Issues in the News<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = “urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office” />
1. HEALTH AND SAFETY
A recent study suggests that additional increases in cigarette taxes won’t cut smoking by poor people; it will just leave them poorer as a result of the added financial burden. CEI Expert Available to Comment: Legal Counsel Hans Bader on a solution that might actually work:
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“ … replace existing cigarette taxes with a new one designed to discourage cigarette consumption by young people rather than further burden the poor.”
2. ENVIRONMENT
Environmental groups this week launched a new lawsuit against energy firms to force changes in the energy industry. CEI Expert Available to Comment: Director of Risk and Environmental Policy Angela Logomasini on the staggering successes of the environmental movement in getting new laws and regulations enacted:
“Over the years, the environmental lobby has advanced a considerable number of laws—leading to the passage of hundreds of environmental statutes. But the legacy does not end there; a great many of these laws require federal agencies to issue regulations on an ongoing basis.”
3. REGULATION
As Congress is on the verge of reworking the $85-billion student loan program run by the federal government, Sen. Ted Kennedy released a report this week criticizing the integrity of the program. CEI Expert Available to Comment: Center for Entrepreneurship Director John Berlau on how Kennedy's plan for pushing the private sector out is a plan for disaster:
“To Kennedy, who is once again chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor & Pensions, or HELP committee, the problem isn’t the fact of government interference or subsidies, but the fact that private banks are still involved at all.”
Blog feature: For more news and analysis, updated throughout the day, visit CEI’s blog, Open Market.
FOR MORE INFORMATION
To contact a CEI expert for comment or interviews, please call the CEI communications department at 202-331-2258 or email to [email protected].