Since I launched this column ten days ago, many of you have written to me, thankful to have the “inside scoop” on the Washington, D.C. policy world. I’m happy to provide it! While many are still arguing about the UAE port deal and panicking about the “civil war” that’s supposedly breaking out in Iraq, the rest of you are hungering to find out what the mainstream media is missing. Here’s this week’s report. 1. The RSC Releases its 2006 Legislative Agenda Rep. Mike Pence (R-IN), hero of taxpayers, chairs the Republican Study Committee (RSC) – known as the true conservative arm of the U.S. House of Representatives. The RSC released its top ten legislative priorities last week, setting into motion a national agenda that right-minded organizations are already getting behind. The ten priorities are below, with links to more information about some of the different components. 1. Make the Tax Cuts Permanent, including the repeal of the marriage-tax penalty and the death tax and passing fundamental tax reform. 2. Pass Budget Process Reform, which includes budgeting for emergencies with a rainy day fund, instituting a sunset commission for federal programs, instituting a constitutional line-item veto, and making the budget resolution carry the force of law. 3. Pass another Deficit Reduction Bill in the form of budget reconciliation to reign in autopilot spending, which has risen from 25% of all federal spending in 1963 to 54% today, and is expected to reach nearly 60% in 2014. 4. Pass Ethics Reform that requires transparency and earmark reform that permits Members of Congress to strike earmarks on the House floor. 5. Pass the Marriage Protection Amendment to ensure that marriage, the union of a woman and a man as husband and wife, is not redefined by activist judges. 6. Pass a Balanced Budget Amendment to put our fiscal house in order. 7. Offset all emergency supplemental spending with spending reductions and offset all new programs with simultaneous, equivalent reductions in, or eliminations of, existing programs. 8. Defend the Sanctity of Human Life, which includes banning all human cloning, passing the Unborn Child Pain Awareness Act, promoting ethical adult stem cell research, and preventing federal funding for destructive embryonic stem cell research. 9. Pass Protections for Religious Freedom, such as the Pledge of Allegiance, the Ten Commandments, and religious expression in the public square. 10. Pass legislation that stops the raid on the Social Security Trust Fund and allows Americans to own a Personal Social Security Account.
“The legislative priorities […] are welcome news to conservatives throughout America and should serve as a roadmap for action during the remainder of the 109th Congress,” says American Conservative Union’s David A. Keene. However, ACU Executive Director Bill Lauderback tells me that many ACU members are unhappy that immigration is not on the list. Others on the Right complain that a Balanced Budget Amendment is only an effective solution if protections are in place to keep legislators from simply raising taxes to balance the budget. 2. Property Rights at stake in ESA reform A year after the Supreme Court dealt a horrific blow to property rights in Kelo v. New London, another property rights battle is brewing. When the Endangered Species Act (ESA) was passed in 1973, it gave the government permission to impose severe land use restrictions on property that either houses or could house endangered species. The Fifth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution allows the government to take private property with just compensation. However, by simply restricting land use instead of taking the land, the government doesn’t have to pay a cent, while landowners are forced to pay taxes on land they can’t use and watch their land value plummet. Margaret Byfield, executive director of Stewards of the Range, tells me that a 70-year old woman named Margaret Rector “lost her entire retirement investment when the government designated her 15 acres as habitat for two songbirds. Her property went from $900,000 to $30,000 overnight. She never received compensation or any justice for what she lost.” The ESA is about to be reauthorized by Congress, and a coalition of policy groups is demanding that strong private property rights be included this time around. David Ridenour of the National Center for Public Policy Research says the simple answer is that “when the government takes your property, the least it can do is pay for it.” As last month’s issue of Organization Trends ironically notes, “The Act has had more effect on property rights than on the species it was meant to protect.” Byfield adds, “If environmentalists and politicians really cared about the animals, they would get rid of the Act and give landowners the freedom to do what they do best – produce necessary resources while taking care of the land and all who inhabit it.” 3. Taliban leader infiltrates Yale Continued... |