Free Republic

Giving amnesty to illegal immigrants will greatly increase long-term costs to the taxpayer. Granting amnesty to illegal immigrants would, over time, increase their use of means-tested welfare, Social Security, and Medicare. Fiscal costs would rise in the intermediate term and increase dramatically when amnesty recipients reach retirement. Although it is difficult to provide a precise estimate, it seems likely that if 10 million adult illegal immigrants currently in the U.S. were granted amnesty, the net retirement cost to government (benefits minus taxes) could be over $2.6 trillion.

A radical market-driven approach devised by the Heritage Foundation and favored by conservatives. Current tax incentives for employers providing health benefits would be abolished. They would be replaced with a system of tax credits for individuals, coupled with a requirement to purchase private health insurance if the tax credits are substantial enough.

Former White House lawyer and leading conservative commentator, David Rivkin, was the first to outline the constitutional challenge to ObamaCare that will soon go before the Supreme Court. ObamaCare, officially called the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, marks the first time in history that the federal government has required every person to purchase a commercial product or service. As part of its “Preserve the Constitution” series, the Heritage Foundation is presenting an expert panel, headlined by David Rivkin, to discuss the case on Nov. 3 at Lehrman Auditorium in D.C. from noon to 1 p.m. Other speakers include: Todd...

Born in Montreal, the Hebron, Ky.-native Rep. Geoff Davis comes off as a passionate, prickly conservative in his fourth term. Davis serves on the powerful House Ways and Means Committee and is fast becoming known for focusing on the need to restrain government overreach and keep regulators accountable. [ ... ] In the last Congress, Davis introduced the REINS act, which aims to force up-or-down congressional votes on future major regulations. Davis’s name is likely one you will hear more and more as Americans wake up to the reality of regulatory excess. His votes have earned him a 92-percent rating...

If conservatives believe that reducing the burden of government creates economic growth, lefties at the Daily Kos have to believe the opposite: cutting government is an economic disaster. Take the Thursday blog post by Vyan titled "Cutting our way toward 3rd World status." The target is the Heritage Foundation, which apparently wants America to be a "third world nation with no middle class," like Somalia, because of the "(Koch Funded) Heritage Idea that the U.S. should change it's constitution to require it to only spend a maximum of 18% of it's GDP and require a Super-Majority Vote to increase

Each year for the past two decades, the U.S. Census Bureau has reported that over 30 million Americans were living in “poverty.” In recent years, the Census has reported that one in seven Americans are poor. But what does it mean to be “poor” in America? How poor are America’s poor? For most Americans, the word “poverty” suggests destitution: an inability to provide a family with nutritious food, clothing, and reasonable shelter. For example, the Poverty Pulse poll taken by the Catholic Campaign for Human Development asked the general public: “How would you describe being poor in the U.S.?” The...

"Though it Be Not Written Down, Yet Forget Not That I Am An Ass." Shakespeare. Much Ado About Nothing. Having providentially stumbled across Evan Sayet's Heritage Foundation Lecture, "How Modern Liberals Think," I realized something I should have understood years ago. I don't know anything. Screenwriter Evan Sayet, once a true New York Liberal, heard his Leftist friends rejoice that America had, on 9-11, finally gotten her "comeuppance." Horrified, he realized that his liberal friends really do "hate America" like they had claimed for years. He set off in pursuit of true knowledge and understanding about America and why the...

Does Rep. Anthony Weiner really have nothing better to do? He's currently going after Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, declaring that he should recuse himself from any constitutionality deliberations on ObamaCare because his wife got income from the Heritage Foundation (against ObamaCare), which Thomas forgot to disclose. But now, the game just got more intense.

While politicians are still talking about restoring civility, liberal thugs are waging an all out attack on the website of David Rivkin, lead counsel in the multi-state lawsuit against Obamacare, rather than engage in a civilized debate that they can’t win.

Virginia Thomas earned over $680,000 from conservative think tank the Heritage Foundation over 5 years, a group says. But the Supreme Court justice did not include it on financial disclosure forms. Reporting from Washington — Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas failed to report his wife's income from a conservative think tank on financial disclosure forms for at least five years, the watchdog group Common Cause said Friday. Between 2003 and 2007, Virginia Thomas, a longtime conservative activist, earned $686,589 from the Heritage Foundation, according to a Common Cause review of the foundation's IRS records. Thomas failed to note the income...

WASHINGTON -- Allegations of a pro-gay takeover, boycotts, embezzlement and terrorist-loving board members. Sounds like a Hollywood version of a conspiracy thriller, but it's not. It's the buzz around this year's Conservative Political Action Conference, the nation's single largest annual congregation of conservative leaders. Conservatives riding a new wave of momentum thanks to the strength of the Tea Party movement and big wins in the November midterm election should be riding high ahead of this year's CPAC,scheduled to take place in Washington on Feb. 10-13. But the conference, which has met for 38 years, has found itself beset by conflict...

The White House apparently follows Sarah Palin's writings and opinions on Twitter. Wednesday at a White House briefing, Press Secretary Robert Gibbs responded to a question about reaction to the Bush-era tax cut deal. He was asked if it seems off to them that Democrats are mad, but Republicans aren't and if that signals an imbalance to them that it wasn't exactly a compromise. "Well, I don't know if you guys get Sarah Palin's tweet, but it does not appear she likes this deal. I don't know where [Senator] Jim DeMint is at the current moment but it does not...

Those who think they are safe from the looming Obama tax hikes because they are not “rich” are in for a rude awakening if the Obama tax plan goes into effect. Economic growth affects everyone—whether directly or indirectly. All people’s microeconomic decisions contribute to the macroeconomic picture. When business owners hire fewer employees, the economy as a whole suffers, not only those who otherwise would have had jobs. Senior citizens are hurt the most by the imminent tax increases because retired people rely disproportionately on dividend pay­ments for their income. Economists in The Heritage Foun­dation’s Center for Data Analysis explain...

First there was the Contract With America. Then came the Pledge to America. The Heritage Foundation plans to issue its Solutions for America blueprint on Monday–just after Republicans issued their Pledge to America, which outlined what they’ll do if they win back power in the November elections. “Now is the time to be bold, and to act as befits our character,” foundation President Edwin J. Feulner writes in a letter addressed to “My fellow conservatives.” “That is what our parents and grandparents would expect of us, what future generations demand – and what The Heritage Foundation offers to America.” Feulner...

Mainstream America is finally getting to know the billionaire brothers backing the libertarian movement, thanks to a pair of dueling profiles in New York and The New Yorker. Now that we've heard about their charitable giving, David's 240-foot mega-yacht and role as patrons of the Tea Party movement, it's time to ask a more serious question: How libertarian are they? The short answer...not very.Charles and David Koch, the secretive billionaire brothers who own Koch Industries, the largest private oil company in America, have spent millions bankrolling free-market think tanks and pro-business politicians in order, as David Koch has put it,...

Want a 22 percent raise with zero risk of being let go? Get a federal job. A just-released report from Heritage Foundation scholar James Sherk reveals that times have never been better for civilian employees of Uncle Sam. To wit: Federal employees enjoy salaries 22 percent higher than folks in the private sector with comparable qualifications and job descriptions -- 30 to 40 percent higher when you factor in extra-generous fringe benefits. Plus, civil-service protections make it almost impossible to be fired. Nice work if you can get it, right? Actually, the federal government seems to be the only employer...

You may know that the Environmental Protection Agency is having a contest to try to explain “rulemaking” to us rubes. According to the contest site: Almost every aspect of our lives is touched by federal regulations. Even before you leave the house in the morning, government regulations help set the price of the coffee you drink, the voltage of electricity your alarm clock uses, and the types of programming allowed on the morning news. But many Americans don’t understand how rules are made or how they can get involved in the process. [emphasis mine] They manage to drag in school...

While Americans across the country have been tightening their belts and dealing with a wave of new taxes, fees, and regulations, the EPA has launched a video contest to celebrate their brand of over-regulation. They are offering $2,500 to whomever puts together the best video lauding the merits of regulation in American life.

With MANY THANKS to the Heritage Foundation website, this short YouTube video presents that up to thirty terrorists threats have been prevented via key parts of the Patriot Act. In light of what has just taken place this past weekend in New York City’s Times Square is all the reason why parts of this law MUST BE KEPT. But also another lesson is that it will more and more be left up to “WE THE AMERICAN PEOPLE” to do “if you see something, say something” in order to keep this country SAFE.

Abstract: North Korean dictator Kim Jong-il's faltering health has raised concerns about regime stability. Succession rumors have been swirling for years, with Kim's third son, Jong-eun, currently rumored to be Kim's favored choice. But regardless of whether leadership stays in the family or is wrested away by a challenger, a new North Korean leader is likely to keep in place the same belligerent policies--toward South Korea, toward China and Japan, and toward the U.S. If succession does not go smoothly, and if the North Korean regime were to collapse, the ensuing chaos would require immediate action by the U.S. and...