Here is the Heritage Take on the top issues today.Please reply to this email to arrange an interview.

HR1 imperils free and fair elections. Here are the worst 8 parts <[link removed]> – It would worsen the problem of inaccurate registration rolls, which are full of people who have died, moved away, are ineligible felons or noncitizens, or are registered more than once. H.R. 1 severely restricts the ability of states to take the basic steps necessary to maintain the accuracy of their voter rolls, such as comparing their lists with those of other states or using the U.S. Postal Service’s National Change of Address System to find individuals who have moved. Heritage
expert: Hans von Spakovsky <[link removed]>

Medical Professionals Should Not Be Forced to Do Harm <[link removed]> – It is wrong to force a medical professional to do harm. Multiple federal courts have agreed and blocked this rule from going into effect. Medical professionals should be able to operate according to the scientific truth that there are two sexes and not be coerced into violating their professional judgment based on radical academic theories about gender. This decision by the Biden administration needlessly and dangerously politicizes medicine and threatens the conscience rights of medical providers. The Biden administration’s actions are unlawful overreach, not health care protections. The Supreme Court in Bostock v. Clayton County did not rule on health care. But this transgender mandate will force medical professionals to administer hormones and even perform surgeries for sex reassignment that can be harmful to patients, according to the Obama administration's own panel of medical experts. Heritage expert: Emilie Kao <[link removed]>

Voter suppression? Dems flat-out wrong. Census data gives real story about US elections <[link removed]> – The bottom line of the Census Bureau’s survey is that Americans are easily registering – when they want to – and they are turning out to vote when they are interested in the candidates who are running for election. In fact, in an election year in which we were dealing with an unprecedented shut down of the country due to a pandemic, we had, according to the Bureau, "the highest voter turnout of the 21st century." Heritage expert: Hans von Spakovsky <[link removed]>
Voters in Dallas Suburb Lead Revolt Against Critical Race Theory Curriculum <[link removed]> – The Biden administration may be doing its best to foist these ideas on American
students for the next generation. But what the Texas elections show is that in their attempted takeover of American education, proponents of critical race theory will find at every school board meeting a group of angry parents armed with information about their radical agenda and willing to step up and fight back. Given the immense power critical theory and intersectionality hold across
America’s elite institutions, this set of Texas elections is a minor victory. But it also provides a blueprint for how fed-up Americans can begin their own long march to take those institutions back from the woke. Heritage expert: Jarrett Stepman <[link removed]>
No, NASA Shouldn’t Get in Bed With China’s Space Program <[link removed]> – Some see the Chinese space station as an opportunity to once again call for U.S.-PRC space cooperation. In particular, there has long been a segment of NASA and the broader American space community that would dearly love to see more open cooperation with China in space. Much has been made of the Apollo-Soyuz mission, which some consider some kind of turning point in U.S.-Soviet relations, and there is the hope that a similar reset might be possible if
there were a joint U.S.-Chinese space mission, perhaps involving the International Space Station and the new Chinese station. Absent from this discussion has been the Wolf Amendment, which prohibits NASA from spending any money on bilateral cooperation with China. Despite this, it is the fond hope of this contingent at NASA and the arms control community that the United States will choose to pursue more extensive space cooperation with China, a position that the new NASA administrator, Bill Nelson, seemed to reject during his confirmation hearings. Heritage expert: Dean
Cheng <[link removed]>
New York’s Long Decline Is Canary in Coal Mine for Biden’s Big-Government Agenda <[link removed]> – If Congress blindly rubber-stamps these Biden proposals, it would mean a
combined $6 trillion in new federal spending passed in a single year, or $50,000 per household. It would mean gutting the 2017 tax cuts, which were vital to the low unemployment and strong wage growth we enjoyed before the pandemic. And it would mean adding even more to the national debt, which is already more
than $210,000 per household. Rather than making Washington’s swamp deeper than ever, lawmakers should embark on a policy agenda that would boost, rather than sabotage, the post-pandemic economy. That means protecting the pro-growth tax code, removing regulations that get in the way of work and investment, and restraining the unsustainable growth of federal spending. Those steps would ensure that America avoids New York’s self-inflicted fate. Heritage expert: David Ditch <[link removed]>
Safety-Net Reform: How State Policymakers Can Lead <[link removed]> – States have an opportunity to take the lead to advance lasting safety-net reform in 2021. While the federal government funds safety-net programs, the states administer the programs. Federal statutes and agencies set baseline requirements, and states have wide latitude to improve how their programs support and serve the vulnerable. State policymakers can and should advance reforms that build on the core principles of sound safety-net policy: work promotion, program integrity, and parental responsibility. Heritage expert: Leslie Ford <[link removed]>
America and Its Allies are Unprepared for the Next Great War <[link removed]> – Politicians who argue for limiting defense spending—already too low to support the military we need—so they can
spend more on domestic priorities establish an equivalency between spending on the security of the country and spending on farm subsidies or tax incentives for alternative energy companies. Less federal spending on a host of domestic matters can always be offset by market options where our economy, the entrepreneurial spirit of our people, and the power
of local communities step in to provide alternatives. But when it comes to the defense of the country, there are no alternatives. The U.S. military either has the size, readiness, and equipment it needs to win in war, or it doesn’t. The consequences, in either case, are extraordinary. Heritage expert: Dakota Wood <[link removed]>
Judging Democrats by Their Own Confirmation Standards <[link removed]> – To be fair, the judicial-appointment process is just getting started. Biden, however, has already made twelve judicial nominations, compared with a total of five at this point by his four predecessors who, like Biden, succeeded a president of the other political party. Democrats have given us a roadmap for how they believe the confirmation process should operate under a Republican president, and they are already deviating from that course. Heritage expert: Tom Jipping <[link removed]>

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