NC Legislators Continue Push for ID at Polls

Republicans at the North Carolina General Assembly are intent on passing restrictions on voters who come to polls to prove whom they say are, despite a potential veto by Democratic Gov. Beverly Perdue.

The Senate approved legislation Wednesday night mandating people offer one of eight forms of photo ID before their votes can count. Otherwise, a person must cast a provisional ballot and prove identity later.

The bill now returns to the House, which passed the bill last week on party lines but fell short of overcoming any potential veto. GOP Sen. Debbie Clary of Cleveland County says it's not too much to ask someone prove their identity before voting. Democrats say the bill is all about Republicans suppressing votes to help the GOP's political fortunes.

from Gary Robertson @ the Associated Press

Government More to Blame for Failing Economic Recovery

Just as economists have debated the causes of the financial crisis, they are now debating the causes of the slow, almost non-existent, recovery. Topping my list of causes are the so-called stimulus packages -- which empirical work shows did little to stimulate -- and other government interventions, which have left an overhang of uncertainty impeding private investment.

As my colleagues Gary Becker, George Shultz, Michael Boskin, John Cogan and I explained last summer:

The 2008 tax rebate and the 2009 spending stimulus bills failed to improve the economy. Cash for clunkers and the first-time home-buyers tax credit merely moved purchases forward by a few months. Then there's the recent health-care legislation, which imposes taxes on savings and investment and gives the government control over health-care decisions. ... Hundreds of new complex regulations lurk in the 2010 financial reform bill with most of the critical details left to regulators. So uncertainty reigns and nearly $2 trillion in cash sits in corporate coffers.

The latest entry in the debate over the anemic recovery comes from a recent column by Paul Krugman, which Amity Shlaes responded to earlier this week. He argues that "As the stimulus has faded out, so have hopes of strong economic recovery."

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Maryland Congressman, Nine Others, Sue White House Over Libya

Rep. Roscoe G. Bartlett joined a bipartisan group of lawmakers Wednesday in filing a lawsuit against President Barack Obama over U.S. involvement in Libya, alleging that the White House overstepped its constitutional authority when it launched the military effort in March.

Amid growing criticism in Congress of President Barack Obama's handling of airstrikes against Libya, a bipartisan group of lawmakers including Rep. Roscoe G. Bartlett of Maryland sued the president Wednesday, saying he overstepped his authority when he committed the U.S. military to the conflict in March.

Bartlett, Republican Rep. Ron Paul, Democratic Rep. Dennis Kucinich and seven other House members say Obama has violated the Constitution and the 1973 War Powers Resolution by failing to seek congressional approval for the military involvement against the government of Moammar Gadhafi.

White House officials largely dismissed the lawsuit. But the effort underscored growing discontent among lawmakers of both parties, even as Obama has stressed that the continuing operation is being led by NATO and the U.S. military has "no boots on the ground" in Libya.

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