest!” Farmers disagree.
The federal government will soon dole out around $12 billion in “temporary relief” to farmers adversly affected by President Trump’s tariffs and trade war, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced on Tuesday. Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue told reporters that amount was “in line” with the estimated impact from retaliatory tariffs on U.S. agriculture exports. […]
DOE Prepares Bailout for Unprofitable Power Plants
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) has said that the country has ample power to supply market needs. FERC intervened and stopped an attempt by the Department of Energy (DOE) to pick winners and losers in the energy market when it unanimously rejected DOE’s proposal to bailout nuclear and coal. Now DOE is attempting to meddle […]
House Subcommittee Concerned over “Too Big to Fail” Mentality at NASA
On Thursday, June 14, 2018, the House of Representative’s Subcommittee on Space met to discuss the rising cost and schedule overruns at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). These overruns were attributed to what NASA Inspector General Paul Martin described as a “too big to fail” optimism at the agency, lack of consequences for […]
Senate Farm Bill helps largest 10% of farm operations
Despite the election year rhetoric about fiscal discipline and deficits, as well as advancing free-markets and trade, many lawmakers have sided with the influential farm lobby to continue doling out multi-millions of dollars to corporate agribusinesses instead of protecting taxpayers and the small and medium farms that make up rural America. A recent EWG analysis of USDA […]
Major legislation aims to slash Pentagon bureaucracy and waste
On April 17, 2018, Rep. Mac Thornberry (R-TX), chairman of the powerful House Committee on Armed Services, revealed a far-reaching proposal targeting the Defense Department’s so-called “Fourth Estate” agencies, which are maintained by around 200,000 civilian personnel and 600,000 contractors. The Fourth Estate is a nickname for defense agencies that provide administrative, purchasing, and oversight […]
Rescission and the Trump Administration
Rescission is an abstruse presidential tool passed amid the Nixon administration under the Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act of 1974. Using rescission, a president can select any appropriated federal program for reduction or elimination by telling Congress what he or she intends to cut. The Congress then has 45 days to accept the decision […]
Americans Continue to Pay More for Sugar
As people eat their leftover Easter candy from last weekend, they may want to think about how much they paid for all those treats. Raw sugar in the United States regularly costs twice or triple the world average, and this hurts food companies and leads to high prices at the grocery store. U.S. laws artificially […]
New House Bill to Permanently Ban Earmarks
The Earmark Elimination Act—H.R. 5369—would prohibit the House from considering any legislation containing earmarks, and it would strip any earmarks found in a bill being considered by the House before it could proceed.
Congress Should Not Bring Back the Marketplace Fairness Act
According to the National Retail Federation, holiday sales for 2017 are expected to increase by between 3.6 to 4 percent over last year. During this busy time of year for e-commerce, it is a good time to reiterate that Congress should not bring back the Marketplace Fairness Act. American consumers spend hundreds of billions on […]