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Responding to the China Challenge: Blueprint 2.0 <[link removed]> -
The Heritage Foundation’s first China Blueprint identified China as the most persistent and consequential foreign policy challenge that will confront the U.S. for the next several decades. Nothing has happened during the past two years to change that judgment. Cold War analogies to the current confrontation with China may be imperfect, but when Ronald Reagan summarized his strategy for the Soviet Union as “We win and they lose,” he captured something enduring about the way Americans approach competition. What the U.S. needs today is a game plan not for “managing competition” with China, but for winning. Heritage Expert: James Carafano <[link removed]> 
 
Nowhere
Left to Hide: Neither White House nor Common Man Can Evade Recession Data <[link removed]> – Newly released data from the Commerce Department show what some people have been saying for months: The nation is in recession. Furthermore, the Biden administration’s cherry-picking of data has come back to bite it, with even its selected data points now being revised to indicate a recession. And while these numbers confirm the economy shrank in the first half of the year, the rest of this year holds little promise of recovery. The economy, as measured by gross domestic product—the total value of all goods and services produced within the nation’s borders—shrank in the first two quarters of the year, but, in Orwellian fashion, the White House was quick to roll out its latest newspeak and declare that this no longer meant a recession. The Biden administration cited seemingly robust growth in gross domestic income to counter the decline in GDP. Yet for some reason, it is silent about today’s revised data. Heritage Expert: EJ Antoni <[link removed]> 
 
6 States Sue to Block Biden’s Student Loan ‘Forgiveness’
Scheme <[link removed]> – The lawsuit by the six states follows another one filed by the Pacific Legal Foundation  <[link removed]>on behalf of an individual borrower. President Joe Biden’s student loan forgiveness scheme is an illegal power grab. That’s not a hard legal question. Biden and Education Secretary Miguel Cardona claimed to find authority for canceling some student loan debt in the 2003 HEROES Act, passed after the 9/11 terror attacks. That statute permits the secretary of education to act only when necessary to keep borrowers from being worse off with respect to their student loans as a direct result of an emergency. But in this case, Cardona made no effort to identify and tailor relief to affected borrowers. Instead, he set income thresholds as the sole criteria to qualify for debt cancellation ($125,000 for individuals and $250,000 for couples), which tell us nothing about whether those individuals suffered any financial harm from the COVID-19 pandemic. Because Biden’s education secretary knowingly is granting relief to millions of individuals who do not qualify, his actions unlawfully exceed the scope of the HEROES Act. Heritage Experts: GianCarlo Canaparo <[link removed]> and Jack Fitzhenry <[link removed]> 
 
How Fed-induced inflation is battering your
wallet <[link removed]> – As interest rates rise, borrowing costs increase. When people with adjustable-rate mortgages see their monthly payments balloon to unaffordable levels, those homeowners quickly realize that they do not own their homes after all. Foreclosures are already rising. Credit card debt, which has been growing at some of the fastest rates on record, also becomes unaffordable as interest charges on outstanding balances explode. American families, already strapped for cash after inflation ate away their disposable incomes, now have less money left to cover ever-growing interest charges on auto loans, mortgages, credit card debt, student loans and more. Unable to afford as much as before, the consumer must reduce spending — something Washington should be doing. Since consumer spending accounts for about three-quarters of GDP, this contracts the economy, leading to layoffs and unemployment. The unemployed have even less money to spend, exacerbating the problem. Thus, we arrive at the downward spiral, which is already underway. Heritage Expert: EJ Antoni <[link removed]>
  
Crushing society’s building
block <[link removed]> – The redefinition of marriage, which began with no-fault divorce, has reached its latest stage in the misnamed Respect for Marriage Act <[link removed]>. This bill redefines marriage to mean … well, anything any state chooses to recognize. Far beyond divorce, child neglect, or two same-sex persons, at least one version of this bill opens marriage to polyamorous relationships. Notably, the text does not define marriage. The bill states simply that “an individual shall be considered married if that individual’s marriage is valid in the state where the marriage was entered into….” All who value true marriage should oppose the Respect for Marriage Act, which shows anything but respect for marriage. They should also recognize that marriage has been under legal attack for decades. Its recovery in our culture will be a long, hard fight. Heritage Expert: Emma
Waters <[link removed]> 
 
Don’t close the
Navy’s main Pacific fuel-storage facility without a real replacement <[link removed]> – To be clear, the Navy <[link removed]> has by all accounts been negligent in its stewardship of Red Hill. But its newfound concern with Hawaii’s water supply and an administration myopically focused on climate change is clouding sound military judgment on this issue. This could prove dangerous given rising tensions. China <[link removed]>, Russia <[link removed]> and North Korea <[link removed]> have all been rattling their sabers lately in the Pacific. Prudence dictates the secretary of defense ensure the military has on hand the means to sustain combat operations in the Pacific without interruption. That assurance is in the public interest just as much as assuring that families in Hawaii, mine included, have safe drinking water. It is not an either-or proposition. Heritage Expert: Brent
Sadler <[link removed]> 
 
California attacks on
parents’ rights under the guise of medical care <[link removed]> – In the last decade and a half, a silent pandemic has spread among American youth: gender dysphoria and a radical medical experiment billed as its proper
treatment. California is now poised to become a super-spreader—and confused children and their parents across the country will be the victims. Gender dysphoria is a feeling of alienation between one's internal sense of "gender" and one's biological sex. Such feelings tend to resolve in 80 to 95 percent of kids if they are allowed to go through puberty unimpeded. But now, many kids are being fast-tracked to permanent body alterations called "gender affirming care." This epidemic of the mind and spirit is not spread by contact or close quarters but by social media "influencers" and ideologues who have captured schools, medical groups, and state legislatures. In many states, teachers and government officials will encourage a child's claimed "gender identity"—whatever that child's sex—even behind parents' backs. Heritage Expert: Jay Richards <[link removed]>   
 
Litigation Could Change Election
Procedures in Key Battleground State <[link removed]> – Litigation in Pennsylvania could change election procedures in one of the most closely watched battleground states in the country. In 2020, Joe Biden won Pennsylvania by about 80,000 votes statewide, beating Donald Trump’s
2016 victory margin in the state by about 45,000 votes. This year, the seats of outgoing Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf, a Democrat, and outgoing Sen. Pat Toomey, a Republican, are up for grabs in the Nov. 8 elections. Here’s a look at three key lawsuits brought in September in the commonwealth. Heritage Take: Fred
Lucas <[link removed]>

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