Jun 20, 2022

How to Restore Trust in Elections—We Set Out the Best Practices

Confidence issue: The American public’s faith in the integrity of our elections is at an all-time low, and Heritage experts have a solution.

Our take: “Conducting audits of U.S. elections should be a routine practice, the same way they are a routine practice in the business community and other fields of our society,” writes Heritage senior legal fellow Hans von Spakovsky. Get the details of the proposals here.

Also: One of Heritage’s seven strategic priorities is to “Ensure Free and Fair Elections.” Read more about this priority here.

Heritage Debunks a Big Claim About Cross-Sex Medical Treatments

The news: Last week, President Biden signed an executive order designed to expand young people’s access to cross-sex medical interventions. A new Heritage study shows that this could lead to increased youth suicide rates.

The kids aren’t alright: The breakthrough study conducted by senior research fellow Jay Greene, Ph.D., shows that states that make it easier for young people to get puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones have significantly higher rates of youth suicide.

Our take: “States should tighten the criteria for receiving these interventions, including raising the minimum eligibility age,” writes Greene. Read the study’s full findings and recommendations here.

Related: Heritage’s Oversight Project reveals how many men in California prisons identify as women and how many are now in women’s prisons. Get the details here.

Victims of Communism Museum Opens—Thanks to Heritage’s Lee Edwards

Honoring the victims: The Victims of Communism Museum held its grand opening in Washington, D.C., last week to recognize the 100 million people killed by communist regimes and the 1.5 billion oppressed by them today.

Long-time coming: The museum is the culmination of 30 years of hard work by Lee Edwards, Heritage’s distinguished fellow in conservative thought, after his wife, Anne, first proposed the idea. Learn more about the museum here.

Recognition: The Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation awarded Edwards the Truman-Reagan Medal of Freedom at the museum's grand opening. Read more about that here. 

Also: Heritage founder Ed Feulner observes the 35th anniversary of Reagan’s “tear down this wall” speech. Read it here.

ALWAYS ON OFFENSE
Heritage Opens New Front in Fight Against Regulatory State

What’s news: Heritage’s new initiative will fight back against the Biden administration’s regulatory onslaught by helping conservatives inundate regulatory agencies with comments on their proposed rules. 

Why this is important: Federal law requires regulators to respond to every comment they receive, which creates opportunities to alter, stall, or even block new rules.

First target: Heritage scholars filed public comments on a radical new climate rule proposed by the Securities and Exchange Commission that would force American companies to comply with the Biden administration’s environmental agenda, supercharge inflation, and threaten the viability of thousands of small businesses.

Get involved: Find out how to join the effort here.

HERITAGE ON THE HILL

Lawmakers often call on Heritage experts to testify about big issues of the day. In the last two weeks, that included:

Inflation: Senior research fellow Rachel Greszler told the Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship about small businesses struggling with inflation due to the left’s reckless economic policies. Watch it here.

Economy: Distinguished fellow Steve Moore told the House Budget Committee about the harm caused by President Biden’s “American Rescue Plan.” Watch it here.

Gun Violence: Legal fellow Amy Swearer testified in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee on juvenile gun violence. Read her testimony here.

NEW RESEARCH AND COMMENTARY

• The Unsustainable Costs of President Biden’s Climate Agenda

• Meeting China’s Space Challenge
• The Left’s Short Path from the Politics of Personal Destruction to Physical Destruction
• We Don’t Need a Costly, Mandated Detour to Electric Cars
• Parents’ Guide to Children’s Rights Aims to Save America’s Public Schools from CRT
• Don’t Draft Our Daughters—or Anyone Else
• Pride Month Jumps the Shark
• The Biden Economy Shows the Folly of ‘Experts’

READER POLL

Last week we asked readers to tell us what they’re paying for a gallon of regular gasoline. Here’s a sampling of responses we received from around the country.

This week’s question: Do you think the economy is in a recession right now, is headed for one, or that everything is coming up roses? Send your answer to: [email protected]. We’ll report the results next week.

DID YOU KNOW?

Heritage maintains a database of defensive use of guns gathered from verifiable reports found through public sources. The annual data, going back to 2019, are shown in an interactive map. Check it out here.

EVENTS

After Confucius Institutes: China’s Enduring Influence on American Higher Education, Tuesday, June 21, 11 a.m. Speakers include:

• Rep. Jim Banks, R-Ind.
• Rachelle Peterson, senior research fellow, Association of Scholars

Register here.

Created Equal: Clarence Thomas in His Own Words Featuring Authors Michael Pack and Mark Paoletta, Wednesday, June 22, 7 p.m.

The authors will discuss their highly anticipated book on Justice Thomas' rise from poverty and prejudice to the Supreme Court.

Register here.

Title IX in the Crosshairs: The 50th Anniversary of Women’s Equality in Education, Thursday, June 23, 2 p.m. Speakers include:

• Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn.
• Christiana Kiefer, senior counsel, Alliance Defending Freedom
• Chelsea Mitchell, student athlete

Register here.

“The Kevin Roberts Show”: What does real leadership look like? Peter Rex, the founding CEO of Rex—one of Fortune’s Top 20 Places to Work—talks with Heritage President Kevin Roberts about that question and how the American cultural and political landscape, if protected from cancel culture, can create an environment for building a business that makes the world a better place. Listen to their discussion here.

“Heritage Explains”: The left continues to say that "gender-affirming care" for kids is necessary to prevent youth suicide. On this episode, we talk with Jay Greene, Ph.D., a senior research fellow at Heritage, about his new report that shows this is dangerous for kids and why parents must be empowered to make decisions for their children. Listen to the podcast here.

Check out all the Heritage podcasts here.

“The recession is here,” Steve Moore, distinguished fellow in economics, told Newsmax. And if the Biden administration doesn’t reverse course, “this will be really painful,” he said. Watch the clip here.

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Email us your thoughts and questions at [email protected].