Op-Eds

Jun 22, 2009

IG Firing Undermines Obama Promise, Warrants Investigation

President Obama’s dismissal of Gerald Walpin, former Inspector General of the Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS), has caused many in Congress to question the White House’s methods and motives. It also raises substantive questions about the Administration’s transparency and respect for the law, as well as the degree to which every Inspector General is protected from political retribution on the part of this administration. Inspectors General are appointed to serve as ...

Jun 20, 2009

Ronald Reagan Reconsidered

Political irony has experienced a profound illustration in the early days of the Obama administration. Seldom has a president rendered such thoughtful tribute to a predecessor whose values his every legislative effort was certain to undermine. Case in point: Two events on Capitol Hill earlier this month were coordinated to honor the life and legacy of Ronald Reagan. At a signing ceremony in the White House Diplomatic Room, President Obama authorized a centennial commission to plan for the ...

Jun 20, 2009

Alternative Energy Should Include Nuclear

Congress has pursued a strategy of taxing fossil fuels in order to discourage their consumption and has heavily subsidized alternative energy sources such as wind and solar. This strategy ignores an inconvenient truth – renewable energy cannot meet the nation's everyday power demands. Often, however, the most efficient and proven source of carbon-free energy – nuclear power – has been the conspicuously missing link in the climate debate. This month, as the ranking member of the House ...

Jun 18, 2009

CIA’s Panetta, DNI Blair Must End Turf War and Switch Jobs

When Congress passed the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004, it did so to better protect the American people from the breakdown of vital intelligence that left our nation vulnerable on that infamous morning of Sept. 11, 2001. Administrative coordination of the various intelligence agencies—a key provision of the law—was met with initial skepticism, but a post-9/11 world required new approaches to preserve our national security. Regrettably, the internecine turf wars ...

Jun 16, 2009

Reform is Needed, but Don’t Use Medicare Model

Somewhere between the health care extremes — no government involvement and total government control — real reform is possible. And reforming America’s health care system is one of the most pressing challenges that we face. Serious problems have emerged. Skyrocketing administrative and liability costs, cumbersome interstate restrictions and the terrible reality that our nation’s poor receive primary care at the highest point of cost — emergency rooms — necessitate a thoughtful ...

Jun 10, 2009

More Spending, Less Transparency Means Deep Trouble for U.S. Taxpayers

In those last moments before the R.M.S. Titanic gutted its hull on a jagged iceberg 400 miles south of the Grand Banks of Newfoundland, her captain ordered a full reverse of all engines and a hard starboard turn. It was - as history records - too little, too late. Contrast that with President Obama's announcement today that his administration will ramp up federal spending in the next three months. As the government chugs into uncharted waters of record fiscal irresponsibility, it seems our ...

Jun 8, 2009

A Tale of Two Treasuries

In his debut as the nation's 75th treasury secretary, Timothy Geithner has been a smashing success -- if success is measured by more federal debt and less accountability to American taxpayers. It was never supposed to be this way. When our first treasury secretary, Alexander Hamilton, sought to establish the nation's first bank in 1791, he faced challenges from those who condemned the move as an unconstitutional power grab to control the flow of credit and direct the national economy. Against ...

Jun 5, 2009

Town Hall: Remembering Reagan and D-Day

Five years ago today, Ronald Reagan’s long goodbye came to an end.  The former president who lifted the disheartened American people to their feet and brought the Soviet Union to its knees exited the darkness of a decade-long fight with Alzheimer’s in a perfect picture show ending – with his leading lady by his side. This week, Nancy Reagan was greeted in the Capitol Rotunda by a cheering, standing-room only crowd on hand for the ceremonial unveiling of a bronze statue of her husband.  ...

Jun 5, 2009

Climate Bill a Pain in the Gas

When Speaker Nancy Pelosi engineered the ouster of the House dean, Rep. John Dingell (D-Mich.), from his chairmanship of the Energy and Commerce Committee to install her chief environmental henchman, Henry Waxman (D-Calif.), we knew to expect a double dose of legislative toil and trouble. Now reaching 1,000 pages — several hundred more than the erstwhile $787 billion stimulus — Waxman and Rep. Ed Markey’s energy plan belches from the caldron of liberal ideology, a potent potion of ...

Jun 3, 2009

Boost to Federal Workforce in Weak Economy: Bad Bill

Added to the growing list of bird-brained schemes to increase the size of the federal government in the midst of a struggling economy is H.R. 626, the Federal Employees Paid Parental Leave Act, introduced earlier this year to guarantee four weeks of paid parental leave exclusively to government employees. The justification behind the bill — according to its Democratic sponsor — is to make federal employment more appealing in the job market and to increase employee retention. Questionable ...