Global Warming Data, Estimating Health Care Costs and Pulling Down Trade Barriers
Critics question the disappearance of scientific data used to make global warming predictions.
The Congressional Budget Office releases new cost estimates for competing health care reform proposals.
Europeans outpace the U.S. in negotiations to reduce trade barriers around the world.
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1. SCIENCE
Critics question the disappearance of scientific data used to make global warming predictions.
CEI Expert Available to Comment: General Counsel Sam Kazman on why this is important for EPA policy:
“The Environmental Protection Agency is resting its case on international studies that in turn relied on Climate Research Unit data. But CRU’s suspicious destruction of its original data, disclosed at this late date, makes that information totally unreliable. If EPA doesn’t reexamine the implications of this, it’s stumbling blindly into the most important regulatory issue we face.”
2. HEALTH
The Congressional Budget Office releases new cost estimates for competing health care reform proposals.
CEI Expert Available to Comment: Senior Fellow Gregory Conko on the existing government restrictions that drive up health care costs:
“…numerous state and federal restrictions on who may provide medical services and how they must be delivered have hindered the development of innovative ways for medical professionals to offer more convenient and lower-cost health services to consumers. A combination of government and medical professional lobbying has restricted the supply of new doctors, creating an artificial scarcity and contributing to rising prices. And medical products regulation substantially raises the cost of producing new drugs and medical devices, often without increasing their safety.”
3. BUSINESS
Europeans outpace the U.S. in negotiations to reduce trade barriers around the world.
CEI Expert Available to Comment: Adjunct Fellow Fran Smith on the need to ratify our pending trade agreements:
“The pending U.S. Free Trade Agreements with South Korea, Panama, and Colombia are languishing in limbo, despite the fact that all three agreements will improve the flow of goods and services, foster economic growth and create jobs, and enhance the close relationships between the U.S. and those countries…Representative Bob Goodlatte (R-VA) [recently emphasized] the benefits of free trade, especially in the current downturn, when increased trade can lead to more vibrant economic growth and job creation.”
Listen to LibertyWeek, the CEI podcast, here.