By Kevin Mooney — Even if Washington D.C. politicians manage to balance the budget and resolve the current fiscal crisis, the economy is not likely to recover within the current regulatory environment, Myron Ebell, the director and of energy and global warming policy for the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) told listeners at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC). Instead of [...]

NRD Editor’s Note: This column was originally published at The Washington Examiner. By Bill Wilson — In late December, Barack Obama announced that he believed the U.S. Senate was in recess and that he had the right to plant four people into sensitive governmental positions without Senate concurrence.  Coming as it did during a time when the American public had [...]

By Rebecca DiFede — Why does the Senate put up with so much abuse? On Jan. 4, much to the surprise of Congress, President Obama made four supposed “recess” appointments — three to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) and one to the Consumer Financial Protection Board (CFPB) — without confirmation by the Senate. The Constitution specifically states that in [...]

Six GOP Senators have stood up to defend free speech by opposing the Protect IP Act. The six, Senators Grassley, Hatch, Cornyn, Sessions, Coburn, and Lee, called on Senator Harry Reid to drop his efforts to push the bill through the Senate. Check out the letter they sent to Reid below: Letter to Majority Leader Reid, January 13, 2012

The “Lion of the Senate”, former Senator Ted Kennedy filed an amicus brief opposing the recess appointment of William H. Pryor Jr. in 2004–an appointment made by then President George W. Bush. Kennedy complained that the Senate was only out 10 days, which was not enough time to justify a recess appointment. One wonders what Kennedy would say to President [...]

By Rebekah Rast — $10 to $40 versus $91 billion. That is what is up for debate in Congress.  Does the payroll tax cut extension, giving people an extra $10 to $20, maybe $40, in their paychecks worth it, all the while knowing this small tax break will continue to bankrupt an already insolvent Social Security program by another projected [...]

No deal is better than a bad deal on extending the payroll tax cut and unemployment benefits.  This plan will blow a $180 billion hole in the budget, and right now there are no offsetting spending cuts on the table to help pay for it.  Without offsetting cuts and/or real entitlement reforms, these proposals should not even be under consideration. [...]

By Rebecca DiFede — On Dec. 1 the Senate passed the 2012 National Defense Authorization Act; a $662 billion Defense bill. That’s typical. But what’s not is that one portion of the bill may take tyranny and governmental control to a whole new level. Critics have said the legislation would give the military the power to lock up any and [...]

This is an excellent move by Senator Lindsey Graham (R-South Carolina). Senator Graham is calling for an investigation to determine if the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) and labor union collaborated on their attacks against businesses seeking favorable business environments free of Big Labor intimidation. From Senator Graham’s press release: U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham (R-South Carolina) is calling for a [...]

Senator Chuck Grassley drew the line today against Obama’s Federal Communications Commission (FCC) failure to respond to Senate inquiries regarding the controversial contract they gave to LightSquared which drew fire from Defense experts earlier this year.In a press release (see below), Grassley announced that he will stop two Obama appointees to the FCC from confirmation due to the agency’s lack [...]