Here is the Heritage Take on the top issues today.
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Infrastructure Framework a Harbinger for Feature Economic Problems – The bill’s passage speeds up the reckless socialist spending bill. This is a harbinger for future economic problems. The plan expands far beyond the traditional definition of infrastructure to include radical social objectives and a ‘Green New Deal 2.0.’ It spends tens of billions on subsidizing electric vehicles and charging stations, electric buses, electric ferry boats, ‘green’ energy production, mandating reports on climate change, and even half a billion dollars to try to cool down pavement in cities. Heritage expert: David Ditch
Largest Welfare Increase in U.S. History Will Boost Government Support to $76,400 per Poor Family – The massive spending hikes proposed in the Biden Administration’s revised Build Back Better Act would be by far the largest increase in means-tested welfare spending in U.S. history, piled on top of the existing welfare system that costs $1.16 billion per year. The average poor family with children already receives $65,200 in cash, food, housing, medical care, and educational support from the taxpayer each year. The Biden plan would add at least another $11,300, with payoffs to special-interest groups including the public school industry, teachers’ unions, and large center-based day care. The plan reverses the Clinton-era welfare reforms, resurrecting the failed policy of rewarding families for not working and exacerbating the welfare system’s already potent marriage penalties. Heritage expert: Robert Rector
Vaccine mandate could cost border patrol more than half of its agents, internal report says – According to a document from a source within Customs and Border Protection (CBP), nearly half of border patrol agents have not registered their COVID-19 vaccination status, and ten percent of those who have registered have yet to receive a jab. In a worst-case scenario, the federal vaccine mandate may result in the termination of over half of the border patrol agents, amid an already devastating border crisis. "You’re going to take an agency that’s already gone through an unbelievable catastrophic crisis on the southwest border and deplete its resources further," Mark Morgan, who served as the chief operating officer of CBP from 2019 to 2021, told Fox News. Heritage expert: Mike Howell
Merrick Garland Abuses His Authority to Suppress Dissent – The Heritage Foundation has already called for an investigation into every aspect of this misguided and abusive action by the Department of Justice, so that Americans can be reassured that a beleaguered administration, fearing consequences at the ballot box from an enraged electorate, did not attempt to use its law enforcement power to suppress the constitutionally protected activity of parents. Now we ask for the evidence that Garland cited to justify his mobilizing the overwhelming forces of the federal government against parents justifiably concerned about the education of their children. Heritage expert: Mike Gonzalez
Solving the civics crisis begins at home – As the election results in Virginia and elsewhere demonstrate, many parents are upset with how American history and civics are being taught in schools. And it’s hard to blame them. Some feel we are tearing down our nation’s past. Others believe we are not doing enough to tell the history of all Americans, particularly those in communities that have long been marginalized. Heritage expert: Katie Gorka