President Bush today proposed a federal budget that for the first time would bust the $3 trillion mark. Here is the Heritage Foundation’s take on the budget, which is released annually on the first Monday of February:
Rep. Wayne Gilchrest is a tax hiker from way back, a lover of pork-barrel projects, a public official determined to line his own pockets with pay raises, and a liberal who votes like House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif.
Well, at least that is Gilchrest’s biography according to The Club For Growth, which is no fan of the Maryland Republican and wants to see him defeated in the GOP primary Feb. 12. It’s a message that Andy Harris, the conservative rival to Gilchrest, is sending himself. Here are ads by the club and Harris
Federal Reserve Board Chairman Ben Bernanke testified about the economy today before the House Budget Committee.
Here’s a clip of him being questioned by Texas Democrat Chet Edwards about making permanent the tax cuts from earlier this decade, about short-term actions to boost the economy and about the need for long-term fiscal responsibility by the federal government.
Bill Beach, director of the Heritage Foundation’s Center for Data Analysis, testified to the Joint Economic Committee yesterday about plans to stimulate the economy. He argued that Congress should let the Fed take the lead on stimulating the economy in the short term and instead focus on the long term.
“Congress should take this moment of slow growth to do what it does best — to set broad economic policy.”
It’s time for those New Year’s resolutions and both President Bush and Democrats in Congress have a few to share with the American people. What better way to do it than their weekly radio addresses.
Bush, for instance, has resolved to do something about “wasteful earmark spending.” “In the last election, congressional leaders ran on a promise that they would reform earmarks,” he said. “They made some progress but not nearly enough.” He said he is reviewing options he can take as president to curtail “special-interest items that are slipped into big spending bills like … often at the last hour, without discussion or debate.”
Bush also vowed to submit a budget in February that will restrain spending, keep taxes low and move the nation toward a balanced budget.
On the Democratic side, freshman Rep. Kirsten Gillibrand of New York outlined “a vision to build America’s greatness.” Among other things, the agenda includes a push toward energy independence, advancements in technology that can create jobs, economic policies aimed at helping the middle class, changes to the education and healthcare systems, and efforts to secure the nation against attacks.
“I truly believe that all good things are possible when the American people are heard,” she said.