Here is the Heritage Take on the top issues today.Please reply to this email to arrange an interview.
Inflation is
lightening American wallets; Congress keeps making it worse <[link removed]> – Federal finances were already in rough shape before the pandemic. Both parties have long ignored the problems facing major benefit programs like Social Security and Medicare, which are heading towards bankruptcy in the near future. Rather than making inflation worse by creating new programs that are already bankrupt in advance, Congress should recognize the importance of responsible governance and start to live within their means. That’s what American families have to do every day. Washington shouldn’t get a pass just because they have the privilege of using other people’s money. Heritage Expert: David Ditch <[link removed]>
Fact Checking the Media’s False and Misleading Claims Blaming Americans for Rising Prices, Supply Chain Crisis <[link removed]> – In recent days, prominent media commentators and various media outlets have taken up this false attack on the very people suffering from the bad decisions being made in Washington. In particular, a New York Times piece published Tuesday laid the blame for the state of the economy, the labor shortage, supply chain problems and inflation not on irresponsible policy choices in Washington, but at the feet of hardworking Americans trying to support their families. Griffith corrects the record on the blatantly false claims made by the Times. Heritage Expert: Joel Griffith <[link removed]>
Government supports would grow to $76,400 per poor family <[link removed]> – The bill raises the rewards for teen pregnancy and childbirth and increases the penalties for marriage. It overturns the foundations of the Clinton-era welfare reform, which required able-bodied recipients to work or prepare for work in exchange for cash benefits. Instead, the bill resurrects the long-failed policy of paying families not to work. Taxpayers, society and the poor would all suffer from the enactment of this legislation. Instead, policymakers should provide an accurate count of welfare spending and benefits received, maintain work requirements, and decrease, not enlarge, marriage penalties. Heritage Experts: Robert Rector <[link removed]> and
Jamie Bryan Hall <[link removed]>

$450,000 Is Apparently Not a Lot of Money to President Biden and His Minions <[link removed]> – How much does the family of a fallen soldier get paid? $100,000. To put this in perspective, if you die serving our country, arguably the highest honor an individual can do for their
country, your family will be paid $100,000. In general, that seems reasonable. However, if you openly defy our country’s laws and cross the border illegally and are, as a result of breaking the law, separated from your family, you will be paid $450,000. To reiterate, the Biden administration is contemplating a payout of $450,000 per person. That means a family of five will be paid $2,250,000 for breaking the law. Heritage Experts: Lora Ries <[link removed]> or Mike Howell <[link removed]>

Are Parents Being Tagged as “Domestic Terrorists” by the FBI? Justice Department Needs to Show Its Cards <[link removed]>– The public needs to be reassured that parents who speak up at school board meetings about their children’s education are not going to find themselves in an FBI database with a “threat
tag” next to their names or, even worse, find themselves under investigation or placed in handcuffs and dragged away by federal authorities. Garland and Wray should return to the House and Senate Judiciary Committees to answer some tough questions about all of this. Likewise, the FBI should disclose—with as much specificity as possible—how many threat cases it is investigating, the precise nature of the alleged threats, the federal crimes that may be implicated, and why the bureau believes that state and local authorities are incapable or insufficient to investigate these cases. Heritage Expert: John Malcolm <[link removed]>
Unproductive Xi-Biden Summit Sets Stage for Deeper Rift in U.S.-Chinese Relations <[link removed]> – Ironically, Biden may have strengthened Xi’s hand. Biden assumed the role of supplicant by asking China for the summit, allowing Xi to posture as the stronger of the two. Xi will be able to argue that it is the U.S. that comes hat in hand to him, whether in person at Anchorage and Tianjin or virtually in this summit.  Amidst all these challenges, neither the United States nor the People’s Republic of China necessarily want a military confrontation, but both sides clearly remain adamant in defending what each sees as “core interests.” Years of declining relations, including economic distancing and alienation, has meant that a previous underlying foundation—that of economic and
trade ties—are now frayed, and even contributing to the tensions between the two nations. Heritage Expert: Dean Cheng <[link removed]>
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