A Doctor Shortage, Cap and Trade in the Senate and TARP Transparency
The American Medical Association lobbies Congress to restrict the number of new doctors in the U.S.
Senate sponsors of “cap and trade” global warming legislation push back the bill’s introduction.
Bank of America offers to repay $45 billion it received as part of the federal Troubled Asset Relief Program.
Listen to LibertyWeek, the CEI podcast, here.
1. HEALTHCARE
The American Medical Association lobbies Congress to restrict the number of new doctors in the U.S.
CEI Expert Available to Comment: Senior Attorney Hans Bader on the shortage of qualified doctors:
“A doctor shortage is looming, but the AMA has successfully lobbied Congress to artificially restrict the number of doctors in America, through measures such as limits on the number of federally-funded residencies. Thanks to arbitrary AMA requirements, medical education is a much most costly and wasteful process in the U.S. than in other countries. And there are lots of unnecessary restrictions on who can become a doctor (like barring immigrant doctors who have practiced for years unless they redo their residencies all over again in the U.S.), and arbitrary limits on qualified non-doctors providing health care (like bans on midwives in many states, even though they can competently handle most childbirths quite cheaply).”
2. CONGRESS
Senate sponsors of “cap and trade” global warming legislation push back the bill’s introduction.
CEI Expert Available to Comment: Director of Energy and Global Warming Policy Myron Ebell on the House’s version of the same bill:
“The process should be an embarrassment to Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco) and Chairman Henry Waxman (D-Beverly Hills), but once people find out what’s in it, the bill will become an embarrassment to everyone who voted for it. Waxman-Markey has no future in the Senate, and with any luck this first victory for energy-rationing legislation will be the last.”
3. BUSINESS
Bank of America offers to repay $45 billion it received as part of the federal Troubled Asset Relief Program.
CEI Expert Available to Comment: Regulatory Studies Fellow Ryan Young on the program’s down side:
“TARP funds go through 25 different agencies. Different accounting standards and disclosure methods prevent apples-to apples comparisons of what agencies are doing with the money. Effective oversight of this confusing mess is practically impossible. This is a frustrating situation for Congress, as well as the public. The TARP Accountability and Disclosure Act (H.R. 1242; S. 910)— introduced by Reps. Carolyn Maloney (D-NY) and Peter King (R-NY) in the House and by Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA) in the Senate—seeks to address that problem. The legislation would task the Treasury Department with creating a unified database with all expenditures, listed in one standard format.”