Immigration: Senate’s Amnesty Would Cost Trillions
In 2007, The Heritage Foundation estimated that amnesty would cost the U.S. taxpayer trillions of dollars over the lifetimes of the immigrants who are legalized…. Read More
Articles by Jason Richwine
Amnesty Supporters Wrong about Poverty Exclusion
In 2007, The Heritage Foundation estimated that the fiscal cost of amnesty to the U.S. taxpayer would total trillions over the lifetimes of the immigrants… Read More
SocietyNews
Academy of Pediatrics Endorses Same-Sex Marriage, but Science Not So Sure
The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) released a policy statement yesterday indicating its support for same-sex marriage. Based on “extensive research,” this statement from a… Read More
Federal Pay and the Ryan Budget: Brazen Falsehoods from a Federal Employee Union
Congressman Paul Ryan’s (R–WI) budget outline calls for federal employees to contribute more to their pensions, but the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) is… Read More
“Overpaid and Underworked” Federal Employees? It’s Not Just a “Perception”
The Washington Post has a sympathetic article today on federal workers who consider themselves unfair victims of the sequester. Unfortunately, the article does not consider… Read More
Head Start: Reporters Need to Ask the White House the Obvious Question
A rigorous and large-scale experimental evaluation, conducted by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), finds that the federal Head Start program has essentially… Read More
Large Supply of Elementary Teachers Waiting to Be “Underpaid”
The supply of elementary school teachers greatly exceeds the demand for them among public-school districts, according to data collected by Education Week. This fact has… Read More
Responses to Union Suggestion of a Teacher “Bar Exam”
Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), proposed a “bar exam” for public-school teachers in a Wall Street Journal op-ed last week…. Read More
Even Government Employees Think Private Sector Works Harder
The polling firm Rasmussen offers some interesting data on the work effort of government employees compared to private-sector workers. In five separate surveys this past… Read More
Immigration “Diversity Lottery” Is Long Overdue for Abolition
The House passed a bill on Friday that would abolish the immigrant “diversity lottery” and replace it with a new program that would give green… Read More
Debate 2012: Do We Need More Teachers?
“Governor [Mitt] Romney doesn’t think we need more teachers,” President Obama said last night. “I do.” The President’s confidence that “we need more teachers” to… Read More
Government Employees Work Less Than Private-Sector Employees
A new Heritage Foundation study shows that government employees work around three hours less per week and roughly one month less per year than private-sector… Read More
Chicago Teachers’ Retirement Benefits Are Extravagant
When Chicago teachers began their strike on Monday, critics rightly pointed out that the city already pays one of the highest average teacher salaries in… Read More
Obama Proposes Federal Paychecks for Local Teachers
This week, President Obama proposed a new $1 billion federal program that would establish a “Master Teacher Corps” in 100 locations across the country. This… Read More
Pensions Are Deferred Compensation—a Lot of Deferred Compensation
Last week, The Heritage Foundation released important new research on the real cost of public pensions. In response, many different public-sector advocates have offered the… Read More
Mayor Bloomberg Is Right About Public Pension Costs
In a Sunday New York Times article about public pension costs, Mayor Michael Bloomberg has the following quote: “If I can give you one piece… Read More
Even After Walker Reforms, Wisconsin Public Workers Still Overpaid
“What Mr. Walker and his backers are trying to do is to make Wisconsin—and eventually, America—less of a functioning democracy and more of a third-world-style… Read More
CBO Sets the Record Straight on Federal Pay
The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) released a report yesterday showing that federal employees receive substantially more compensation than similarly skilled workers in the private sector…. Read More
Education Secretary Duncan Wants to Overpay Teachers Even More
Education Secretary Arne Duncan called for dramatically raising teacher pay last Friday on MSNBC, declaring that the current average salary (about $55,000) should be doubled… Read More
More Pay for Public-School Teachers Won’t Increase Quality
In yesterday’s “Room for Debate” feature, The New York Times asks whether public-school teacher compensation should be increased. The answer we give, based on our… Read More
On “Costless” Benefits for Public Workers
In our work on public sector compensation, Andrew Biggs of the American Enterprise Institute and I have routinely counted enhanced job security as a benefit… Read More
The Secrets of Acquiring Federal Employment
According to public employees’ unions, federal employees are substantially underpaid, and this year’s pay freeze is just one more slight against workers who could easily… Read More
OPM Director John Berry’s Mistaken Statements to Congress
Even the more jaded observers of Washington politics had to be disappointed with the performance of federal pay defenders during yesterday’s House Oversight Committee hearing…. Read More
Are Federal Workers Overpaid? Watch Heritage vs the Unions Wednesday
The Federal Times calls it a “steel cage match” in which “two wonks enter, one wonk leaves.” Congressional hearings are never that exciting, but Wednesday’s… Read More
Do Government Workers Make More than Private Sector Workers?
The Heritage Foundation has posted a new working paper that considers whether public workers in California are overpaid compared to their private sector counterparts. The… Read More
Left Still In Denial About Federal Worker Pay
Lawrence Mishel, president of the Economic Policy Institute (EPI), does not like President Obama’s call for a two-year pay freeze. He writes: [The freeze]…will only… Read More
Federal Paychecks Are Outsized
In an article titled “Scapegoating Federal Pay,” Paul Waldman of The American Prospect predicts that we will hear much more in the coming months about… Read More
Florida’s Dubious Class-Size Caps
Lost amid the national election coverage Tuesday night was the defeat of an important ballot initiative in Florida. Amendment 8 would have relaxed the state’s… Read More
The Truth Behind Superman
The documentary film Waiting for Superman follows five children and their families as they struggle to find educational opportunities. Fed up with the ineffective public… Read More
Charter Schools Rise in Katrina’s Wake
Hurricane Katrina destroyed more than just buildings. Left with scarce resources and personnel, local government in New Orleans became weak and ineffective in the aftermath… Read More
