In an interview with The Heritage Foundation, Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-TX) criticized her liberal colleagues for opposing Social Security reform, warning that they would rather increase taxes on businesses.

Hutchison singled out Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) for his repeatedly claiming that Social Security is not in trouble. Reid has gone so far as to call it a conservative “myth”. As Hutchison retorted:

“It’s clearly in trouble if its own trustees say its going bankrupt in 25 years. If that’s not a signal to everyone that we’ve got to do something now, then I don’t know what it would take. You can either do something gradually so that it doesn’t hurt very much, but will keep it solvent in the long run, or you can do drastic things, which of course Harry Reid would like to increase the taxes on employers.”

Hutchison, who spoke about her reform plan last week at Heritage, said Social Security can be easily and effectively reformed — and must be to save the program from bankruptcy.

On today’s edition of Coffee and Markets, Brad Jackson and Ben Domenech are joined by Ted Cruz to talk about his race to replace Kay Bailey Hutchison in the US Senate.

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Senator Hutchison, recently named “Porker of the Month”, says she wants to earmark $125 million during this recession to, in her words, force “Mother Nature” to “alter her course.” As Al Gore and President Obama have failed in their quest to control the oceans, Senator Hutchison thinks she can finally get Mother Nature to listen to politicians. Good luck!

 
Unfortunately for taxpayers, Senator Hutchison has refused to listen to our nation’s top scientists on this issue. As reported by the Washington Post, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has officially rebuffed this idea. In a letter, NOAA bluntly explained that the government ended this futile research years ago and there is nothing new to indicate it will ever be successful:
 
NOAA does not support research that entails efforts to modify hurricanes. NOAA, and its predecessor agency, once supported and conducted research into hurricane modification through Project STORMFURY from 1962 to 1983. Project STORMFURY was discontinued as the result of:
 
1) inconclusive scientific results, and
2) the inability to separate the difference between what happens when a hurricane is modified by human intervention versus a hurricane’s natural behavior.
 
Since Project STORMFURY’s end 26 years ago, NOAA scientists have gained substantial insight on the complicated and interconnected processes within the overall hurricane environment. Yet, it remains unclear if enough knowledge has been gained to make any new modification attempts practicable.

And fellow Texan, former President George W. Bush, tried to stop Senator Hutchison years ago. His White House sent her a letter in 2005 when she first began pushing this idea of controlling the weather stating “liability, foreign policy, and national security concerns.” President Bush’s administration pointed out that even if Hutchison was successful in diverting the path of a hurricane, its just as likely the U.S. could face international rebuke for sending hurricanes to Mexico or face lawsuits from Indian Tribes in neighboring states that could be hurt:
 
Because small scale weather modification (e.g., cloud seeding) may promote rain in one area to the detriment of another, weather modification could result in inter-state (including Indian Tribes) litigation or private citizen litigation against the modification programs… Small and large scale (e.g., hurricane) weather modification efforts could benefit the United States to the detriment of other countries (such as Canada or Mexico).
 
While Americans are outraged at reckless Washington spending that has led to a $12 trillion debt and economy with nearly 10% unemployment, you may be wondering why Senator Hutchison believes now is the time to waste millions of dollars of your money on such a wacky idea. The answer is likely that tax dollars will find their way to weather modification projects in Texas. But even Texas universities are warning that weather modification efforts are “not very promising.”