Monday, November 15, 2010

Fwd: Member Briefing: The Good and the Bad from the Debt Panel

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-------- Original Message --------
Subject: Member Briefing: The Good and the Bad from the Debt Panel
Date: Fri, 12 Nov 2010 13:13:30 -0800
From: The Heritage Foundation <membership@heritage.org>
Reply-To: membership@heritage.org
To: Dick Thompson <rhomp2002@earthlink.net>


myHeritage Logo November 12, 2010

The Good and the Bad from the Debt Panel

by Bethany Murphy

"The draft proposal issued Wednesday by the co-chairmen of President Obama's deficit reduction panel has both strengths and weaknesses," Heritage Foundation vice president Mike Gonzalez reports.

Heritage economist Alison Fraser outlines some of these strengths and weaknesses in a new report. She lauds the plan for "lay[ing] out some tough choices for cutting spending" and avoiding a value-added tax. But while it does address runaway spending on entitlement programs, if imperfectly, the plan leaves Obamacare in place and proposes massive tax increases and irresponsible defense cuts.

Our experts have advised the new Congress to immediately freeze and cut spending as a way to get our nation's finances in order. Heritage's Brian Riedl recently offered up a plan to easily cut $343 billion from the federal budget.

Fraser, who directs Heritage's Roe Institute for Economic Policy Studies, also warns that "changes this important—and necessarily bold—should be given every consideration and not be crammed through by a lame duck Congress."

What do you think? Will the Deficit Commission be successful cutting our soaring national debt? Post your comments here »

-- Nathaniel Ward

From the Comments: How to Respond to the Obama Tax Hikes

In the comments on our new myHeritage site yesterday, Heritage member Robert Orsino asked us to help him respond to liberal misinformation from groups like MoveOn.org:

quote
The latest being wide spread is against extending the Bush tax cut giving the following reason— "most economists agree that the top 2%—the richest folks who the Republicans are going to bat for—don't spend this money, meaning this tax giveaway doesn't have any stimulative effect on the economy." Do you have any facts rebutting this claim that I can use in my response?
quote

The Heritage Foundation has been responding to liberal distortions about the effect of tax cuts for years. Our experts have produced a point-by-point rebuttal of common liberal myths about what reducing marginal tax rates does and doesn't accomplish.

An analysis by Heritage's Center for Data Analysis concluded that President Obama's proposal to impose new taxes on the wealthy would have several harmful effects:

Continue Reading and post your comments here »

Heritage Hosting Orientation for New Congressmen

The Heritage Foundation's New Members Orientation seminar will take place later this month for newly elected Members of Congress.

This conservative policy orientation will provide a comprehensive and informative overview of the key policy issues that new members of Congress will confront in the 112th session of Congress. The program will feature experts covering a wide range of issues including the need to cut spending, enhance our national security, health care reform, and restoring constitutional conservatism.

Heritage Foundation experts and scholars will appear along with guests such as Ambassador John Bolton, CNBC anchor Larry Kudlow, Ambassador Paul Bremer, and author Amity Shlaes.

What issues do you think Congress needs to address? Post your comments on myHeritage.


Heritage Work of Note

  • The new health care reform bill and its many disadvantages have provoked wide-spread controversy in the United States. Heritage's Lanhee Chen finds even more devastating impacts of this bill on the states: "A growing number of state budgets are in danger of collapsing under multibillion-dollar deficits," writes the Heritage health care expert, "and are about to be burdened with billions more in costs imposed by the new Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA)."
  • In a speech Wednesday at Heritage, Congressman Joe Barton (R-TX) repudiated critics and commentators for saying that the next Congress will be in gridlock. "Conservatives want to help people; we're for good government, for effective government," and "not for gridlock" notes the Texas conservative. Furthermore, Barton hopes that he will "engage and encourage American people to be part of the process."
  • This week's Heritage in Focus podcast features national security expert James Carafano discussing the foiled attempt by Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula to send parcel bombs from Yemen. David Weinberger hosts. Subscribe to Heritage in Focus podcasts in your RSS feed and in iTunes.
  • Last week's election helped advance the cause of several important reforms to education policy. Heritage's Lindsey Burke reports that "many conservative candidates in the states campaigned on returning to local control in education and expanding school choice options for parents."

In Other News

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