Phil Kerpen

No earmarks for a year? That’s a great start.

By Phil Kerpen

The multi-year push for genuine pork-barrel earmark reform may be headed for success this week.

An amendment to the budget sponsored by Sen. Jim DeMint (R., S.C.) and presumptive Republican presidential nominee John McCain has been collecting some unlikely cosponsors over the past couple of days, including both Democratic presidential hopefuls, Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. The amendment would establish a bold loophole-free ban on earmarks for one year. After the election, the new president and congressional majority would face a choice of bringing back earmarks under some reformed process or extending the temporary ban. Either result would be a major improvement.

Phil Kerpen 03.05.08, 6:00 AM ET

With the introduction of the misleadingly named Internet Freedom Preservation Act of 2008 by Massachusetts Rep. Ed Markey, the push for regulating the Internet under a so-called network neutrality regime has begun again in earnest.

The angry left--including Free Press and MoveOn.org--is fully engaged, and Democratic presidential hopefuls Senators Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton are strong supporters. But network neutrality is more about imposing a top-down regulatory model on the Internet, which could lead to outright government subsidization and control, than it is about protecting freedom. The Markey bill has been described as simply commissioning a study of the issue, but the bill includes a new national broadband policy statement that would almost guarantee onerous new regulation.

From taxes to spending, he is decidedly more pro-growth than Mark Pryor.

By Phil Kerpen

In contrast to the drama unfolding in the Democratic presidential race, the Republican contest has been reduced to one mild amusement: What is Mike Huckabee doing? He has already established himself as a brilliant natural campaigner with a strong base of support within the party. He will be a GOP force in years to come, and just may make another run for the White House. But for 2008 he has been mathematically eliminated, his quip about miracles notwithstanding. So why continue? If he really wants to serve his country and his party, while consolidating support for the long-term and advancing his policy ideas, Mike Huckabee should step out of the presidential contest immediately and put his energy into a run for the United States Senate.

Why not send a pork-buster to the inner circle of spending hell?

By Phil Kerpen

Rep. Jeff Flake, the House of Representatives’ most aggressive and effective warrior in the fight against pork-barrel earmarks and other wasteful spending, is campaigning to march on the inner circle of spending hell — the Appropriations Committee. With Rep. Roger Wicker’s appointment to the U.S. Senate there is now a vacant slot on the powerful panel. House Republican leader John Boehner and the House Republican Steering Committee face a stark choice between business-as-usual stagnation and genuine pro-taxpayer change.

Bush has the constitutional authority to take a bold, unilateral stand on earmarking.

By Phil Kerpen

President Bush signed a massive omnibus appropriations bill last week, calling the $550 billion monstrosity “reasonable and responsible.” Leading fiscal conservatives aren’t so sure. The bill is littered with pork-barrel earmarks, which Bush, to his credit, has denounced. But this talk needs to be followed with action: If the president is to help restore fiscal discipline in Washington he must issue an executive order to prevent these 9,000 or so earmarks from being funded.