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Quick Analysis

2014 election aftermath: Union’s bark worse than its bite

F. Vincent Vernuccio, writing for the Mackinac Center

The 2014 election was not so much a referendum on labor reform as yet another reminder that when elected officials protect freedom and taxpayers they do not need to fear the wrath of the union political juggernaut.

These reformers winning and opponents losing cannot be easily dismissed as “it was a Republican wave which protected the politicians who took on labor reform.” Almost more striking than what was in the Republican wins was what was not in the Democrat losses.

In Michigan for example, the birthplace of the UAW, the state with the 5th highest union membership rate in the country and long considered a labor stronghold, right-to-work was nowhere to be found in the election. Not on the ballot as an initiative or Constitutional Amendment, nor even in the gubernatorial or legislative races.

During the sole Michigan gubernatorial debate of the season, the only time worker freedom came up was as a subpart of another question and one that neither candidate addressed.

So low was the saliency of right-to-work as a negative issue that even representatives from the Michigan Education Association dismissed it. At a right-to-work panel discussion in October, MEA communications consultant David Crim explicitly stated:

I do not believe that on November 4th when people go to the polls they are going to say ‘you know what I am going to decide who I am going to vote for, for governor, for the legislature, any office on the ballot based on the right-to-work law that was passed…’ See 46:30 on video 

This is a far cry from the violent protests outside the Capitol and a “there will be blood” threat by Rep. Douglas Geiss, D-Taylor, during the passage of Michigan’s right-to-work law in 2012.

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The same goes for the legislators who voted for right-to-work in Indiana and even for Gov. Kasich in Ohio, whose labor reforms were overturned yet still won re-election handily last night.

Big Labor lost four of the five gubernatorial races the AFL-CIO initially said it would focus on — Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Florida — with Pennsylvania being their only win.

As Lee Saunders, chairman of the AFL-CIO’s political committee, told The New York Times in February, ousting Republicans in the industrial battleground states was “about survival.”

Labor lost races that were not even initially on their radar. This shockingly includes Illinois, where Gov.-Elect Bruce Rauner dared to take on forced unionism.

The “survival” lesson from the 2014 election is that labor reform is not the third rail of politics. Despite enduring a lot of noise from Big Labor, reformers need not fear its wrath. Voters will continue to reward those who support freedom and taxpayers.

As for labor’s survival, this election should be a lesson. It is time they give up the compulsion and privileges of the past. In order to not just survive but grow, they need to adapt.

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Obama’s Illegal Immigration Priority

President Obama wants to allow a large number of illegal immigrants to stay within America,  but the recent election gives the public opinion edge to those who prioritize securing the border first. The President not only appears unwilling to compromise, but seeks to accomplish his goal through constitutionally questionable executive action.  Why does he adhere to such a hard position in light of the extraordinary defeat handed to his party—which supports his immigration policies?

The answer has everything to do with election vulnerability. Beset by high unemployment, a federal budget strained to the breaking point caused in part by spending aimed more at winning votes than in meeting national needs, a foreign policy in complete disarray, numerous serious scandals, and a suite of strategies on domestic issues that the voters clearly reject including divisive tactics on racial and gender issues, the Obama-left knows that its popularity is rapidly disintegrating.  It’s only hope lies, quite bluntly, in stuffing the ballot box, particularly in key precincts, with the substantial numbers of unlawful votes that the Democrat Party will wring from the illegals.

The tactic goes hand-in-hand with the White House’s vehement objection to voter id laws.  There is no substantive evidence that requiring picture id to insure honest balloting in any way, shape, manner or form has any harmful side effects, and particularly none regarding any racial bias.  There is, however, a massive body of evidence that the election process has been highly tainted by a panoply of fraudulent tactics, including false registrations, voting several times, altered voting machines, and voting by illegal aliens. By an overwhelming percentage, the chief beneficiary of these illegal practices has been the Democrat Party.
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The President’s push for allowing illegal aliens to stay has nothing to do with compassion, and everything to do with fraud.

In its drive to stuff the ballot box, the President has willingly suspended appropriate Constitutional procedure. There is no legal basis for the President to enact legislative-like measures simply because “Congress refuses to act” on a Presidential priority. The White House contention that prior presidents also acted unilaterally on amnesty just doesn’t hold up to scrutiny.  Reagan acted in response to the 1986 Immigration and Reform Control Act. The Bush (41) Administration revised technical aspects.  Neither engaged in any wide-scale, legislative like action similar to the current Obama attempt.

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Unionization for the 21st Century: Solutions for the Ailing Labor Movement

For years union membership has been in decline. In 2012 union membership hit the lowest percentage of the American workforce since 1916. The union business model, based largely on industrial organizing efforts from the 1930s, does not appear to carry over well for today’s educated and transient workforce. It appears unions have not evolved to meet the needs of most modern workers.

There are several ways labor organizations could improve and become more responsive to the needs of workers. Unions should move away from their traditional operating formula and function more like professional associations, focusing on providing valuable services to members and representing the diverse set of needs of individual workers.

Some unions appear to be attempting to adapt, but are, unfortunately, only doubling down on the intimidation-based, one-size-fits-all union model of the past. These union front organizations, commonly known as worker centers, are using the same tactics of old to expand the power of existing unions, rather than creatively meeting the needs of modern workers.

In order to thrive, unions must move away from the old model based on coercion and monopolistic privileges granted by labor laws of the last century. The way for unions to grow and better serve workers is to shift to an operating principal based on voluntary association, where unions must compete for the hard-earned support of their members. Unions should only represent workers who desire to be represented and serve the unique needs of the skilled worker of the 21st century.

In many situations, even the choice of union representation could be further individualized. Instead of simply giving a worker a take-it-or-leave-it proposal, unions could specialize in a la carte services, where members pick and choose what they want from one or multiple unions.

The four methods by which unions might reform and improve highlighted in this study are:

  • Unions as trainers and certifiers: More unions should provide training and apprenticeship programs for workers.
  • Union as professional organizations: Like other professional organizations, unions should advocate for their members’ interests in the industry, serve as a resource for collaboration and provide social networking opportunities.
  • Unions as representatives: Unions should refocus on providing resources for individual contracts and employees should be allowed to negotiate compensation arrangements for themselves. Merit pay and individualized rewards for productivity should be embraced.
  • Unions as insurance: Unions can provide life, malpractice and other forms of insurance, as well as retirement benefits, such as defined-contribution retirement savings plans, which workers can take with them from job to job and union to union.

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This is an executive summary of a study by F. Vincent Vernuccio writing for the Mackinac Institute. The Full report is available at http://www.mackinac.org/20695

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What is Occurring in Ferguson is Insurrection, Not Protest

There is a difference between protest and insurrection. Protestors believe that the system is being abused or not properly followed. Insurrectionists want to replace the current system.

What is occurring in Ferguson is insurrection. There is no evidence that the actions by the police officer charged in the shooting death of Michael Brown, who had just robbed a store, was anything but self-defense. However, that doesn’t matter to the insurrectionist crowd, who wish to use the incident as further means to fundamentally attack the constitutional government of the United States.

It is, indeed, the whole concept of a government based on a constitution providing individual freedom and the separation of powers to prevent tyranny that is on the battle lines recently, from the streets of Ferguson to the Oval Office, where the President dismisses the legitimate role of Congress, and even in the Supreme Court, where one Obama appointee stated during her nominating process that she didn’t believe in the concept of unalienable rights, and another stated that if she were designing a government today she wouldn’t use the U.S. Constitution as a model.

What continues to be missing from the rhetoric of the insurrectionists, or progressives as they prefer to be called, is what they would substitute for the current governing model. That description is missing because they know their concept would be instantly condemned by the overwhelming majority. It is most succinctly stated by Jonathon Gruber, one of the architects of Obamacare, who has expressed his view that Americans are too stupid to know what is good for them. The Progressive model is not new. It is the concept that the great majority of people are too ignorant, undisciplined and just plain bad to govern themselves, so they must have a group of self-proclaimed geniuses to run their lives.

This excuse has been used by monarchs and dictators since the beginning of history. It is becoming increasingly prevalent among American progressives today. One ludicrous example can be seen in individuals who seek to enact measures dictating what people can eat, and politicians, bureaucrats and pundits who offer a variety of reasons to abridge or eliminate the First, Second, Fourth, Ninth and Tenth Amendments, virtually gutting the Bill of Rights.
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Since these concepts cannot succeed at the ballot box if openly stated, they are hidden under a variety of tactics. Details of legislation that would raise serious objections are obscured. Former Speaker Pelosi’s extraordinary comment that “We won’t know what’s in the bill (Obamacare) until we pass it” is a prime example. What can’t be enacted at all legislatively is often implemented through bureaucracy, or by President Obama’s unconstitutional attempt to by pass Congress in clear defiance of the Constitution.

Dishonesty is the bulwark and major weapon of the Progressive movement. When the truth rears its head, Progressives must slap it down. Consider journalists, such as Sharyl Attkinson, who continue to be harassed or dismissed when they challenge the prevailing and fraudulent orthodoxy of the Progressive leadership, or scientists who question the misrepresentation of data that has been abused to further the progressive agenda. It is greatly noticeable in many universities, where free speech is rapidly becoming an endangered species for non-leftist students.

The Ferguson incident is a true bonanza for the Progressive movement, taking real issues such as the Obama Administration’s utter failures in the realms of the economy and foreign affairs off the front pages. The encouragement of disunity–blacks vs. whites, men vs. women, young vs. old—is the current incarnation of the time-honored tactic of distract, divide and conquer.

So many of the headline stories dominating the news today fall into this category.

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Divided Government

The United States has a divided government, split not only along party lines but across ideological ones as well. With so many crucial challenges facing the nation, is there any basis for the two sides to reasonably discuss means of reaching solutions?

Perhaps—but it will take a substantial level of will power, and a willingness to put honest representation and  the basic principles upon which America was founded above the petty politics and pandering all too prevalent currently. Here’s what must be done:

Elected officials should remember to put America first.  Yes, so much of the world’s economy, climate, and security are interconnected. But far too often, U.S. office holders act as though whatever is bad for the U.S. is good for the rest of the globe. Nonsense. The health of the planetary economy is largely dependent on the financial success and stability of the United States. That means that tax rates and regulations that hurt American businesses have negative international repercussions. Allowing Washington to act as though it was the welfare agency for the entire Earth will bankrupt the nation and detrimentally affect the entire world. Permitting unchecked, unlimited immigration will sink federal, state and local government budgets and limit job prospects for American workers.

It’s time to deal with reality. It may be comforting to pretend that threats don’t exist, but they do.  Local governments that skimp on law enforcement, and Washington’s pretense that it can cut the defense budget at a time when Russia, China, Iran, North Korea and Islamic extremists have become increasingly aggressive and well-armed is suicidal.  Using funds culled from defense and law enforcement to increase entitlements as a thinly disguised bribe to win votes at the expense of local safety and national security is a growing but disgraceful practice throughout the nation.

Facts and reality, not emotion, should be used to make important decisions. In areas such as the environment, emotions and propaganda take the place of real scientific discourse. Far too often, elected officials and candidates seem incapable of looking past these clichés, catch phrases, and emotional appeals.
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Our elected officials—and the voters—must put country before party or race.  Far too often, inadequate candidates win elections based on their party or ethnic identification, not their abilities.  This is particularly true in areas where one party dominates substantially.  Far too often, candidates lacking the intelligence, character, or ability to adequately fulfill the duties of their office win campaigns simply because they belong to the party or race in the majority in a particular area.

America’s basic governing document—the Constitution— must be given the respect and authority it previously had.  Serious attempts to abridge or ignore key provisions, especially the First, Second, Fourth, Ninth, and Tenth Amendments, as well as the separation of powers have taken center stage over the past several years.  That’s a dangerous precedent, threatening the very foundation of the nation.

It is time it was remembered that sovereignty rests with the American people, not the government, and especially not the bureaucracy. There has been a rapid increase in power provided to agencies such as the Internal Revenue Service, the Environmental Protection Agency, and The Federal Election Commission. There have also been attempts to increase the power of others such as the Federal Communications Commission. These moves are antithetical to the principals America was founded on. They are unlawful and should be rapidly reversed.

Washington’s dramatic increase in power, based largely upon deficit spending, has not produced increased prosperity, safety, or freedom. Dealing with that reality should be a bipartisan effort.

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U.S. nuclear deterrent problems

The recent revelations that there are substntial probems in the U.S. nuclear deterrent should not come as a surprise to anyone.

All of this attention to the basic line of U.S. defense is appropriate, even if it is so long overdue.  But what of the other aspects of the devastation caused to America’s national security after years of neglect and extraordinarily poor strategic decisions? Consider these astounding facts:

  • in the early part of this year, President Obama withdrew all American tanks from Europe, for no discernable reason.
  • Starting in January and for at least a quarter year thereafter, there will be no U.S. aircraft carrier on station in the eastern Pacific for the first time since World War II, at a time when tensions have mounted to a boiling point in that area.
  • As Russia, China, North Korea and Iran accelerate their nuclear programs, the White House continues to oppose even a marginally adequate anti-ballistic missile defense system.
  • Despite the growing threat from an EMP attack that could destroy the electronics in all American power plants, resevoirs, transportation assets (including planes, trains, trucks, and cars) and the relatively inexpensive cost to provide such protection, little has been done to address the looming crisis. The problem could also arise from natural causes, such as solar activity.  It happened in the 1850’s, destroying the few electronic devices existing at that time.
  • American facilities to manufacture weapons remains at an inadequate level.  There is, for example, just one plant in the entre USA that can build tanks, and President Obama has sought to close it.
  • If scheduled sequestration cuts to the military remain, the U.S. Army will be smaller than North Korea’s by the end of next year.
  • At a time when China’s espionage has become rampant, President Obama has agreed to steps that ould make it even easier for Beijing’s spies to remain in the U.S.
  • The U.S. Navy is at its smallest level since World War I, despite the fact that Russia and China have both dramatically increased the size and capabilities of their fleets.  Similarly drastic reductions have occurred in the other services, as well.

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In the wake of growing concern over the increasing obsolescence of America’s nuclear arsenal at a time when Russia and China are rapidly and substantially modernizing theirs, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel  announced a series of measures “to increase investment in America’s nuclear deterrent after reviews found evidence of systemic problems in the enterprise.”

The changes follow internal and external reviews after a series of Associated Press stories disclosed significant problems.

According to Hagel,  underfunding and a focus on two wars allowed the status of the nuclear deterrent to degrade. He noted that “The internal and external reviews I ordered show that a consistent lack of investment and support for our nuclear forces over far too many years has left us with too little margin to cope with mounting stresses…The root cause has been a lack of sustained focus, attention and resources, resulting in a pervasive sense that a career in the nuclear enterprise offers too few opportunities for growth and advancement.” The reviews found inadequate communication, follow-up and accountability.

To address the problem, the commander of the Air Force Global Strike Command will now be elevated to a four-sta general, and funding will be increased.The Air Force established a force improvement program for Global Strike Command and reallocated over $160 million in fiscal 2014 and $150 million in fiscal 2015. These will address some of the most urgent shortfalls.

The Navy will be hiring over 2,500 workers to overhaul aging infrastructure. The USAF is planning construction to improve weapons storage facilities, will replace its Vietnam-era helicopters for ballistic missile security forces and is revamping training, evaluations and management of the nuclear force.

“Both services are elevating and reinforcing the nuclear mission, including in the budget request they’re preparing for fiscal year 2016,” Hagel said. “We will need to make billions of dollars of additional investments in the nuclear enterprise over the next five years.” The secretary said the services are looking at a 10 percent increase in funding over five years. Today, the U.S. spends about $15 billion to $16 billion on the nuclear deterrent.

Only the U.S., among all the nuclear powers, has allowed its strategic deterrent to deteriorate. America’s national security is in a desperately poor condition, on land, sea, air and space. The time to address this crisis is short and grower shorter by the hour.

 

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U.S. economy not adequately recovering

There are a number of key indicators revealing that the U.S. economy continues to languish, and will continue to do so in the new year, despite attempts to portray it as improving.

1.Employment remains in a crisis state.

The Century Fund  outlines three reasons why the job market is actually worse than federal statistics indicate:

“The ratio of workers to non-workers is nearing an all-time low. Part of the drop in headline unemployment numbers is explained by the fact that many have just given up on looking for work entirely…

“The share of long-term unemployed is up. People who are out of work for more than twenty-six weeks can sometimes end up permanently unemployable…

“Many who are working are underemployed. The unemployment rate is silent on those who have part-time jobs but would prefer full-time jobs…

According to Economic Outlook 2015,  “Wages remain stagnant. Even those who do have jobs are facing flat or even declining wages.” “For those who have jobs, they’re making less than they did before the Great Recession. Wages for workers at every pay level, save for the bottom 10%, declined from the second half of 2013 through to the second half of 2014. And there’s no indication wages will increase….For 70% of the workforce, inflation-adjusted hourly wages are still lower than they were in 2007. Over the same period, inflation (CPI) has risen 15%.”
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  1. The U.S. Balance of Trade remains weak.

America’s balance of trade picture is far from favorable. According to the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, the latest export numbers show that September exports of $195.6 billion and imports of $238.6 billion resulted in a goods and services deficit of $43.0 billion, up from $40.0 billion in August. September exports were $3.0 billion less than August exports of $198.6 billion. September imports were $0.1 billion more than August imports of $238.6 billion.

  1. There are too few First Time Home buyers

Another key component of economic recovery, first time home buyers, remains weak, accounting for  only 33% of purchases, down from last year’s 38%, according to the National Association of Realtors.   First time buyers spark the economy with an entire range of purchases, from electronics to furniture, various services, and more.

  1. The student loan bubble lurks.

As reported by USAtoday, “Total student loan debt was $240 billion in 2003, but has nearly quintupled to $1.2 trillion today. This affects students and non-students alike, as new graduates’ purchasing power is sapped by their student loan repayments.”

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North Korea rejects dialogue on human rights, nuclear weapons

In an announcement first reported by Spacewar.com, the North Korean Foreign Ministry has ruled out any dialogue concerning either human rights or its nuclear program.

The pronouncement came in anticipation of the imminent presentation by the European Union and Japan to the United Nations General Assembly describing horrific abuses by the Pyongyang regime, including numerous accounts of “extermination, murder, enslavement, torture, imprisonment, rape, forced abortions and other sexual enslavement.”

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The issue has become more urgent following reports that the regime has, according to a spacedaily.com report, constructed a test facility at the Sinpo South Shipyard, apparently intended to develop sea-based ballistic missiles.  The capability could facilitate either a surprise nuclear strike, an EMP attack, or provide the regime with a means to retaliate in the event a pre-emptive strike occurs to take out the country’s nuclear assets.

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Key Leaders Protest Defective Iran Nuclear Deal

The Center for Security Policy  has released a letter signed by key national security personnel denouncing the Obama administration’s conduct of nuclear talks with Iran and what they describe as “the seriously defective deal likely to emerge from them.”

 The signatories emphasize that the United States and its Western allies have already surrendered too much to Iran. They express concern that the White House will provide even more concessions.  All of these give-aways have not deterred Iran from reaching its goal of becoming a nuclear weapons state.

Iran’s advanced space and rocketry programs provide that nation with the means to soon be able to launch weapons of mass destruction at any target on Earth.

Key problems with the potential agreement identified in the open letter include:

  • The deal will effectively concede to Iran the “right” to enrich uranium and allow Iran to continue uranium enrichment.
  • It will permit Iran to install new, still more advanced centrifuges and to retain its large stockpile of low-enriched uranium.
  •  It will not require Iran to disassemble existing centrifuges, its underground Fordow enrichment facility or its plutonium-producing Arak heavy water reactor now under construction.
  • A key constitutional issue has also been raised. President Obama’s has no  intention of allowing  the U.S. Congress any say in the potential deal, or his plan to unilaterally suspend mandated U.S. sanctions against Iran once a final accord is reached.

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Iran is already defying a key premise of this year’s nuclear talks and prerequisite for any future deal – namely, that the regime in Tehran would cooperate fully with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

The signatories note estimates by three leading Washington think tanks that Iran will retain its presently assessed capability of producing weapons-grade nuclear fuel in as little as four-to-six weeks from a decision to do so.

Iran has failed to live up to its commitments, and there is no evidence that it will abide by any future obligations in the comprehensive agreement that the Obama administration is trying to finalize by November 24.  There is no reason to expect that the Tehran regime will abide by the potential accord or cooperate with efforts to monitor future compliance.

–TEXT OF LETTER–

November 14, 2014

United States Capitol

East Capitol St. NE & First St. SE

Washington, DC 20004

Dear Speaker Boehner, Senator Reid, Senator McConnell, and Representative Pelosi:

We are writing to urge that the United States Congress take immediate action to repudiate the current nuclear talks with Iran and any agreement they may produce.  We urge Congress to pass legislation to this effect that also prevents the Administration from waiving sanctions or moving forward with any executive agreements to conclude a nuclear agreement with Iran without full Congressional review.  We are calling on Congress to take this action because we believe the United States and its Western allies have already given away too much to Iran in these negotiations and that any agreement that emerges as a result will be a threat to our interests, allies and security.

Examples of the problems with the emerging deal abound:  We have effectively conceded to Iran the “right” to enrich uranium.  The United States has offered one-sided concessions allowing Iran to continue uranium enrichment, install new, more advanced centrifuges, and retain its large stockpile of low-enriched uranium.  The United States is not requiring Iran to disassemble centrifuges, its underground Fordow enrichment facility or its plutonium-producing Arak heavy water reactor now under construction U.S. diplomats recently offered new concessions which will allow Iran to operate up to 6,000 uranium centrifuges.

We believe these concessions put American and international security at risk because they will do virtually nothing to stop, or even to substantially delay, Iran’s pursuit of nuclear weapons.  Estimates by the American Enterprise Institute, the Institute for Science and International Security, and the Nonproliferation Policy Education Center on how fast Iran could make enough weapons-grade uranium for one nuclear bomb using reactor-grade uranium currently range from four to six weeks.  According to Harvard University’s Belfer Center, Iran could make up to seven nuclear bombs from its current stockpile of low-enriched uranium (after further, possibly undetectable enrichment).

In exchange for the above concessions, the Obama administration has asked for very minor accommodations by Tehran. The end result will not reduce the number of nuclear bombs it can currently construct.  In fact, it would only delay the time for Iran to produce enough weapons-grade fuel for its first bomb by as little as two weeks.

In addition to our grave concerns about U.S. concessions to Iran during this year’s nuclear talks, we also are alarmed that Tehran has defied a central premise of the negotiations: full cooperation with the IAEA and answering all outstanding questions about whether its nuclear program is truly peaceful.

According to a September 5, 2014 IAEA report, Iran continues to refuse to resolve “outstanding issues over possible military dimensions of its nuclear program.”  We also note that an October 31, 2014 New York Times report which revealed that, “Iran had stopped answering the agency’s questions about suspected past efforts to design the components of a bomb.”

We believe that, since Iran has failed to cooperate fully with the IAEA either during the nuclear negotiations or, indeed, ever since its accession to the Nonproliferation Treaty there is negligible likelihood that its cooperation with the IAEA will improve after a final agreement is signed.

Iran’s strategy in the nuclear talks is crystal clear: offer minimal and inconsequential concessions and limited transparency on its nuclear program in exchange for the lifting of Western sanctions.  Iran’s negotiating strategy has included a refusal to dismantle nuclear facilities and demands for an increased uranium enrichment capacity.  As long as this is Iran’s purpose, we believe an agreement that will result in the actual and permanent termination of the Iranian nuclear weapons program is impossible.

Given Iran’s long record of covert nuclear activities with weapons applications and its continuing refusal to cooperate with the IAEA and answer outstanding questions about its nuclear program, we believe the responsibility rests with Tehran to resolve all outstanding issues before any final agreement eviscerates the only remaining leverage we have: the still-extant U.S. and international sanctions.  Further, we believe that the United States must demonstrate resolve in demanding the Iranian regime verifiably dismantle any facilities that could permit progress towards a deliverable nuclear weapons capability.

To make matters worse, recent press reports indicate that President Obama plans to deny the U.S. Congress any say in the forthcoming nuclear agreement with Iran, and that he intends unilaterally to suspend U.S. sanctions against Iran once a final accord is reached.

Surely, there will be wide, bipartisan agreement on both sides of Capitol Hill that it would be a grave mistake to go forward with any nuclear deal with Iran without the express support of the U.S. Congress. The legislative branch knows that, once the current sanctions regime against Iran by the United States and counterpart sanctions imposed by the Europeans disappear, it will be difficult – if not as a practical matter, impossible – to reestablish them, even if Iran does not live up to its obligations.

It is, therefore, time for Congress to act.  By making clear that the legislative branch does not support the agreement now being finalized, there is a chance of preventing a bad deal from being concluded with far-reaching and negative consequences.  The talks with Iran have drifted so far from reality, and our minimum requirements, that they are certain to produce a bad deal that cannot be salvaged.

America’s allies in the region, especially Israel and Saudi Arabia, are rightly alarmed at the prospect that Iran is being enabled to go nuclear by the U.S. and the rest of the P-5 plus 1.  Among other possible responses could be a decision by the Saudis to develop their own nuclear weapons program, or simply buy one or more nuclear weapons from another state, setting off a spiral of further proliferation likely to make the region even more unstable and dangerous.

We therefore respectfully call on Congress to adopt legislation to repudiate the nuclear agreement now taking shape.  We urge you and your colleagues to insist that a coherent, realistic and firm U.S. policy be adopted instead, one aimed at actually preventing the Iranian regime from realizing its nuclear weapons ambitions.  This should require, at a minimum, that there be no further easing of sanctions or further talks with Iran until Tehran complies with all UN Security Council resolutions related to  its nuclear program, fully cooperates with the IAEA, and provides truthful answers to all outstanding questions about its nuclear program.

Sincerely,

Hon. Peter Hoekstra

Former Chairman, House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence

Lieutenant General William G. Boykin, U.S. Army (Ret.)

Former Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence

Admiral James A. Lyons, U.S. Navy (Ret.)

Former Commander-in-Chief, Pacific Fleet

Hon. Michelle Van Cleave

Former National Counterintelligence Executive

Hon. Paula DeSutter

Former Assistant Secretary of State for Verification and Compliance

Frank J. Gaffney, Jr.

Former Assistant Secretary of Defense (Acting)

Jack David

Hudson Institute Senior Fellow and former Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense

David Wurmser

Former Senior Adviser to Vice President Cheney and Founder, Delphi Global Analysis Group

Rich Lowry

Editor, National Review

Daniel Pipes

President, Middle East Forum

Lt. Col. Ralph Peters

U.S. Army (Ret)

Michael Rubin

Resident Scholar, American Enterprise Institute

Sarah Stern

Founder and President, Endowment for Middle East Truth

Daniel Pollak

Co-Director, Government Relations, Zionist Organization of America

Yleem Poblete

Former Staff Director, House Foreign Affairs Committee

Clare M. Lopez

Former CIA Officer

Frederick Fleitz

Former CIA Officer

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Quick Analysis

Immigrants account for 42% of Medicaid growth

While Americans continue to struggle with the high cost of medical care, the expensive but poor coverage provided by Obamacare, and high taxation, a huge portion of  the growth in Medicaid spending has been going to immigrants.

A startling report by the Center for Immigration Studies http://cis.org/immigrant-families-accounted-for-42-percent-of-medicaid-growth-since-2011 reveals that  “A new analysis of government data shows that immigrants and their U.S.-born children (under age 18) have been among the primary beneficiaries of Medicaid growth…The data show that immigrants and their children accounted for 42 percent of the growth in Medicaid enrollment from 2011 to 2013… It seems almost certain that immigrants and their children will continue to benefit disproportionately from Obamacare…

“Among the findings:

  • The number of immigrants and their U.S.-born children (under 18) on Medicaid grew twice as fast as the number of natives and their children on Medicaid from 2011 to 2013 — 11 percent vs. 5 percent.
  • Immigrants and their children accounted for 42 percent of Medicaid enrollment growth from 2011 to 2013, even though they accounted for only 17 percent of the nation’s total population and 23 percent of overall U.S. population growth over this time period.
  • About two-thirds of the growth in Medicaid associated with immigrants was among immigrants themselves, rather than the U.S.-born children of immigrants.
  • The increase in Medicaid enrollment among immigrants and their children can be roughly estimated as costing $4.6 billion annually.
  • By 2013, 25 percent of immigrants and their children were on Medicaid, compared to 16 percent of natives and their children. “

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As the New York Analysis of Policy & Government has frequently pointed out, the United States cannot afford to be the welfare agency for the entire planet.  Immigration is, overall, a positive contribution to the United States, but only if those coming to America are contributing to, not taking from, those already in the nation.