Fellow Conservative, 

This was one of the most monumental weeks in legislative history—and the news didn’t come from D.C. where Congress was in recess.

The big news this week is from Arizona, which became the first state in this nation to offer universal school choice to ALL students.

For decades, conservatives have advocated for greater freedom in education. The cause has multiple names: school choice, education choice, parental choice — but no matter what you call it, in Arizona, it is now the law of the land!

This is a historic victory for students, for better education, and for the conservative movement. And the winning isn’t over. Expect more states to follow suit by empowering parents and putting children before bureaucracies.

School-Choice in Arizona

On Thursday, Arizona Governor Doug Ducey signed HB 2853 into law creating the country’s leading school choice program. 

The call for school choice has followed in the wake of covid lockdowns and increasingly leftist curricula. 

The new law expands Empowerment Scholarship Accounts (ESA). These state-funded accounts allow all students, K-12, to access education scholarships to attend any school of their choice. 

This funding is applicable to public, private, religious and charter schools. 

“Our kids will no longer be locked in under-performing schools,” said Gov. Ducey. “Today, their future success is unlocked. With this legislation, Arizona will now be the first state in the nation to offer all families the option to choose the school setting that works best for them”

Arizona’s house majority leader Ben Toma was instrumental in the passage of this law. “In Arizona, we fund students, not systems, because we know one size does not fit all students,” 

 >>> Read our statement here

>>> Read the news release from Governor Ducey’s office

This is just the tip of the spear. School-choice advocates across the country will be looking to Arizona’s example as inspiration for getting similar laws passed in their own state. Heritage Action is committed to working with state legislatures in advancing this cause. 

If you want to get involved with this work in your state, there’s never been a better time to join Heritage Action’s Sentinel Program.

Build Back Better is lurking in the shadows

In Washington, Senator Chuck Schumer is attempting to revive Biden’s multi-trillion Build Back Better plan, which has stalled multiple times within the Democratic conference. West Virginia’s Joe Manchin has balked over the price, but is working with Schumer to try and pass a narrower—but still costly—version of the bill.

Important: Schumer does not need any GOP support to pass this bill. Using a process called “reconciliation”, the bill only needs simple-majority support, and is not subject to the filibuster.

Schumer is hoping that if he includes a provision in the bill that would allow Medicare to negotiate prescription drug prices then Manchin will agree to support a watered down version of BBB. If Schumer and all the Senate Democrats  come to an agreement, Republicans will have no way of stopping it. 

>>>Learn More about Build Back Better here<<<

Bidenflation

You don’t need to hear it from me, everything is more expensive. And there is no doubt that the fault lies with the Biden Administration.

>>>Watch Here for a short video on the state of inflation<<<  

This inflation was not inevitable. It was brought about by poor policy decisions including:

• Record-setting levels of spending: over $7 trillion! A nearly 30% increase in national debt.
• Dramatic increases in the supply of money
• Stifling the energy industry’s ability to produce via overregulation 
• Longer than necessary Covid lockdowns 
• Careless Federal Reserve purchasing and lending practices 
  
  

Remember this when it comes time to vote. The state of the economy is the fault of Joe Biden and the Democrats in Congress who enabled him. 

Thank you for your continued support and vigilance. 

Jessia and the Heritage Action team