Here is the Heritage Take on the top issues today.Please reply to this email to arrange an interview.
Biden’s New Domestic Terrorism Unit Bad for Freedom-Loving Americans <[link removed]> – By prioritizing prosecution of
“domestic terrorists” among Jan. 6 protesters and at school board meetings, the Biden administration has taken its eye off foreign terrorist threats, which should be the No. 1 priority for both the Justice Department and the Department of Homeland Security. Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., correctly stated that the fall of Afghanistan, the resurrection of the Taliban and al-Qaeda, and foreign nationals from countries of special interest crossing our open southern border make for a deadly recipe for attacks by foreign terrorists. Biden’s willingness to demonize his political opponents means that we cannot trust that the Justice Department’s domestic terrorism unit will exercise its power with neutrality and restraint. If this new unit shares the president’s fierce partisanship, its creation represents a danger to the rule of law. Heritage Experts: Lora Ries <[link removed]> and GianCarlo Canaparo <[link removed]>
Congressional Democrats used to feel differently about the filibuster <[link removed]> – Biden says today that he supports eliminating extended debate only for a particular bill, not across the board. Anyone who believes that it will stop there might want to look into oceanfront property in Iowa. Biden himself rejected that idea back in 2005, arguing that eviscerating the Senate by terminating extended debate “to help in one political fight or another … would be disastrous.” He quoted historian Robert Caro, author of Master of the Senate, saying that extended debate is not about “the particular dispute
of the moment, but … the fundamental character of the Senate.” When they designed our system of limited government, America’s founders were aware of another truth — that “unlimited power is apt to corrupt the minds of those who possess it.” So said William Pitt, the first earl of Chatham and prime minister of Great Britain in the late 1760s. Biden had the prescription for avoiding this end when he said in 2005 that a “current debate, over a particular set of issues, should not be permitted to destroy what history has bestowed on us.” Heritage Expert: Thomas
Jipping <[link removed]>
Allowing aliens to vote in New York City violates state law and devalues citizenship <[link removed]> - In a saner age, something referred to as the "Non-Citizen Voting Law" would be instantly recognized as a contradiction in terms and laughed out of city hall. But this is 2022, and New York City <[link removed]> has just implemented a law
permitting aliens <[link removed]> to vote <[link removed]> in local, municipal elections. Passed by the city council and signed by Mayor Eric Adams, it essentially creates a new class of voters, termed "municipal voters," which includes permanent resident aliens and those aliens authorized to work in the United States who have resided in New York City for at least 30 days. The "Non-Citizen Voting Law" is fraught with issues. For one thing, it’s hardly fair to the many aliens who have gone through the lengthy process of becoming citizens <[link removed]>. More importantly, allowing aliens to vote violates the New York constitution and state election law <[link removed]>. Heritage Expert: Zack Smith <[link removed]>
Basic Air Force planning MIA in Afghan withdrawal <[link removed]> – The Senate Foreign Relations and Armed Services
committees are scheduled to receive closed-door testimony at the end of this month from Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin <[link removed]> about the withdrawal
from Afghanistan <[link removed]>. Here’s hoping at least one committee member will ask: Where was the Air Force? Afghanistan <[link removed]> is a landlocked country. The evacuation was always going to be done by air. After months of detailed planning designed to ensure that every American citizen, service member and at-risk Afghan ally — as well as the bulk of critical military equipment — was safely airlifted out of the country, how could things have gone so poorly? Heritage Expert: John Venable <[link removed]>
9 Reasons Not to Pass Yet Another Federal COVID-19 “Relief” Spending
Package <[link removed]> – COVID-19 relief spending is actually hurting our economy today by adding to problems like rising costs, supply chain problems, and an unprecedented labor shortage. We need policies that will encourage people to take jobs instead of adding more missing parts to already fractured supply chains. Policymakers should be looking for ways to ease current struggles with supply chains, labor shortages and rising prices by first removing government-imposed harms. Heritage Expert: Rachel Greszle <[link removed]>r
18 More Federal Agencies Eye Making Vaccine Religious-Objector Lists <[link removed]> – This week, we revealed <[link removed]> that an obscure federal agency plans to keep lists of the "personal religious information" <[link removed]> employees who had religious
objections to the federal employee vaccine mandate. As it turns out, the little-known Pre-trial Services Agency <[link removed]> for the District of Columbia isn't the only federal agency
involved.As we feared, a whole-of-government effort looks to be underway. A little digging at the Federal Register revealed that there are at least 19 total federal agencies–including five cabinet level agencies–that have created or proposed to create these tracking lists for religious-exemption requests from their employees. The list includes Department of Justice <[link removed]>, the Department of Health and Human Services <[link removed]>, the Department of Transportation <[link removed]>, and the Department of the Treasury <[link removed]>, to name only a few. Heritage Experts: Sarah Parshall Perry <[link removed]> and GianCarlo Canaparo <[link removed]>
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