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

"Unacceptable & Unsustainable:" Heritage Experts React to New Border Numbers <[link removed]> – President Biden’s border crisis continues unabated. In just two months, more than 350,000 illegal aliens have been apprehended trying to cross our southern border. CBP officials also estimate more than 185,000 illegal aliens this fiscal year have evaded apprehension entirely and are already in the U.S. These numbers are unacceptable, and they are unsustainable. The crisis is being driven by unaccompanied minors (UACs) and family units, most of whom are being released into the interior and are here to stay, as DHS’ own numbers show. The Biden administration’s goal is obvious for any willing to see it: release historic numbers of illegal aliens into the interior, while undermining law enforcement’s ability to remove them. There is nothing good for America in this. Heritage expert: Lora Ries <[link removed]> and James Carafano <[link removed]>

Hamas Exploits Palestinian Unrest to Launch Rocket War Against Israel <[link removed]> – The Biden administration has sought to restore aid
and rebuild ties to the Palestinian Authority, while distancing itself from Israel’s Netanyahu government. This has emboldened Palestinian militants, who hope to further isolate Israel. Washington should rethink this approach. It needs to take a tougher stand against Palestinian terrorism and Hamas, which seeks to block any peace efforts by transforming the Israeli-Palestinian conflict into a religious struggle in which compromise is tantamount to blasphemy. The Biden administration should unequivocally support Israel’s right to self-defense and back Israel to the hilt
at the United Nations Security Council. It also should support diplomatic efforts by Egypt to wind down the crisis without jeopardizing Israeli deterrence of future Hamas rocket attacks. The U.S. should work with Arab partners to undermine Hamas’ control of Gaza. As long as Hamas retains its chokehold there and the capacity to unleash rocket terrorism, there can be no sustained peace. Heritage expert: Jim Phillips <[link removed]>

Joe Biden Wants to Take Critical Race Theory to the Next Level <[link removed]> – The fight is everywhere. Critical Race Theory is turning Americans against one another by weaponizing what used to be the fantasies of tenured professors in dimly lit offices of the Ivory Tower, now transmitting it through colleges of education to teachers who carry it into the K-12 classroom. The Biden administration now plans to supercharge that effort through federal rules and regulations, access to billions in taxpayer funding, and the imprimatur of the federal government. Children deserve better than to have the emotional distress of CRT inflicted upon them. Parents must make their voices heard at the more than fourteen thousand school boards across the country. Taxpayers must shout “no” to their hard-earned money being used to further this pernicious ideology. And people must have the courage to speak out against this great threat to the greatest country in the world. Heritage expert: Lindsey Burke <[link removed]>
Proposed Biden Administration Rule Teaches Schoolchildren to Judge According to Skin Color <[link removed]> – The Department of Education should not advance official federal policies that support teaching students that their
futures are determined by the color of their skin. Nor should the Department of Education fund programs that teach children that others should be stereotyped, judged and denounced based on their skin color, as critical race theory does. We urge the Department of Education to abandon this proposed rule. By prioritizing grant funding for programs that include tenets of critical race theory generally, and ‘antiracism’ training sessions specifically, the proposed rule undermines the intent of the American History and Civics Education programs, transmits a toxic message to children of all backgrounds, and, when
applied in practice, violates federal civil rights laws. Heritage expert: Lindsey Burke <[link removed]>
Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin Gets It: DC Statehood Requires Constitutional Amendment <[link removed]> – Bowser and others pushing for D.C. statehood by simple legislation seem more interested in political theatrics than in those pesky constitutional questions. What else can explain her recent acceptance of membership in the Democratic Governors Association? As of now, without Manchin on board, D.C. statehood is dead in the Senate—not to mention the fact that other Democratic senators, such as Sen. Sinema, still have not signaled their support, either. Undeterred, proponents of D.C. statehood are pushing Sen. Peters, who chairs the Senate’s Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, to hold a hearing. But not much is likely to change, as the essential issues were presented at the March 22 House Oversight and Reform Committee hearing. In the meantime, Manchin should continue to tell his Democratic colleagues in the Senate what’s so: D.C. statehood requires a constitutional amendment. Heritage expert: Zack Smith <[link removed]>
Fact Check: Was Biden Right About Federal Unemployment Benefits Having No Effect on Jobs Report? <[link removed]> – It’s not just restaurants facing workforce
shortages, however. An upstate New York dairy farmer I spoke with said his biggest challenge since the pandemic has been recruiting enough workers. He’s offering $22 per hour, and workers are turning it down because unemployment benefits are more appealing. Even the freelancers and contractors can be harder to come by as the expanded benefits allow these workers to collect benefits if they work less than before. This expansion in benefits to freelance workers who don’t pay into the system is part of the reason that there were 16.7 million total unemployment insurance claims compared to 9.8 million unemployed workers in April. Both the data and on-the-ground reports show that federal unemployment benefits are hurting the recovery. Governors that want
to show employers they are open for business and also minimize the consequences of excessive unemployment—such as reduced economic output, increased taxpayer costs, and worse future well-being for the long-term unemployed—should end the federal unemployment insurance bonuses. Heritage expert: Rachel Greszler <[link removed]>
America's Woke Corporate Cartel <[link removed]> – Texas lawmakers should stare down these corporations and pass election reforms into law, confident in their knowledge that they are fully supported by Texans
and patriotic Americans throughout the Union, even if elites threaten and complain. SB 7 has passed the House and now moves to conference, and legislators should act boldly and include strong provisions like voter ID for mail-in ballots, prohibitions like voter ID for mail-in ballots, prohibitions on private money in our election system and improved maintenance of both voter rolls and poll watcher access. At the same time, congressional representatives of threatened states should be working overtime to eradicate every single sweetheart deal and crony carveout that these corporations currently enjoy. Heritage expert: Noah Weinrich <[link removed]>
South Carolina Lawsuit Challenges State’s Blaine Amendment Bias Against Religious, Private Schools <[link removed]> – The bigoted origins of the South
Carolina Blaine Amendment are undeniable. The author of the provision was then-South Carolina Gov. and later U.S. Sen. “Pitchfork” Ben Tillman, a self-proclaimed white supremacist and member of a post-Civil War militia responsible for the lynching of blacks in the South. Although South Carolina amended its Blaine Amendment in 1973 to allow the distribution of state funds that indirectly benefit private and religious schools, the prohibition against
distributing funds that directly benefit such institutions remains in place. The South Carolina plaintiffs argue that the Blaine Amendment should be removed from the state’s constitution, because the law itself was “born in bigotry and prejudice based on race and religion.” Heritage experts: John Malcolm <[link removed]> and Sarah Perry <[link removed]>

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