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

What
The Media Doesn’t Want You To Know About 2020’s Record Murder Spike <[link removed]> – The rest of the world also locked down for Covid, with millions dying or losing their livelihoods. Yet only the U.S. saw a sharp increase in murders. As Hans Bader of the Competitive Enterprise Institute put it, “Most of the world saw reductions in homicide rates in 2020. Murder rates actually fell in most countries that lost many people to the coronavirus.” By contrast, the evidence that police increasingly pulled back and stopped making arrests, or quit the force altogether, is strong. The reason for 2020’s extra deaths, as Bader said, was that, “incarceration rates fell, police manpower shrank, and anti-police protests spread across the nation.” There is also the fact that rogue prosecutors elected with far-leftist money are releasing criminals from prison or not prosecuting them in the first place, as my Heritage
colleagues Cully Stimson and Zack Smith have pointed out. “The number of people in America’s prisons and jails dropped by 14% from 2019 to mid-2020,” writes Bader. That the violence BLM’s mayhem leaves in its wake leads to horrendous spikes in murder is not new. According to research conducted by Travis Campbell, at the University of Massachusetts, and reported earlier this year by Vox, there were between 1,000 and 6,000 extra murders between 2014 and 2019 in areas of the country where BLM had protested. That is called “the Ferguson effect.” Heritage experts: Mike Gonzalez <[link removed]>

Critical race theory fight is generational <[link removed]> – Today’s fights against critical race theory, which argues that America is systemically racist, may seem new, but they’re not. CRT certainly has received a lot of attention lately. But past surveys of parents show that current concerns about teaching America’s heritage were deeply shared in the previous generation. More than 20 years ago, the nonpartisan organization Public Agenda surveyed 801 parents for their views on civic education. The results were published in 1998 as A Lot to Be Thankful For: What Parents Want Children to Learn about America. Parents then, as now, said they were ready to take action to give their kids a solid civic education. The survey asked parents how they would react to a teacher who made various controversial statements. If a teacher “taught that America was and still is a fundamentally racist country,” 84 percent said they would be upset or somewhat concerned, and 65 percent of that group said they would be concerned enough to complain to the school. Heritage
expert: Angela Sailor <[link removed]>

7 States Push Noncitizen Voting, 4 States Say No <[link removed]> – Litigation in Vermont has highlighted the expanding trend of noncitizen voting, which two cities in that state recently allowed. Municipalities in California and Maryland similarly allow noncitizens
to vote in local elections. Other jurisdictions are considering doing so. So far, these efforts to allow noncitizens to vote don’t apply to national elections for president or Congress, nor to state offices such as governor or state legislator. For Democrats especially, though, this has been an emerging issue. In 2018, House Republicans adopted a resolution recognizing “that allowing illegal immigrants the right to vote devalues the franchise and diminishes the voting power of United States citizens.” All but one Republican voted for the
measure, which was adopted 279-72. A total of 71 House Democrats voted against the resolution, while 49 joined Republicans in supporting it. Here is a rundown of seven states where local jurisdictions either allow noncitizens to vote or are considering doing so, and another four that rejected the idea in the past three years. Heritage expert: Fred Lucas <[link removed]>

Joe Biden’s China Trade Strategy Would Make U.S. More Like China <[link removed]> – The tariffs on imports from China are broad and have cost Americans an extra $106.8 billion in import taxes since 2018. Such costs weigh heavily on the economy as we try to recover from the pandemic-related economic downturn and rising inflation. Fear of “stagflation” is already rising among markets and central banks. National security tariffs on steel and aluminum imports, much of which is applied to imports from key allies such as the UK, EU and Japan, also remain in effect. These tariffs have cost Americans $11.4 billion since 2018. A true multilateral response would not target our allies, especially with tariffs that claim the imports threaten national security. While Tai did not repeat her earlier talk of building upon existing tariffs, Tai did vow that the U.S. would “defend – to the hilt – our economic interests.” It is unclear how that defense would take place, but tariffs, which are taxes on American families and businesses, should be a last resort. Heritage expert: Tori Smith <[link removed]>

Adding Dental Benefits to Medicare Is a Solution in Search of a Problem <[link removed]> – Under the Democrats’ proposed approach, the government would force dentists and ancillary dental professionals to accept Medicare-set payment rates for treating Medicare beneficiaries—which could result in fewer dentists being willing to treat Medicare patients. Based on what happened when the Medicare program set
payment rates for other doctors and health professions in the past, there is ample reason to worry that this approach would discourage some dentists from seeing Medicare patients. Those most at risk are seniors who currently have dental benefits through an employer or union retiree plan or a supplemental plan that they purchased directly. It is uncertain how government rate-setting might also affect the willingness of dentists to participate in Medicare Advantage plans and the willingness of those plans to pay dentists more than
Medicare set rates. Another risk is that Medicare Advantage insurers might respond to the bill’s passage by imposing enrollee deductibles, coinsurance, or copayments for dental coverage in more of their plans. That’s because, under current law, Medicare advantage plans are required to offer at least the benefits provided by traditional Medicare, and Medicare’s payments to Medicare Advantage plans are calculated with reference to traditional Medicare spending. Heritage expert: Ed
Haislmaier <[link removed]>

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