Tax Evaders Unite!

Well, the wheels seem to have fallen off the Presidential motorcade as tax issues with President Obama's nominees took another twist today. After getting his Treasury nominee, significant and illegal tax issues notwithstanding, through the Senate confirmation process, President Obama's luck has run out.

Former Senate Majority Leader and Health and Human Services Secretary nominee Tom Daschle (center of photo from 2002 when he used his wrong hand to recite the Pledge of Allegiance) withdrew his name from consideration this morning following a series of reported federal tax violations. The Obama Machine and Dem leadership in Congress tried to downplay Daschle's problem over the past few days as they did several weeks ago in the case of newly sworn-in Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner, who defrauded the government of tens of thousands of dollars in payroll taxes while working at the International Monetary Fund.

In addition to Daschle's withdrawal, Obama's Chief Performance Officer nominee Nancy Killefer also removed herself today from consideration due to previous tax problems.

How ironic that the party which celebrates April 15 as a national holiday and wants nothing more than to overtax "working" Americans to pay for unnecessary socialized services for all Americans would lose two nominations on the same day to tax evasion.

The 2012 Pelosi GTxi SS/RT Sport Edition

This is a great video! Special thanks to Russ G. for sending it over..

Heritage Foundation Releases Research on Homeschooling

In December, the U.S. Department of Education's National Center for Education Statistics released new estimates on the number of American families homeschooling their children. The new report shows the growing popularity of homeschooling. In view of this trend, it is important that federal and state policymakers safeguard families' right to educate their children at home.

Growing Homeschooling Movement

The report shows that approximately 1.5 million children (2.9 percent of school-age children) were being homeschooled in the spring of 2007, representing a 36 percent relative increase since 2003 and a 74 percent relative increase since 1999.[1] One private researcher estimates that as many as 2.5 million school-age children were educated at home during the 2007-2008 school year.[2]

The homeschooling survey also reveals the most common reasons cited by families as the basis for their decision to educate their children at home. The most frequently referenced reasons included the ability to provide moral or religious instruction (36 percent), concern about the environment at other schools (21 percent), and dissatisfaction with the academic instruction provided at other schools (17 percent).[3] The number of parents reporting the ability to provide moral or religious instruction as a rationale for homeschooling their children increased by 11 percentage points (from 72 percent in 2003 to 83 percent in 2007).[4]

Additional reasons parents homeschooled their children included "other" reasons (14 percent), desire for nontraditional education (7 percent), special needs (4 percent), and physical or mental health problems (2 percent).[5] There was a 12 percentage point increase in the amount of respondents choosing "other" reasons, from 20 percent in 2003 to 32 percent in 2007. This increase could indicate an expansion in the types of demographic groups homeschooling their children.[6]

Benefits of Homeschooling

The available evidence suggests that homeschooling students perform as well as their non-homeschooled counterparts. In general, homeschooled students perform as well as--and in some cases outperform--their non-homeschooled peers.[7]

Homeschooled students succeed academically regardless of family income or teacher certification of parents.[8] Top-tier colleges and universities also recognize the academic abilities of homeschooled students, with Stanford, Yale, and Harvard among the institutions with the most homeschool-friendly policies.[9]

An additional benefit of homeschooling comes in the form of savings to taxpayers and school systems. Analysts have estimated that homeschooled students save American taxpayers and public schools between $4.4 billion and $9.9 billion annually.[10] Other estimates are as high as $16 billion.[11]

Trends and Anticipated Growth

Homeschooling may be the fastest growing form of education in the U.S.,[12] rivaled only by charter schools.[13] The 74 percent increase in homeschooling since 1999 alone suggests continued future growth. The homeschooling movement has also gained traction among minority students, which represent approximately 15 percent of homeschooling families.[14]

The continued growth in homeschooling is facilitated by organizations that assist families with needs ranging from curriculum and instruction to advancing legislation that ensures the freedom to educate children in the home. These burgeoning networks demonstrate that homeschooling is becoming an increasingly viable option for families.

Homeschooling continues to broaden and grow because of the vast array of education options and flexibility it provides for families. This crucial component of education reform creates an additional alternative for parents and students. It is estimated that more than 1 million children attend charter schools or benefit from voucher programs in the United States--a figure on par with the more than 1.5 million estimated homeschooled students. Economists have found that the competitive effects of school choice programs have prompted improvement in public schools.[15] While more research is needed, the homeschooling movement could be taking part in the same trend.

Protecting Homeschooling

Legal rights to homeschooling have been established nationwide, facilitating the growth of home-based instruction. Presently, homeschooling is legal in every state. Policymakers should protect parents' rights to homeschool their children and enact reforms that remove barriers to homeschooling. In order to provide meaningful protections to homeschooling families, Members of Congress should avoid restrictive regulations at all levels of schooling and offer tax relief to homeschoolers through education tax credits or deductions. Homeschooling families provide a valuable contribution to American education, often while incurring a significant financial burden in addition to their taxes paid toward public education. Policies should recognize the educational contribution of homeschooling and ensure that the freedom to homeschool is permanently protected and fostered.

In view of all the benefits that homeschooling provides to homeschooled children as well as society as a whole, lawmakers should enact policies that give more families the opportunity to participate in homeschooling. Federal and state policymakers should work to guarantee that families have the freedom to educate their children at home in the future.

(This report was produced by Lindsey M. Burke, Research Assistant in the Domestic Policy Studies Department at The Heritage Foundation)

[1]U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, "1.5 Million Homeschooled Students in the United States in 2007," December 2008, at http://nces.ed.gov/pubs2009/2009030.pdf (January 6, 2009).
[2]Brian D. Ray, "Research Facts on Homeschooling," National Home Education Research Institute, July 2, 2008, at http://www.nheri.org/Research-Facts-on-Homeschooling.html (January 6, 2009).
[3]National Center for Education Statistics, "1.5 Million Homeschooled Students."
[4]Ibid.
[5]Ibid.
[6]Janice Lloyd, "Home Schooling Grows," USA Today, January 6, 2009, at http://www.usatoday.com/news/education/2009-01-04-homeschooling_N.htm (January 22, 2009).
[7]A 1998 report by Lawrence Rudner of the University of Maryland found that homeschooled students performed well on tests of academic achievement, typically scoring in the 70th and 80th percentiles. Lawrence M. Rudner, "Scholastic Achievement and Demographic Characteristics of Home School Students in 1998," Education Policy Analysis Archives, Vol. 7, No. 8 (March 23, 1999), at http://epaa.asu.edu/epaa/v7n8/ (January 22, 2009). See Dan Lips and Evan Feinberg, "Homeschooling: A Growing Option in American Education," Heritage Foundation Backgrounder No. 2122, April 3, 2008, at http://www.heritage.org/Research/Education/bg2122.cfm.
[8]Ray, "Research Facts on Homeschooling."
[9]Home School Legal Defense Association, "Home Schoolers in Ivy League Universities," May 3, 2000, at http://www.hslda.org/docs/nche/000002/00000234.asp (January 22, 2009).
[10]Lips and Feinberg, "Homeschooling."
[11]Ray, "Research Facts on Homeschooling."
[12]Ibid.
[13]Forty states and the District of Columbia saw the introduction of 355 new charter schools during the 2008-2009 school year. Center for Education Reform, "Charter School Facts," September 18, 2007, at http://www.edreform.com/index.cfm?fuseAction=document&documentID=1964 (January 27, 2009).
[14]Ibid.
[15]Caroline Minter Hoxby, "Rising Tide," Education Next, Vol. 1, No. 4 (Spring 2001), at www.educationnext.org/20014/68.html (November 2, 2007), quoted in Lips and Feinberg, "Homeschooling."

Who said, "Lobbyists won't find a job in my White House"???

President Obama promised during his campaign that lobbyists "won't find a job in my White House."

So far, though, at least a dozen former lobbyists have found top jobs in his administration, according to an analysis done by Republican sources and corroborated by Politico.

Obama aides did not challenge the the list of lobbyists appointed to administration jobs, but they stressed that former lobbyists comprise a fraction of the more than 8,000 employees who will be hired by the new administration. And they pointed out that before Obama made his campaign-trail promise, he issued a more complete - and more nuanced - policy on former lobbyists.

Formalized in a recent presidential executive order, it forbids executive branch employees from working in an agency, or on a program, for which they have lobbied in the last two years.

Yet in the past few days, a number of exceptions have been granted, with the administration conceding at least two waivers and that a handful of other appointees will recuse themselves from dealing with matters on which they lobbied within the two-year window.

“It would be more honest if they admitted they made a mistake and came up with a narrower rule,” said Melanie Sloan, executive director of the government watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington. “Obviously, they can’t live with the rule, which is why they keep waving the magic wand and making exceptions. They’re saying one thing and doing another. It’s why the public is skeptical about politicians.”

But another watchdog, Meredith McGehee of the Campaign Legal Center, praised Obama’s rules as “a good starting place” and urged patience in judging their efficacy.

“Any good set of ethics rules has the opportunity for waivers, but if the waivers become the rule, rather than the exception, then you have to look at whether the waivers are being sought too frequently or whether there’s a problem with the rule,” McGehee said. “I don’t think we’re at that point yet.”

At the White House, spokesman Tommy Vietor insisted the president has been consistent.

“During the campaign, then-Sen. Obama put forth the toughest ethics and lobbying reform policy in history,” Vietor said, “and now he’s acting on it to reduce the influence of lobbyists in Washington.”

Here are former lobbyists Obama has tapped for top jobs:

Eric Holder, attorney general nominee, was registered to lobby until 2004 on behalf of clients including Global Crossing, a bankrupt telecommunications firm.

Tom Vilsack, secretary of agriculture nominee, was registered to lobby as recently as last year on behalf of the National Education Association.

William Lynn, deputy defense secretary nominee, was registered to lobby as recently as last year for defense contractor Raytheon, where he was a top executive.

William Corr, deputy health and human services secretary nominee, was registered to lobby until last year for the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, a non-profit that pushes to limit tobacco use.

David Hayes, deputy interior secretary nominee, was registered to lobby until 2006 for clients, including the regional utility San Diego Gas & Electric.

Mark Patterson, chief of staff to Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, was registered to lobby as recently as last year for financial giant Goldman Sachs.

Ron Klain, chief of staff to Vice President Joe Biden, was registered to lobby until 2005 for clients, including the Coalition for Asbestos Resolution, U.S. Airways, Airborne Express and drug-maker ImClone.

Mona Sutphen, deputy White House chief of staff, was registered to lobby for clients, including Angliss International in 2003.

Melody Barnes, domestic policy council director, lobbied in 2003 and 2004 for liberal advocacy groups, including the American Civil Liberties Union, the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, the American Constitution Society and the Center for Reproductive Rights.

Cecilia Munoz, White House director of intergovernmental affairs, was a lobbyist as recently as last year for the National Council of La Raza, a Hispanic advocacy group.

Patrick Gaspard, White House political affairs director, was a lobbyist for the Service Employees International Union.

Michael Strautmanis, chief of staff to the president’s assistant for intergovernmental relations, lobbied for the American Association of Justice from 2001 until 2005.

“Stimulus” 101 Update: The Trillion Dollar Spending Plan Passes House

On Wednesday, January 28, the House passed the single largest spending bill in United States history by a 244-188 vote. It remains to be seen where the stimulus is in this bill. Conservative alternatives exist that promise twice the jobs at half the cost, yet the Left continues to support a plan that does little more than advance an ideological agenda of nationalized health care and education.

Small victories have been won. First, we applaud conservatives for sticking together against a plan that offers no bipartisan solution to America’s economic problems. While bipartisanship was the talking point du jour this week, it was not evident in the actual language of the bill which was written by a precious few. Second, we applaud President Obama for asking Speaker Pelosi to rightly remove the provisions for family planning and re-sodding the National Mall. While countless other projects like this remain, it was a welcome sight to see the President in total agreement on these two, when pressed. Third, we applaud the bipartisan spirit in the U.S. Senate when they joined together to support one more year of relief from Alternative Minimum Tax. Despite the Obama Administration urging them not to do so, Senators from both sides of the aisle were able to see that protecting as many as 24 million working families from tax increases during these tough economic times, is the right kind of ’stimulus’.

Now the bill moves to the Senate where we hope it will receive more debate, more input and more relief for working families. While we appreciate the enthusiasm by the Left to enact their liberal agenda as quickly as possible, a stimulus bill should create jobs not push social programs. While Congress rallies against corporate bonuses and jets, they should also refrain from rewarding themselves with a One Trillion Dollar Signing Bonus.

Below is an updated ‘101′ index as to why Spending Does Not Equal Stimulus:

HIGH COST TO AMERICAN TAXPAYERS

After Congress appropriates the FY’09 omnibus bill, they may have spent over $1.6 Trillion in less than one month! The current “stimulus bill” is on track to be the LARGEST SPENDING BILL EVER enacted by Congress, making the New Deal look small in today’s dollars. 2010 spending in this bill is more than double New Deal spending in 1936.

According to the Congressional Budget Office, the cost of borrowing this money is estimated at over $347 billion, bringing the total cost of the spending package to well over $1.1 Trillion.

The “Stimulus” Bills Your Family – $819 Billion is equivalent to borrowing $10,520 from EVERY FAMILY IN AMERICA. This borrowed money is equivalent to what the average family spends on food, clothing, and health care in an entire year.

If Government Spending solved recessions, we would never have recessions.

BAD IDEAS – “THE DEVIL IN DISGUISE”

The hidden liberal policy agenda inside the ‘stimulus bill’:

Over $142 Billion in Federal education funds: Nearly double the total outlays for the Dept. of Education in 2007 – making good on Reid-Pelosi-Obama education promises to the NEA.
$87 Billion Medicaid bailout: If we keep bailing states out without any accountability, they will have every incentive to continue irresponsible spending. It forces fiscally responsible taxpayers in states, like Indiana, to pay for the fiscally irresponsible decisions by bureaucrats in states like Illinois.

Expanded Medicaid coverage and SCHIP: Congress is using the stimulus to push forward their liberal health care agenda. This incremental strategy will ultimately move the country closer the tipping point where government will control more health care spending than the private sector – leaving individuals and families will less control over their personal health care decisions.

Green Jobs?: The myth of ‘green jobs’ merely means replacing one job lost, with a new job that fits the left’s agenda. It is a zero sum game. More than doubling spending, the stimulus also has over $35 billion for the Dept. of Energy. DOE’s current budget is $23.8 billion.

Redistribution: Refundable “Make Work Pay” Tax Credits for people who don’t pay taxes

Pork Spending: TV Coupons ($650 M), Nat’l Endowment for the Arts ($50 M), Hollywood ($246 M)

BAD RESULTS

No Jobs: While they have not been able to support these claims, Pelosi/Obama promise between 3 & 4 million jobs, yet House Tax Committee staff can’t estimate even ONE job will be created.

Ineffective: The Congressional Budget Office estimates that only 52% of the spending in the ‘stimulus’ bill can even be spent by the end of FY’10. Well short of the 75% benchmark.

“We have tried spending money. We are spending more than we have ever spent before and it does not work.” – FDR’s Treasury Sec. Henry Morgenthau Jr., architect of the New Deal.

BETTER IDEAS – TWICE THE JOBS, HALF THE COST

(1) Make the 2001 and 2003 Tax Cuts permanent, instead of raising taxes in 2011; Reduce Marginal Tax Rates for Individuals and Businesses by 10% creating new jobs. Adopting just this one proposal would create between 500,000 and 1 million jobs in one year.

(2) Reduce the Death Tax to at least 15% ($5 mil. individual exclusion)

(3) Enact long-term reforms and budgets for entitlement spending, putting long-term obligations from Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, front and center in the budget process.

(4) Assess and enforce long term spending rules in Congress. Get us out of debt!

(Source: Heritage Foundation)