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Economic sanctions won't cause Putin to change his actions - President Joe Biden announced Tuesday the U.S. will ban all imports of Russian energy saying, “The United States is targeting the main artery of Russia’s economy,” said Biden. “That means Russian oil will no longer be acceptable in U.S. ports and the American people will deal another powerful blow to Putin’s war machine.” However, It certainly won't cause Putin to change his actions in Ukraine by themselves. These economic sanctions will constantly have to change and be updated to have a sting. The sanctions in place right now won’t have a sustained impact, with China able to provide Russia a lifeline. Heritage Expert: Brent Sadler
Russian Oil Import Ban Just a Distraction From Biden’s Anti-Energy Policies - President Joe Biden on Tuesday announced a nationwide ban on imports of Russian oil, coal, and natural gas, relenting to pressure to stand against Russia’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine. Unfortunately, the administration is only projecting the appearance of a principled stand and continues to be unwilling to make the necessary policy changes for an import ban to be truly effective. The president’s decision came in the wake of proposed bipartisan legislation, political support from Democratic congressional leadership, public support, and the initiative of many companies to disassociate themselves with Russian products and markets. If he didn’t act, it’s very likely Congress would have led the way instead. Heritage Experts: Katie Tubb and Joel Griffith
After 2 Years, We Don’t Need Nationwide Travel Mandates to Control COVID-19 - Although we’ve seen significant progress in preventing and treating severe cases of COVID-19, thanks to vaccines and therapeutics, we still face a raging debate over remaining governmental restrictions, including those on personal travel. The Biden administration has regularly imposed or extended heavy-handed mandates. Courts have struck down or blocked some of these, including a vaccine requirement for federal workers, attempting to impose a vaccine mandate through businesses and other organizations, and needlessly prolonging the eviction moratorium. Heritage Expert: David Ditch
8 Ways Massive Omnibus Spending Bill Is a Mistake - The 2,700-page omnibus spending bill is presented as a false choice: Either support this massive, expensive package and everything in it or suffer the political consequences of a partial government shutdown. Through one manufactured crisis after another, the cycle of omnibus spending deals is one way that congressional leadership exerts its dominance over the legislative process at the expense of members who represent the majority of the American people. This is just another way in which the federal government is not held accountable to the American public. Heritage Expert: Matthew Dickerson
Violence Against Women Act renewed as part of omnibus spending package. Here are its 5 biggest flaws - The previous iteration of the bill failed last year, having stalled in the Senate after complaints concerning the bill’s handgun restrictions, carve-outs for LGBTQ groups, stealth “gender identity” inclusions, and the constitutionally prohibited expansion of the jurisdiction of Indian tribal courts. That’s why its sponsors went back to the drawing board. Unfortunately, what they “redrew” isn’t good enough. While the 2022 version is being hailed as a compromise, it is anything but. The primary difference? The reader must wade through 100 more pages—335 in total—than the 2021 version, and carefully read between the lines to see which problematic provisions have been moved where. Much of the language has been changed to hide the most noxious provisions. But the effects are precisely the same.
Heritage Expert: Sarah Parshall Perry
What China is learning from Putin's Ukraine invasion - Vladimir Putin could never rest easy without the Russian flag flying over Kyiv. Never doubt for a second that Xi Jinping feels the same way about Taiwan. The president of China certainly hopes, in his lifetime, to see the communist flag flutter above Taipei. So the obvious question is whether the current conflict holds any lessons for China and its cause. It does – but they might not be the ones Beijing expected. Heritage Expert: James Carafano