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Senate Republicans Divided on Same-Sex Marriage Bill - Conservative and evangelical groups that oppose same-sex marriage have also been holding meetings with lawmakers to push Republicans to reject the legislation. Roger Severino, vice president of domestic policy for the Heritage Foundation, said churches are worried the legislation will put religious organizations at risk of losing tax-exempt status if they oppose same-sex marriage. “Congress shouldn’t double down on the Supreme Court’s error [on same-sex marriage] because the real practical effect would be to put a giant target on the backs of people of faith while doing nothing to change the status quo on same sex marriage recognition as a legal matter,” he said. Heritage Experts: Roger Severino and Jay Richards
California’s Electrical Grid Emergency Shows Energy Policy Gamble Is Bad Bet – At the same time California is pushing policies to increase electricity demand, it’s also shutting off access to major sources of electricity. For years, the grid-reliability coordinators for California and for all of North America have known that California’s “electricity resources are insufficient to manage the risk of load loss when wide-area heat events occur.” Instead, California outsources grid reliability to other states and depends on imports for 20% to 30% of its electricity, making California the nation’s largest electricity importer. The more political constraints California puts on the grid, the more fragile it becomes, turning routine stressors California can count on happening—“heat events,” cloudy days, fewer imports from neighboring states—into emergencies. Yet, the Biden administration is seeking to export California’s policy gamble for electrification and “net zero” greenhouse gas emissions to the rest of the country. Heritage Experts: Katie Tubb and Diana Furchtgott-Roth
The Myth of Voter Suppression – “The Myth of Voter Suppression” exposes the widespread lies about election security initiatives in various states and the real threats to democracy posed by unsecured elections. It also investigates the big money that’s bankrolling the voter suppression hysteria industrial complex. When nearly half of states adopted election integrity laws, such as voter ID provisions and restrictions on ballot harvesting, the left inaccurately howled “Jim Crow 2.0.” But in subsequent elections, voter turnout soared, putting the brakes on the left’s goal of a federal election takeover in the form of the failed H.R. 1/H.R. 4. When these efforts were rejected, President Biden used executive power for an “all-of-government approach” deputizing federal agencies in a get-out-the-vote effort. Voter fraud is still a problem, as proven by numerous convictions and overturned elections in recent years documented in The Heritage Foundation’s Election Fraud Database. “Voter suppression” is a myth, a soundbite, an excuse by leftists for their failure to win elections across the country. “The Myth of Voter Suppression” reveals the truth that every informed voter needs to know, making it clear that election security is facing a very real threat. Heritage Expert: Fred Lucas
It’s time for states to break up with education colleges – Today’s colleges of education have also influenced personnel in a way that cements critical race theory and associated ideas like radical gender ideology in K-12 instruction through districts’ hiring of chief diversity officers, or CDOs. Nearly 80% of the country’s largest K-12 school districts now employ CDOs, mirroring the trend of ever-increasing diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) faculty in higher education. In both instances, DEI and CDO staff do not contribute to academic excellence or a more intellectually diverse and welcoming school climate. Rather, they can “be best understood as political activists who articulate and enforce an ideological orthodoxy” in schools across the country, according to the Heritage Foundation’s Jay Greene and James Paul. States and school districts should break up with these ineffective and divisive institutions and remove requirements for certification conveyed largely through colleges of education. Instead, schools and school systems should be fostering alternative teacher certification routes and allowing for full reciprocity of teacher licensure — or ending licensure requirements altogether in favor of demonstrated expertise in the subject matter being taught. Heritage Expert: Lindsey Burke
Education Dept. says 'clerical error' deleted thousands of comments on Title IX 'gender identity' proposal - The jaw-dropping disparity in the Federal Register’s number of total comments received on the proposed Title IX rule from one day to the next, without explanation or disclaimer, should raise alarm bells for American parents whose children at federally funded schools will receive the direct impact of any finalized rule. Whether the sudden loss of nearly 200,000 citizen comments stems from incompetence or obfuscation, the Department of Education has some explaining to do. Heritage Expert: Sarah Parshall Perry
Arizona Shows The Nation What Education Freedom Looks Like – Arizona lawmakers' embrace of choice, transparency, and regulatory freedom has produced a solid return on investment, ranking 13th nationwide. Education spending has been held to reasonable levels, though the state's unfunded teacher pension liability represents 8.3 percent of its GDP. Although Arizona's scores on the NAEP are still middling, they've improved significantly over the past two decades, and Arizona's charter sector is competitive on the NAEP with the top states in the nation. Unfortunately, Arizona's tremendous progress is at risk of being undone. Save Our Schools Arizona (SOS), a union-backed group that opposes education choice, is trying to gather signatures to refer the ESA expansion to the ballot. Its activists have been repeatedly caught misleading voters about the ESAs and their effects on traditional public schools. They've even allegedly used school district resources to push their ballot initiative, in apparent violation of state law. Heritage Experts: Jonathan Butcher and Jason Bedrick
Biden’s Title IX Rule Change Would Redefine Pregnancy to Include Abortion – For 50 years, Title IX has understood, respected, and protected the differences between men and women. It did not, as in this proposed rule change, try to erase altogether the distinction between male and female or pregnancy and abortion. Let’s be clear. Title IX doesn’t provide the Biden administration with the power or scope to rewrite the abortion policies of the states. Nor does Congress’ original intent in passing Title IX in 1972 suggest that it meant the law to be an avenue to promote abortion. Likewise, Title IX does not give the administration the power or scope to completely alleviate women of responsibility for the consequences of their sex. This is a fundamental biological reality: Sexual intercourse can result in pregnancy. Heritage Experts: Melanie Israel and Emma Waters
‘Mudge’ Reveals No Other Choice: Congress Must Act - On Tuesday, Peiter “Mudge” Zatko testified in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee about his allegations surrounding his whistleblower report from August. The cause for this hearing amounted to intense concerns executives at Twitter failed in their responsibility to protect user data. A bipartisan strand of disappointment in Twitter, as if they were a long-treasured American manufacturer just recently succumbed to poor leadership, persisted through the hearing. Americans should examine if there ever was a perch off which Twitter fell to cause this disappointment in the company’s utter lack of concern for any outcome besides profit. Senators can rightly express shock at the absence of internal security policies, but much of that shock should be directed at the lawmakers who have allowed an oligarchy to grow in Silicon Valley. If Mudge’s testimony is not enough to compel federal lawmakers to turn over the tables inside the temple of Silicon Valley, then America needs new lawmakers. Heritage Experts: Will Thibeau and Jake Denton