Here is the Heritage Take on the top issues today.
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7 Ways Democrats’ $3.5 Trillion Tax-and-Spend Bill Would Take Over Your Health Care – Slimming down the cost of the Democrats’ massive $3.5 trillion social-welfare spending bill is a compromise that misses the point. Opposition to the tax-and-spending bill is not just about cost, it’s about a policy agenda that shifts more power and control to the federal government and away from patients and families. The so-called Build Back Better plan, moving its way through the Democrat-led Congress, is jammed full of policy changes that drive the country closer to a government takeover of health care than ever before. Trying to slim down the cost or water down the proposals will not resolve those fundamental policy concerns. The following are seven ways it will be harder for you to keep your health plan, and make it more likely you’d get the subpar benefits that too many do already on government-run plans. Heritage expert: Nina Schaefer

Heritage’s Index of US Military Strength Finds Marines ‘Strong,’ Air Force ‘Weak,’ Army and Navy ‘Marginal’ – Most Americans can agree that the U.S. government’s top priority should be to provide for the common defense through fully funding a military capable of successfully deterring, and if necessary, confronting and defeating America’s enemies. While our adversaries have been investing in their defense capabilities at breakneck pace, the U.S. military is getting older faster than it is getting modern. The decline of America’s military hard power threatens its ability to defend the homeland from attack and to protect its interests abroad. As adversaries grow increasingly more provocative, the current Biden defense budget being debated in Congress is dangerously inadequate to the task of making significant improvements necessary to improve military readiness. Also cause for alarm, our allies—many in worse shape than the U.S.—lack the capability to mitigate current U.S. shortfalls. If the U.S. continues down this trajectory, it risks falling dangerously short in its ability to secure its core national interests and protect the American people. Heritage expert: Dakota Wood

Government Childcare Subsidies: Whom Will They Help Most? – How to care for their children is one of the most important decisions that parents make, and helping to ensure that families can pursue the childcare environments that work best for them should be a priority for policymakers. Providing massive federal subsidies only to families that choose to follow the ideals of certain politicians—for all parents to work full time and send their children to government-approved childcare—could fundamentally alter childcare in the United States. Instead of focusing on lower-income families in need, the proposed subsidies would disproportionately benefit high-income families in high-cost states. These subsidies would do nothing to help the majority of families that prefer family-based childcare, and could limit options by crowding out smaller, faith-based, and more accommodating childcare providers.
Heritage expert: Rachel Greszler