More Checks Are Coming After Congress Passes $1.9 Trillion COVID-19 Bill That Has Little To Do With COVID-19
Some provisions provide direct aid. Others, not so much.
Joe Biden
Peter Suderman: The $1.9 Trillion American Rescue Plan Has Almost Nothing To Do With Covid
Joe Biden's spending bill is a Democratic Party wish list masquerading as a public health measure.
My New Washington Post op ed on Biden, Syria, and War Powers
I argue that the recent air strike was legal, but overall US military intervention in Syria still lacks required congressional authorization. Biden may be trying to change that; but history gives reason for skepticism.
Biden Justice Department Sides Against Free Speech Advocates in Big First Amendment Case
The federal government weighs in on Mahanoy Area School District v. B.L..
Elite Media Run Press Releases for Biden's COVID Bill
Plus: Virginia's vote for the ERA is too late, South Carolina moves to relax birth control prescription requirements, and more...
Biden Goes Big
Somehow, policy makers slid from "never waste a crisis" to "everything is a crisis," a development that is particularly irksome during an actual crisis.
Biden Indicates Openness to Replacing War Authorizations with "Narrow and Specific" Framework
This initiative might help restore congressional control over war authorization. But there is reason for skepticism that it will pan out.
Texas Has Hundreds of Thousands of Coronavirus Carriers. The Governor Is Worried About 'Hundreds' of COVID-Positive Migrants.
Greg Abbott's fear is hard to take seriously, but it jibes with hoary stereotypes about immigrants.
Biden Says He Wants War Authorizations Repealed
Just keep an eye on the small print. The wars might officially end while still allowing inappropriate military meddling.
In the Name of Pandemic Relief, Biden Would Expand Obamacare Subsidies to Households Making $350,000 a Year
The health law made insurance more expensive, so Democrats are pushing to make subsidies bigger.
Biden Wants to Give Federal Workers 15 Weeks of Paid Leave if Their Kids' Schools Stay Closed
The rest of us are out of luck.
COVID-19 Edicts Highlight the Importance of Structural Limits on Government Power
The national eviction moratorium and Arizona’s business restrictions were based on dubious assertions of authority.
The Constitution and Biden's Syria Air Strike
The strike was probably legal (as were similar small-scale strikes by Trump). But there are serious constitutional problems with the overall US military presence in Syria.
Punish Politicians for the Right Reasons
The Reason Roundtable takes on the FDA, Andrew Cuomo, and more.
As the 9th Circuit Takes Another Look at California's 10-Round Magazine Limit, It Should Demand More Than Speculation From the Law's Defenders
The state's ban on "large-capacity magazines" is easy to justify, as long as you assume its benefits and ignore its costs.
From 9/11 to COVID, Every Emergency Means Bigger Government
We have to stop governing by emergency.
Biden Revokes Trump's Coronavirus Immigration Bans [Updated with a correction]
This action brings to an end a period when the US was more closed off to legal immigration than at any other time in the nation's history.
'Ghost Gun' Bans Are Doomed from the Start
The DIY firearms movement specifically evolved to put personal armaments beyond the reach of the government.
Biden Administration Revokes Trump Changes to Citizenship Test for Immigrants
The previous administration had made some reasonable changes, but also introduced questions based on factual errors and questionable normative assumptions smuggled in under the guise of factual knowledge.
Merrick Garland's Worrying Record on Criminal Justice Reform
What to expect from Joe Biden’s pick for attorney general.
Joe Biden Offers Bold Talk, Timid Action on Immigration
He campaigned against Trump’s restrictionism, but has implemented mostly symbolic initiatives so far.
Biden's Manufacturing Plan Is $700 Billion Worth of Protectionism
Never let a good manufactured crisis go to waste
Biden's Immigration Plan: The Good, the Bad, and the Unclear
Plus: Legal cannabis workers now outnumber electrical engineers in the U.S., Portland cops defend dumpsters from hungry people, and more...
Conor Friedersdorf: Stand Against Left-Wing and Right-Wing P.C.
The Atlantic writer says that illiberalism and the urge to shut down debate need to be confronted across the political spectrum.
Biden Says Drug Users Shouldn't Be Jailed but Won't Do Anything To Stop It
Plus: "Cancel culture" confusion, Biden rejects student loan forgiveness, Stossel and Snowden on internet privacy, and more...
Biden's 'Commonsense' Gun Controls Make Little Sense
The policies he favors would arbitrarily limit Second Amendment rights and threaten the industry that makes it possible to exercise them.
The Dark Underbelly of Equity Based Thinking
Also: What we learned from impeachment.
On This Presidents Day, Stop Worshiping the Imperial Presidency
Presidents aren't saints. They aren't monarchs. They aren't celebrities. And they aren't your friends.
The Future of the Latino Vote, If There Is Such a Thing
An overreliance on identity politics may drive these voters away from the Democratic Party.
State, Local Governments Are Posting Surprisingly Sunny Revenue Projections. Democrats Want To Give Them $350 Billion Anyway.
Most states managed to avoid much-predicted fiscal crises during the pandemic. Congress wants to shower them with more federal aid anyway.
CDC's New 'Reopening' Guidance Will Keep Schools Closed in the Fall
This is what you get when you mix "science" with "stakeholders."
Biden Is Still Separating Families at the Border. Where Is the Media Outrage?
While the administration symbolically ended Trump's "zero tolerance" approach, it has not put an end to family separations outright.
Biden Airlifts the Goalposts on School Reopening: 1 Day a Week!
Administration wants to spend $200 billion hiring new teachers for closed schools that are bleeding students. What could go wrong?
CBO Says Raising Minimum Wage to $15 an Hour Would Kill Jobs, Because Obviously It Would
A higher federal minimum would reduce employment and increase the deficit, according to a new nonpartisan government analysis.
What Would It Take To Reach Biden's Carbon-Free Electric Power Goal by 2035?
Parsing technology trends, policy proposals, and clean tax cuts
Instead of Lifting Trump's Tariffs, Biden Is Imposing More of Them
Reimplementing 10 percent tariffs on aluminum imported from the United Arab Emirates for vacuous national security reasons only entrenches executive authority over trade.
Biden Signals Retreat From Nonsensical Minimum Wage Hike in COVID-19 Relief Bill
"I don't think it is going to survive," Biden said on Sunday, though he promised to push for a higher minimum wage as a stand-alone bill in the future.
The Food Industry Is Pressuring Biden To Dump Trump's Awful Tariffs
Biden should repeal Trump's food taxes immediately.
Can the Secretary of Education Really Wave a Magic Wand and Erase All Our Student Loans?
This is probably not what Lyndon B. Johnson had in mind.
Biden Cuts Support for Saudi War in Yemen, But It Should Only Be the First Step
What should come next for the U.S.-Saudi Arabia relationship
This Draconian Bill Would Turn Millions of Peaceful Gun Owners Into Felons
Sheila Jackson Lee's sweeping licensing and registration scheme suggests what Democrats would do if they didn't have to worry about the Second Amendment.
America Will Welcome More Refugees as Biden Lifts Trump's Misguided Restrictions
The United States will accept 125,000 refugees in the fiscal year that begins on October 1, up from the current record low level of 15,000 set by the Trump administration.
Joe Biden Wants His Stimulus To Help 'People Who are Hurting,' Like Families Making $120,000 a Year
Biden's recovery plan is a poorly targeted effort that would make the economy worse off in the long run.
How Biden Is Repeating Trump's Mistakes
The more things change, the more they stay the same.
My New USA Today op ed on Biden's Impressively Far-Reaching Pro-Immigration Agenda
It goes far beyond merely reversing awful Trump policies, but does still have some drawbacks.
Don't Let Biden Sink Troops Back Into the Afghanistan Quagmire
We have an agreement to pull out by May. We should honor it regardless of the state of the country.
Biden's Orders Continue the Presidency's Slide Toward Elective Monarchy
If the refusal of lawmakers to enact a president's policies is justification for unilateral executive action, then a slide toward elective monarchy is inevitable.
A Practical Wish List for Joe Biden
Some doable libertarian ideas for the new president
