Here is the Heritage Take on the top issues today.Please reply to this email to arrange an interview.
Will Europe finally wake up to the truth about Joe Biden now? <[link removed]> – It is amateur hour on the world stage from the Biden Presidency. His visit last week to Europe was a train wreck, from his bizarre press conference in Brussels to the ad-libbed final words <[link removed]> of his speech in Warsaw. At times Mr. Biden looked dazed and confused, struggling to command his sentences, and drifting into incoherence. The messaging was muddled, forcing even the president’s top officials to disown their own leader’s comments. In 20 years in Washington, I have not seen a White House more disorganised, Heritage Expert: Nile Gardiner <[link removed]>
5 Big Problems With Biden’s Big-Government Budget <[link removed]> – The Biden budget is bloated with excessive spending, harmful taxes, more regulations, and control over Americans’ lives, along with damaging policy proposals. The budget matters because the power to tax and spend is the key to everything the federal government does. f we are going to save America from the politicians, bureaucrats, and cultural elites empowered by expansive government spending, it’s necessary to reverse the growth of the size, scope, and reach of the government. Congress should reject Biden’s budget proposal and instead focus on solving the most important challenges facing the country, such as reversing government spending and inflation, promoting energy independence, empowering parents, and strengthening the rule of law and free enterprise so that the United States can outcompete any competitor, including Communist China.Heritage Experts: Matthew Dickerson <[link removed]>, David Ditch <[link removed]>, Preston Brashers <[link removed]>, and Rachel Greszler <[link removed]>
Biden’s Welfare-Without-Work Policies Creating Uphill Battle for Business, Hurting Working
Americans <[link removed]> – With 11.3 million unfilled job openings—more than twice the historical average—there are now a record-high 1.8 jobs available for
every unemployed worker. The failure of roughly 3 million workers to return to the labor force is a drag on our nation’s economy that has contributed to the 40-year-high inflation we’re experiencing. Employers have been pressed to raise compensation to attract employees. Yet, despite those compensation increases, workers’ paychecks are buying less at the gas station and grocery store by the day. The Biden administration’s welfare-without-work policies are the primary culprit for these consistently bad numbers. These policies have diminished the value and need for Americans to work. Heritage Experts: Rachel Greszler <[link removed]>and Joel Griffith <[link removed]>
Another Unconstitutional Wealth Tax <[link removed]> – Democrats love to propose wealth taxes <[link removed]>. California Democrats have done it, congressional Democrats have done it many times, and now it looks as though President Joe Biden wants to get in on the game. If only they’d pause for a moment to consider—or care—whether wealth taxes are constitutional. The problem that congressional Democrats ran into last year <[link removed]> and the problem that Biden is about to run
into now is that words have meanings, and they resist spontaneous changes. No matter how Biden tries, a tax on unrealized capital gains is never going to be an “income tax.” Like the Democrats’ proposal from last year, it’s unconstitutional. Heritage Expert: GianCarlo Canaparo <[link removed]>
Congress Should Use Targeted Restrictions—Not Domestic Content Requirements—to Protect
Defense Supply Chains <[link removed]> – U.S. national defense depends on secure supply chains for defense end items. Policymakers are right to be concerned about defense supply chain vulnerabilities, from dependence on foreign suppliers (particularly China) to a lack of competition in the industrial base. However, they should avoid the temptation of sweeping regulations, such as new domestic content requirements, and should instead use targeted restrictions to ensure that the U.S. is not dependent on its chief competitors for key defense components. Heritage Expert: Maiya Clark <[link removed]>
South Carolina lawmakers must finish job of creating options for K-12
students <[link removed]> – Currently, South Carolina lawmakers are considering two proposals—one in each chamber—that would give families and their
students quality education opportunities similar to the accounts in these other states. The proposal <[link removed]> before state senators, in particular, would give students a range of choices, like the accounts described in North Carolina,
Florida, and elsewhere. The Senate proposal would let students choose a new school and/or a set of services, including personal tutors and computer hardware to help with online course delivery. Lawmakers in both the House and Senate have the chance again to complete what can only be considered unfinished business for state families. The need for action, for viable education options, is urgent. Heritage Expert: Jonathan Butcher <[link removed]>
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