As the fall of 2009 approaches, three facts have become abundantly clear: First, President Obama's economic stimulus bill has failed to halt the steady loss of jobs or pull the economy out of recession. Second, the federal budget deficit for 2009 will be a modern record by any measure. And third, the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP), originally intended to…

After years of warning and months of high drama, the Treasury Department recently took the unfortunate but necessary step of seizing Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac (Fannie and Freddie). Treasury placed the two institutions into conservatorship and provided the means and terms by which Treasury would recapitalize them as necessary. The cost to the taxpayer is unknown at…

The "Jobs, Energy, Families, and Disaster Relief Act of 2008" is set for a cloture vote in the Senate. This is the first legislative step in yet another attempt by Congressional leadership to hike taxes under a cloak of faux fiscal discipline.  The legislation includes an Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT) patch for 2008.  It also extends nearly one hundred expired or…

As Congress begins its final weeks before the upcoming elections, the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) reauthorization appears as if it might finally be considered in conference committee. However, the conference report on the reauthorization of the NFIP should not be bogged down by irresponsible expansion into coverage of wind damage. While the House bill…

Nearly three months into the new fiscal year, only one of the 12 appropriations bills for fiscal year 2008 has been signed into law. As the holidays approach, the Democratic Congress has given up on the responsible approach of passing each spending bill individually; instead, it will cluster the 11 remaining bills into a single omnibus appropriations bill that would…