Are government benefits fueling US poverty?
Ohio University economist Richard Vedder says an expanding system of government benefits has helped create a poverty rate of 14 percent.
View ArticleWin at all costs? Suicide of computer whiz prompts look at federal...
The case of computer whiz Aaron Swartz -- who committed suicide after federal prosecutors charged him with 13 felony fraud counts -- has become, for some, emblematic of how overzealous prosecutors.
View ArticleObama's private golf outing renews tussle between White House, press corps...
The decades-old conflict between the press's right to know and the White House's desire for effective messaging reached a flash point over the weekend with the White House Press Corps being excluded...
View ArticleDems ramp up push for assault weapons ban, face headwinds from states
Democrats have begun an all-out push to move a new assault weapons ban through Congress. But it faces strong headwinds from House Republicans, Democrats in pro-gun rights states and many legislatures...
View ArticleObama's pick for EPA chief known for dogged pursuit of anti-climate change...
Gina McCarthy, Obama's pick for EPA administrator, is the architect of new fuel standards that will require 39 miles per gallon for cars by the year 2016, and she also crafted clean air regulations...
View ArticleWhat to Cut: As Congress treats crises with new programs, government grows
With the creation of almost any government program comes a food chain of contractors, lobbyists, lawyers and special interests -- all feeding from a government trough that Congress seldom lets run dry.
View ArticleWhat to Cut: Excess federal property costing taxpayers billions
A prime example of how slowly the federal government moves is a piece of prime real estate in Washington's tony Georgetown neighborhood -- an old steam-generating plant with a spectacular view of the...
View ArticleWhat to Cut: Red tape stalls firing of ineffective federal workers
Working for the federal government used to mean a trade-off -- lower salaries, in exchange for higher job security. Today, there's no trade-off as federal workers often make good money with little risk...
View ArticleWhat to Cut: Calls to shed debt-burdened Fannie, Freddie
More than five years after the housing bubble burst -- sending the U.S. economy into a tailspin from which it has yet to fully recover -- the two government-backed entities at the heart of the bust...
View ArticleWhat to Cut: Striking subsidies could save billions
Sugar is just one commodity whose price is hugely inflated in the United States because of what critics call an outdated system of subsidies and price supports.
View ArticleClimate change skeptics seize on reports showing temperatures leveling
Climate change skeptics are doing a bit of gloating following a series of mainstream media reports that acknowledge what those skeptics have long held -- the earth is not warming, at least not in the...
View ArticleGerman home-schooling family fights to stay in US
While the White House and many lawmakers push to grant legal status to immigrants who crossed the border illegally, the Romeike family thought they followed the rules -- but now face deportation.
View ArticleObama doubles down in advocating active government, as GOP warns of excess
A passage in President Obama's recent commencement address at Ohio State University has highlighted the stark contrast between his view of the role of government and that of his Republican opponents,...
View ArticleScandals prompt comparisons between Nixon, Obama administrations
The chorus of comparisons between President Obama and the only president to resign in disgrace is growing by the day, as the administration’s scandals appear to pile up. Whether the comparisons are...
View ArticleIRS official who refused to testify facing more scrutiny over scandal, past
The IRS official who refused to testify at a House hearing Wednesday has become a key focus of the congressional investigations into the IRS practice of singling out conservative groups.
View ArticleDisability benefits program for federal workers reported rife with waste
The government's program for disability benefits for federal workers is reported rife with waste and abuse, including cases where apparently healthy employees ran marathons, skied and did trapeze flips...
View Article'Insider threat'? Program urging federal workers to tattle on each other...
Amid the furor in Washington over government leaks and media exposès, a little-known executive order signed by President Obama in October of 2011 could fuel the paranoia.
View ArticleJudges cite pressure to approve disability payments as program nears insolvency
Judges testified Thursday that they were pressured to approve Social Security disability payments, amid warnings that the explosion in the number of Americans receiving those payments means the program...
View ArticleSenior IRS manager invokes Fifth Amendment right before House committee
For the second time in as many months, a senior IRS manager on Wednesday invoked his fifth amendment right against self incrimination, fueling perceptions of an agency in crisis.
View ArticleCoal industry threatened by stringent new EPA standards
The next time you turn on a light, ride an elevator or charge up your cell phone, you might want to thank John Toth or 86,000others like him still working today to dig the coal that fuels 40 percent of...
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