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6 Important Issues at Stake in Appropriations Bills <[link removed]> – Biden, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer will push for a big spending package in the lame-duck period after the election. That would lock in a third year <[link removed]> of a liberal policy and inflationary spending agenda, rammed through by unaccountable members of Congress, many of whom will have been voted out of office. Lawmakers should not rush through a massive omnibus appropriations bill that spends too much on all the wrong things, especially in a lame-duck Congress.  Instead, the new majorities in the next Congress should take the pen and enact responsible spending bills that advance the policy priorities of the American people. That will only happen if the continuing resolution extends into at least January.Heritage Experts: Matthew
Dickerson <[link removed]>, Richard Stern <[link removed]>, and EJ Antoni <[link removed]> 
 
FBI,
Justice Department Twist Federal Law to Arrest, Charge Pro-Life Activist <[link removed]> – Perhaps the more important number is 91. That’s how many days elapsed between the day the Supreme Court issued its decision in Dobbs and Houck’s indictment. Or maybe it’s 49—the number of days between Houck’s indictment and the mid-term elections. And why did the Justice Department decide to send armed FBI agents to Houck’s house in a show of force? Houck has no criminal record, is a man of faith, and is the father of seven children. He is no threat whatsoever.  Contrast this prosecution with the fact that vandals physically have attacked <[link removed]> and damaged roughly 70 pro-life pregnancy centers, which also are protected under the FACE Act’s definition of a facility that “provides reproductive health services.” So why hasn’t the Justice Department filed a single FACE Act indictment against
anyone for those crimes? Clearly, the leadership of the FBI and the Justice Department should be asked these and other important questions surrounding this case, as well as their lack of action against real threats. Heritage Experts: Hans von Spakovsky <[link removed]> and Cully Stimson <[link removed]> 
 
Does The
Atlantic Think LeBron James Should Be Allowed to Play in WNBA? <[link removed]> - In the world of radical gender ideology, testosterone is apparently a social construct. The inner workings of the human mind are complex. That’s why the gender debate is largely focused on how people “identify” <[link removed]> based on whether they “feel” like a man or woman. The outward functioning of the human body is much simpler and easier to detect. Either a man can bench press 250 pounds or he can’t. Either a woman has a 40-inch vertical jump or she doesn’t. Rare as these performance measures are, all the people who possess such otherworldly athletic ability are men. Acknowledging this fact is not sexist. It respects female athletes for their immense talent on their own merits, not in comparison to their male peers. The Atlantic, like many other institutions dominated by the Left, thinks it can create the world of its choosing ex nihilo. This impulse reflects a god complex that is common with people who cannot accept a world in which differences in outcomes exist across groups. Heritage Expert: Delano Squires <[link removed]> 
 
Here
Are the Factors That Affect Gas Prices <[link removed]> – Many people work hard to find, produce, refine, and distribute some 800 million gallons of petroleum products every day. In its journey from deep in the earth to the cars of Americans, these molecules can travel thousands of miles and encounter obstacles from man and nature alike. Policymakers should appreciate all of this and remove the barriers that limit supply. Increasing supply by allowing more leasing on government lands, allowing investment (instead of talking down the oil industry or even making it more difficult to invest in the industry), improving efficiency by increasing pipeline capacity, and reducing regulations like the RFS will help to mitigate high gas prices for the American people. Heritage Experts: Derrick Morgan <[link removed]> and Katie Tubb <[link removed]>  
 
Crime
trumps abortion in voter concerns <[link removed]> - Americans are concerned about recent increases in violent crime. Unfortunately, many leaders on the left have bought into the tragic idea that they can defund and demoralize police officers with no consequences. On top of that, the top prosecutors in many of our nation's biggest cities are refusing to do their jobs by seeking justice for victims and protecting their communities.  The policies of these rogue prosecutors are dangerous and often lead to the victimization of the most vulnerable members of their communities. Even citizens of far-left cities such as San Francisco have recognized the dangerous conditions that arise when a rogue DA refuses to do his job.  Because of that, they recalled (removed from office) their rogue DA, Chesa Boudin. Safe communities should be a bipartisan issue. Heritage Experts: Zack Smith <[link removed]> and Cully Stimson <[link removed]>    
 
Planned Parenthood’s Overdue Annual Report Is Finally Out. Here’s What You Should Know. <[link removed]> - Planned Parenthood’s 2020-2021 annual report <[link removed]> is so late that some observers wondered
whether it would release one at all. But after roughly nine months, the wait is over. For pro-life Americans, the numbers aren’t pretty. The medical and financial data reveal the abortion giant’s priorities. Spoiler alert: The number of abortions performed in one year is at an all-time high. Meanwhile, annual taxpayer funding (mainly through Medicaid reimbursements) continues to rise. It’s now north of $633 million. We don’t yet know what will happen with abortion numbers in a post-Roe America. But we do know that if Planned Parenthood has its way, abortions and taxpayer funding will keep rising, even as its other key health services keep declining. After all, we can’t expect an insatiable leopard to change its spots. Heritage Expert: Melanie Israel <[link removed]>

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