Free Republic

LINCOLN — Gov. Dave Heineman is wasting no time promoting his push for tax-relief legislation in 2014. Heineman scooped his own State of the State address — scheduled for delivery this morning — by revealing his plan Tuesday night to seek up to $500 million in tax cuts over the next three years.

The metastasizing federal government may be in the process of doing anything and everything it can to stamp out the competitive virtues of federalism, but many states currently have Republican governors at the helm, even if they are conservatives of varying stripes — but state governments are going to be pretty much the only mitigating factor any of us can hope to have from the top-down economic wrath of a second Obama term. Even if we do have to deal with more mind-numbingly idiotic and intellectually deceitful proposals about how "asking the wealthy to pay a little more" will somehow...

LINCOLN, Neb. — Gov. Dave Heineman announced on Thursday that he has submitted Nebraska's choice to participate in the federal health insurance exchange. Heineman said implementing a federal health care law is the most efficient and cost-effective for Nebraskans. State officials said in a release that the cost of a state exchange to Nebraska taxpayers is $470 million more than a federal exchange. All citizens will still have the option to purchase insurance policies through an exchange regardless of the state's decision, officials said. Heineman said while there were diverse and emotional opinions on this issue, his decision is based...

(Reuters) - Nebraska Governor Dave Heineman vetoed a proposal to restore Medicaid-funded prenatal care for illegal immigrants on Friday, but the initiative could still survive if the state legislature rejects his move next week. Nebraska state senators voted 31-15 on Wednesday to restore the program, which was eliminated two years ago after providing prenatal care for decades. The number of votes in favor was one more than would be needed to override the veto and the Nebraska legislature has one day left in its current session -- next Wednesday -- in which to do so. "I oppose providing taxpayer benefits...

Nebraska's governor urged U.S. President Barack Obama on Wednesday to block TransCanada's planned Keystone oil pipeline from Alberta to the Gulf Coast, saying it could hurt a regional water source. The State Department could issue a presidential permit for the $7 billion project, which would boost U.S. dependence on Canada's controversial oil sands. Momentum for Keystone picked up last week after the department said the project would have only limited impact on the environment. The State Department should deny the permit on the grounds that the line could put the Ogallala Aquifer at risk, the Midwestern state's governor, Dave Heineman,...

A new Rasmussen poll has Senator Ben Nelson down 30 points in a theoretical race against current Republican Governor Heineman. Nelson's health care vote seems to be the reason. Sixty-four percent (64%) of Nebraska voters oppose the health care legislation Ben Nelson voted for, including fifty-three percent (53%) who are strongly opposed. Only 17% of Nebraska voters approve of the deal Senator Ben Nelson made to sell his vote for a special Medicaid deal. An April 2006 poll by Survey USA found him to be the Senator with the highest popularity rating, 73%, among his own constituents.

Ah, the wages of pork: The good news for Senator Ben Nelson is that he doesn’t have to face Nebraska voters until 2012. If Governor Dave Heineman challenges Nelson for the Senate job, a new Rasmussen Reports telephone survey shows that Heineman would get 61% of the vote while Nelson would get just 30%. The health care vote is clearly dragging Nelson’s numbers down. Just 17% of Nebrasaka voters approve of the deal their Senator made on Medicaid in exchange for his vote. Overall, 64% oppose the health care legislation, including 53% who are Strongly Opposed. Fifty-six percent (56%) believe...

Nebraska’s Republican governor has a stern message for Ben Nelson, the senior Democratic senator from his state: We don’t want Washington to cover all the costs of the proposed expansion of Medicaid under health care legislation. “The last few days have made Nebraskans so angry that now it’s a matter of principle,” Gov. David Heineman told POLITICO. “The federal government can keep that money

Nebraska Governor Dave Heineman was just on Fox News with Greta Van Susteren, where he denounced Harry Reid's purchase of Nelson's 60th vote for cloture on the Senate bill. "Nebraska doesn't want a special deal, we only want a fair deal. We're embarrassed by what's going on... Nebraskans are angry and upset by what they've heard," Heineman said. "I've also asked Senator Nelson... he has a chance tomorrow to vote no on cloture. That would be the best thing for Nebraska, the best thing for America. Send this bill back to committee, go home for Christmas and think about it...

Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney will be endorsed by Nebraska Gov. Dave Heineman, CNN has learned. "In his campaign for the presidency, Mitt Romney has outlined the clearest vision to move our country forward,” Heineman says in a statement provided to CNN by the Romney campaign....

Is anybody conducting a live thread for the Nebraska primary tonight (May 9)?

Heineman discusses his new book Throw Your Bodies on the Wheel: Student Revolts of the 1960's in a repeat broadcast at 9:50 PM EDT on C-Span2. He debunks some of the myths of the student movement - for instance, although supposedly broadly based, at it's height the movement included only about fifteen percent of all college students in its ranks. At Columbia University where about one-third of the students were involved in the movement to occupy school buildings, two-thirds opposed the activity and many volunteered to New York City police to help go in and drive the protesters out. Heineman...