Here is the Heritage Take on the top issues today.
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Four Ways To Hold Beijing Accountable During The Winter Olympics – The administration missed an opportunity. It had become politically unfeasible for U.S. government representatives to attend the Olympic Games. By the time a decision was made, it was simply a recognition of reality. To make any difference at this point, the boycott must be followed up with an effort to make the CCP feel the heat from the international community in the lead-up to and during the Games. Heritage Expert: Olivia Enos

 

Whether he attacks Ukraine or not, Putin has already won –  What Biden should have done is hammer Putin for threatening the transatlantic community at all. Biden should be fit to be tied—not just for Ukraine, but for Russian meddling in Bosnia, the Belarus border crisis, energy blackmail against Moldova and other outrages. Rather than just threatening sanctions, the White House should be demanding immediate sanctions from Congress on the Nord Stream II pipeline. The administration should be working with our allies to determine who will send what to best help Ukraine bolster its air defenses, electronic warfare capabilities and more. Heritage Expert: Alexis Mrachek

Chinese Hypersonic Weapons Developments Must Be Countered – China’s development of hypersonic weapons (HSWs) should seriously concern the U.S., as well as allies and partners. Washington must address this capability gap now—before the imbalance undermines stability in the Indo–Pacific and provides China with an operational edge in a future conflict with the U.S. The United States could—and should—quickly catch up with Chinese (and Russian) advances in HSWs for the purposes of both conventional and strategic stability, especially at a time when there are growing questions about U.S. global leadership. China’s summer launch may not exactly have been a near-Sputnik moment, but it was definitely a hypersonic shot across the bow of the American ship of state. Heritage Expert: John Venable

 

Congress is Writing a Blank Check for a Big Government, Socialist Tax-and-Spend Spree – Congress has unveiled a new proposal, the so-called Protecting Medicare and American Farmers from Sequester Cuts Act, and is promoting it with all the usual talking points that this was just normal legislation keeping the status quo going to obscure its true purpose. In reality, the bill is a blank check that would make it easier to enact President Joe Biden’s radical tax and spending agenda. The bill text actually includes a blank line for a dollar amount like you would see on a check. Heritage Expert: David Ditch

 

New York Moves to Allow 800,000 Noncitizens to Vote in Local Elections – The New York City Council resolution to allow permanent alien residents and aliens holding work authorizations to vote in local election is clearly illegal and violates the New York Constitution requiring citizenship to vote in all local and state elections. This is an attempt to normalize what should not be normalized: the idea that aliens should be allowed to vote in all U.S. elections. Allowing aliens to vote diminishes the value of citizenship and reduces the incentive for immigrants to become citizens and make a commitment to this country. Given the fact that New York voters just defeated liberal attempts to implement other unwise election rules through referenda, including same day voter registration and no-fault absentee ballots, allowing aliens to vote would clearly go against the will of the public. Heritage Expert: Hans von Spakovsky

 

Give Every Virginia Child the Chance to Succeed in School and Life – For the sake of students’ success in school and life and to protect parents’ rights to impart their deeply held beliefs—or at least prevent schools from eclipsing parents’ roles in their child’s education—Virginia lawmakers should consider proposals that: Expand the state’s existing K-12 private school tax-credit scholarship option so that donors receive a dollar-for-dollar tax credit on their donations to non-profit organizations (currently, charitable donors only receive a 65% credit on their contributions). This will help scholarship organizations provide more scholarships to more children around the state. Revise these tax-credit scholarships so that all students and their families can use the awards to find personal tutors, hire education therapists as needed, pay for curricular materials, pay tuition for online classes, cover private school tuition, and pay for transportation needs to and from a child’s new school. Such changes will make the scholarships more like the education savings accounts now available in Missouri and Kentucky, as well as Arizona, Florida, Indiana, Mississippi, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Tennessee, and West Virginia. Heritage Expert: Jonathan Butcher

 

What is Happening in This Unprecedented U.S. Labor Market – Never before has the United States experienced a labor shortage of today’s magnitude. Particularly extraordinary is that the current labor shortage exists alongside still-high unemployment and rising compensation packages, which should spur more workers into jobs. The employment gap equals about 5.8 million workers—3.7 percent of the workforce. Government policies enacted in the name of COVID-19 relief seem to have consistently held employment back, and the looming multitrillion-dollar tax-and-spend, central-planning package threatens to cement the weak employment market. Policymakers should ensure that work pays—by (1) limiting taxes, enabling larger natural wage increases, and opening more doors to flexible income opportunities; (2) removing work disincentives from entitlement and welfare programs; (3) learning from the unintended consequences of many COVID-19 policies that reduced employment; (4) and refusing further expansion or permanence of the policies that contributed to the current employment gap. Heritage Expert: Rachel Greszler