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“And at the U.S. Department of Education, Common Core is dead.”
This is music to the ears of advocates for federalism, school choice, and, frankly, for student success everywhere. These words came directly from U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos last week at a conference in DC titled “Bush-Obama School Reform: Lessons Learned,” held by the free-enterprise think tank American Enterprise Institute.
As Congress nears another deadline this Friday for funding the government, a lot is on the table in terms of what could be included in a deal to increase spending across the board. Whether Congress is forced into a partial government shutdown or it chooses to bunt the issue another few weeks or so with the fourth continuing resolution of this fiscal year, the spending issue will have to be addressed in the near future.
FreedomWorks recognizes Rep. Jason Lewis (R-Minn.) as Member of the Month for January. Representing Minnesota’s 2nd congressional district, Rep. Lewis was elected in November 2016 to succeed now-retired Rep. John Kline (R-Minn.), who had held the seat since 2003.
Time and time again, the federal government has encroached into a sector of the economy and imposed a one-size-fits-all regulation that stifles competition, hurts small businesses, and creates troubling criminal penalties for lack of compliance. This is epitomized in federal involvement in menu labeling -- regulations and requirements for private businesses to disclose caloric information on physical menus.
When confronted with a rapidly rising prison population, which had grown exponentially between 1982 and 2011 from 13,884 prisoners to almost 56,000, newly-elected Georgia Governor Nathan Deal decided to take action to address the problem of overincarceration in his state. By adopting smart on crime policies to reinvest limited resources into violent criminals that need to be in prison and into rehabilitative measures for those who can contribute to society, Gov. Deal’s three-phase initiative continues to be a huge success, both for public safety and fiscal savings.
FreedomWorks recognizes Rep. Ralph Norman (R-S.C.) as Member of the Month for December. Representing South Carolina’s 5th congressional district, Rep. Norman was elected in a June 2017 special election to succeed former Rep. Mick Mulvaney’s following his confirmation to serve as director of the Office of Management and Budget.
FreedomWorks is proud to announce that our Bill of the Month for December 2017 is the Regulatory Fingerprints Act, H.R. 1460, sponsored by Rep. David Young (R-Iowa).
The total debt in the United States has continually risen, year after year, increasing almost fourfold since the start of the 21st century. What was a total debt of $5.75 trillion in January of 2000 is now over $20.45 trillion. This number has risen due to excessive government spending, with few mechanisms to hold it accountable otherwise.
The fight for deregulation and transparency in the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), spearheaded by Administrator Scott Pruitt, charged on this week in an agency-wide directive on Monday. Aiming to terminate the regulation-through-litigation practice known as “sue and settle,” Pruitt’s directive opens up this formerly closed process to public comment and influence.