Washington just shut down one Medicaid gimmick. States are already building the next one. An important piece in The Federalist  by Brian Blase of the Paragon Health Institute warns that intergovernmental transfers, known as IGTs, are becoming the next major Medicaid taxpayer rip off scheme. If Congress and the Trump administration do not act quickly, this maneuver could explode federal spending all over again. How the IGT Scheme Actually Works Medicaid is jointly funded by s

Nonprofit hospitals receive generous tax breaks. Many are no longer acting like charities. A new National Review  op-ed by Ryan Ellis makes the case clearly: Congress should close the big hospital tax loophole that allows large, highly profitable hospital systems to avoid taxes while providing limited charity care. Federal law grants nonprofit hospitals tax-exempt status in exchange for providing meaningful community benefits. That status is supposed to reflect real charitab

More than 40 million Americans have a Health Savings Account, yet most treat it like a checking account instead of what it truly is: one of the most powerful tax-advantaged savings tools in the tax code. When a medical bill arrives, many families simply swipe the HSA debit card and move on. The balance often sits in cash, earning little or nothing. That approach feels practical, but it sacrifices the most valuable feature of an HSA, which is long-term, tax-free growth. There

Recent redistricting news in Virginia highlights how intense the fight over congressional power has become. Virginia’s Democratic-controlled legislature advanced new congressional maps that could significantly reduce Republican representation in the state’s 11-seat U.S. House delegation, prompting debate over partisan map drawing and a planned April voter referendum on the changes. While this story has grabbed headlines, it reflects only one chapter in a much larger national

President Trump’s aggressive expansion of trade taxes is weakening the economy, and the latest labor market revision makes that harder to ignore. In 2025 alone, previously reported payroll figures were revised down by 1,029,000 jobs. That is the largest annual downward revision in at least two decades. More than one million jobs that were initially reported as created simply were not there. When job growth is overstated by that magnitude, it signals that the economy is not a

Source: www.whitehouse.gov For the first time in nearly six decades, the federal government is meaningfully smaller. More than 330,000 federal employees have left their positions over the past year through firings, resignations, or retirements, and those roles were not replaced. As a result, total federal employment now stands at roughly 2.7 million , the lowest level since 1966. That outcome did not happen by chance. It reflects deliberate policy decisions made under the Tru

Washington’s spending binge drove up interest rates and made big purchases more expensive for working families. Even as inflation begins to cool, the cost of financing a car remains higher than it should be. The “Working Families Tax Cuts” respond with targeted relief. One key provision allows up to a $10,000 tax deduction for auto loan interest on vehicles assembled in the United States, even if you've already taken the standard deduction. This is practical tax relief aimed

School choice is no longer a niche reform. It is a national movement. Demand is rising across the country, and states continue to move quickly to expand options for families. A new Wall Street Journal op-ed by Kelly Hancock  underscores just how strong that demand has become. In Texas, a record 42,000 education savings account applications flooded in on the very first day  of the state’s new program. That level of interest is not theoretical support. It reflects real parents

The Federal Trade Commission has reached a landmark settlement with Express Scripts , resolving allegations that the pharmacy benefit manager artificially inflated insulin prices and drove up costs for patients. The action confirms what lawmakers have warned for years. PBM abuses are real, systemic, and costly for American patients. Federal Trade Commission Express Scripts Years of Oversight Set the Stage This outcome did not come out of nowhere. It follows years of sustained

Washington has spent years talking about affordability while making it harder for families to get ahead. Housing costs remain elevated. Health care bills keep climbing. Energy prices stay volatile. At the same time, federal spending continues to drive price pressures that hit working families first and hardest. That is why the Republican Study Committee’s Reconciliation 2.0 framework, “Making the American Dream Affordable Again ,”  deserves serious attention. It reflects a go

Elite liberal Democrats who run Washington, D.C. are deliberately blocking tax relief for their own workers and small businesses, not because the policy is wrong, but because the politics offend them. Their target is the 2025 Working Families Tax Cut. Their motivation is opposition to congressional Republicans and President Trump. And their chosen weapon is a local tax law that raises taxes on their own people by refusing to follow federal reforms. That is why the Center for

Washington’s recent surge in prices driven by Bidenflation hit seniors especially hard. Many retirees live on fixed incomes, and a growing number of older Americans continue working part time just to keep up. The "Working Families Tax Cuts" responds to that reality by delivering targeted tax relief for seniors who were squeezed by higher costs. A key provision is a new senior deduction that reduces federal income taxes on Social Security benefits for most seniors and allows l

House Republicans are showing what tax reform looks like when it is built around working families and a simpler tax code. The Working Families Tax Cuts of 2025, enacted as part of the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” are intended to streamline filing, lower taxes, and deliver meaningful relief to households across the country. For 91 percent of taxpayers, the policy centers on a simpler filing structure. The expanded standard deduction means families pay no federal income tax on

Social Security’s long-term financial problems are not the result of Franklin D. Roosevelt’s original design. They are the product of policy changes adopted decades later. When Social Security was created, it was intentionally modest. Benefits were structured to prevent old-age poverty, not to replace a large share of pre-retirement income. The program’s costs were kept low enough to remain affordable across generations, which is why Social Security enjoyed broad public suppo

Producer prices are moving higher again, and the trend is clear. Since “Liberation Day,” cost pressures faced by American producers have accelerated. That matters because producer prices act as an early warning sign. What businesses pay today often becomes what consumers pay tomorrow. The latest data confirm the shift. Producer prices rose 0.5 percent in December , equal to a 6.0 percent annualized rate . Core producer prices, which exclude food and energy, climbed even faste

Minnesota lawmakers are finally confronting an uncomfortable truth: government anti-poverty programs have become an open invitation to fraud, waste, and abuse. In several of the state’s largest cases, the schemes were centered in parts of Minnesota’s Somali community and involved billions of taxpayer dollars meant to help vulnerable families. That reality is not a smear. It is a documented policy failure. And it is a warning sign for the entire country. As Center for a Free E

Housing supply has emerged as a central concern among conservative tax and economic policy experts. Across multiple outlets and institutions, analysts are reaching the same conclusion. The tax code discourages homeowners from selling, reduces housing inventory, and drives prices higher. While the commentary continues to grow, Congress already has a clear solution. The U.S. House version is H.R. 1340 , and the Senate companion bill is S. 3332 . Together, they are titled the “M

The Center for a Free Economy is leading a coalition of 35 free-market and taxpayer-focused advocacy groups urging federal housing regulators to slow down proposed changes to mortgage credit standards that could destabilize the housing market. In a coalition letter organized and led by CFE, the groups warned Federal Housing Finance Agency Director Bill Pulte  that altering how credit scores are used in mortgage underwriting risks repeating the policy errors that contributed t

Virginia families are about to face higher electricity bills again, and this time it is by design. Governor Abigail Spanberger  has moved to rejoin the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative , a multistate climate compact better known as RGGI. Supporters sell RGGI as a technical emissions program. In reality, it functions as a backdoor carbon tax that directly raises electricity prices for households and businesses. The track record is clear and it is not encouraging. What RGGI

For the first time in U.S. history, the federal government is spending more on interest payments than on national defense. Annualized interest costs have reached roughly $1.2 trillion, surpassing about $1.16 trillion for defense. The cost of past borrowing now exceeds the cost of protecting the nation. This is not a theoretical warning. It is a budget reality. How the U.S. Reached This Point Decades of persistent deficits have steadily increased the national debt. For years,