House

Working in the West Wing: Doing a TV news interview on the North Lawn

This is the second in a series of occasional posts about the nitty gritty of working in the West Wing of the White House. I am describing things as they were in the Bush Administration. YMMV in the Obama…

Slowing health cost growth requires information AND incentives

When I was growing up, I was taught that you change the oil in your car every 3,000 miles.

Suppose I take my three-year old car to Jiffy Lube for an oil change.

The danger of autopilot entitlement spending

Each year Congress enacts 12 annual appropriations (spending) bills. Those bills are the subject of vigorous and legitimate fights about spending priorities.

USA Today op-ed: Keep taxes low

USA Today editorializes today against making the tax cuts permanent, and includes an opposing view from me.

I’ll include both here. I’ve learned that he who writes the opposing view is at a disadvantage, in that they get to see what I wrote, but…

A messy end to a bad farm bill

Now let’s look at last week’s farm bill procedural snafu.

Last Wednesday we thought the farm bill veto would be straightforward:

• Congress passes the farm bill conference report and sends it to the President. There are…