Fellow Conservative,

A New Foundation for American Greatness

As many of you know, last week Heritage Action hosted our Sentinel Summit in Fort Worth, TX. We planned this “party with a purpose” as a time for us to gather, reflect, plan and strategize on where we as a conservative movement go forward in 2023 and beyond.

What came out of our conversations was a new mandate from the grassroots for our elected officials to forcefully reject the Left’s agenda.

John Solomon of Just The News wrapped up all of the main issues that were discussed at Sentinel Summit by interviewing several of the weekend's featured speakers.

Watch Jessica Anderson discuss the New Foundation for American Greatness.

And in case you missed it, check out the full Just The News Special Report HERE!

Defending Religious Liberty

In the wake of the Dobbs v. Jackson Supreme Court decision that overturned Roe v. Wade, the Left was apoplectic and has been frantically trying to strike back against social conservatives ever since.

Their next target? Your religious liberty, one of the most fundamental rights enshrined in our Constitution.

The House and Senate have advanced the “Respect for Marriage Act” which would repeal an earlier law that defended marriage as being between one man and one woman. It would allow lawsuits against people and institutions who simply hold a different view on marriage.

Because federal law provides for same sex marriage as a result of the Supreme Court’s Obergfell and Windsor decisions, the only effect this bill would have is to harass religious institutions and individuals.

It would threaten religious institutions such as churches, universities, charities, and adoption centers with lawsuits, removal of tax-exempt status, and even closure.

Roger Severino of The Heritage Foundation breaks down the bill and the myths surrounding it.

The bill has been able to advance to such a late stage due to gaining the support of 12 Republicans who have been fooled into believing this bill adequately protects religious liberty.

As a grassroots organization, it is our duty to hold Congress accountable. It’s not too late! They need to hear from you.

On Monday, CALL your Senator and tell them to vote “NO” on the “Respect for Marriage Act” and defend the rights of individuals who have the right to disagree with same-sex relationships.

Reducing Cronyism

Good News! Come January, Nancy Pelosi’s leadership gavel will be officially retired. This is a chance for conservatives to begin reigning in the rush toward left-wing policies and out-of-control spending this country endured under her watch.

The first step is to ban the use of earmarks—which are specific provisions in a bill that direct funds to a specific recipient, rather than simply setting funding levels for an existing or new federal program.

Heritage Action’s Vice President of Government Relations, Ryan Walker, explains the problems earmarks pose in this latest blog post. In short, earmarks are used to essentially bribe elected officials into voting for legislation they otherwise would not vote for with the promise of funds specifically for their district or state.

This not only creates a system of cronyism but also encourages increased spending. Two years after earmarks were banned in 2011, the number of earmarks passed dropped to 152 and cost the taxpayer $3.3 billion. After Speaker Pelosi repealed the ban, over 5,000 were passed costing a dramatic $18.9 billion!

Banning earmarks will go a long way to reigning in government corruption and spending. Thankfully, Rep. Tom McClintock (R-CA) is leading the charge to get this job done when the new Congress takes office in January.

The Gaggle of Bills in the Lame-Duck Session

Now that the midterm elections have finished, we have entered into a lame-duck session where Congress tries to pass as much legislation as it can before the new Congress takes their seats.

Congress should not be passing Controversial Bills during a lame duck session. Now that the voters have had their say only the new Congress which better reflects the will of the people should legislate.

But the Democrats, who have lost their majority in the House, will try to pass as much bad legislation as they can before they lose power. Here is a brief overview of the kind of policy they are trying to pass:

• Omnibus spending would spend trillions of dollars to fund liberal priorities until September of 2023
• $30+ billion in aid for the Ukrainian government with no transparency on how the funds are spent
• The Pregnant Workers Fairness Act would protect women from being discriminated against in the workplace, but does not provide protections for religious liberty. This would allow workers to compel religious organizations like Catholic Charities to give them time off/accomodations for abortions

On this week’s podcast, Thad Brock and Ryan Walker went into greater detail about each of these pieces of legislation and what it would mean if they were passed. To get all the details, click HERE to watch the breakdown.

Thank you for staying informed and for your vigilance.

Jessica and the Heritage Action team

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