President Donald Trump’s principal policy accomplishments thus far have been in the area of regulatory reform. The adoption of regulatory budgeting, use of the Congressional Review Act to repeal Obama-era regulations and a considerable slowdown in new rulemaking over the first 150 days are all positive steps. But, of course, there is more work to […]
Over the past year, leading members of Congress have delivered some stirring mea culpas about the demise of the First Branch of Government. Speaker Ryan’s “A Better Way” agenda declares: “The people granted Congress the power to write laws, raise revenues, and spend and borrow money on behalf of the United States. There is no […]
The Survey on the Future of Government Service, released last week by Vanderbilt University’s Center for the Study of Democratic Institutions, reveals significant problems with the federal workforce. According to the data, collected from 3,551 federal executives, the civil service is struggling to recruit and retain America’s best and brightest — and agencies are plagued […]
The U.S. Postal Service’s latest financial results have been released. They are not good. The agency booked a loss of $2.1 billion in the first half of the fiscal year, which it ends with $15 billion in debt. Since 2011, the USPS has defaulted on $27 billion in payments to its Retiree Health Benefits Fund, […]
The past weekend’s Senate debate over the PATRIOT Act reminds us of the value of placing sunsets in legislation. For years, the National Security Agency had operated far beyond its statutory authorities. Congress repeatedly complained, but the agency inevitably continued doing as it thought fit. But thankfully, when the act was originally passed, Sen. Ron […]
