December 22, 2006
On the House Floor
The House of Representatives is adjourned for the rest of 2006. The first session of the 110th Congress will commence on January 4, 2007.
Enacted
On Wednesday, President Bush singed two bills passed by the Congress just prior to the end of the legislative session. H.R. 1674 will upgrade and modernize the nation’s tsunami warning system, nearly two years after an Indian Ocean tsunami killed some 230,000 people in a dozen countries. It will bolster the tsunami detection system in the Pacific Ocean and expand it to any area in the Atlantic and Caribbean considered at risk by federal officials. H.R. 6111 extended approximately 20 tax cuts and protected doctors from a big cut in Medicare payments due to take effect on January 1, 2007. It also offered permanent normalized trade status to Vietnam and extended trade benefits for four Andean nations, sub-Saharan African countries, and Haiti.
Voucher Contradiction
Most Americans embrace the Jeffersonian ideal known as equality of opportunity. Perhaps with the hope of appealing to the public’s support for providing equal access to educational opportunity, the Democrats have announced that one of their first priorities as the new House majority will be to expand the Pell Grant program which now provides need-based scholarships to more than five million college students. This plan highlights one of the great inconsistencies of Democrat leaders in Congress – their support for school vouchers for higher education and their fierce opposition to vouchers for K-12 schooling. After all, what are Pell Grants, the G.I. Bill, and Hope Scholarships but vouchers that allow students to purchase an education at a school of their own choice, whether is be public, private, secular, or religious? Given the success and popularity of these federal voucher (scholarship) programs at the college level, Congress should not resist efforts to implement the same approach to elementary and secondary education, particularly in failing inner-city systems. Research indicates that disadvantaged students benefit when they are given school vouchers and families in school choice programs are more satisfied with the results. If Speaker-elect Pelosi is truly committed to equal opportunity and educational access, she should end her irrational discrimination against pre-college students.
Economic Snapshot
The Hudson Employment Index (SM), a survey of measuring worker confidence, gained nearly four points in November, climbing from 101.4 in October to 105.3. Improved hiring expectations and greater optimism regarding personal finances caused the index to record its strongest showing since April. The latest Index is also more than five points higher than last November’s 100.1. Additionally, the number of newly laid off workers filing claims for unemployment benefits dropped last week by the largest amount in six months. The stock market is also very strong as evidenced by the Dow Jones industrial average reaching another record high close on Tuesday. Further good news came with the report that prices paid to U.S. producers fell 1.6 percent in October, matching the biggest monthly decline on record. This suggests that inflation pressures are subsiding. In short, the U.S. economy is thriving.
Quote of the Week
“Among the many important things which men sacrifice in the armed forces is Christmas at home. It is one of the most difficult to give up. The American family Christmas is one of the great joys of life. At the same time, it is one of the real, tangible things for which we fight. Its preservation is one of the essential reasons for our being at war. Every Marine who spends Christmas in service away from home is actually keeping Christmas in his home. He is making sure that the forces which have gravely threatened it are thoroughly defeated. He is making certain that, when he returns, he and his loved ones will be able to enjoy Christmases for the remainder of their lives in an era of peace which he himself will have nobly won.” – Lt. Gen. Alexander A. Vandegrift, Commandant of the Marine Corps, The Commandant’s Christmas 1944 Message
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