The Competitive Enterprise Institute Daily Update

Issues in the News

1. REGULATION

President Bush urges adoption of the line item veto as a way to restrain federal spending.

CEI Expert Available to Comment: Vice President for Policy Wayne Crews releases the 2006 edition of his report on regulatory costs, Ten Thousand Commandments: An Annual Snapshot of the Federal Regulatory State:

“In the Fiscal Year 2006 federal budget, President Bush proposed $2.77 trillion in discretionary, entitlement, and interest spending. Although those costs fully express the on-budget scope of the federal government, there is considerably more to the government’s reach than the sum of the taxes sent to Washington. Federal environmental, safety and health, and economic regulations cost hundreds of billions of dollars every year—on top of official federal outlays.”

2. HEALTH

The U.S. Surgeon General’s office issues a new report on second-hand smoke.

CEI Expert Available to Comment: Policy Analyst Brooke Oberwetter on some of the questionable research that was included in the report:

“See here if you aren’t familiar with the rank humiliation that Sargent, his colleagues, and the people who included this study [on the effects of an indoor smoking ban in Helena, Montana] in the report would be feeling if they had any shame at all.”

3. ENVIRONMENT

Wildfires prompt Nevada’s governor to declare a state of emergency.

 CEI Expert Available to Comment: Senior Fellow Robert Nelson on how poor federal land management contributes to the threat of dangerous wildfires:

“For most of the 20th century, the U.S. Forest Service has failed to manage our national forests properly while treating fire as a virtual moral evil. Unless these policies are reversed, fires that consume millions of acres and inflict billions of dollars in damage will become more and more common.”

FOR MORE INFORMATION

To contact a CEI expert for comment or interviews, please call the CEI communications department at 202-331-2273 or email to [email protected].