Publications -- Federal Spending

Jun 04, 1998

BA #268 – Answering the Critics of Medicare Private Contracting

A National Public Radio story on William Delashmit, 72, recently highlighted the problem of Medicare private contracting. Delashmit suffers from Cogan's dystrophy, an abnormality of the cornea that has caused him to lose sight in his right eye. There is a 95 percent chance laser surgery could restore his sight. Unfortunately, Dr. William Stark of Johns Hopkins University, Delashmit's physician, may not be able to help him.

Jun 04, 1998

BA #267 – A 12-Step Plan for Social Security Reform

Social Security privatization is the single most important political reform sweeping the globe today. Following Chile's highly successful move to private pensions in 1981, Argentina, Peru and Colombia privatized their social security systems in the early 1990s. Mexico privatized in 1997.

May 22, 1998

BA #266 – Answering Objections to School Vouchers in D.C.

President Clinton has vetoed a federally funded voucher bill that would have given about 2,000 scholar ships of up to $3,200 each to children from low-income families in the District of Columbia's troubled public school system.

Apr 30, 1998

BA #265 – Private Vouchers for Educational Choice

While a debate rages over whether parents should be able to use tax money - or tax credits - to choose between public and private schools for their children, the movement to provide school choice to children from low-income families through privately funded vouchers is mushrooming.

Apr 29, 1998

BA #263 – Health Plan for the GOP

House Ways and Means Chairman Bill Archer (R-Texas) has proposed giving tax deductions to people who purchase their own health insurance. House Health Subcommittee Chairman Bill Thomas (R-Calif.) has proposed an even more radical idea: making health insurance personal and portable for everyone. These proposals would make health insurance more affordable, reduce the number of uninsured and give people more control over their health care.

Apr 22, 1998

BA #261 – The Middle-Class Tax Squeeze

Since the sweeping tax cuts of 1981, little has been done to directly benefit middle-income American families - those with taxable earnings between $30,000 and about $65,000 a year. During that period, federal taxes have been raised eight times, with only one small tax cut in 1997. The latest figures from the Tax Foundation show that the taxes have been ratcheted upward so that in 1997 the total burden of federal, state and local taxes on a median-income two-earner family was 38.2 percent of income.

Apr 07, 1998

BA #260 – Comp Time: Giving Hourly Workers What Money Can't Buy

What benefit do salaried workers, including federal government employees, have that is unavailable to workers who are paid by the hour? They have the option of choosing "comp time" - time off from the job to compensate for overtime already worked. A bill that would give millions of hourly workers freedom of choice in the workplace passed the House last year (H.R. 1), and the Senate will consider similar legislation, known as the Family Friendly Workplace Act (S. 4), this year.

Mar 10, 1998

BA #259 – Choice and Accountability: Texas Leads the Way

Texas has adopted one of the most liberal charter school laws in the country. It also has established one of the first statewide school accountability systems, a model for the nation. Rigorous testing standards that apply to both regular and charter schools give parents the information they need to evaluate their children's schools and compare them with other schools.

Feb 13, 1998

BA #257 – Can Social Security and Medicare Be Saved?

President Clinton wants to use any possible budget surplus to save Social Security. Republican leaders in Congress want to use any money from a possible tobacco settlement to save Medicare. But neither approach will work unless we replace our chain-letter approach to elderly entitlements with fully funded systems, under which each generation finances its own retirement and health care expenses.

Jan 19, 1998

BA #255 – Clinton's Child Care Proposals: The Mediocre, the Bad and the Ugly

President Clinton wants to raise the Child and Dependent Tax Credit for most families with adjusted gross incomes of $60,000 or less. Currently, families earning $10,000 or less can get a credit equal to 30 percent of their child-care expenses. That is, for every dollar they spend on child care, they get a 30-cent tax rebate from the government.