From The Hill:
Despite registering approval ratings under 50 percent in several recent polls, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) appears a safe bet for reelection as of now. But liberal groups are eyeing the prospect of a strong GOP challenger — perhaps from Larry Forgy, the GOP gubernatorial nominee in 1995. And the influential anti-tax group Club for Growth signaled Wednesday that it might play a role in a primary fight against McConnell.
The Club remarked in a statement Wednesday that the Republican leader “is looking more and more like his counterpart across the aisle, Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.)” on spending issues.
McConnell has backed all four of the appropriations bills that the Senate has considered this year, three of which face White House veto threats.
“If Republicans want to convince taxpayers that they are fiscally responsible, they are going to have to start backing up their words with some votes,” said Club President Pat Toomey, a former House Republican.
Just so we're clear, the Kentucky Club for Growth is not involved in federal races.
Caleb O. Brown at the Bluegrass Institute shows us why Kentucky's tragic education system won't (or can't) reform itself:
Research Report 338 published last year by the Legislative Research Commission found that while educators now devote more money to improving key educational outcomes, "spending for programs linked to specific accountability areas, such as reading and math core content, currently cannot be analyzed" due to misreporting of expenditures. The report stated that such misrepresentation "limits the ability to evaluate the efficiency and effectiveness of these programs."
For several spending categories at some schools, the commission found it impossible to determine where much of the money went, concluding in its report that "there is no way to identify the specific purpose of the expenditures or to evaluate the impact of the spending." Due to this atrocious accounting, it's likely that even a competent audit could not track the money.
The challenge remains clear: Lawmakers must find a way to hold Kentucky educators responsible to parents and taxpayers for the education of public-school students.
Here, Michael New of the Cato Institute talks with Caleb Brown about the good and bad of state-based spending limits. If you want Kentucky's lawmakers to spend less, you need to listen.
Here are the three rules of an effective state spending limit:
1. It must be comprehensive. Lawmakers shouldn't be able to raise other taxes to even out the revenues.
2. It must be self-enforcing. In Kentucky, this means it must be a part of the state constitution. Lawmakers can't just change it at will. Kentucky's lawmakers subvert their own laws all the time. The state constitution is the only way.
3. It must be a low limit. Lawmakers must prioritize spending and only a finite supply of dollars will make lawmakers do so.
Michael New has written about state spending limits for Cato here. Kentucky needs one of these. So, how do we do it?
From The Hill:
Despite registering approval ratings under 50 percent in several recent polls, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) appears a safe bet for reelection as of now. But liberal groups are eyeing the prospect of a strong GOP challenger — perhaps from Larry Forgy, the GOP gubernatorial nominee in 1995. And the influential anti-tax group Club for Growth signaled Wednesday that it might play a role in a primary fight against McConnell.
The Club remarked in a statement Wednesday that the Republican leader “is looking more and more like his counterpart across the aisle, Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.)” on spending issues.
McConnell has backed all four of the appropriations bills that the Senate has considered this year, three of which face White House veto threats.
“If Republicans want to convince taxpayers that they are fiscally responsible, they are going to have to start backing up their words with some votes,” said Club President Pat Toomey, a former House Republican.
Just so we're clear, the Kentucky Club for Growth is not involved in federal races.
Caleb O. Brown at the Bluegrass Institute shows us why Kentucky's tragic education system won't (or can't) reform itself:
Research Report 338 published last year by the Legislative Research Commission found that while educators now devote more money to improving key educational outcomes, "spending for programs linked to specific accountability areas, such as reading and math core content, currently cannot be analyzed" due to misreporting of expenditures. The report stated that such misrepresentation "limits the ability to evaluate the efficiency and effectiveness of these programs."
For several spending categories at some schools, the commission found it impossible to determine where much of the money went, concluding in its report that "there is no way to identify the specific purpose of the expenditures or to evaluate the impact of the spending." Due to this atrocious accounting, it's likely that even a competent audit could not track the money.
The challenge remains clear: Lawmakers must find a way to hold Kentucky educators responsible to parents and taxpayers for the education of public-school students.
Here, Michael New of the Cato Institute talks with Caleb Brown about the good and bad of state-based spending limits. If you want Kentucky's lawmakers to spend less, you need to listen.
Here are the three rules of an effective state spending limit:
1. It must be comprehensive. Lawmakers shouldn't be able to raise other taxes to even out the revenues.
2. It must be self-enforcing. In Kentucky, this means it must be a part of the state constitution. Lawmakers can't just change it at will. Kentucky's lawmakers subvert their own laws all the time. The state constitution is the only way.
3. It must be a low limit. Lawmakers must prioritize spending and only a finite supply of dollars will make lawmakers do so.
Michael New has written about state spending limits for Cato here. Kentucky needs one of these. So, how do we do it?
