Protesting the Obama administration’s “nanny-state” approach to curbing U.S. obesity, House Education and Workforce Committee Chairman John Kline (R-Minn.) is demanding a government investigation of the contentious new school lunch standards implemented this fall. The rules promote healthy foods while establishing limits on calorie intake for school lunches as a component of the 2010 Healthy Hunger-Free Kids Act — the first major overhaul of school lunches in 15 years — which authorizes funding and enacts policy for the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) core child nutrition programs.

In the wake of Hurricane Sandy’s devastating rush on the East Coast, which is estimated to cost upwards of $20 billion, January’s sequester budget cuts have sparked a political hailstorm, as November’s two presidential candidates spar over federal funding for disaster relief.

In an effort to embolden the next generation of cyber professionals, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is devising an initiative to encourage and equip young Americans with knowledge and skills in the science of cybersecurity. Writing in a blog entitled, “Inspiring the Next Generation of Cyber Professionals,” DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano announced a plan to extend “the scope of cyber education” beyond the federal labor force through the National Initiative for Cybersecurity Education, targeting students from kindergarten all the way up to post-graduate school.

As the deadline to extend the Bush-era tax cuts looms, economists have agreed that the pending tax hikes would be devastating to the economy, and that permitting their expiration would have about twice the impact on economic growth as government spending cuts under the sequester.

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano announced October 24 that about 200,000 young illegal immigrants have applied to defer their deportation, and more than 3,000 young illegals are applying every day under the Obama administration’s new immigration policy.

The U.S. oil and natural-gas rush is hacking away at unemployment, manufacturing a total of 1.7 million jobs this year, according to a study released Tuesday by economic forecaster IHS Global Insight. 

Another 300 suspected non-citizens are on Colorado’s voter rolls, Secretary of State Scott Gessler disclosed Tuesday in what has contributed to a heated national debate over voter fraud and so-called “voter suppression.” Gessler’s figures stem from the roughly 3,900 people who were sent letters in August which inquired about their citizenship status. This new 300-person group has been added to a list of another 141 people who were identified as possible non-citizens based on federal immigration data.

An Oklahoma senator has issued a report asserting that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has halted action or “punted” on a number of regulations so President Obama can shore up votes for his November reelection bid. Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.), a ranking Republican on the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works, suggests that if the federal agency authorizes about a dozen regulations next year, it will “spell doom” for jobs and the economy as a whole.

According to a report published earlier this week, some $4.5 billion has been inappropriately applied to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), commonly known as food stamps, including benefits that were administered to 2,000 dead people in New York and Massachusetts.

The government spent lavishly in fiscal 2011, especially on federal welfare programs, doling out more than $1 trillion on 83 means-tested programs — the year’s largest expenditure and a startling 32-percent increase since President Obama entered the White House. According to new data released by the Senate Budget Committee, compiled based on a new Congressional Research Service (CRS) study, the combination of state and federal welfare spending is more than the government spends on Medicare, Social Security, or non-war defense.