House Continuing Resolution Seeks to Cut Spending, End Border Crisis

• A conservative coalition in the House of Representatives unveiled a one-month Continuing Resolution (CR) that funds the federal government through Oct. 31, 2023, an initial salvo in the ongoing appropriations battle. The proposal cuts spending and seeks to end a worsening, self-inflicted border crisis.
• On the spending front, the proposal temporarily reduces non-defense, non-veterans, and non-disaster relief spending by more than 8% from fiscal year (FY) 2023 levels.
• Most importantly, this spending agreement includes nearly every provision from the House-passed Secure the Border Act (H.R. 2), as well as policy riders designed to prohibit federal funds for the Biden administration’s open-border policies.
• The bill also resumes construction of the border wall, provides essential support for U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), and prohibits the Biden administration’s reliance on non-governmental organizations to process and transport illegal aliens into American communities.
• The House must continue to fight to secure the border and for more, permanent spending cuts to reduce our ruinous deficit and debt, curb inflation that is hurting American families, and rein in the woke and weaponized government.

Schedule an Interview: Lora Ries and Richard Stern

Smithsonian Suspends Latino Exhibit After Critics Call Previous Version ‘Disgraceful’, ‘Marxist’

• The Smithsonian Institution has suspended an upcoming Latin American exhibit after members of Congress and prominent Latin American conservatives criticized a similar one last year.
• An opinion piece for The Hill, written by Latino Partnership for Conservative Principles President Alfonso Aguilar, Texas Public Policy Foundation Director Joshua Treviño, and Heritage Foundation Senior Fellow Mike Gonzales, unleashed a wave of criticism for multiple exhibits meant to preview the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Latino.
• The op-ed, which was written in August and criticized an exhibit for its "Marxist" portrayal of Latin American history, inspired complaints from current and former members of Congress and other prominent figures, leading to the suspension of an upcoming exhibit this month.

Schedule an Interview: Mike Gonzalez

United Auto Workers Union Is Singing the Blues Because of the Greens

• The big economic news at the end of last week was the start of a strike by the United Auto Workers (UAW) union against all three major U.S. automakers.
• This is the first strike against President Biden’s green agenda, pitting two parts of the traditional Democratic coalition against each other — the environmentalists against the blue-collar workers, or simply the greens against the blues.
• The UAW is demanding a 35 percent hike in pay and benefits over four years, moderating its initial request for a 45 percent hike. The union is asking for automatic cost-of-living adjustments just as in the 1970s and a four-day rather than a five-day work week.
• The electrification of vehicles is leading not only to shrinking worker incomes but to a fundamental fracturing of the Democratic Party coalition.

Schedule an Interview: Diana Furchtgott-Roth