Will Illinois Be the First State to Kill an Existing School Choice Program?

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Unleash Prosperity Hotline
Issue #889
11/01/2023
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1) Will Illinois Be the First State To Kill an Existing School Choice Program?
Illinois has a tiny school choice program – serving mostly black families in Chicago. It’s called “Invest in Kids.” Given that there are scores of public schools in the Land of Lincoln that are utter failures, the program is a lifeline for thousands of families.

It’s not even directly funded with state money. Instead, it allows Illinois taxpayers to donate to a state scholarship program and receive a 75% tax credit for the charitable donation. So far about 40,000 kids have taken advantage of the funding provided by the program. The funding will dry up this year if the pols in Springfield don’t extend it.

The Illinois Freedom Caucus notes that Gov. J.B. Pritzker, the Democrat Senate Majority Leader, the Speaker of the House, AND the teachers union president ALL send their own kids to private schools.

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Gov. Pritzker is straddling the fence. On the one hand, he said last week: “I will sign the bill, if it comes to my desk.” But he isn’t pushing it through a state legislature in Springfield owned and operated by the teachers union – the Illinois Education Association.

That’s why this successful program is dangling by a thread. We’re working with parent activists in the state — like those pictured above — to try save it.

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2) Durbin Credit Card Price Controls Will Harm Lower-Income Consumers
A new study ([link removed]) by the Committee to Unleash Prosperity finds that Illinois Senator Dick Durbin’s credit card bill to use routing mandates to impose price controls on “interchange fees” will wind up hurting consumers.

The study also exposes the negative effects of the interchange price controls:
* Where credit/debit cards have been tried in 47 countries, the evidence shows that consumers are harmed by a lack of access to cards and a loss of benefits from credit cards, such as limitations of popular “reward programs.”
* Credit card price controls limit the ability of lower-income Americans to have access to credit cards – as firms respond to price controls by restricting cards issued to poorer and less creditworthy applicants.
* Credit card price controls will NOT lower prices for consumers. Studies have shown that when fees are restricted by government regulations, about 70% of the savings go to the merchants, while consumers get little benefit at the cash register.

Why are a handful of Republican senators getting in bed with Durbin on this flawed bill?

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3) Biden Favors IRS Funding Over Israel Aid
Yesterday we asked this question of our Hotline readers: do you favor funding more IRS agents or more aid to Israel?

It seems one of the few people in America who prioritizes the IRS expansion is the President of the United States.

In the June debt bill deal, Biden agreed to expand the IRS by $60 billion instead of $80 billion in the Inflation Acceleration Act.

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But now he says that if there are any cuts in his plan to supersize the IRS, he will veto Israel aid funding.

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This is a president who really has his priorities straight.

Astonishingly, the best estimates are that 75% of Jewish voters chose Biden in the 2020 election.

If Biden wants to veto his own aid package to protect the most abusive agency of government, the IRS, let him!

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4) How To Restore Trust in Public Health Agencies
The NIH, CDC, FDA, and the rest of the Washington public health bureaucracy took a big hit to their reputations during COVID. Deservedly so, given how unprepared they were and how godawful their advice and lockdown orders were during the first year of the pandemic.

Dr. Scott Atlas, one of America’s greatest warriors against the destructive COVID lockdowns, has offered some sound advice to make sure these abuses of power by the health bureaucrats are never repeated. Here are a few of our favorite reform ideas:
* Require congressional approval of any “public health emergency” beyond a strict two-week or other similarly short time limit.
* Replace the heads of the CDC, NIH, and FDA – and impose time limits on their successors and on all other top and mid-level posts at public health agencies.
* Prohibit FDA, NIH, and CDC employees from receiving drug royalties and from taking related private jobs for five years.
* Take away from CDC and other public health agencies any power to impose mandates and other legal requirements – make them strictly advisory.
* Terminate binding agreements with, and pledges to, the World Health Organization.

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5) The Federal Debt May Be Even Worse Than the Official Projections
The federal debt is expected to rocket to 200% of GDP in the decade to come, but even that financially catastrophic number may be too optimistic.

The new annual report of the Joint Economic Committee finds that the Feds continually underestimate how large the debt will be in the future. The debt forecasting errors usually err on the side of smaller deficits and debt than expected. The solid line is the actual debt and the dotted lines are the erroneous projections.

So heads up: If the current forecasts follow this rosy scenario pattern, we’re really screwed as a nation.

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6) Our Vote for Best Halloween Costume in Florida

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