“Heritage Foundation” on The Daily Caller

1.) We will all die of old age before anyone cuts spending — After a largely symbolic repeal of Obamacare, what will Republicans do next to cut spending? Absolutely nothing, apparently. “Entitlement reform will only be done on a bipartisan basis. So we’re waiting for signals from the president as to whether or not that’s a discussion he’s willing to have,” said Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, Kentucky Republican, in a Thursday press conference. “The president must embrace it.” The Daily Caller’s Jon Ward writes, “House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, Virginia Republican, acted on Tuesday as if Obama was the one who was just elected based on promises to cut government spending” and that “House Speaker John Boehner, Ohio Republican, had no answer Thursday for NBC’s Brian Williams when asked to name ‘a program right now that we could do without.’” Head, desk. (more)

The defeat of a pork-laden $1.1 trillion “omnibus” spending bill in the Senate Thursday night was the first serious indication after the Nov. 2 election that the Tea Party movement has staying power and will be a force into 2011. (more)

Apparently, biking is big in Colorado — $750,000 big. In the nearly 2,000-page omnibus appropriations bill introduced by Senate Democrats, Congress rewarded Coloradans’ commitment to biking with $750,000 worth of earmarks for the state’s bike-sharing programs. (more)

A spokesman for the Heritage Foundation told The Daily Caller that a car waiting to transport the president of the think-tank was totaled last week in Washington when a thief stole the Cadillac and crashed it while being chased. (more)

1.) Romney joins growing chorus of anti-something-something conservatives — The number of conservatives who are opposed to the tax cut deal is growing. On Monday, Former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney joined radio host Hugh Hewitt, the Washington Post’s Charles Krauthammer, and Senators Tom Coburn and Jim DeMint in opposing the bill on the grounds that “the temporary nature of the taxrate extension would limit the positive economic impact and correspondingly make the deficit worse,” writes The Daily Caller’s Jon Ward. Romney, like the others mentioned above, has also raised red flags about unfunded spending contained in the bill. Coincidentally, you could say the same thing about Romneycare. (more)

President Barack Obama’s health care reform law was dealt a serious blow Monday when the part of the law that requires Americans to purchase health insurance was deemed unconstitutional by a federal court in Virginia. But analysts largely agree that the final battle over the law will ultimately be waged at the Supreme Court. (more)

Even if the GOP effectively pulls off its earmark ban, there’s still a major loophole congressional members can slip their pet projects through. They still will be able to call or write to federal agencies to ask that funds are spent on projects they recommend, and there’s currently no official record of how often representatives and senators do this. (more)

An emerging conservative criticism of the debt reduction plan released by President Obama’s commission this week is that it would represent a massive tax hike. (more)

Though the John Birch Society is making a comeback through the Tea Party movement, at least some conservatives question whether the group really belongs apart of the movement. (more)

In 2009, Google announced its first large-scale layoffs and the closure of several offices.  These painful reductions enabled Google to expand revenue and profits during a challenging economic environment over the last two years.  Google’s fiscal discipline helped its stock price more than double from its November 2008 low of $260/share to a high of $630/share in November 2010. (more)

President Obama’s deficit commission must appear on the national stage Wednesday and announce something: it may be a proposal approved by a majority of its 18 members, but most money is on an irresolvable split that makes a final product impossible. (more)

Although New York Republican Rep. Peter King spoke adamantly and often Monday about designating WikiLeaks as a Foreign Terrorist Organization, defense experts who spoke to The Daily Caller said any such action is very unlikely. (more)

Outgoing Florida Republican Sen. George LeMieux plans to make his Senate colleagues put their money where their mouth is on deficit and debt reduction by forcing them to vote on it before the end of the year. (more)

If education and awareness don’t work, the Department of Transportation Secretary has some other interesting ideas on how to lower the number of distracted drivers careening down the pavement. (more)

Facing widespread criticism for saying that Republicans’ top priority is to remove President Obama from the White House, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell reaffirmed that if the party wants to implement its agenda, Obama must change course or exit the picture completely. (more)

Changing the membership of Congress does not fix its out-of-touch culture. (more)

Who will be the Republican Rahm Emanuel in 2010? (more)

Colin Clark misses the mark in his latest piece for DOD Buzz. Even the title, “GOP To Tea Party: Don’t Cut Defense,” is wrong. (more)

Advocates of Big Government are forever creative in concocting new justifications for old programs. Supporters of more military spending are no different. One of the most unique arguments is that a bigger Pentagon budget is necessary to simultaneously protect and suppress the Europeans. (more)

To hear Democrats tell the story, they cower with a few paltry dollar bills in their hands as a tsunami of campaign spending by independent conservative groups threatens to sweep them away over the next three weeks. (more)