President Bill Clinton and some Members of Congress propose raising the minimum wage from $5.15 to $6.15 per hour--an increase of nearly 20 percent over the rate established on September 1, 1997. This is equivalent to a 20 percent tax increase on entry-level jobs, totaling as much as $16.3 billion over…

As part of the Fiscal Year (FY) 1999 Omnibus Appropriations Act (P.L. 105-277), Congress included a provision introduced by Senator Richard Shelby (R-AL) that for the first time allows the public to obtain federally funded research data collected through grants and agreements with universities and other nonprofit organizations. This provision is supposed to shine…

Negotiators from 180 countries recently gathered in Buenos Aires, Argentina, to address unresolved issues in the Kyoto Protocol to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. The Kyoto Protocol, an international treaty that addresses the uncertain threat of greenhouse gas emissions resulting from human activity, requires developed countries to reduce emissions in 2012 by…

As fiscal year 1998 comes to a close, Congress and the President have considerable work to do to reach an agreement on most of the 13 annual appropriations bills. In light of this, on September 17, 1998, Congress passed a continuing resolution (CR) that allows the federal government to…

A balanced federal budget and projections of a $1.6 trillion surplus over the next ten years have encouraged many Washington policymakers to find more and more ways to pour tax dollars into new and bigger government programs. Consider the following: Between fiscal year (FY) 1997 and FY 1998, federal domestic discretionary spending adjusted for inflation…

The 103rd Congress passed the Government Performance and Results Act in 1993 to make federal agencies more responsive and accountable to the American people. The Results Act requires agencies to submit strategic plans to Congress that clearly specify their missions and goals. House Majority Leader Richard Armey, who leads the congressional effort to evaluate…