The U.S. Senate passed the misleadingly named Inflation Reduction Act on Sunday before senators adjourned until September. The bill—which allocates around $740 billion—passed with a tie-breaking vote from Vice President Kamala Harris; it will now head to the House of Representatives, which is expected to vote on it Friday. Democrats say the bill will curb […]
The once-beleaguered CHIPS Act has finally passed and will soon receive President Joe Biden’s enthusiastic signature. The big ticket item in that legislation is $52 billion worth of subsidies for computer chip manufacturers, but once the bill’s passage looked inevitable, it was stuffed full of additional spending. The CHIPS and Science Act’s cost has now […]
Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D–Mass.) and Alex Padilla (D–Calif.) recently asked the Department of Transportation to fine airlines for delays and cancellations and prevent airline consolidation. The widespread delays and cancellations are indeed annoying, but the senators’ demands won’t help any more than Congress’ last airline blunder did. Remember the last airline bailouts? During the pandemic, […]
There’s a growing bipartisan consensus that the U.S. spends too much time and too much money approving new infrastructure projects. A side deal worked out by Sen. Joe Manchin (D–W.Va.), Democratic congressional leaders, and the White House as part of their ‘Inflation Reduction Act’ addresses this problem by attempting to streamline environmental reviews mandated by […]
A week before the House of Representatives approved a ban on “assault weapons,” a federal judge in Denver explained why such laws are unlikely to pass constitutional muster. House Democrats either were not paying attention or did not care, because they view the Second Amendment as an outmoded provision that imposes no meaningful limits on […]
The House of Representatives today approved H.R 1808, which would ban the production and sale of “assault weapons,” including semi-automatic rifles with features such as pistol grips, folding or adjustable stocks, barrel shrouds, and threaded barrels. It also would ban a long list of specific models by name. The bill, which passed the House by a […]
The House of Representatives has passed its latest anti–human trafficking bill, with just 20 lawmakers (all Republican) voting against it. The Frederick Douglass Trafficking Victims Prevention and Protection Reauthorization Act of 2022 is the latest reauthorization of the 2000 Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act and, like the original, this one was sponsored by […]
Housing advocates and their Democratic allies in Congress are hopping mad that the reconciliation bill that the White House and congressional leadership have worked out with Sen. Joe Manchin (D–W.Va.) doesn’t include any more federal funds for housing. “The recent information about what has been made available in this deal…is shameful, I’m embarrassed by it. […]
A recent robbery at Best Buds, a marijuana dispensary in Portland, Oregon, was “so violent” that it “sent shockwaves through the industry,” Willamette Week reports. “Thieves pistol-whipped one employee and shot at another as he emerged from the restroom with his hands up.” That was not an isolated incident. Willamette Week notes that “crime at […]
Industrial policy is making a comeback. For those of you under the age of 50, this is just another term for corporate welfare—a lovely name for the unlovely practice of a government granting subsidies, protective tariffs, and other privileges to politically influential industries or companies. It’s often done in the name of some lofty goal […]