Here is the Heritage Take on the top issues today.
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Another Bill in Congress to Give Partisan Bureaucrats Control Over State Election Laws – Americans today have an easier time registering and voting than at any other time in our nation’s history. There is simply no need to bring back the preclearance provisions of Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act and certainly no need to implement a new, vastly expanded Section 5. It is not 1965, and no justification exists anymore for giving the federal government the ability to veto election laws and regulations that citizens and their elected representatives choose to implement in their respective states. HR 4 is an anti-democratic federal power grab designed to thwart election reform and manipulate redistricting decisions made by the states. Heritage expert: Hans von Spakovsky

How Can You Ban a Gun You Can’t Define? – Yesterday's hearing was further proof that David Chipman's nomination to head the ATF is a slap in the face to responsible gun owners. It's particularly disturbing that Chipman could not define the term "assault weapon" when he openly advocates for banning them and simultaneously wants to head an agency that would be tasked with enforcing any such ban. He asserted that he would ban sales of the AR-15 because it's "particularly lethal." Yet, as a former ATF agent, he knows that bans on so-called "assault weapon" only prohibit guns from having certain cosmetic features unrelated to any measure of lethality. This hearing was obfuscation and disregard for reality at its worst. Heritage expert: Amy Swearer

Confucius Institutes: China’s Trojan Horse – Over 2,000 years ago, besieging Greeks tricked their way into the city of Troy with the gift of a giant wooden horse within which they hid solders who, while the Trojans were celebrating a victory, opened the gates and let in the rest of the Greek army. Ever since, we have been told, “Beware of Greeks bearing gifts.” The Confucius Institutes are the modern equivalent of a Trojan horse, seemingly benign and apolitical, but committed to shaping our understanding of an authoritarian adversary out to undermine America’s leading role in Asia and around the world. Heritage expert: Lee Edwards

Obamacare Subsidies: Six Reasons Congress Should Not Make Temporary Increases Permanent – The decision to temporarily increase federal premium subsidies was ill-considered. It was based on the false premise that millions of workers and their dependents had lost coverage due to government lockdowns. It poured almost all resources into subsidizing the premiums of people who already had insurance. It made the nation’s highest earners eligible for government premium assistance. It enlarged federal payments to insurance companies in one of their most profitable lines of business and created perverse incentives to inflate premiums. Making these subsidies permanent not only would double down on these bad policies but could also result in millions of Americans losing their employer-sponsored coverage. Congress erred in enlarging premium subsidies last March. It should not compound that error by making that expanded subsidy structure permanent. Heritage expert: Doug Badger

Let’s Not Sabotage The Military Justice System – If the decision to refer serious criminal cases is given to military lawyers, far fewer cases will be referred to courts-martial. That is because military lawyers, like their civilian counterparts, must comply with the bar ethics rules and the standards for prosecutors. Prosecutors may not prosecute a case unless there is a reasonable likelihood of success on the merits. Unlike commanders, they cannot simply refer a case to a court-martial simply because they want to enforce good order and discipline. Heritage expert: Tom Spoehr