Here is the Heritage Take on the top issues today.Please reply to this email to arrange an interview.
Heritage to Host House Republican Hearing Tuesday on Bidenflation, Energy Crisis <[link removed]> - The Heritage Foundation will host a hearing with Congressman Andy Biggs and other congressional Republicans to discuss Bidenflation and President Biden’s energy crisis. The hearing will feature at least 17 prominent House Republican lawmakers, and four expert witnesses who will provide testimony. This hearing will examine the Biden administration’s policies that have led to a historic economic and energy crisis in the United States. It will also examine how Republicans in Congress can hold Joe Biden more accountable for his reckless leadership. Heritage Experts: Steve Moore <[link removed]>, Joel Griffith <[link removed]>, and EJ Antoni <[link removed]>
The SEC Should Not Be Setting Corporate Climate Policy <[link removed]> – This week, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) will take the next step in demanding that businesses disclose their greenhouse gas emissions and other
climate-related information. The SEC’s proposed rule claims to adopt an investor-led approach to climate issues. By mandating the release of climate-related information <[link removed]>, the rule would allow investors to take the driver’s seat in urging
businesses to respond to climate change and thus enhance their long-term value—or so the theory goes.But the theory is wrong. To see why it is important to set the record straight. The SEC claims the rule will help investors do something they cannot do now: obtain climate-related information from businesses. But investors are already free to demand such information and to invest only in companies that provide it. Heritage Experts: Paul Ray <[link removed]> and Katie Tubb <[link removed]>
Cryptocurrency Bill Aims to Fix Scattershot Regulation, but Misses Mark <[link removed]> - The effort is important because inept regulators today have left crypto rife with scammers and Ponzi schemes, as legitimate actors fear the regulatory risk. If regulators hold out threats, then good-faith actors stay away, leaving the field to the scammers. The bill’s delineation was welcomed by many bitcoin proponents, since it would exclude bitcoin from being considered a security. That could reassure financial institutions that have so far been wary of offering bitcoin products, potentially bringing more good actors into the crypto ecosystem. In the altcoin community of newer cryptocurrencies, however, many were less enthusiastic, because the bill does little to rein in Securities and Exchange Commission overreach through its adventurous interpretation of definitions, giving the commission new powers it doesn’t currently have. Heritage Expert: Peter St. Onge <[link removed]>
One-time Defense Budget Increase Won’t Be Sufficient to Deter China <[link removed]> - Should Chinese bombs rain down on Taiwan as Russia’s did
on Ukraine, it would be folly to assume the island would capitulate—rather, many people there would resist. It will be a fight Americans won’t sanction sitting out, either. The island is a fellow democracy, important trade partner, and home to thousands of U.S. citizens. Large-scale American casualties due to Chinese bombardment would enrage the people here to action. Heritage Expert: Brent Sadler <[link removed]>
3 Seas Initiative Deserves Greater Attention, America’s Increased Strategic Support <[link removed]> - Having secure, stable, and
economically viable strategic partners in the three seas region is in the security and economic interest of the United States. To that end, the Three Seas Initiative deserves America’s stronger support and elevated strategic engagement. The upcoming summit and forum will likely prove a pivotal moment for the initiative—either with tangible outcomes starting to emerge, or with the initiative fading away as a missed opportunity due to a lack of political will. Heritage Expert: Anthony B. Kim <[link removed]>
Nicolas the Woke <[link removed]> – American
socialists, long supporters of the ruthless dictatorship in Venezuela,
appear to be helping it add feminism and LGTBQ+ issues to their long list of Marxist tropes, probably in the hope that it will curry favor with the very woke Biden-Harris administration. Whether it is helping Caracas is another matter. While it is true that the administration has recently reached out <[link removed]> to the regime of Nicolás Maduro and made concessions, the official line is that the current talks between Washington and Caracas are meant to peel Maduro away from Vladimir Putin and increase Venezuela’s oil production, to help the snake-bitten administration deflect high oil
prices here. A fool’s errand. Heritage Expert: Mike
Gonzalez <[link removed]>
Social Security Disability Program May Appear ‘Solvent,’ but
It’s Bad Deal for Workers, Poor Program for Individuals With Disabilities <[link removed]> - Unlike Social Security’s Old-Age and Survivors Insurance program for retirees, which has a highly predictable financial outlook, the financial well-being of Social Security’s Disability Insurance program varies widely from year to year. Drastic yearly swings in its projected solvency occur because the system hasn’t stuck to its mission of providing benefits for people who are physically or mentally unable to work. Instead, it has allowed many individuals to misuse it as both an unemployment and early-retirement program. Heritage Expert: Rachel Greszler <[link removed]>
Junk Science Warning: Voting Republican Could Kill You <[link removed]> - Voting Republican could be hazardous to your health, especially if you live in a county that
Donald Trump won. That’s the latest contribution to junk social science, this one brought to us by the distinguished British Medical Journal. The authors tell us that counties that voted for GOP presidential candidates between 2000 and 2016 had smaller reductions in age-adjusted mortality rates over the past two decades than counties that backed their Democratic rivals. Before the Biden administration requires presidential ballots to bear a surgeon general’s warning (“Voting Republican kills!”), it’s worth giving the study a closer look. Heritage Expert: Doug Badger <[link removed]>
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