Heres hoping the Tennessee State Employees Association can make good on its promise to find waste in state government. TSEA announced it will conduct a three month review to identify inefficiencies and promote effective use to taxpayer dollars.
Public employee unions and government efficiency are not necessarily mutually exclusive. We hope this TSEA project is good-intentioned and produces results.
While AFP-Tennessee was strongly supportive of removing collective bargaining privileges from teacher unions, we agree with TSEA that government have become too large, too inefficient and too expensive. Come December, we look forward to studying the proposals the union puts together, and sincerely are optimistic there will be significant, worthwhile proposals that have good governance at its core.
Informal discussions for home rule for Hamilton County are the brainchild of Chattanooga Mayor Ron Littlefield. The basic idea is to give the county more code enforcement and zoning powers rather than the current process where run-of-the-mill projects must first be passed by the state General Assembly.
While County Commission Chairman Larry Henry was reportedly surprised that the concept of home rule for the county was instigated by the city; the opinion of AFP-Tennessee is that local leaders need to put aside such petty differences and focus on the merits of the proposal.
Tennessee Rep. Diane Black while appearing on FOX News pointedly asked President Obama to produce his plan to control spending and avoid the debt ceiling crisis.
As Tennesseans already know, President Obama has spent more time on the golf course (75 rounds and counting) than working to get our governments spending under control. In fact, spending has not been the priority of this Administration; finding the new revenue (i.e. tax increases) to fund more spending is the priority.
The U.S. House of Representatives approved last night H.R. 2560 also known as the "Cut, Cap, and Balance Act of 2011."
If the debt ceiling must be raised (an open question for many conservatives) then this is surely the best way to do it.
The bill significantly cuts government spending, creates binding caps to bring spending back to its historical average, below 20 percent of the economy, over the next ten years, and requires Congress to adopt a tough balanced budget amendment to the Constitution including a spending cap and a supermajority requirement for tax increases before the federal government would be allowed to incur any more debt.
America is facing a breaking point; we can either get our spending under control, or we can continue our reckless use of the nations credit card until the credit runs out.
Liberals constantly tell the American people that proposed spending cuts will cripple government services, create death panels, or hurt the poor.
These threats are meant to scare taxpayers into forking over even more money to grow government programs.
Yet, a new report by the Heritage Institute shows how government redistribution is forcing taxpayers to subsidize luxury items, like cell phones and cable televisions, for millions of people.
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Prosperity and opportunity begin when government gets out of the way. That’s why Americans for Prosperity is working hard to win major policy victories on the local and state levels and make sure your voice is heard loud and clear by our elected officials.
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