Feb 08, 2021

Greetings from the nation’s capital, where former Vice President Mike Pence will be helping conservatives fight the left’s agenda as a distinguished visiting fellow at The Heritage Foundation. Also, while the nation wants election reform, the left is trying to pass a bill that would make the 2020 chaos far worse. We also take a look at attempts to erase history in schools in favor of “critical theory.” And we will be hosting a webinar on how to stop leftist indoctrination at universities. There’s much more in this week’s Agenda..

Vice President Mike Pence Joins Heritage
On Thursday, Heritage President Kay C. James announced that Vice President Mike Pence is joining the foundation as a distinguished visiting fellow. “His allegiance to the Constitution and commitment to advancing a conservative policy agenda make him an outstanding fit for The Heritage Foundation,” she said, calling it “an adrenaline shot for the entire conservative movement.” Pence said that “Heritage helped shape my conservative philosophy,” and that he is “profoundly honored to join this team.” Heritage previously announced that three top Trump administration officials from the Department of Homeland Security were joining the organization. Read more details about the latest announcement, and what Pence has planned while at Heritage.

Don’t Turn 2020’s Election Problems Into Law
After the chaos of the 2020 elections, citizens are demanding that their lawmakers do something to make elections more trustworthy. But the latest bill before Congress—called H.R. 1 —will make things worse. It’s a “federal takeover of elections (that) will only make the uncertainty and division over our elections grow,” writes Heritage President Kay C. James in her latest commentary. Read the full commentary to learn more about H.R. 1’s flaws and about which reforms could actually help.

Schools Should Teach History, Not Erase It With ‘Critical Theory’
Would you say that “democracy in the United States is under threat”? A January poll found 74% of voters agree with you. A vast majority of Americans don’t know their history well enough to avoid our past mistakes and preserve the gifts from our founders, and because of critical theory, many educators want to erase history instead of learning from it. “If the nation’s Founding Fathers cannot pass a background check by today’s self-declared social justice warriors, imagine what they will do with your Twitter feed or your child’s social media accounts,” writes Jonathan Butcher, Heritage’s Will Skillman fellow in education. Read Butcher’s full commentary.

The Heritage Foundation announced that Senior Research Fellow Lora Ries will be the new director of the organization's Center for Technology Policy. The mission of the center, located within Heritage's esteemed Davis Institute for National Security and Foreign Policy, is to formulate policy addressing the most pressing technology and cybersecurity issues facing the nation today, and to educate policymakers, the media, and the American people about conservative solutions that will make America stronger, safer, and more prosperous. Learn more.

Heritage scholars have helped shape criminal justice reform. In the final days of his administration, President Donald Trump issued an executive order focused on reforming mens rea—or “guilty minds” —policy. The move was widely praised by Heritage scholars, who have argued for years that reforming the messy and complicated system was long overdue to protect Americans from prosecution for innocent mistakes. Learn more about Heritage’s impact.

The Heritage Foundation mourns former Secretary of State George Shultz. "George’s work was a key reason the United States was able to win the Cold War. All Americans owe him a debt of thanks," said Heritage President Kay C. James in a statement. Learn more about Shultz. 

Tuesday at noon, Heritage will host a discussion and hear from Americans on how the impending $15 federal minimum wage will affect them. Featured speakers included Rachel Greszler, research fellow in economics, and Micheal Saltsman, managing director at the Employment Policies Institute. Register for this event.

Thursday at 4 p.m., Angela Sailor, vice president of the Feulner Institute, will host a seminar discussing university indoctrination, how it started, and how to stop it. Featured speakers include John Ellis, professor emeritus of German literature at the University of California; Anna Miller, education policy analyst at Idaho Freedom Foundation; Scott Yenor, fellow at the Center for the American Way of Life; and Allen C. Guelzo, a visiting scholar at Heritage’s Simon Center for American Studies. Register for this event.

Suffering Children Ignored by Teachers Unions
This week on the “Heritage Explains” podcast, we learn what a recent CDC report says about our children's mental health since schools have shutdown. Plus, Heritage’s Will Skillman fellow in education Jonathan Butcher explains why teachers unions are holding up reopening and what parents can do to stop them. Listen to the episode.

Situation on the Border Is About to Get Worse
Heritage Visiting Fellow Chad Wolf joined Fox News “Fox & Friends,” to talk about why the Biden administration’s policies are creating a crisis at the border. Watch the interview.

Many state policymakers have had enough. Instead of directing education dollars to institutions—where they are vulnerable to special-interest demands—they are working to have education funds go directly to students. A student-centered education system would offer choices and flexibility to families. Learn more.

Follow The Heritage Foundation and The Daily Signal on Instagram.

Email us your thoughts and questions at [email protected].