Remember when we used to have a legislative process?  Lately, the Obama Administration has me wondering if Congress even has a job to do anymore. Between Obamacare, card check, cap and trade, net neutrality, and massive financial regulations, among many others, it’s crystal clear that the Administration would prefer to ignore the limits of the Constitution than abide by it.

With No Child Left Behind (NCLB) “waivers,” the President has topped even his own high bar. The “waivers” plan is a misnomer because it does not give states more freedom. Rather, the plan forces states to comply with nearly 40 new government mandates. This is the nationalization of education policy, which will affect all 50 states and tens of millions of students.

In announcing the waiver scheme, the President explicitly said “given that Congress cannot act, I am acting.”  The President must have missed the memo that it’s not his job to make laws, which is, of course, exclusively Congress’ responsibility.  Yet Congress did not even hold one hearing on the waiver scheme, let alone actually pass legislation to authorize this move.  The Obama Administration continues to legislate through regulations in every aspect of policy, regardless of whether or not the federal government has authorized authority to do so by either the Constitution or Congress.

I’m certain there’s nothing in the Constitution saying that a President can do whatever he wants because Congress is taking too long. If the President wants to change the law, fine, but he needs to actually work with Congress to change the law — not just make proclamations from the White House. (more…)

In step with federal government intrusion into the health care system, the auto industry, and the financial industry, the FCC and the Obama Administration has had its eye on asserting control over the Internet.

On Thursday, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) closed its official public comment period “In the Matter of Framework for Broadband Internet Service.”  In English?  Despite broad opposition, three of the five unelected members of the FCC are one step away from officially regulating the Internet under laws originally intended for monopoly telephone carriers in the 1930s.

So how can the FCC make this dramatic change in the way the government treats the Internet?  Well, according to the Democrats on the Commission and far left advocacy organizations like Free Press, it’s a surprisingly simple process – one that does not include the approval of Congress approval or any elected officials.

Just since June 17, the FCC: opened a Notice of Inquiry to seek the “best legal framework for broadband Internet access” on a partisan 3-2 vote; accepted comments on these proposed regulations; and then allowed for reply comments so that policy, advocacy, and industry leaders would have a chance to refute whatever points were made during the initial comment period (to whomever might be interested in a seemingly obscure telecommunications issue, in the middle of August!).

And that’s it, folks!

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Kids placed in schools their parents chose for them – not the ones the government chose – graduate at a higher rate and are safer at school.  Who would have guessed?

According to an evaluation released yesterday by the US Department of Education Institute of Education Sciences, the DC Opportunity Scholarship Program (OSP) has “significantly improved students’ chances of graduating from high school.”  The same study finds that “parents had higher satisfaction and rated schools as safer if their child was offered or used an OSP scholarship.”

With these dramatic success indicators, it must be no surprise that DC OSP is the only federal education program that the Obama Administration is intent on killing.

Dr. Matt Ladner, vice president of research at the Goldwater Institute reports:

“…students who were randomly selected to receive vouchers had an 82% graduation rate.  That’s 12 percentage points higher than the students who didn’t receive vouchers.  Students who actually used their vouchers had graduation rates that were 21% higher.  Even better, the subgroup of students who received vouchers and came from designated Schools in Need of Improvement (SINI schools) had graduation rates that were 13 percentage points higher than the same subgroup of students who weren’t offered vouchers–and the effect was 20 percentage points higher for the SINI students who used their vouchers!”

That’s right.  Students who used their voucher to attend a school of their parents’ choice had a 21 percent higher graduation rate than those who were eligible for a voucher but were not offered one in the lottery process.  DC OSP is a federally-funded program that provides scholarships up to $7,500 to low-income families in Washington, DC – a pittance compared to DC Public School spending.

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When New Jersey teachers union members refused to make room for students in a legislative committee hearing, the chairman took the meeting to the students.

Approximately 1,500 New Jersey schoolchildren and school choice supporters witnessed democracy in action on Thursday, May 13, when they attended a rally at the state capitol to support a private school choice bill under debate in the state Senate.  The rally was set to support S1872, legislation that would establish a five-year scholarship tax credit pilot program for students in failing schools, which was heard by the Senate Economic Growth Committee that day.

When State Senator Ray Lesniak (D-Union), chairman of the committee and longtime supporter of school choice, prepared to call the committee to order, he noted that all of the seats had been taken by New Jersey Education Association (NJEA) members.

The chairman requested that half of the seats be made available for the children who supported the school choice bill.  The union members refused to offer the children any seats.  (

So, the senators’ desks were moved, and Chairman Lesniak took the committee hearing outside:

“The NJEA and their supporters packed the room.  I asked them to allow for fifty percent of supporters of the legislation in the room or else I was going to have them take the meeting outside so that everybody can see it.  They refused to leave the room, so we’re going to have the committee meeting right here.  Outside.”

In the end, the committee agreed that if they could meet outside of the government-assigned committee room – and instead outside, in the light of sunshine and in the view of taxpayers – students in failing schools should have the same flexibility to find a better venue that meets their needs.

The committee unanimously passed the legislation.

If enacted, the pilot program could fund up to $24 million in scholarships for up to 4,000 children the first year. After five years, up to 20,000 children would receive $120 million in scholarships. Scholarship funds would come from corporate contributions, for which the corporations would receive a dollar-for-dollar tax credit.  The full Senate must approve the measure before it advances to the state Assembly.

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The growing American protest movement has met the Obama Administration’s effort to regulate the Internet, as the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has been flooded with almost 50,000 individual demands to stay away from their broadband.

Just as a majority of Americans now opposes the Administration’s increased spending and government intrusion into the free economy, a clear majority opposes the President’s move to assert authority over the Internet.   According to a recent Rasmussen poll, 53 percent of Americans oppose FCC regulation of the Internet – and only 27 percent support such regulations.  In fact, support for Internet regulations has plunged by 22 points just since June 2008.

Monday marked the close of the reply comment period at the FCC for the network neutrality rulemaking proceeding, and the opposition to Internet regulation could not be clearer.  Traditionally, a “reply comment period” for a “Notice of Proposed Rulemaking” at the FCC attracts little attention by the American public, but this blatant power grab – and the attempts to regulate the Internet like a telephone line in the 1930s – has made thousands stand up and take notice.

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According to Tuesday’s unanimous court ruling, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is not above the law – no matter what Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski or his Leftist friends at Free Press might wish.

For the past several years, the Left has breathlessly claimed that without the imposition of government oversight and control, the Internet as we know it will cease to exist.

Just try and follow the Left’s logic for a moment.  The Internet – whose ingenious development and explosive growth has occurred almost entirely free from the heavy hand of the government – will cease to exist as we know it without the heavy hand of government?

This week’s ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit clearly states that the FCC does not have the authority to impose network neutrality rules on Internet service providers.  Indeed, the FCC “failed to tie its assertion” that any law gives the Commission regulatory authority to oversee Internet providers’ network management practices.

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