Word: reformer
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Bush officials are literally going back and reading his campaign speeches. Aides say they have a "back-to-basics" strategy focusing on such traditional Republican issues as spending restraint. As part of the search for a fresh agenda, groups of Bush aides are working on new immigration and tax-reform policies for possible rollout. But immigration is an issue that splits the party's base, and the recommendations of Bush's tax-reform commission, most notably doing away with the mortgage-interest deduction, are universally viewed as a nonstarter. To try to lower energy prices, the White House is considering...
...star appeal, and a majority of the public has decided in advance they are not interested. No, this isn't a Kevin Costner movie. It's the run-up to next week's special election in California. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is working hard to push through several weighty government-reform initiatives, but the Nov. 8 event could well turn out to be one of his biggest flops: 54% of California voters see no need for the special election, particularly since the initiatives could have been voted on in the primary next June. Schwarzenegger's popularity ratings, meanwhile, are turning...
While Schwarzenegger may have frittered away much of his political capital, the four reform initiatives he has been pushing are far from frivolous. They propose that public-school teachers become eligible for tenure after five years, up from two; that public-service unions need to get permission from individual members before using their dues for political purposes; that the state implement a mechanism to cap spending; and that voting districts be redrawn by retired judges instead of legislators. A poll released last week by the Public Policy Institute of California shows that none of the initiatives are supported...
...term options for poor and rich economies alike: "For one thing, Australia won't need to keep paying aid money, and it will get the benefit of the labor." At last week's Pacific Islands Forum meeting in Papua New Guinea, the 16 member states agreed to an extensive reform plan on economic integration, governance and security. But Prime Minister John Howard, reflecting longstanding opposition to guest workers, would not be swayed on a proposal to allow seasonal labor into Australia. "We apply an open, non-discriminatory immigration policy, and people from the Pacific Island area come in increasing numbers...
...Free-market hardliners argue that by admitting guest workers, Australia would take the pressure off Pacific leaders to reform their economies and improve their governance. Certainly, Australia's development (and security) ideal must be to help create stable and self-sustaining neighbors. To this end, Howard has announced that Australia will fund a regional technical college. Still, labor mobility remains on the Forum's formal agenda. Despite the myriad objections, a country of 10 million workers can afford at least to test a scheme for a few thousand temporary foreign workers, incorporating lessons from other Western countries...