"What President Ronald Reagan and House Speaker Tip Neill (D-Mass.) 'deplored more than each other's political philosophy was stalemate, and a country that was so polarized by ideology and party politics that it could not move forward. There were tough words and important disagreements...yet a stronger commitment to getting things done.'

"That observation came from O'Neill's oldest son, Thomas P. O'Neill, in a 2012 New York Times column entitled, 'Frenemies: A Love Story' regarding his Democratic father's relationship with the Republican president. ...

"Despite Democrats controlling the House and Senate at the time, some important things got done through this foreign concept called compromise, which most Americans embrace."

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"With the cost of food, rent and gas marching higher, the average American shelled out a lot more money in order to keep pace with stubborn inflation last month.

"The typical U.S. household needed to pay $395 more a month in January to purchase the same goods and services it did a year ago because of high inflation, according to new calculations from Moody's Analytics.

"Although inflation recorded a modest slowdown on an annual basis in last month, it did not cool as much as economists expected, pointing to the pervasiveness of high consumer prices. The Labor Department recently reported that the consumer price index rose 0.5% in January, the most in three months. The annual inflation rate also surprised to the upside at 6.4%.

"While that is down from a peak of 9.1% recorded in June, it still remains about three times higher than the pre-pandemic average."

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"Can Americans be bribed with their own money? The powers that be are certainly putting that question to the test. In recent years, we've seen inflation-inducing cash giveaways associated with 'Covid relief.' We've seen the ongoing attempts at profoundly inequitable student loan forgiveness. In December, we saw a $1.7 trillion pork pie omnibus appropriations bill passed by a Congress that had no time to read it.

"Lost in all of this has been one spectacular giveaway: $100,000 per beneficiary of the Central States Pension Fund (CSPF). The fund provides pension benefits to nearly 360,000 private-sector workers and retirees, mostly Teamsters Union members. U.S. Rep. Kevin Brady, R-Texas, called the deal out in December, noting it was 'the largest private pension bailout in American history' that benefited only 'a tiny minority of workers.' He suggested it resulted from the insanity of 'allowing those who mismanaged pensions to determine whether their funds qualify for taxpayer assistance with no safeguards.' ...

"How much is the Teamsters' mere $36 billion? To put it in perspective, you could run the state of Colorado for a year on that money. You could run all five states of New Hampshire, Vermont, South Dakota, Wyoming, and Idaho, and still have billions left over. The $36 billion is $108 from each man, woman, and child in America into the pockets of the Teamsters. And the White House bragged about it in a press release."

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"This story could bring tears to your eyes. In Baltimore, Maryland, there are 23 schools in which not one single student tested 'proficient in math.'

"Can we all agree these are schools that aren't proficient in teaching math -- or just about any course, for that matter? ...

"All over the country, our public schools are delivering failing results. Last year, test scores nationally reached a several-decade low. The schools that had by far superior test scores to the public schools in almost every state were Catholic schools.

"Now, think about this for a moment. If we really cared about the future of our children, wouldn't we just contract out the nation's thousands of rotten school systems to the Catholic dioceses around the country? Or throw in Jewish schools, charter schools, Montessori schools, home schools -- or whatever works? ...

"A mind is a terrible thing to waste. And our public schools are wasting millions of minds week after week while they spend billions upon billions of dollars on Lord knows what. It's time for bold new approaches. There are thousands of private and religious schools that have proven they know how to teach children, and instead of achieving 0% reading and math proficiency, they reach nearly 100%. Education reform is simple: Put our children, our nation's greatest assets, in these schools."

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"We now have the most authoritative estimate of the value provided by wearing masks during the pandemic: approximately zero. The most rigorous and extensive review of the scientific literature concludes that neither surgical masks nor N95 masks have been shown to make a difference in reducing the spread of Covid-19 and other respiratory illnesses.

"This verdict ought to be the death knell for mask mandates, but that would require the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and the rest of the public-health establishment to forsake 'the science' -- and unfortunately, these leaders and their acolytes in the media seem as determined as ever to ignore actual science. Before the pandemic, clinical trials repeatedly showed little or no benefit from wearing masks in preventing the spread of respiratory illnesses like flu and colds. That was why, in their pre-2020 plans for dealing with a viral pandemic, the World Health Organization, the CDC, and other national public-health agencies did not recommend masking the public. But once Covid-19 arrived, magical thinking prevailed. Officials ignored the previous findings and plans, instead touting crude and easily debunked studies purporting to show that masks worked."

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"President Joe Biden's border crisis is still growing worse, and his pathetic 'fixes' are doing nothing to stop it.

"Team Joe cites the latest numbers from Customs and Border Protection as proof it's finally getting a handle on things, because January featured fewer illegal crossers than December. Problem is, January is almost always the low for the year (because of weather).

"In fact, the January 2023 total of 156,274 migrant encounters -- is worse than last year's January total and the highest January in 22 years.

"In all, monthly encounters have been above 150,000 for more than 23 straight months, the entirety of Biden's term so far, for a total of 6 million. That includes 1.2 million gotaways -- migrants spotted but not arrested -- plus however many crossed without even being seen."

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"Inflation is still high and barely moving downward as of last month, when it was 6.5% annualized. Even that statement understates the problem. For the inflation rate is not like the unemployment rate. Just because it goes down doesn't mean prices are coming back down and that your groceries are getting more affordable. Rather, it only means prices are rising slower than before, but they are still rising.

"Inflation is cumulative. So January's inflation rate of 6.4% means prices are still rising at a ruinous rate, almost certainly faster than your pay even though by less than the 9% rate that horrified shoppers last summer.

"Specific household expenses reveal inflation that is even worse than the headline number suggests. Groceries in January cost 11.3% more than a year ago. Electricity is up nearly 12%, and natural gas 27%. Airfares are up almost 26%. Rents are up almost 9%. The picture is grim despite continued low unemployment -- which may anyway not last if interest rates are cranked up further to fight persistent inflation."

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"Senate minority whip John Thune, R-S.D., will revive a piece of legislation originally introduced last year to prevent working Americans from bearing the brunt of President Biden's decision to suspend federal student loan repayments, which has cost the federal government billions of dollars.

"The measure -- which has been slightly updated and named the Stop Reckless Student Loan Actions Act of 2023 -- was originally introduced by Thune and a coalition of Republican senators last April.

"The bill being reintroduced Thursday would prohibit the president from canceling 'the outstanding balances, or a portion of the balances, on covered [student] loans due to the COVID-19 national emergency or any other national emergency.'

"'Taxpayers, especially working families, should not be responsible for bearing the costs associated with President Biden's federal student loan suspension,' Thune told Fox News Digital. 'It's incredibly unfair to those who never incurred student debt because they didn't attend college in the first place or because they either worked their way through school or their family pinched pennies and planned for higher education.'"

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"Christine Wilson, the sole remaining Republican on the Federal Trade Commission, announced Tuesday she plans to resign, citing what she said was Democratic Chair Lina Khan's 'disregard for the rule of law and due process.'

"Wilson announced her resignation, which she said will come 'soon,' in a Wall Street Journal op-ed. Throughout Khan's tenure at the helm of the commission, Wilson has frequently bemoaned her approach in remarks at public meetings and in speeches.

"Wilson wrote in her op-ed that she has failed 'to persuade Ms. Khan and her enablers to do the right thing, and I refuse to give their endeavor any further hint of legitimacy by remaining.'

"Khan, who has been one of the most prominent figures of the progressive antitrust movement, has advocated for a more expansive approach to enforcement, including by pursuing risky cases with the potential to push the bounds of current case law. That approach has made her unpopular with more conservative antitrust thinkers, including Wilson."

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"The Biden administration on Monday announced another sale of oil from the Energy Department's Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR), with 26 million barrels set to be delivered to the market from April 1 to June 30, which will take the number of barrels in the reserve to a new low dating back to 1983. ...

"'Biden is front-loading SPR barrels to avoid a summer gasoline price spike, said Phil Flynn, analyst at Price Futures Group and FOX Business Network contributor. 'There are growing concerns among the Biden administration that gas prices are headed back to $4 a gallon and the president is fearful of the political heat he will have to take.'

"Price added, 'By pushing barrels forward from previously announced sales he is robbing Peter to pay Paul but is discouraging future U.S. oil and gas investment. There should be some backlash from Republicans who are getting tired of using the SPR for political purposes and creating short-term price relief in exchange for much higher prices down the road.'

"When Biden took office in January 2021, the SPR contained 638 million barrels out of a congressionally authorized maximum capacity of 713 million barrels. After a series of releases totaling more than 260 million barrels, the SPR is at about 371.6 million barrels as of February 2023 -- the lowest level since December 1983, according to data from the Energy Information Administration (EIA). Selling another 26 million barrels from the SPR without adding new barrels of oil to offset the decline would take the SPR inventory to about 346 million barrels, which would be the lowest level since August 1983."

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