MUMBAI: Industrialist Anil Ambani today termed the Goods and Services Tax (GST), being rolled out from July 1, as India's "economic freedom" and said it would make the country the biggest free and democratic market in the history of humankind.

Speaking here at a mutual fund industry event, the Reliance Group chairman said there are many ways of counting the benefits of GST and as many of counting its costs.

"But there is just one way of describing its true promise. GST is not just another piece of reform or transform, however significant. GST is the liberation of our economic imagination. It is our economic freedom," he said.

Ambani said there are moments in the life of a nation when history is made not in small steps of incremental gain but in giant leaps of ambition.

"We, the people of India, are privileged to bear witness to one such moment in time," he said, referring to the proposed rollout of GST on midnight of June 30.

"Seventy years ago, at the stroke of the midnight hour, our first Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, spoke movingly in the Central Hall of Parliament about India's tryst with destiny.

"At the same mid-night hour tomorrow, as our honourable Prime Minister Narendra Modi rises to address a waiting nation from the same august Central Hall, India will be set on course for another historic tryst with destiny," he said.

Ambani said the free market is perhaps the greatest force for economic good in the human history of all earthly inventions.

He said the free market is a force for generating wealth and transforming lives and the real promise of GST is the promise of economic liberation.

With the promise of 'One Nation, One Tax, One Market', it would create a borderless world of 1.3 billion people -- producers and consumers engaged in a seamless exchange of goods and services, skill sets and capital, labour and ideas.

Ambani said the world has seen nothing like this before and in less than 48 hours, India will emerge as the biggest free and democratic market in the history of humankind.

"In tandem with its policy precursor -- demonetisation -- GST will forever change the ground rules of doing any kind of trade, commerce or business in India.

"The leadership advantage is backed by strong macro- economic stability," he said while adding that the economy has moved from low inflation to high growth, from fiscal rectitude to prudential current account management, and from one of the highest savings rates in the world to one of the fastest rates of economic growth.

He said that from insolvency code to NPA resolution, the present government has undertaken a fundamental overhaul of India's financial infrastructure while consolidating and strengthening the banking sector.

"But the greatest achievement of the government lies in the area of financial inclusion, thus setting in motion a growth dynamic for financial intermediaries which is unprecedented in its scope and size," he added.

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GST will be India's 'economic freedom': Anil Ambani - Economic Times

Sen. David Perdue, R-Ga., walks to the elevator for a meeting with President-elect Donald Trump at Trump Tower, Friday, Dec. 2, 2016, in New York. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci) | AP Photo

The GOP's long-stalled agenda is boiling over.

A group of 10 senators is sending a letter to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) on Friday morning asking for the GOP leader to shorten the August recess or cancel it altogether if the party does not make significant headway on its priorities in July, according to a copy obtained by POLITICO. The letter comes right after Congress left Thursday and scattered across the country for a July 4 recess.

Story Continued Below

Spearheaded by Sen. David Perdue of Georgia, the bloc of 10 senators said the five-week break should be on the table if Republicans don't make progress on repealing Obamacare, passing a budget, averting a government shutdown at the end of September, avoiding a debt default and get to their top priority: Reforming the tax code.

"Our current Senate calendar shows only 33 potential working days remaining before the end of the fiscal year. This does not appear to give us enough time to adequately address the issues that demand immediate attention. Therefore, we respectfully request that you consider truncating, if not completely foregoing, the scheduled August state work period, allowing us more time to complete our work." the senators wrote.

In addition, to Perdue, the letter is signed by Sens. Steve Daines of Montana, Joni Ernst of Iowa, John Kennedy of Louisiana, Mike Lee of Utah, James Lankford of Oklahoma, Mike Rounds of South Dakota, Luther Strange of Alabama, Thom Tillis of North Carolina and Dan Sullivan of Alaska. The group includes many of the most recently elected GOP senators, a group hungry for accomplishment.

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The House Freedom Caucus similarly asked House Speaker Paul Ryan to cancel the August break.

The asks to cancel the cherished vacation, when D.C. is at its most steamy and uncomfortable, shows how frustrated Republicans are becoming after their initial plans to quickly repeal and replace Obamacare have hit a rut and backed up the rest of their agenda. The GOP has still not found success in its health reform efforts, and a massive convergence of fiscal deadlines is awaiting the party in September that will further delay tax reform. The party appears extremely unlikely to pass the 12 annual spending bills and has no apparent plan to deal with the debt ceiling, which is expected to hit in late September or early October.

"The stakes are much higher this year. We simply cannot afford to lose any additional time in resolving these issues when tax reform is hanging in the balance. Robust change to our tax code is our single most important economic growth tool, and there is already growing anticipation for us to act," the senators said. "Failure to deliver could have devastating economic consequences."

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GOP senators call for McConnell to shorten August recess - Politico

Tuesday Group co-chairman Charlie Dent is gathering signatures on a letter asking Speaker Paul Ryan to intervene in House Budget Chairwoman Diane Blacks plan to cut $200 billion in mandatory spending from the GOP budget. | Getty

Centrist House Republicans are lining up to oppose a draft GOP budget aimed at curbing entitlement spending and threatening to vote against the plan if they don't get a bipartisan deal to increase spending caps.

Tuesday Group co-chairman Charlie Dent (R-Pa.) is gathering signatures on a letter asking Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) to intervene in House Budget Chairwoman Diane Blacks plan to cut $200 billion in mandatory spending in the GOP budget.

Story Continued Below

The Tuesday Group letter which sources say has about 20 signatories so far warns that the Tennessee Republicans proposal is not practical and could imperil tax reform, according to a draft of the letter obtained by POLITICO. The letter also encourages GOP leaders to work with Democrats to reach a budget agreement setting higher spending levels for fiscal 2018 something the letter suggests could be paired with a vote to raise the debt ceiling.

Without such a deal, some moderates may not support the budget, according to the letter.

[A]bsent such a bipartisan, bicameral agreement, we are reticent to support any budget resolution on the House floor, the letter reads.

If all 20 moderates truly vote against such a budget, that's nearly enough to block it from passage. House Republicans can afford to lose only 23 Republican votes when they bring their fiscal blueprint to the floor. And leaders know a number of conservatives will likely never support the proposal, which they think doesn't go far enough in taking an axe to federal spending.

The centrists pushback is the latest obstacle for Black, who has struggled for weeks to unveil a budget that all parts of the Republican Conference can support.

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Eager to appeal to conservatives and use the GOPs majorities to curb spending, Black crafted a fiscal blueprint that would instruct other committees to roll back spending on things like food stamps, farm subsidies, housing allowances and veterans programs. She wants to use the budgets procedural powers to fast-track those cuts alongside a GOP tax package later in the year.

But the chairmen who would be tasked with making such cuts have balked. Black has already lowered her targeted cuts from $500 billion to $200 billion.

Even that lower figure worries the moderates, who are also concerned the spending cuts will complicate tax reform efforts.

While fiscal responsibility and long-term budget stability is essential, requiring hundreds of billions as much as $200 billion by some accounts in budget savings from mandatory spending programs in the reconciliation package is not practical and will make enacting tax reform even more difficult than it already will be, the draft letter reads.

Some traditional Republicans are stunned by the centrists' opposition.

"If you run on any kind of Republican, fiscal responsibly ideas, if not this, what? asked Republican Study Committee Chairman Mark Walker (R-N.C.). "If you always say, We cant cut here, we cant trim here, and stymie this, then what do we do? Keep on spending and taking peoples tax dollars?"

Black received some good news Thursday, however. She reached a deal with a key GOP chairman who aggressively opposed her mandatory cuts: House Agriculture Chairman Mike Conaway. The Texas Republican told reporters that hed settled with Black on a savings target, though he wouldnt get into specifics.

"As far as Ag Committee and Budget, we're done," he said.

Hard-line conservatives in the House Freedom Caucus, meanwhile, are arguing that those $200 billion worth of cuts may not be enough. They want even more mandatory savings, for fear that a bipartisan budget deal like the kind the Tuesday Group is calling for will be reached later this year to raise spending caps.

Theres going to be a big spending increase in discretionary spending, said House Freedom Caucus leader Jim Jordan (R-Ohio). And were going to save only $150 billion to $200 billion over 10 years?

That does seem to be the direction Congress is moving. In early May, more than 141 House Republican defense hawks asked GOP leadership in a letter to raise spending caps on the Pentagon.

Tuesday Group members, well aware that any spending agreement will require eight Senate Democrats to overcome a filibuster, know any deal will likely mean increases for nondefense spending programs championed by Democrats. They also know that lawmakers will need to raise the debt ceiling in the coming months, a painful vote for Republicans that a few dozen House GOP centrists will more than likely have to carry over the threshold with Democrats.

Some members argue GOP leaders should create a single spending and debt limit package, and just get it over with. At least thats exactly what Dent has been telling leadership and Trump administration officials for the past few months.

I said, Take this back to the White House: We need to do a bipartisan, bicameral budget agreement, and Id put the debt ceiling in, and Id do it before August, Dent said in a brief interview Thursday. "Its just a matter of when. Im pushing for sooner rather than later.

The idea has also gained traction in the Senate, where GOP insiders say debt ceiling legislation will likely originate. But knowing their more conservative conference, House leaders have avoided the topic at all costs, saying they're focused solely on a budget and health care.

The Tuesday Groups letter, depending on how many signatories are included, could provide GOP leaders some cover should they decide to engage in deal-making with Democrats. However, such a move would invite conservative resistance from the Freedom Caucus as well as traditional GOP leadership allies.

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Centrist Republicans mobilize against draft GOP budget - Politico

Theres often a disconnect between Washington and the rest of the country, and Medicaid reform is no exception. The House of Representatives last month passed a bill including major Medicaid reformseither a per capita spending cap or a block grant for states. The new presidential administration has pledged its support for added state flexibility for running Medicaid programs.

All that sounds nice, you might be thinking, but what does it meanboth for states, and for Medicaid recipients themselves? A recent paper I compiled for the Wyoming Liberty Group provides some sense of what a reformed Medicaid program might look like. The overhaul being contemplated in Washingtonthe largest in more than half a centurywould, if done correctly, give states flexibility to modernize Medicaid and provide better care to patients, which could end up saving taxpayers money.

Medicaid reform means better care for patients. It means states can choose the best care options for beneficiaries without worrying about checking bureaucratic boxes. That freedom will allow more elderly and disabled beneficiaries to stay in their homes, rather than moving to nursing institutionsthe preferred option for most seniors, and a more economical one.

A series of reforms in Rhode Island begun nearly a decade ago provide some sense of what Medicaid transformation can accomplish. Nonpartisan analysts found that Rhode Islands reforms saved tens of millions of dollars, while improving members access to more appropriate services. Providing better care not only represents good policyit can also save taxpayers money.

Medicaid reform could mean new efforts to coordinate care. Recent innovations from the private sectorsuch as payment bundles for all the costs of a procedurewould give providers more incentives to provide effective care the first time, while publicly releasing de-identified patient data would give providers the analytic tools they need to become more efficient.

Medicaid reform also means more consumer-oriented options for patients. It involves giving patients the tools to save money for taxpayers, then sharing some of those savings with them. Whether providing incentives for healthy behaviorssimilar to the Safeway model popular with many large employersor encouraging patients to shop around for non-emergency procedures like MRIs, these incentives can present a win-win proposition to both patients and taxpayers.

A reformed Medicaid program means providing links to employment, and employment-based health insurance, for eligible beneficiaries. Work requirements and job training programs will encourage individuals to develop translatable skills that will improve their employment prospects, and ultimately benefit the economy. Encouraging patients to accept employment-based insurance wherever offered, and transforming Medicaid so it more closely resembles employer plans, will create smoother transitions for beneficiaries.

Finally, a reformed Medicaid program would serve as a wise steward of taxpayer dollars. Enhanced eligibility checks and increased asset recovery efforts would preserve scarce taxpayer resources for the vulnerable patients who need them most. With improper payments in the program having risen by nearly 25 percent to more than $36 billion last fiscal year, state Medicaid programs need the resources and incentives to ferret out this waste and fraud and return it to taxpayers.

While Medicaid serves an important purpose for the needy populations for which it was designed, the program needs updating to respond to twenty-first-century medicine. Moreover, with the size of Medicaid nearly tripling as a percentage of state budgets over the past three decades, an unreformed Medicaid program will continue to crowd out other important state spending priorities like law enforcement, education, and transportation.

Medicaid reform may well take different forms in different states. Wyomings large rural population impacts its health system in numerous ways. Managed care has yet to come to Medicaid, and social isolation in rural communities helps explain why Wyoming has an above-average percentage of aged beneficiaries in nursing homes. These unique characteristics mean that the solutions that work for Medicaid recipients in Cheyenne may not work for those in Charlotte, and vice versa.

But given freedom from Washingtonfreedom that should be forthcoming under the new administrationevery state can transform its Medicaid program. All it takes is federal flexibility, and for policy-makers to embrace a vision for a modern Medicaid system. With a comprehensive waiver, Wyomingand every other statecan transform and revitalize Medicaid. Its time to embrace the opportunity and do just that.

Jacobs is founder and CEO of Juniper Research Group, a policy consulting firm based in Washington. He's on Twitter @chrisjacobshc.

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States Need Freedom From DC To Transform Their Medicaid ... - The Federalist

EPIC FAIL

Back in September this website reported on the initial failure of a new foster home licensing unit run under the auspices of the scandal-scarred South CarolinaDepartment of Social Services (SCDSS).

Theunit a centerpiece of then-governor Nikki Haleys administration intendedto license 1,500 new foster families in the Palmetto State by the end of the 2016-2017 fiscal year.

That deadline arrives tomorrow

How did SCDSS do? Not well although lets be honest, considering this agencys long history of abysmal outcomesdid anyone expect them to hit the mark?

Of course not

Sources within the agency tell us new foster home licensing fell well shy of the 1,500-mark. In fact, one source told us they would be surprised if the agency managed to license 250 new homes under the program announced by the ex-governor.

Lawmakers familiar with the program told us privately that SCDSS wound up far below the original goal set by Haley although in fairness one legislator acknowledged the former governors target was unrealistic.

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Translation? This was a political promise designed to generate positive media headlines not something Haley ever intended to actually do.

According to the SCDSS website, there are currently 1,544 foster homes in the Palmetto State and nearly 3,000 children in need of placement. More relevant to our reporting, documents obtained from sources at the agency showa shortage of 1,347 homes in regular care and another 200 in therapeutic care. Add those numbers together and you are looking at roughly the same number of new homes Haleys licensing program was supposed to approve.

Despite multiple invitations to offer comment or provide information on a host of recent stories, SCDSS has consistentlyrefused to acknowledge this websites existence which we suppose we canunderstand. Weve been very hard on the agency over the years, so its not surprising that its leaders are not especially eager to accommodate our requests.

If we do not hear back from the agency by the end of the week, though, we will submit a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request seeking specificdata related to this program.

Of further interest? SCDSS seems to be scrambling in an effort to pick up the pieces related to this failed program. According to an internal agency communicationobtained by this website, the new licensing unit is being broken up into regions and every region is getting (its own) placement center.

What a mess not to mention an expensive internal restructuring job.

SCDSS received $713.5 million in the budget for the fiscal year that ends tomorrow (June 30). Thats an increase of a little over three percent from the previous fiscal years budget of $692.1 million. In the coming fiscal year beginning July 1, the agency is slated to receive $734.6 million a roughly identical percentage increase.

None of those totals include the estimated $1.3 billion the agency doles out annually in food stamps, either. That particular line item was surreptitiouslyremoved from the state budget by lawmakers back in 2014.

SCDSS was an unmitigated disaster under Haley most notably as it related to multiple instances in which vulnerable children wererepeatedly placed in abusive homes. But the agencys failure has been much bigger and broader than that even after the former governorwas forced to fire her first rock star agency director.

Stay tuned we plan on continuing to investigate this latest SCDSS debacle and providing our readers with as much information as we are able to uncover.

Got something youd like to say in response to one of our stories? In addition to our always lively comments section (below), please feel free to submit your own guest column or letter to the editor via-email HERE or via our tip-line HERE

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SC Foster Care Debacle - FITSNews

WAVERLY -- As part of Superintendent Randy Richards' amended contract with the Waverly Central School District, the district will pay the retiring school official's health insurance in full until 2020.

A copy of Richards' amended contract was provided to the Morning Times following the filing of a Freedom of Information Law (FOIL) request.

The new language calls for the district to "provide to the superintendent family health insurance for the 2017-2018, 2018-2019 and 2019-2020 fiscal years."

The amendment notes that the benefits will match those offered to the district's other administrators in active service.

The health insurance plan offered by the district is the "MVP Option A" offered by the NY44 Health Benefits Plan Trust.

According to the original contract between Richards and the district, the superintendent would be responsible for 15 percent of the health insurance premium, while the district picked up the remaining 85 percent.

However, the amended contract calls for the district to cover 100 percent of insurance's premium for the next three years, according to school board President Parvin Mensch.

According to district Business Manager Kathy Rote, that translates to a cost of $22,584 for the next school year.

"That's the only solid number we have right now," she said Tuesday.

If the cost of health insurance were to rise 7 percent in each of the following two fiscal years -- which Rote stressed was only a guess -- it would translate to a cost of approximately $24,000 and nearly $26,000 for those respective school years.

Richards will not receive any other benefits, such as salary, as part of his retirement, Mensch added.

The superintendent's retirement, which is set to go into effect on June 30, was announced June 15 after a lengthy executive session by the school board.

Richards still had a year remaining on his original contract after being awarded a one-year extension in November 2016.

Mensch stated that Richards' decision to retire came after it was unexpectedly discovered that the superintendent was eligible for an early retirement due to his past military service.

GST BOCES is currently searching for the district's new superintendent.

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District to pay Richards' health insurance for next three fiscal years -- Cost to district next school year is over $22K - Morning Times

Threading the needle of getting defense hawks, fiscal conservatives and those steering tax reform within his own party has been a difficult task, but House Speaker Paul Ryan has reminded House GOP members that this year's budget is critical for getting top priorities like tax reform through both chambers.

It's unlikely any Democrats will back the fiscal blueprint, so Republican leaders are locking down support from the various factions of their conference. They plan to hold up the proposal as evidence they are following through on the promise of GOP control of the White House and the Capitol intent on reshaping the federal government.

The fiscal blueprint is expected to propose more than $1.1 trillion for the next fiscal year and would provide more money for the military and domestic spending than President Donald Trump requested in his budget, which he sent to the Hill in May, according to several congressional aides familiar with the proposal.

Republicans reached an agreement on the discretionary funding levels for the Pentagon and domestic agencies, and the last sticking point Republican leaders had to overcome was over how much deficit-reduction should be taken out of mandatory programs like Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid.

The budget plan would provide $621.5 billion in base defense spending, as well as $75 billion in war funding, known as Overseas Contingency Operations, sources told CNN. That's $28.5 billion more than the President requested $18.5 in the base budget and $10 billion extra in war dollars.

The House budget blueprint would set domestic discretionary spending at $511 billion, an increase compared to the Trump administration's $462 billion budget request, which proposed deep cuts to agencies like the State Department and EPA.

When President Barack Obama was in the White House, final spending deals in recent years included equal increases for defense and domestic spending, but Republicans are trying to move away from that construct now that they control the legislative and executive branches.

While the budget agreement will likely will have enough votes to get those spending bills through the House, Senate Democrats are likely to filibuster them, making a final deal uncertain ahead of a September deadline to keep the government from shutting down.

This emerging budget deal lays out the GOP wish list, but an agreement that funds federal agencies will be tougher to hammer out. Republicans have had to rely on Democrats to pass those in recent years, so they may need to give in on the split between defense and other domestic programs.

Another problem the House faces with the emerging budget agreement is that the defense funding violates spending caps established by the 2011 Budget Control Act. The defense cap for 2018 is $549 billion, and if the cap is not changed, the Pentagon would be subject to across-the-board cuts known as sequestration.

Republican defense hawks want to repeal the budget caps for defense, as Trump has requested, but Democrats won't go along unless the cap is also removed for domestic spending.

For defense hawks, the $621.5 billion topline for defense is a compromise, as House Armed Services Chairman Mac Thornberry and Senate Armed Services Chairman John McCain have been pressing for at least $640 billion for the military.

The difficulties in creating a budget deal in the House have also made for a topsy-turvy process crafting individual authorization and appropriation bills. Both Thornberry and Rep. Kay Granger, the chairwoman of the House defense appropriations subcommittee, were preparing their defense bills at different levels Thornberry's at $37 billion more than the Trump request and Granger's at the same level as Trump's.

But with a budget deal near, the House's defense authorization and appropriations bills were finalized at the same level as the emerging budget agreement.

Thornberry told reporters last week that he was willing to come down from $640 billion, but he would need assurances there would be future growth for military spending in future years.

The final sticking point to getting House Republicans on the same page was negotiating how much money the plan would cut from the mandatory side of the ledger. Programs like Social Security and Medicare that are funded through mandatory spending account for about two-thirds of the total budget, but they are difficult to reduce because any change requires Congress to pass a new law.

With divided government in recent years, Republicans in Congress have been unable to make a dent in this area. But House GOP members are looking to get some significant savings from changes to some programs that fall under the Agriculture Department, like food stamps, or other welfare programs.

The House GOP budget is expected to direct several committees to come up with roughly $200 billion in deficit savings. Some in the House Freedom Caucus were hoping they could get a significantly higher number, and House Budget Chair Diane Black also appealed to top GOP leaders to make those savings a major component of the final deal, according to several House Republican sources.

Rep. Mark Meadows, the leader of the Freedom Caucus, said there was not a budget deal he could agree to yet.

Meadows said he wasn't concerned with the numbers in the agreement, but rather the details when it came to how the deficit reduction was achieved.

The budget proposal does not provide details on how each committee could achieve these savings targets, but including the provision in the budget resolution gives Republicans in Congress the ability to say they are following through on their pledge to reduce the size of the federal government.

Ryan, a former budget chair, has been sympathetic to those pressing for major deficit reduction, but he is also balancing the challenge of shepherding a major overhaul of the tax code through the House. Leaders wanted to reach agreement on a savings number they felt was manageable for the House Ways and Means Committee to meet as it evaluates what various changes to the tax rates and exemptions will mean for the overall budget.

Republicans don't need to pass a budget the various spending bills that detail how much each agency will get for federal programs are the measures that keep the government operating. But as they did with health care, GOP leaders are using this vehicle so they can use a tool known as "budget reconciliation" to pass a tax reform package through the Senate with a simple majority, avoiding a Democratic filibuster.

Democrats are expected to be united against the package.

Kentucky Rep. John Yarmuth, the top Democrat on the Budget Committee, hasn't seen the details, but is already arguing that it's the same as the Trump administration's version sent to the Hill in May.

"The reports on the Republican budget proposal indicate that they are embracing much of the Trump budget," Yarmuth said in a written statement to CNN. "Instead of investing in American families and the future of our nation, it appears they are prepared to undermine our country's economic progress, health security, and safety just so they can give massive tax breaks for millionaires and corporations. We will fight this irresponsible proposal every step of the way."

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House Republicans put final touches on budget deal - CNN International

Donald Trump and Mike Pence are the most effective pitchers in the Republican bullpen. The president has the starpower and gets the headlines, but the vice presidents emerging role could be just as valuable.

Trump is the flame-throwing closer with one pitch: his signature sharp rhetoric that metaphorically is his political fastball. But Pences recent public appearances showcase his role as the in-the-trenches long reliever who huddles with GOP members and reassures key constituent groups, and could be even more valuable.

The pairs recent schedules show a stark contrast that brings their roles into focus.

Trump on Friday entered the ornate East Room of the White House to sign a bill tailored to help military veterans get better care. In doing so, the commander in chief claimed a major personal achievement. It was carried live by cable news networks.

[Trump Boasts Tapes Bluff Forced Comeys Truthful Testimony]

On Wednesday night, Trump was in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, where he, for over an hour, attacked his foes, made bold promises and listed the achievements of what he views as the most productive presidency at this point in U.S. history. The campaign-style rally lit Twitter on fire, made the front pages of all the major newspapers, and is still being replayed in soundbyte form on every network.

The same cannot be said of Pences recent public speeches.

The vice presidentquietly goes about the methodical business of delivering Trumps often searing populist message and governing vision in a friendlier, more conservative package.

That certainly was the case Friday, when Air Force Two landed in Colorado Springs, Colorado, where Penceaddressed a conference put on by Focus on the Family, the self-describedglobal Christian ministry that provides help and resources for couples to build healthy marriages that reflect Gods design.

Its just the kind of conservative group with which Trump, a thrice-married Manhattanite who appeared often on Howard Sterns then-raunchy radio show and has made caught-on-tape remarks that made many religious peoplecringe, has an unlikely and shaky alliance.

The same cannot be said of Pence, who is very much at home with Christian conservatives.

The previous day, there was Pence, addressing a conference of contractors and builders in Washington. And he hailed them in terms that neatly aligned with core Republican principles.

You champion fiscal responsibility and individual freedom, Pence said. And I promise you, the American people are grateful that you are a champion for American values.

As he typically does when addressing an issue-specific group, the vice president a career politician and Washington veteran makes clear its importance to the Trump-Pence agenda.

This president has promised, simply put, in his words, to rebuild America, Pence said in his radio-trained voice. And its businesses like yours that are going to play such a leading role in doing that. Ahead of schedule and under budget, right?

The same was true on Tuesday, when the former Indiana governor and congressman spoke to a National Association of Manufacturers summit, just the kind of voters that went for the Trump-Pence ticket in November in key Rust Belt states that helped put the GOP ticket over the top.

[Trump Says Senate GOP Health Care Holdouts Are Four Good Guys]

Since your founding more than 120 years ago, the National Association of Manufacturers has fought tirelessly for the time-honored American principles of free enterprise, competitiveness, individual liberty, and equal opportunity, Pence said.

And not only do you advocate for the businesses in this room, you really advocate for America itself. American manufacturers are the beating heart of our national life and always will be, the vice presidentsaid to applause before delivering the line designed to tie the group directly to his and the presidents agenda ahead of their expected 2020 re-election bid.

To borrow a phrase, Pence said, manufacturers make America and they make America great.

Michael Steel, a former aide to 2016 GOP presidential candidate Jeb Bush, said Penceis a natural choice for such targeted outreach because he possesses a deep background dealing with a range of individual interest groups across a spectrum of issues.

Jerri Ann Henry, a GOP political strategist, said the vice president provides a calming presence to groups who are inundated with speculation about Trumps plans and loyalties. Pence calms those concerns.

He has a lot of credibility with some of the hard-right groups like Focus on the Family, credibility Trump doesnt have even if those groups supported him, Henry said. Through all of the chaos of this administration, I think it is safe to say Pence is without question the most valuable player.

Get breaking news alerts and more from Roll Call on your iPhone or your Android.

Continued here:

Analysis: Mike Pence Works the Trenches - Roll Call

The Trump administration has asked Congress to raise the federal debt ceiling before lawmakers leave for their August break. But that deadline could be difficult for Republicans who are under pressure to deliver results on healthcare and tax reform, and who are divided among themselves over whether they need to cut spending as a condition for raising the ceiling.

The latest chapter of the debt ceiling saga will be the first in years to be steered by Republicans in Congress and the White House. But while November's election victory for Republicans led to expectations of a new way of addressing the issue, Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin started the process by asking something that President Obama had routinely requested in the past: a "clean" increase in the ceiling with no strings attached, to ensure the government could keep on borrowing.

On March 16, Washington reached the end of an 18-month period in which it had suspended the debt ceiling, meaning it could borrow whatever it needed without worrying about limits. Once that ended, the total amount of government debt, $19.486 trillion, became the new ceiling.

The Treasury Department immediately took steps to reduce borrowing to keep the government from breaking through the ceiling. But Treasury can juggle the books for only so long, and is expected to require a higher ceiling by the fall.

"My strong preference is for the House and the Senate to address this as soon as possible," Mnuchin told a Senate Budget Committee hearing, "and my preference is for you to do this before you leave for the August recess."

But while Republicans in the Senate are weighing a debt ceiling vote in July, the issue has not reached the top of the House GOP agenda.

Related: House Freedom Caucus sees an opportunity as the debt ceiling approaches

Senate Republicans are desperate to pass a healthcare reform bill in time to send it to the House before their summer vacations. They also are hoping to repeal and replace Obamacare and get that huge issue off their plate so there is time to tackle comprehensive tax reform, which ties with healthcare as a top GOP priority. Senate Republicans may vote on a bill this week, but it would then also need to be agreed by the House GOP in the coming weeks.

It complicates matters further that House GOP lawmakers are also pondering a summer vote on appropriations for the next fiscal year. President Trump has requested spending in fiscal 2018 that is far higher than caps imposed by the Budget Control Act of 2011. The request for defense spending, for example, is $603 billion, $54 billion more than the caps allow.

Appropriators want to spend even more than that, which will need another budget deal akin to previous two-year deals. That can't be done unless Republicans and Democrats work together. Democrats, however, demand a dollar of extra non-defense spending for every extra dollar that goes to the Pentagon.

So, talks about the debt ceiling have excluded discussion about appropriations at the same time, lawmakers said.

"Some people said we've got to throw the debt limit in somehow," Rep. Mike Simpson, R-Idaho, a leading appropriator, told the Washington Examiner. "But it really wasn't part of the overall discussion."

Once Republicans find time for the issue, they're likely to disagree with each other about how to proceed. They've always been split on how to tackle the rapidly growing federal debt, and now that the GOP has full control of Washington, conservatives expect more than the business-as-usual move of raising the ceiling.

Conservatives are demanding long-promised spending cuts to restore Washington's long-term fiscal stability which was nothing more than a pipedream during the big-spending Obama administration.

Freedom Caucus Chairman Rep. Mark Meadows (AP Photos)

"The U.S. federal government is drowning in debt, yet continues to spend into oblivion on the backs of future taxpayers," members of the conservative House Freedom Caucus said in a statement. "We have an obligation to the American people to tackle Washington's out-of-control spending and put in place measures to get our country on the right fiscal course."

Last time around, in 2015, most Republicans balked at raising the debt ceiling and boosting spending. The debt ceiling was suspended in October 2015, which effectively allowed an open-ended increase. It was part of a deal passed mostly with Democrats that allowed spending in fiscal 2017 to exceed statutory caps for both military and non-military activities.

Only 79 of the GOP's 246 lawmakers voted for it, which raises the question of whether Republicans in the House can pass anything along the lines of Mnuchin's request.

Some Democrats and Republicans are calling for another bipartisan deal, perhaps one that wraps in an agreement on 2018 budget caps, which would set federal spending levels for the next fiscal year. That agreement could give lawmakers assurances about total spending levels when they're being asked to agree to a debt ceiling hike.

"We ought to enter into a bipartisan budget agreement and tie the debt ceiling to that before the end of July," Rep. Charlie Dent, R-Pa., told Mnuchin at a House Appropriations Committee hearing. "I think that would be extremely important to provide not only stability for the markets, but budgetary stability of for all of us. I suspect it would get a lot of bipartisan support for many members on both sides of the aisle on this committee. I'm not saying everybody, but a lot."

Both parties have grown weary of end-of-year fiscal chaos forcing them to stuff many individual spending bills into one large appropriations measure, which both chambers rush to pass as the federal government verges on a partial shutdown. Agreement on an overall spending number would greatly reduce the chances of a showdown.

"For once, let's get ahead of the game, do the budget agreement now that will let us do our work and avoid that kind of destabilizing scramble at the end of the fiscal year," said Rep. David Price, D-N.C.

Sen. John Cornyn

Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn, R-Texas, endorsed an "earlier" vote on the debt ceiling that includes a deal on the budget.

"I'm hoping there will be a negotiation on spending caps," Cornyn said. "Maybe it will be part of that."

But the question remains: What would the budget deal look like, and can it be fiscally hawkish enought to persuade Republicans to raise the debt ceiling?

The Trump administration also seems split. Trump has signaled he would defer to Mnuchin on the debt ceiling, and Mnuchin does not want to mix the issue with budget matters, fearing it will entangle the need for a ceiling hike in a protracted political fight.

But Mick Mulvaney, Trump's budget director, a long-time deficit hawk, wants to link any debt ceiling increase to a budget deal that includes spending cuts. His position could open the door to the Trump administration taking something more than just a clean increase.

The 2015 deal that raised the $18.1 trillion debt limit included cost-reducing reforms of the Social Security Disability Insurance program. Mulvaney and many conservatives will likely seek similar reforms this time around.

Mulvaney told the Washington Examiner he would "like to see things attached to it that drive certain spending reforms and debt reforms in the future."

Some lawmakers are already sure that some kind of language beyond a clean increase will be needed. Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Miss., laughed at Mnuchin's proposal to raise the debt ceiling unconditionally.

"Normally, we try to get something in return," Wicker said. "It should be used in a way that helps us address the debt issue long term."

Meanwhile, Democrats have indicated they will want to rope in other issues, such as tax reform, as they consider the debt ceiling, complicating the issue even further.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., did not rule out a broader deal, but he put Democratic cooperation on the debt limit in doubt last week, threatening to withhold support if Republicans try to cut taxes on high earners as part of their tax overhaul plan.

"If they're going to put on a massive tax cut for the very wealthy that increases the deficit by trillions, it's harder to get Democrats to increase the debt ceiling," Schumer said.

There are some technical questions that Republicans need to decide, such as whether to raise the debt ceiling, or suspend it again.

The idea of suspending it evolved under Obama, and it allowed Republicans to get around the problem by pushing it further into the future. That allowed the government to spend whatever it needed without forcing Republicans into an embarrassing vote to increase the national debt.

That's how the government got its current level, $19.846 trillion.

But if Republicans are in the mood to be stingy, they could decide to set a specific limit above which the government could not borrow more. The GOP has not given any indication which way it will go.

Republicans plan to take on tax reform in earnest when they return to Capitol Hill after the August recess, but this could clash with a debate over the debt limit if that too is left unsettled until September.

Republican leaders haven't signaled how - or when - they plan to deal with the national debt, even though Mnuchin warned lawmakers that an unexpected reduction in tax receipts will mean the Treasury could run dry sooner.

The GOP's lack of urgency stems from the Treasury's tradition of reducing borrowing and taking other steps to prevent the government from hitting the limit. After asking for action by August, Mnuchin later clarified that he can use these so-called "extraordinary measures" to give Congress more time.

"We do have plans," Mnuchin told a Senate Budget Committee hearing. "If you don't do it beforehand we can fund the government through September, when you get back."

But Mnuchin advised lawmakers that waiting until the last minute could have economic consequences and would threaten instability in capital markets.

"I urge, given the importance of this, that we send a message to the rest of the world and to the markets that we take our credit very seriously," Mnuchin said.

Originally posted here:

Republicans face first debt ceiling showdown in Trump era - Washington Examiner

Peer-Reviewed Papers (published in academic journals):

1994|1996|1997|1998|1999|2000|2001|2002

2003|2004|2005|2006|2007 |2008 |2009 |2010 |2011

Other Papers Related to Economic Freedom: 1998-2007

If you know of any other papers current or forthcoming that should be included on this page, or have further information about any of these papers or authors, please write to freetheworld*at*fraserinstitute.org.

de Vanssay, X. and Z. A. Spindler (1994). Freedom and Growth: Do Constitutions Matter. Public Choice. 78, 3-4: 359-372.

This paper empirically investigates whether certain constitutional enumerations matter for economic growth. We find that negative (positive) rights tend to have a positive (negative) effect on economic growth, and that structural constraints have a more significant and larger effect than procedural constraints.

Uses the Scully and Slottje Index as an independent variable. (See: Scully, GW and Slottje, D, (1991) Ranking Economic Liberty Across Countries Public Choice 69, pp. 151-2). The model estimates the steady-state solution of an (institutionally) augmented Solow growth model. The dependent variable is the logarithm of per-capita income. This is a cross-section analysis covering 100 countries.

de Vanssay, X. and Z. A. Spindler (1996). Constitutions, Institutions and Economic Convergence: An International Comparison. Journal for Studies in Economics and Econometrics. 20, 3 (November): 1-19.

Abstract: This paper explores empirically whether constitutional enumerations and economic freedom indexes affect economic convergence. Some constitutional features and economic freedom do affect convergence, though economic freedom is by far the more influential.

Uses the Scully and Slottje Index as an independent variable. (See: Scully, GW and Slottje, D, (1991) Ranking Economic Liberty Across Countries Public Choice 69, pp. 151-2). The dependent variable is the average annual per capita growth rate. This is a cross-section analysis covering 109 countries.

Islam, Sadequil (1996). Economic Freedom, per Capita Income and Economic Growth. Applied Economics Letters 3: 595-97.

Examines the effect of economic freedom on income and growth in high-, middle-, and low-income country sets and finds that economic freedom is significant for a sample of all countries but only in some subsets.

Uses the precursor to Economic Freedom of the World, Measuring Economic Freedom, by James Gwartney, Walter Block and Robert Lawson, a chapter in Stephen Easton and Michael Walker (eds.), Rating Global Economic Freedom (Vancouver: The Fraser Institute, 1992). Measuring Economic Freedom is the main data source for institutional variables.

Paul, C.W.; Souder, W.E.; Schoening, N.C. (November 1996). The influence of government policies on innovation and technological advance. Journal of Scientific and Industrial Research of India. 55 (11): 851-859.

Petersmann, E.U. (June 1996). International competition rules for governments and for private business The case for linking future WTO negotiations on investment, competition and environmental rules to reforms of anti-dumping laws. Journal of World Trade. 30 (3): 5-35.

Ali, Abdiweli M. (1997). Economic Freedom, Democracy and Growth. Journal of Private Enterprise 13 (Fall): 1-20.

This paper takes advantage of newly constructed measures of economic freedom to show the importance of economic freedom on growth. I find that economic freedom is a more robust determinant of growth than political freedom and civil liberty.

Uses summary ratings from Economic Freedom of the World: 1975-1995 as one variable in a comparison of a number of institutional variables.

Anwar, S.T. (1997). Economic freedom of the world: 1975-1995. Journal of International Business Studies. 28 (4): 872-878.

Dornbusch, R. (1997). Brazils incomplete stabilization and reform. Brookings Papers on Economic Accountability. (1): 367-404.

Easton, Steven T., and Michael A. Walker (1997). Income, Growth, and Economic Freedom. American Economic Review 87 (2) (May): 328-32.

Finds that economic freedom is an important explanatory variable for steady-state levels of income. The addition of a variable for economic freedom is also shown to increase the explanatory power of a neo-classical growth model.

Economic Freedom of the World: 1975-1995 is the main data source for institutional variables.

Goldsmith, Arthur A. (1997). Economic Rights and Government in Developing Countries: Cross-National Evidence on Growth and Development. Studies in Comparative International Development 32 (2) (summer): 29-44.

The paper finds that developing countries that score better in protecting economic rights also tend to grow faster and to score higher in human development. In addition [the paper finds that] economic rights are associated with democratic government and with higher levels of average national income.

Uses summary ratings from Economic Freedom of the World: 1975-1995 as one of a number of institutional variables.

Hakura, F.S. (April 1997). The Euro-Mediterranean policy: The implications of the Barcelona Declaration. Common Market Law Review. 34 (2): 337-366.

Hanke, Steve H., and Stephen J.K. Walters (1997). Economic Freedom, Prosperity, and Equality: A Survey. Cato Journal 17 (2) (Fall): 117-46.

The article compares several institutional indexes for content and explanatory power: Gerald Scullys studies, The Fraser Institutes Economic Freedom of the World, Freedom Houses Economic Freedom Indicators, The Heritage Foundations Indices of Economic Freedom, The International Institute for Management Developments World Competitiveness Yearbook 1996, The World Forums Global Competitiveness Report 1996. Compares liberty and prosperity, equality and foreign policy implications. They find that economic freedom is positively correlated with per-capita GNP.

Economic Freedom of the World: 1975-1995 is used as one variable in a comparison of a number of institutional variables.

Jordan, Jerry L. (1997). Jobs Creation and Government Policy. Cato Journal 16 (3) (Winter): 287-94.

Argues that employment-creating initiatives or job-creation policies hinder the creation of new technology and the process of creative destruction. Also argues that the role of government monetary intervention in the economy should be limited to creating stable monetary policy.

Makes reference to the general conclusions of Economic Freedom of the World: 1975-1995 regarding economic freedom and income and growth.

Download the paper. (PDF)

Mbaku, J.M. (December 1997). Africa in the post-Cold War era: Three strategies for survival. Journal of Asian and African Studies. 32 (3-4): 223-244.

Park, Walter G., and Juan Carlos Ginarte (1997). Intellectual Property Rights and Economic Growth. Contemporary Economic Policy 15 (July): 51-61.

The authors have compiled an index of intellectual property rights, and examine its effects on growth and the factors of production (investment, schooling, and R&D). The paper finds that IPRs affect economic growth indirectly by stimulating the accumulation of factor inputs like R&D and physical capital.

Uses summary ratings of Economic Freedom of the World: 1975-1995 as a control variable for market institutions in the analysis.

Trebilcock, Michael J. (1997). What Makes Poor Countries Poor?: The Role of Institutional Capital in Economic Development. Chapter in The Law and Economics of Development, edited by Edgardo Buscaglia, William Ratliff and Robert Cooter. Greenwich: JAI Press.

Discusses the general conclusions regarding economic freedom and growth found in Economic Freedom of the World: 1975-1995.

Ayal, Eliezer B., and Karras Georgios (1998). Components of Economic Freedom and Growth: An Empirical Study. Journal of Developing Areas 32 (Spring): 327-38.

The paper uses regression analysis to examine the effect of the components of economic freedom on growth, output and investment and finds that economic freedom enhances growth both via increasing total factor productivity and via enhancing capital accumulation. It also identifies components that have the highest statistical effects on these variables, with the aim of informing policy makers.

Uses component ratings from Economic Freedom of the World: 1975-1995 as the main data source for institutional variables.

Download the paper. (PDF)

Chafuen, Alejandro (1998). Estado y Corrupcion. In Alejandro Chafuen and Eugenio Guzmn, Corrupcin y Gobierno (Santiago, Chile: Fundacin Libertad y Desarrollo): 45-98.

Finds that corruption is negatively related to economic freedom.

Economic Freedom of the World: 1975-1995 and Transparency International are the main data-source for institutional variables.

Dawson, John W. (1998). Institutions, Investment, and Growth: New Cross-Country and Panel Data Evidence. Economic Inquiry 36 (October): 603-19.

This paper outlines the alternative channels through which institutions affect growth, and studies the empirical relationship between institutions, investment, and growth. The empirical results indicate that (i) free-market institutions have a positive effect on growth; (ii) economic freedom affects growth through both a direct effect on total factor productivity and an indirect effect on investment; (iii) political and civil liberties may stimulate investment; (iv) an important interaction exists between freedom and human capital investment; (v) Milton Friedmans conjectures on the relation between political and economic freedom are correct; (vi) promoting economic freedom is an effective policy toward facilitating growth and other types of freedom.

Uses Economic Freedom of the World: 1975-1995 as the main data source for institutional variables.

De Haan, Jakob, and Clemens L.J. Sierman (1998). Further Evidence on the Relationship between Economic Freedom and Economic Growth. Public Choice 95: 363-80.

Primarily investigates the robustness of the index of economic freedom devised by Gerald Scully and D.J. Slottje and determines that the robustness of results depends heavily on how freedom is measured. Finds that some specifications are robust predictors of the growth rate of real per-capita GDP (1980-1992) but few are robust for investment share of GDP.

Empirical analysis on Economic Freedom of the World: 1975-1995 is limited to correlation with the Scully and Slotjies index. Suggests further empirical work be done on Economic Freedom of the World.

Elbadawi, I. and Schmidt-Hebbel, K. (December 1998). Macroeconomic policies, instability and growth in the world. Journal of African Economy. 7: 116-168 Suppl. 2.

Farr, W. Ken, Richard A. Lord, and J. Larry Wolfenbarger (1998). Economic Freedom, Political Freedom and Economic Well-Being: A Causality Analysis. Cato Journal 18 (2) (Fall): 247-62.

The paper uses Granger causality analysis to demonstrate that economic freedom causes economic well-being and economic well-being causes economic freedom. Additionally, the authors argue that economic well-being causes political freedom but that there is no causation flowing from political freedom to economic well-being. The paper also finds no evidence of a casual relationship in either direction between economic freedom and political freedom. Indirectly economic freedom causes political freedom through its effect on economic well-being.

Economic Freedom of the World: 1975-1995 and the Freedom House index of political rights and civil liberties are the main data sources for institutional variables.

Download the paper. (PDF)

Ford, John B., Kiran W. Karande, and Bruce M. Seifert (1998). The Role of Economic Freedom in Explaining the Penetration of Consumer Durables. Journal of World Business 33 (1): 69-86.

The study examines the link between economic freedom (a measure of government intervention) and the penetration of three durable goods (televisions, radios and automobiles) across countries.

Cites conclusions of Economic Freedom of the World: 1975-1995; uses other indexes of economic freedom for empirical work.

Grubel, Herbert G. (1998). Economic Freedom and Human Welfare: Some Empirical Findings. Cato Journal 18 (2) (Fall): 287-304.

The paper compares economic freedom to income, growth, unemployment in the OECD, the UN Human Development Index, life expectancy, literacy, poverty, and income distribution. It finds that economic freedom does not have a cost in terms of income levels, income growth, unemployment rates, and human development.

Economic Freedom of the World: 1997 Annual Report is the main data source for institutional variables.

Download the paper. (PDF)

Gwartney, James, Randall Holcombe, and Robert Lawson (1998). The Scope of Government and the Wealth of Nations. Cato Journal 18 (2) (Fall): 163-90.

The paper examines the effect of the size of government in OECD countries upon economic growth. This paper draws on the authors Joint Economic Committee Study, The Size and Functions of Government and Economic Growth.

Makes reference to the general conclusions regarding economic freedom and income and growth as published in Economic Freedom of the World: 1975-1995 and Economic Freedom of the World: 1997 Annual Report.

Download the paper. (PDF)

Henderson, David (1998). The Changing Fortunes of Economic Liberalism. London: Institute of Economic Affairs.

A comprehensive review of the trends in economic liberalism in the last century. The book covers economic liberalism in thought and practice as well as discussing how the climate of political and popular opinion has both helped and constrained the development of liberal policy. One section uses the Economic Freedom of the World to discuss the progress made by countries engaging in economic reform and the appendix discusses the derivation, benefits, and limitations of the Economic Freedom of the World.

Economic Freedom of the World: 1975-1995 is the only quantitative source for institutional variables.

Johnson, James P., and Tomasz Lenartowicz (1998). Culture, Freedom and Economic Growth: Do Cultural Values Explain Economic Growth? Journal of World Business 33 (4): 332-56.

The paper discusses which cultural values are associated with economic freedom, drawing on two international quantitative cultural indexes.

Uses the summary ratings from Economic Freedom of the World: 1975-1995 as one of a number of institutional variables.

Johnson, Simon, Daniel Kaufmann, and Pablo Zoido-Lobaton (1998). Government in Transition: Regulatory Discretion and the Unofficial Economy. American Economic Review, Papers and Proceedings (May): 159-239.

Empirically studies the effect of institutional quality on the share of the unofficial economy in GDP.

Uses the component, Equality of Citizens under the Law and Access of Citizens to a Non-Discriminatory Judiciary, of Economic Freedom of the World: 1997 Annual Report as one of a number of institutional variables.

Kealey, T. (April 1998). Why science is endogenous: a debate with Paul David (and Ben Martin, Paul Romer, Chris Freeman, Luc Soete and Keith Pavitt). Research Policy. 26 (7-8): 897-923.

Lim, Linda Y.C. (1998). Whose Model Failed? Implications of the Asian Economic Crisis. Washington Quarterly 21 (3): 25-36.

The paper examines the conflicting interpretations of the role of governments and economic freedom in the success and subsequent crises in Asia.

Cites conclusions of Economic Freedom of the World: 1975-1995.

Mbaku, John Mukum, (1998). Constitutional Engineering and the Transition to Democracy in Post-Cold War Africa. The Independent Review 2 (4) (Spring): 501-17.

Discusses the constitutional guarantees necessary to secure economic freedom and why such guarantees are important. Focuses specifically on Africa.

Makes reference to the general conclusions of Economic Freedom of the World: 1975-1995 regarding economic freedom and income and growth.

Milhaupt, Curtis (1998). Property Rights in Firms. Virginia Law Review 84: 1145-94.

Discusses how differences in property rights and corporate governance systems arise within differing institutional frameworks.

Uses the Property Rights component of Economic Freedom of the World: 1975-1995 as one of a number of institutional variables in case-study analysis.

Nelson, Michael A., and Ram D. Singh, (1998). Democracy, Economic Freedom, Fiscal Policy and Growth in LDCs: A Fresh Look. Economic Development and Cultural Change 46 (4) (July): 677-96.

The study examines the effect of democracy on economic growth after controlling for a number of variables for the size of government and institutions. The study finds that it is not the redistributive policies of democratic governments that hinder development in developing countries but the lack of economic freedom.

Uses the precursor to Economic Freedom of the World, Measuring Economic Freedom, by James Gwartney, Walter Block and Robert Lawson, a chapter in Stephen Easton and Michael Walker (eds.), Rating Global Economic Freedom (Vancouver: The Fraser Institute, 1992). The summary ratings of Measuring Economic Freedom are used as one variable in a comparison of a number of variables for institutions and the size of government.

Norton, Seth W. (1998). Poverty, Property Rights, and Human Well-being: A Cross-national Study. Cato Journal 18 (2) (Fall): 233-45.

The paper compares property rights to indicators of development and determines that the well-being of the worlds poorest inhabitants [is] sensitive to the cross-national specification of property rights. The paper shows that well-specified property rights enhance the well-being of the worlds most impoverished.

Economic Freedom of the World: 1997 Annual Report and the Heritage Foundations Indices of Economic Freedom are the main data source for institutional variables.

Download the paper. (PDF)

Norton, Seth W. (1998). Property Rights, the Environment, and Economic Well-Being. In Peter J. Hill and Roger E. Meiners (eds.), Who Owns the Environment (Rowman & Littlefield): 37-54.

Investigates whether countries with better property rights have better performance on environmental measures.

Uses the summary ratings of Economic Freedom of the World: 1975-1995 as one of four measures used as proxies for property rights.

Porket, J.L. (1998). Is the state in retreat? Politicka Ekonomie. 46 (6): 805-815.

Continue reading here:

Fiscal Freedom | Prometheism.net - Part 29

ANALYSIS/OPINION:

The media has hyper-obsessed over the Kansas tax hike this year and has sold this as a repudiation of supply side economics. But the real story in the states has been the catastrophic effects of tax and spend fiscal policy in Illinois.

Last week Illinois House Speaker for life Mike Madigan endorsed a $5 billion annual income tax hike. This would be the largest tax increase of any state in years. Republican Governor Bruce Rauner has blocked new taxes for three years but is now under intense pressure from the Springfield political machine to agree to the revenue heist.

Anyone who thinks this soak-the-rich scheme will solve Illinois long term budget crisis should have their head examined. Illinois already ranks in the top three among the 50 states in state-local tax burden, so if raising taxes were any kind of solution here, the Land of Lincoln would be a Garden of Eden.

Instead the state has been a financial basket case for years.

This is a state that is now $14.5 billion in arrears in paying its bills, whose bonds have been downgraded to near junk bond status, and that is losing its most valuable resource: its businesses and citizens. Small business contractors have to wait 6 months or more to get paid.

Back in 2013 the previous governor, Democrat Pat Quinn, followed the advice of economists like Paul Krugman of The New York Times, and raised taxes on the very wealthiest residents of the Land of Lincoln. He argued that the super rich in Illinois could easily afford to pay a bigger share of the tax load and no one would leave.

The more Mr. Quinn raised taxes, the deeper the budget hole got. Whole resort towns in Florida and Arizona have become high-income refugee camps of former affluent residents of Chicagoland.

In 2014 the voters dumped Mr. Quinn and his tax and spend economics and opted for businessman Bruce Rauner, a Republican. Mr. Rauner tried to fight the empire in Springfield, but was stymied every step of the way. Democrats laughed away his call for a constitutional spending cap, reforms to a pension system that is $200 billion in the red, a property tax cap, and so on. Instead the Democrats mantra sounded a lot like the giant plant in the film Little Shop of Horrors: feed me.

If there is any state that desperately needs term limits it is this one.

The tax increase is a punt in dealing with the massive unfunded liabilities in its government pension system. According to the Council On Government and Financial Accountability, Illinois pension payments are the major contributor to spending growth. Following the recent credit downgrade, Moodys cited the states overwhelming pension debt level as a contributor to the poor credit rating and negative outlook. In November, the state reported having $130 billion in unfunded pension liabilities, but Moodys calculates that level of pension debt as twice as high or $251 billion. A recent Hoover Institution analysis estimates Illinois pension funding ratio to be 29 percent, the lowest level in the United States.

According to Donna Arduin, a former budget advisor to Gov. Rauner, if the pensions arent curtailed, soon as much as one in four tax dollars in the state will not go for schools, or roads, of health care, or police and fire, but pension payments to retired employees many who no longer live in the state.

With a financial outlook like this, is it any wonder that some half-million more Americans left Illinois than moved there over the last decade? Only two states California and New York, two other liberal pantheons have lost more residents to other states than Illinois.

The recent actions in Springfield bring to mind the words of former Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels who once joked: Being a neighbor to Illinois is like living next door to the Simpsons.

So what is the lesson for the rest of America? Soak the rich economics almost never works. As tax receipts keep sinking in Illinois, the safety net is tattered, the roads are in disrepair, crime is out of control in Chicago, and the state is home to some of the worst schools in the nation.

When you try to soak the rich, they leave, the state goes bankrupt and its the middle class that gets all wet. Hows that for tax fairness?

Why is the national media ignoring this story?

Stephen Moore is an economic consultant at Freedom Works and senior economic analyst at CNN.

Go here to read the rest:

The Banana Republic of Illinois - Washington Times

Republican Tyler Deaton has known he was attracted to men as far back as he can remember. When he was four or five, he would draw himself marrying another man. I knew I was different in that way before Id ever even been taught it was wrong, he says.

It wasnt until a few years later that he learned in church that what he was feeling was sinful. I distinctly remember a night when I was in third grade, all night long, just crying. Finding these different sections in the Bible and just crying. I didnt sleep that night. That stuck with me for a long time. That one night, it was a revelation.

Deaton was part of a conservative evangelical Christian family living in Georgia. He was taught to live by the Bible as the literal word of God. And he did, in a lot of ways. But he also knew that he was gay and that it wasnt going to change.

Deatons story is one of 23 interviews conducted between 2015 and 2016 by the Bancroft Librarys Oral History Center at UC Berkeley. The interviews, conducted by the centers director, Martin Meeker, explore Freedom to Marry a national campaign that won the federal right for same-sex couples to get married and how it fits in withthe decades-long marriage movement.

Tyler Deaton

I never wanted to change, Deaton told Meeker, about being gay. And I knew I couldnt. I spent most of my time trying to figure out how I could at least feel better about myself.

By high school, the 10th grader began to realize that there were other ideas out there. He took a zoology class, where he learned about evolutionary theory. And he began to piece together his own value system apart from the traditional mold hed been expected to fill

In college, he met Jay, whom he would later marry in New Hampshire, one of the only states that was politically conservative but also LGBT-friendly a rare find in the U.S.

Because although Deaton supported LGBT issues, he was also a Republican. He believed in small government. He was conservative on fiscal and national security issues. Hed voted for George W. Bushs reelection in 2004 (the first time he was old enough to vote) and for John McCain in 2008. I really wish hes been president in 2008, he says. I voted for him enthusiastically over Barack Obama. Would do it again.

Same-sex marriage, to Deaton, was a single issue. It shouldnt be part of a larger, left-leaning progressive movement, he thought. There are a lot of Republicans who just will never even open the door being of a part of it then, he says. But if you keep it a single issue, you can build a coalition around that.

In 2011, when Tea Party Republicans threatened to repeal New Hampshires same-sex marriage law, which had been enacted three years before Deaton couldnt let it happen.

Tyler Deaton (right) and his now husband Jay McClure in 2013

The young Republican would go on to lead a trailblazing effort, convincing his fellow conservatives in the state to support the freedom to marry. In 2012, the bill to repeal the law was defeated by a bipartisan vote in the state legislature, 211 to 116, with more than 100 Republicans voting against the repeal. Deaton went on to be a founding member of the Young Conservatives for the Freedom to Marry.

Read the transcript of thefull interview with Tyler Deaton to find out how he worked with Republicans to defeat the repeal of the freedom to marry in New Hampshire.

Learn more about the Oral History Centers Freedom to Marry project.

On Sunday, the Cal Alumni Association is partnering withtheGender Equity Resource Center to lead a group of UC Berkeley alumni, students, faculty, staff and friends in the 47th annual San Francisco Pride Parade. Those planning to march are encouraged to register. The first 300 people to register and arrive at the meetup location will receive a free Cal Pride T-shirt. For more information and to register, visit the event page.

Originally posted here:

One young Republican's pursuit of the 'Freedom to Marry' - UC Berkeley

City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito is being accused of slashing an annual grant to a respected Puerto Rican institute by nearly half this year as retribution for the directors unwillingness to publicly support convicted terror leader Oscar Lpez Riveras starring role in the recent Puerto Rican Day Parade.

Since Mark-Viverito took the helm of the council in 2014, CUNYs Center for Puerto Rican Studies at Hunter College headed by Edwin Melendez has received $970,000 in discretionary funding each year.

But after a flap within the Puerto Rican community over the parades initial decision to honor Lpez Rivera with a National Freedom Hero award, the center saw its funding cut to $500,000 for fiscal 2018, council budget records show.

Mark-Viverito is a vocal supporter of Lpez Rivera, despite his former leadership role in the FALN a Puerto Rican terrorist group that took responsibility for more than 100 bombings in the 1970s and 80s that killed five people in New York City. He was convicted of seditious conspiracy and spent 35 years in prison before then-President Barack Obama commuted his sentence in January.

Melendez apparently refused to publicly defend the Puerto Rican Parades honoring of Oscar Lpez Rivera, Angelo Falcon, director for the National Institute for Latino Policy, wrote in a newsletter that first reported the funding cut on Friday.

If anything, this shows the problems that such political funding can have: What Mark-Viverito gives, on the one hand, she can easily take away with the other if you dont play ball with her, he added.

Falcon told The Post that several people told him Melissa was pissed off at [Melendez] and boom!

At the same time, CUNYs Dominican Studies Institute at City College which has received the same funding as the Puerto Rican center for the past three years saw its allotment continue at the $970,000 level in fiscal 2018.

Asked about the allegations of political retribution by Mark-Viverito, Melendez told The Post, I have no comment.

In an e-mail response to Falcon, Melendez confirmed the funding cut without addressing the issue of political payback.

We have learned that this City Council allocation has been reduced for the next fiscal year, which begins on July 1, 2017. Our core services will continue unaffected, Melendez wrote in the e-mail. We will continue to identify sources of funding that will permit Centro to continue offering the engagement and dissemination activities to the community in accordance to our mission.

A City Council spokeswoman did not address the allegations directly, saying instead the council was proud to support CUNY research initiatives.

Our $2.14 million in funding, which includes the addition of the newly funded Haitian and Mexican Studies Institutes, will continue to give students the resources to make the most of their studies and to support important research on these diverse communities, the spokeswoman said.

Read this article:

PR institute says Mark-Viverito slashed funding after parade dispute ... - New York Post

WASHINGTON (AFNS) -- Secretary of the Air Force Heather Wilson and Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. David L. Goldfein briefed congressional leaders on the Senates Defense Appropriations Committee on the future of air and space power during testimony on Capitol Hill June 21.

The leaders highlighted that efforts to restore readiness and increase the lethality of the force were foremost in their minds. Wilson said any objective evaluation of todays Air Force reached two conclusions: The Air Force is too small for what the nation expects of it and adversaries are modernizing and innovating faster putting Americans technological advantage at risk.

"The fiscal year 2017 budget began to arrest the decline, and restore the readiness of the force, so this fiscal 2018 budget starts us, I hope, on the road to recovery, she said. Air Force in Demand

Looking forward, Wilson and Goldfein do not envision the demand for air and space power diminishing in the coming decade.

Today, the Air Force is manned with 660,000 active, Guard, Reserve and civilian Airmen, a 30 percent decline since Operation Desert Storm 26 years ago.

"If I'd been talking to the Air Force in 1991, I'd [have] been looking at an Air Force of over 8,600 aircraft, 134 fighter squadrons from which we deployed 34, Goldfein said. Today, the grand total of your United States Air Force, active, Guard, Reserve, is 55 squadrons total. This is a much smaller force that's engaged in the same level of activity as we were in 1991."

The Air Force leaders said while the fiscal 2018 budget request focuses on restoring readiness and increasing lethality, future budgets must focus on modernization and continued readiness recovery.

Restoring readiness

The two testified that maintaining superiority starts with people.

"For Airmen, it's nothing short of a moral obligation to ensure that we establish air superiority quickly whenever and wherever it's required," Goldfein said.

The fiscal 2018 budget will bring the active duty force from 321,000 to 325,100 while also adding 800 Reservists, 600 Guardsmen, and 3,000 civilians, bringing the total force to approximately 669,000. The increased manpower will focus primarily on increasing remotely piloted aircraft crews, maintainers and pilot training capacity by adding two additional F-16 training squadrons and maximizing flying hours to the highest executable levels.

Wilson said next to people, the most obvious readiness need is munitions. In the fight against the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, the Air Force has delivered approximately 56,000 direct-attack munitions, more than it used in all of Operation Iraqi Freedom. The fiscal 2018 budget funds maximum factory production of the most critical munitions. Modernization

The fiscal 2018 budget focuses on the Air Forces top three modernization programs:

Purchasing 46 F-35A Lightning II fighters and modernizing other fighters; Buying 15 KC-46 Pegasus tankers; Funding the B-21 Raider bomber development

The proposed budget also supports the continuation and modernization of the nuclear triad with funds dedicated to both air- and ground-based capabilities.

Our nuclear enterprise is getting old and we must begin modernizing now to ensure a credible deterrent, Wilson said.

"Standing side-by-side with the United States Navy, we're responsible for two of the three legs of the nuclear triad, Goldfein said. "On our worst day as a nation, our job is to make sure that we have the commander in chief where he needs to be, when he needs to be there, and through nuclear command and control - which we're responsible for - that he stays connected to a ready force to be able to defend this nation and deter adversaries as we also assure our partners."

Space

The Air Force has been the leading military service responsible since 1954. Over the last several years, the service has been developing concepts for space control, changing the way it trains its space force and integrating space operations into the joint fight.

"This budget proposal has a 20 percent increase for space, that means situational awareness -- the ability to not just catalog what's up there, which we would do in a benign environment, but to have a near-real-time understanding of what is going on in space, who is moving and where they're moving to," said Wilson.

The proposed budget increases space funding, including a 27 percent increase in research, development, testing and evaluation for space systems, and a 12 percent increase for space procurement.

On June 16, 2017, Wilson announced the establishment of the new headquarters space directorate. This directorate will be led by the deputy chief of staff for space operations, who will be the advocate for space operations and requirements to meet the demands of a warfighting domain.

"Weve provided GPS for the world. Weve transformed not only the way we fight but the way all of you probably navigate around the city, Wilson added. We must expect that war, of any kind, will extend into space in any future conflict, and we have to change the way we think and prepare for that eventuality.

Innovation for the future

Research, development, testing and evaluation are critically important for the Air Force, Wilson and Goldfein said.

To prevail against rapidly innovating adversaries, the Air Force must accelerate procurement. The service will take advantage of authorities provided in the fiscal 2017 Defense Authorization Act to help field operational capabilities faster than ever before, Wilson said.

The request for funding for long-term research in air dominance increased significantly in the fiscal 2018 budget. The Air Force will seek to increase basic and applied research in areas where it must maintain the competitive advantage over adversaries. This includes hypersonic vehicles, directed-energy, unmanned and autonomous systems and nanotechnology.

Budget stability

Its going to take approximately eight years to be able to get to full spectrum readiness with stable budgets, Goldfein said. The Air Force will be unable to execute the defense strategic guidance under sequester.

If the Budget Control Act limit is not fixed and we have to go through sequester, that will be equivalent to a $15 billion cut, Wilson said. The Air Force is too small for what the nation expects of us now; sequestration would make the situation worse, she said.

According to Wilson and Goldfein, by supporting the budget request, Congress can provide fiscal predictability to the Air Force so it can continue to own the high ground, defend the homeland and project power in conjunction with allies.

Link:

Air Force leaders continue to emphasize air and space priorities on Capitol Hill - Schriever Air Force Base

Belleville News-Democrat

Air Force leaders discuss the future of air, space power Belleville News-Democrat ... the most obvious readiness need is munitions. In the fight against ISIS, the Air Force has delivered approximately 56,000 direct-attack munitions, more than it used in all of Operation Iraqi Freedom. The fiscal 18 budget funds maximum factory ... and more »

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Air Force leaders discuss the future of air, space power - Belleville News-Democrat

CONCORD, N.H.

An $11.7 billion fiscal 2018-2019 state budget is on its way to Gov. Chris Sununu for his signature into law.

Thursday morning, the state Senate passed a House-Senate committee of conference compromise plan on a party line vote of 14-9. All Republicans voted in favor and all Democrats voted against it.

The House followed about an hour later, passing the budget on a roll call of 198-169. A week ago, the fate of the budget in the House was uncertain. But in the key vote Thursday only 14 Republicans voted in opposition. Five Democrats supported it.

For the bill roll call on the budget bill, House Bill 144, click here. The House currently has 221 Republican, 170 Democratic and two Libertarian members.

The initial House leadership budget failed in April, primarily because of staunch conservative opposition. But the new plan appealed to most members of the conservative House Freedom Caucus and House Republican Alliance, who credit the work of the Senate Republican leadership in adding business tax cuts.

The Senate also passed by the same 14-9 margin a companion bill that made policy changes reflected in the budget. The House followed by passing that bill, 212-161.

John DiStaso/WMUR

Included in the companion bill are a phase-in of business tax cuts, elimination of the electricity consumption tax, potential changes to the Medicaid expansion program and authorization of online lottery games.

The budget will take effect on July 1, the first day of the new state fiscal year.

In a statement after the budget votes, Sununu praised the Republican legislative majorities:

New Hampshire is on a pathway to prosperity, and Republicans are leading the way.

"Granite Staters sent us to Concord to take action and to address New Hampshires most critical public policy and program priorities. I am proud to say that we have delivered results for the people of New Hampshire.

"This is a fiscally responsible budget that lives within our means, promotes job creation through tax cuts, reforms the Division of Children, Youth and Families (DCYF), and funds our broken mental health system.

Sununu added: "Our budget is a bold step in the right direction a step toward restoring the New Hampshire advantage, and reaffirming the commitment we made to the people to provide tax relief that boosts our economy and returns money to your pocket. From business tax cuts to eliminating the Electricity Consumption Tax, our budget empowers small business owners to reinvest, which will reinvigorate and grow our economy.

Sununu and GOP lawmakers gathered in the Executive Council chambers shortly after the House vote to celebrate passage of the key budget and trailer bills.

But New Hampshire Democratic Party Chairman Raymond Buckley blasted Sununu and his fellow Republicans.

"Gov. Sununu's reckless and dangerous budget will take New Hampshire's progress and turn it into disrepair," Buckley said. "The governor wants to give corporations a tax cut they never asked for. By doing so, he's denying businesses the workforce training they did ask for.

"These tax cuts are paid for by under-funding programs like the alcohol fund, DCYF, and the developmental disability wait list. The governor may think these tax cuts are no big deal, but they're a big deal to the people in the state who are seeking refuge from abuse and addiction or who need help with a disability," said Buckley.

Later Thursday, the House and Senate will take up a plan to boost funding for local kindergarten programs by more than $10 million a year with revenue from legalized Keno.

WEBVTT MAINE JUVENILE DETENTION CENTER.BREAKING NEWS FROM CONCORD,HOUSE HAS PASSED THE BUDGET BYWIN98-168 -- 198168 VOTE.THEY CRAFTED THIS $11 BILLIONSPENDING BILL EARLY THISMORNING.STATE REPS STARTED OFF BYAPPROVING A LAST-MINUTE FIX TOTHE FETAL HOMICIDE BILL THEYPASSED EARLIER THIS SESSION.THE ORIGINAL VERSION OF THE BILLACCIDENTALLY INCLUDED LANGUAGETHAT WOULD HAVE ALLOWED PREGNANTWOMEN TO COMMIT MURDER WITHOUTANY CONSEQUENCES.

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UPDATED: State Senate, House pass $11.7 billion budget on party line votes, send to governor - WMUR Manchester

WASHINGTON (AFNS) -- Secretary of the Air Force Heather Wilson and Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. David L. Goldfein briefed congressional leaders on the Senates Defense Appropriations Committee on the future of air and space power during testimony on Capitol Hill June 21.

The leaders highlighted that efforts to restore readiness and increase the lethality of the force were foremost in their minds. Wilson said any objective evaluation of todays Air Force reached two conclusions: The Air Force is too small for what the nation expects of it and adversaries are modernizing and innovating faster putting Americans technological advantage at risk.

"The fiscal year 2017 budget began to arrest the decline, and restore the readiness of the force, so this fiscal 2018 budget starts us, I hope, on the road to recovery, she said. Air Force in Demand

Looking forward, Wilson and Goldfein do not envision the demand for air and space power diminishing in the coming decade.

Today, the Air Force is manned with 660,000 active, Guard, Reserve and civilian Airmen, a 30 percent decline since Operation Desert Storm 26 years ago.

"If I'd been talking to the Air Force in 1991, I'd [have] been looking at an Air Force of over 8,600 aircraft, 134 fighter squadrons from which we deployed 34, Goldfein said. Today, the grand total of your United States Air Force, active, Guard, Reserve, is 55 squadrons total. This is a much smaller force that's engaged in the same level of activity as we were in 1991."

The Air Force leaders said while the fiscal 2018 budget request focuses on restoring readiness and increasing lethality, future budgets must focus on modernization and continued readiness recovery.

Restoring readiness

The two testified that maintaining superiority starts with people.

"For Airmen, it's nothing short of a moral obligation to ensure that we establish air superiority quickly whenever and wherever it's required," Goldfein said.

The fiscal 2018 budget will bring the active duty force from 321,000 to 325,100 while also adding 800 Reservists, 600 Guardsmen, and 3,000 civilians, bringing the total force to approximately 669,000. The increased manpower will focus primarily on increasing remotely piloted aircraft crews, maintainers and pilot training capacity by adding two additional F-16 training squadrons and maximizing flying hours to the highest executable levels.

Wilson said next to people, the most obvious readiness need is munitions. In the fight against the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, the Air Force has delivered approximately 56,000 direct-attack munitions, more than it used in all of Operation Iraqi Freedom. The fiscal 2018 budget funds maximum factory production of the most critical munitions. Modernization

The fiscal 2018 budget focuses on the Air Forces top three modernization programs:

Purchasing 46 F-35A Lightning II fighters and modernizing other fighters; Buying 15 KC-46 Pegasus tankers; Funding the B-21 Raider bomber development

The proposed budget also supports the continuation and modernization of the nuclear triad with funds dedicated to both air- and ground-based capabilities.

Our nuclear enterprise is getting old and we must begin modernizing now to ensure a credible deterrent, Wilson said.

"Standing side-by-side with the United States Navy, we're responsible for two of the three legs of the nuclear triad, Goldfein said. "On our worst day as a nation, our job is to make sure that we have the commander in chief where he needs to be, when he needs to be there, and through nuclear command and control - which we're responsible for - that he stays connected to a ready force to be able to defend this nation and deter adversaries as we also assure our partners."

Space

The Air Force has been the leading military service responsible since 1954. Over the last several years, the service has been developing concepts for space control, changing the way it trains its space force and integrating space operations into the joint fight.

"This budget proposal has a 20 percent increase for space, that means situational awareness -- the ability to not just catalog what's up there, which we would do in a benign environment, but to have a near-real-time understanding of what is going on in space, who is moving and where they're moving to," said Wilson.

The proposed budget increases space funding, including a 27 percent increase in research, development, testing and evaluation for space systems, and a 12 percent increase for space procurement.

On June 16, 2017, Wilson announced the establishment of the new headquarters space directorate. This directorate will be led by the deputy chief of staff for space operations, who will be the advocate for space operations and requirements to meet the demands of a warfighting domain.

"Weve provided GPS for the world. Weve transformed not only the way we fight but the way all of you probably navigate around the city, Wilson added. We must expect that war, of any kind, will extend into space in any future conflict, and we have to change the way we think and prepare for that eventuality.

Innovation for the future

Research, development, testing and evaluation are critically important for the Air Force, Wilson and Goldfein said.

To prevail against rapidly innovating adversaries, the Air Force must accelerate procurement. The service will take advantage of authorities provided in the fiscal 2017 Defense Authorization Act to help field operational capabilities faster than ever before, Wilson said.

The request for funding for long-term research in air dominance increased significantly in the fiscal 2018 budget. The Air Force will seek to increase basic and applied research in areas where it must maintain the competitive advantage over adversaries. This includes hypersonic vehicles, directed-energy, unmanned and autonomous systems and nanotechnology.

Budget stability

Its going to take approximately eight years to be able to get to full spectrum readiness with stable budgets, Goldfein said. The Air Force will be unable to execute the defense strategic guidance under sequester.

If the Budget Control Act limit is not fixed and we have to go through sequester, that will be equivalent to a $15 billion cut, Wilson said. The Air Force is too small for what the nation expects of us now; sequestration would make the situation worse, she said.

According to Wilson and Goldfein, by supporting the budget request, Congress can provide fiscal predictability to the Air Force so it can continue to own the high ground, defend the homeland and project power in conjunction with allies.

Original post:

Air Force leaders continue to emphasize air and space priorities on Capitol Hill - Air Force Link

The House Budget Committee may delay the release of its fiscal 2018 budget proposal until the last week of June or after the July 4threcess as Republicans seek to boost defense spending above the White Houses proposed $54 billion increase in defense funds, The Hill reported Monday.

Rep. Tom Cole (R-Oklahoma), a member of the House Budget Committee, said he forecasts that the budget resolution will be higher than the administrations budget request.

The Trump administration proposed to cut nondefense discretionary spending by $54 billion in order to fund increases to the defense budget for fiscal 2018.

House Freedom Caucus members consider supporting increases to the defense budget by another $37 billion and higher nondefense spending levels without proposing additional budget reductions elsewhere.

Conservatives are willing to entertain the idea of voting for higher spending levels on discretionary spending if we can get the right kind of reconciliation instructions, said Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), a member of the Freedom Caucus.

The Hill reported such reconciliation instructions would call for congressional panels to attain certain budget cuts.

House Republicans are expected to negotiate a strategy for the budget resolution on its upcoming meeting Wednesday, the report added.

See the article here:

Report: House Panel May Delay Fiscal 2018 Budget Resolution as Republicans Eye Higher Defense Spending - ExecutiveGov

(TRENTON, NJ) --The New Jersey State Council on the Arts will convene its Fiscal Year 2018 Annual Meeting onTuesday, July 25thin the New Jersey State Museum Auditorium from 10:00am to 12:00pm. The meeting will include the election of Council officers and voting on the grants for Fiscal Year 2018. All are invited to attend a reception in the Museum's Riverview Court Gallery immediately following the conclusion of the meeting. Special thanks to the New Jersey State Museum for generously co-hosting the reception. The meeting and reception are free and open to the public.

Those unable to attend the meeting may call the Council office at(609) 292-6130after1:30 PMonJuly 25thto learn the results of the meeting. All grant awards will be posted on the Council's website,www.artscouncil.nj.govby3:00pm.

The New Jersey State Council on the Arts is committed to making all of its programs available to all people. For accessibility services please call(609) 984-7023(NJ Relay711) or emailDonald.Ehman@sos.nj.govtwo weeks prior to the event.

The New Jersey State Museum Auditorium is located at 205 West State Street in Trenton, New Jersey.

The New Jersey State Council on the Arts, created in 1966, is a division of the NJ Department of State. The Council was established to encourage and foster public interest in the arts; enlarge public and private resources devoted to the arts; promote freedom of expression in the arts; and facilitate the inclusion of art in every public building in New Jersey. The Council receives direct appropriations from the State of New Jersey through a dedicated, renewable Hotel/Motel Occupancy fee, as well as competitive grants from the National Endowment for the Arts. To learn more about the Council, please visitwww.artscouncil.nj.gov.

Original post:

NJ State Council on the Arts To Hold Fiscal Year 2018 Annual Meeting On July 25 - New Jersey Stage

Charlotte Observer

Mecklenburg commissioners approve full CMS bond request. Will voters agree? Charlotte Observer County Commissioner Jim Puckett said Tuesday that the county's $1.6 billion budget plan was an example of conservative fiscal management. What we will ... The first CRC is under construction at the Valerie C. Woodard Center on Freedom Drive. It will ... and more »

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Mecklenburg commissioners approve full CMS bond request. Will voters agree? - Charlotte Observer