Did Welfare Reform Increase Extreme Poverty in the United States?

Two decades ago, on August 22, 1996, President Bill Clinton signed the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Act, popularly known as welfare reform, into law. At the time, liberals proclaimed that the bill would slash the incomes of one in five families with children and push 2.6 million people into poverty.[1] Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan famously predicted that the bill would leave children scavenging in the streets, “sleeping on grates, picked up in the morning frozen.”

In fact, reform cut welfare caseloads by over 50 percent, employment of the least-skilled single mothers surged, and the poverty rates of black children and single-parent families dropped rapidly to historic lows.[3] Doomsday prophets were utterly discredited. Reform was very popular with the public.

Remarkably, 20 years later, Moynihan’s alarm about “children sleeping on grates” has been revived. The left now contends...

Read more at Heritage.org
Hat tip: John H. Detweiler - "According to chart two, 89% of families living in extreme poverty have cell phones." Read More......

Cyrus Vance's War on Knife Law Reform

Republicans in the New York Senate still seem lukewarm to any change, allowing a bill championed by Assemblyman Dan Quart, a Manhattan Democrat, to languish for months without a vote. And for the first time, a powerful opponent to reform — Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. — is coming out of the shadows and going full-bore to scuttle Democratic efforts.
Read more at the Village Voice Read More......

Conservatives Oppose Mass Criminal Release

With the presidential race the focus of most of the media attention, a major division among Senate Republicans over so-called “criminal justice reform” has gotten little attention. But the liberal media are now beginning to notice that conservatives are mounting a campaign to stop a piece of legislation that has been advertised as a major part of President Obama’s left-wing legacy.
Read more at Accuracy in Media Read More......

H-1B reform right on time

Last week, a bipartisan pair of senators, Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), introduced a pro-American H-1B reform bill aimed at ending the chronic abuses of the long-compromised guest-worker program. The timing could not have been better. Not only has the New York Times just begun a new series of reports on H-1B abuse, but also just released is Michelle Malkin's latest tour de force Sold Out which skewers the program and looks to be one of the more important books this presidential cycle. Even traders on Wall Street think the Grassley-Durbin bill's serious. H-1B outsourcer Tata Consulting declined 3 percent last week after it was introduced. 


Read more at The Hill Read More......

Taxpayers Fleeing Democrat-Run States for Republican Ones

In 2013, more than 200,000 people on net fled states with Democrat governors for ones run by Republicans, according to an analysis of newly released IRS data by Americans for Tax Reform.
"People move away from high tax states to low tax states. Every tax refugee is sending a powerful message to politicians," said ATR President Grover Norquist. "They are voting with their feet. Leaders in Texas and Florida are listening. New York and California are not."


Read more at American's for Tax Reform Read More......

US Chamber of Commerce Pres: Pass Amnesty Now Before it Gets Tougher

Saying the political landscape will not be more conducive to amnesty legislation in two or four years, U.S. Chamber of Commerce President Tom Donohue wrote on Monday that immigration reform must happen now. ✧ Donohue has previously said that the U.S. Chamber of Commerce would "pull out all the stops" to get immigration reform this year. The group reportedly plans to spend $50 million to blunt the influence of the Tea Party, largely because it opposes amnesty, and millions more to push for immigration reform legislation that the Congressional Budget Office has said would lower the wages of American workers.

Read more at Breitbart Read More......

After Repeal of Obamacare: Moving to Patient-Centered, Market-Based Health Care

HERITAGE FOUNDATION RESEARCH
Abstract: Obamacare moves American health care in the wrong direction by eroding the doctor–patient relationship, centralizing control, and increasing health costs. True health care reform would empower individuals, with their doctors, to make their own health care decisions free from government interference. Therefore, Obamacare should be stopped and fully repealed. Then Congress and the states should enact patient-centered, market-based reforms that better serve Americans.

Read more at Heritage.org

Note: Many of the solutions this Heritage paper presents are solutions Republicans have submitted in various bills since the healthcare debate began. Harry Reid and Senate Democrats have refused to consider free-market solutions, while the president deceitfully claims that Republicans have not offered any solutions for greater coverage and health care reform. --bc Read More......

RS: An Open Letter to Senator Marco Rubio

RED STATE, By Daniel Horowitz (Diary), April 24, 2013

Dear Senator Rubio,
As the public finally gets an opportunity to read and analyze the bipartisan gang of 8 immigration bill, it is clear that there will be some irreconcilable differences between your vision of immigration reform and that of many conservatives across the country. However, we should all agree that this is an extremely consequential bill and must go through a long process – one which will allow all points of view to be heard.

Several months ago, you promised Rush Limbaugh that you would never be part of a process “that comes up with some bill in secret and brings it to the floor and gives people a take it or leave it.” Unfortunately, the process that has commenced thus far is ostensibly a ‘take it or leave it’ approach. Read more at Red State... Read More......

Morning Bell: The End of Welfare Reform As We Know It

The Obama Administration made yet another end run around Congress last week—this time, to gut the successful welfare reform law of 1996. If this is allowed to stand, it will mean rewinding years of progress that lifted millions out of poverty. Read more by Amy Payne at Morning Bell... Read More......

CPI: Opposing More Top-Down Control of Oregon Education

Steve Buckstein of Cascade Policy Institute testified before the Senate Education and Workforce Development Committee on Wednesday, February 8th.

CASCADE POLICY INSTITUTE, 2/8/2012, Testimony of Steve Buckstein - [Excerpt:] "I’m here to oppose SB 1581 because I believe that the legislature is continuing to fall into the “bigger is better” trap. The goal of unifying everything from early childhood through graduate school education can’t be accomplished without pushing power and control even farther away from the people who should matter most—parents and students. This bill, by giving even partial control over a number of positions in Oregon’s public education system to the new Chief Education Officer, simply continues movement into that trap. Read full testimony at CPI...

Related: Oregon Catalyst, 2/13/2012 - Whose education testimony are the Senators afraid of? by Steve Buckstein Read More......

CPI: Thousands of Oregon Kids Waiting – Literally – for Education Package

CASCADE POLICY INSTITUTE, 6/16/2011 by Christina Martin - This week, legislators and lobbyists are working frantically behind the scenes on an education package that could help transform educational opportunities for students across Oregon. The package features reforms that will shape the state’s oversight of education as well as parents’ ability to choose a public school based on a school’s merits rather than its address. Read more at CPI... Read More......

TA: Why Hasn't Anyone Signed Up For the High-Risk Health Insurance Pools?

THE ATLANTIC, 6/2/2011 by Megan McArdle - "I've predicted that lots of parts of Obamacare will not work the way they're expected to. But here's one I wouldn't have predicted: the high-risk pools, which were meant to tide people over until 2013, have signed up just 18,000 people as of March. ∴ There were supposed to be millions of people who were uninsurable because of pre-existing conditions. We heard lengthy testimony about their terrible plight. I don't think it's too strong to say that this fear--that you could get sick and no one would insure you, that's right, you, Mr. & Mrs. Middle-Class Voter--was one of the main reasons offered for the health care overhaul. It was estimated by Medicare's Chief Actuary that around 400,000 would sign up (the CBO estimated 200,000, but only because they assumed that HHS would use its authority to limit enrollment in order to stay within the $5 billion budgeted for the program). So where are all the uninsurable people?" Read more at The Atlantic...

Maybe the health care crisis was invented. Read Pattern of Corruption: Robert Creamer's Blueprint Read More......

Fri., March 11: Rally & hearings on Oregon single payer health care

Supporters of the Oregon Single Payer Campaign (a single payer health care system) will hold a Legislative Action Day rally on Friday, March 11th at Noon on the Capitol steps (Salem) in support of HB 3510 and SB 888, bills to establish the Affordable Health Care for All Oregon Plan, a single payer plan.

Hearings on HB 3510 start at 3:00 p.m.

Endorsers of HB 3510 – Affordable Health Care for All Oregon

1. AFL-CIO Oregon
   
2. Alliance for Democracy
   
3. Alliance for Retired Americans – Oregon
   
4. American Federation of Government Employees, Local 2157
   
5. American Federation of Musicians (AFM), Local 99
   
6. American Federation of Teachers Oregon
   
7. American Association of University Professors – PSU
   
8. American Medical Student Association – OHSU
   
9. Central Oregon Jobs with Justice
   
10. Community Alliance of Tenants
    
11. CWA 7901 (Communication Workers of America)
    
12. Eastside Democratic Club
    
13. Elders in Action
    
14. Eugene-Springfield Solidarity Network/Jobs with Justice
    
15. First Unitarian Church of Portland
    
16. Health Care for All Oregon
    
17. IBEW 48 (Electricians)
    
18. ILWU Local 5
    
19. ILWU 8 (Longshore and Warehouse)
    
20. Interfaith Health Care Network
    
21. IUOE 701 (Operating Engineers)
    
22. Mad as Hell Doctors
    
23. Mid-Willamette Valley Jobs with Justice
    
24. National Association of Social Workers, Oregon Chapter
    
25. Nurses for Single Payer Health Care (Portland)
    
26. Oregon Consumer League
    
27. Oregon Education Association
    
28. Oregon Nurses Association
    
29. Oregon Physicians for Social Responsibility
    
30. Oregon State Council for Retired Citizens
    
31. Pacific Green Party, Portland Metro Chapter
    
32. Portland Alliance
    
33. Portland Jobs with Justice
    
34. Physicians for a National Health Program - Corvallis
    
35. Physicians for a National Health Program – OHSU
    
36. Physicians for a National Health Program – Portland
    
37. Rural Organizing Project
    
38. Sisters of the Road
    
39. Southern Oregon Jobs with Justice
    
40. United Seniors of Oregon
    
41. Women's International League for Peace and Freedom

Read More......

Oregon's Obamacare -- hearing Friday

VICTORIA TAFT, 3/8/2011 - "OregonObamaCare Coming. Unless YOU Stop It! Hearing Friday. After rearranging the construct of DHS and health care delivery in the last legislature (elections have consequences) here, Democrats have set the table for ObamaCare to come to Oregon. This is an unaffordable blank check to establish OregonObamaCare (This isn't what they're calling it. I just thought it looked snappy all mashed up). This bill establish a health care welfare plan, begin the process of taking control of HMO's, rationing care (of course) and, among other things, set up a huge bureaucracy without increasing the number of doctors. ∴ This, of course, will bankrupt the state..." Read more at Victoria Taft... Read More......

Act for America: A Muslim shatters political correctness

ACT FOR AMERICA, 10/8/2010 via email - "What Muslims in America can do" by Dr. M Zuhdi Jasser - You may get a hundred different answers from a hundred American Muslims about what it means to be an American Muslim. The controversial Islamic center near ground zero, while pouring salt in a yet widely open national wound, did begin to awaken us to the yet unfought war of ideas within the "House of Islam." Many of us reform-minded Muslims have been waging that war of ideas for most of our adult life, long before 9/11. But time has shown that we cannot wage this battle alone.

It may not seem to matter much for a faith community that is barely 1 percent of the population, but American Muslims carry an invaluable ability to influence the ideologies of over 1.5 billion Muslims - over a fifth of the world's population. Until middle America realizes how our national security hangs in the balance of that intellectual war within Islam, our security will never improve.

The last 12 months have seen the most arrests and attacks of radical Islamists on Americans since 9/11. This was confirmed to Congress last month by Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, who also finally acknowledged the growing homegrown threat of radical Muslims.

Sadly, many of my co-religionists called on by media to speak for American Muslims too often wallow in denial simply deflecting any responsibility by distancing themselves from radicals or myopically equating Muslim radicals to those of other faiths. They willfully ignore the main ideological conveyor belt towards radicalism - political Islam.

Most Americans no longer accept these detached irresponsible dismissals from leading American Muslims. They see so many examples of American Muslim clerics who condemn terror out of one side of their mouth while deceptively amplifying victimology, Islamophobia, anti-Americanism and morally vacant justifications from the other.

Imam Anwar Al-Awlaki, for example, condemned 9/11 in the national media and was hailed as a moderate Muslim while at the Dar Al-Hijrah mosque of Northern Virginia in 2001. Most, however, refused to look with any critique at his theo-political ideas - a political Islam with high risk of radicalization. Today, he is one of the greatest threats to America creating such violent traitors as Nidal Hasan. His sermons and teachings are a clinic on homegrown radicalization and yet they still fill some Islamic bookstores with no hint of any counter-ideological movement from leading American Muslim organizations. Since so many leading well-financed American Muslim groups are sympathetic to the Muslim Brotherhood's ideas, they are certainly not going to lead a movement against political Islam and for the separation of mosque and state.

In our conversation at Drake University this week, I hope we focus on the fact that at the center of the growing threat to our national security is this battle within the House of Islam. American Muslims need to accept and spread the meme that it is time to get shariah (Islamic law) out of government and bring the ideas of modernity and Enlightenment to the Islamic faith we love.

We need to take the offense in ending the ideas of jihad, the "ummah" as nation, and the "salafi" dream of returning everything to the time of the Prophet Muhammad. Until we Muslims take on the responsibility of separating history from religion and mosque from state, the threat will not dissipate.

Dr. Jasser is the president and founder of the American Islamic Forum for Democracy, based in Phoenix, Ariz. Contact: info@airdemocracy.org, October 6, 2010

THE OTHER SIDE
Fox News Channel's video excerpt: Imam Anjem Choudary - "We do believe as Muslims the East and the West will one day be governed by Sharia. Indeed we believe that one day the flag of Islam will fly over the Whitehouse."

Read More......

CRNC Presents "Don't Put It On Our Tab: Not Too Big To Fail"

College Republican National Committee (CRNC)

www.crnc.org/petition SIGN NOW!!!

The College Republican National Committee is thrilled to announce the "Don't Put It On Our Tab" debt-awareness initiative! The national debt poses a lethal threat to our economic future, and we're not about to let the Democrats think we are ignorant to that fact. Help the CRNC stand up and speak out for our generation by signing the petition today!

Did you know that the a child born into this world today owes over $117,000 to the DEBT alone? With unemployment rising, 'entitlement' programs collapsing, and debt skyrocketing how are we ever going to pay that back? The answer is through conservative reform. Join our facebook group ( http://www.facebook.com/pages/Dont-Pu... ) to stay informed 24/7 about the debt, what we are doing to combat it, and to examine potential solutions to it! Read More......

Republicans Offered Better Solution to Hold Wall Street Accountable

PRESS RELEASE - Washington (Jul 15) House Republican Leader John Boehner (R-OH) issued the following statement after the Senate passed the Democrats’ job-killing Wall Street bailout bill: “The American people want reform, not more bailouts from Washington Democrats for their Wall Street allies. The Democrats’ bill makes bailouts permanent, enshrines ‘too big to fail’ into law, and fails to reform the government mortgage companies that sparked the meltdown by giving high-risk loans to people who couldn’t afford it, and it needs to be fixed. House Republicans offered a better solution to stop the Democrats’ permanent bailouts, reform Fannie Mae & Freddie Mac, and protect taxpayers and help small businesses create jobs. Our plan holds Wall Street accountable; the Democrats’ plan lets them off the hook. It’s time to start listening to the American people and work together on common-sense solutions to end the bailouts, reform Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and make Wall Street responsible for its actions.”

NOTE: Republicans offered comprehensive financial regulatory reform legislation – the Consumer Protection and Regulatory Enhancement Act (H.R. 3310) – designed to (1) stop the Democrats’ permanent bailouts for their Wall Street allies; (2) protect taxpayers and create jobs; (3) address Fannie Mae & Freddie Mac reform, the root causes of the housing meltdown & financial crisis; and (4) rein in the out of control Federal Reserve & end “too big to fail.”

HR3310 was introduced in the House on 7/23/2009. --bc Read More......

Tea Party protesters refused entry into congressional buildings

WASHINGTON EXAMINER, 3/20/2010 by Mark Hemingway - Capitol Police stopped letting peaceful protesters into the capitol to air their concerns with their representatives. Read more and see photos of the protest over the Democrats health care plan...

Vote scheduled for Sunday. Read More......

Keep Medicare in Congress's hands (Bipartisan Op-Ed)

POLITICO, 3/19/2010 by Bill Frist and John Breaux - [Excerpt] While the new entity, an “Independent Payment Advisory Board,” addresses a growing problem, its structure in the current legislation raises serious constitutional and process questions that Congress must confront. ∴ The board, intended to help control Medicare costs — which, all agree, are rising at a concerning rate — would possess nearly total power over the federal health care program for the elderly and disabled.

[...] Ultimately, however, we would be better off looking to established congressional oversight rather than implementing heavy-handed regulation to make significant — and potentially unconstitutional — changes to a program essential to the successful delivery of health care to America’s seniors.

Bill Frist is a former Republican senator from Tennessee who served as majority leader. John Breaux is a former Democratic senator from Louisiana and served as co-chairman of the National Bipartisan Commission on the Future of Medicare. Read more at Politico... Read More......

DeFazio Switches 'Yes' Vote to 'No' on Health Care Bill (unless...)

UPDATE: DeFazio voted "Yes."

FOXNews.com, 3/19/2010 - The vote tally on health care reform is starting to look like the Dow. ∴ Just when House Speaker Nancy Pelosi seemed to be one vote shy of the 216 she needs for health care reform to pass, a Democrat [DeFazio] who voted for the bill last year says he's switching his vote to no. ∴ [...] But he indicated he could still change his mind again.

"I'm a no unless they fix this," he said, referring to what he sees as insufficient Medicare spending in rural areas."

Read more at FOX...

Note: Rep. Boccieri (D-OH) switched his vote from no to yes. Try to keep up with the health care vote switching at National Journal's Hotline On Call. Read More......