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Inflation, Banking Crisis Being Fueled By Runaway Federal Budget New data released Tuesday showed that inflation, as measured by the consumer price index (CPI), was 6.0 percent over the last twelve months and 0.4 percent for the month of February. Core CPI, which excludes food and energy, rose 0.5 percent in February and 5.5 percent over the last twelve months, nearly three times the Federal Reserve’s target rate of 2.0 percent. The prices of many consumer staples have increased significantly since January 2021, like roasted coffee up 24%, peanut butter and flour both 34%, eggs 187%, dairy products and cookies both 26%, ground beef 21%, frozen vegetables and butter both 29%, propane 35%, gasoline 51%, electricity 24%, home heating oil 72%, natural gas service 45%, and car insurance 20%. Heritage Expert: EJ Antoni

 

Will Congress Finally Take Back Some Power and End Outdated Iraq War Authorizations? - A large bipartisan group of 22 Senators introduced legislation to repeal the 1991 and 2002 Iraq Authorizations for the Use of Military Force, or AUMF. Repealing the two AUMFs is sound policy. As we have written previously, these two war authorizations remain in force, even though their purposes were accomplished a long time ago. Sources inform me that the votes to repeal both AUMFs are secured so that the measure will pass the Senate. Similarly, in the House, Reps. Tom Cole, R-Okla., and Chip Roy, R-Texas, have joined forces with Abigail Spanberger, D-Va., and Barbara Lee, D-Calif., to repeal the two vestigial war authorizations as well. It’s remarkable that these four House members could agree on anything, yet commendable that they agree that reclaiming war powers for authorizations that have outlived their usefulness is important. Heritage Expert: Cully Stimson

 

6 Takeaways From China’s National People’s Congress - The People’s Republic of China wrapped up its annual National People’s Congress session on Monday as tensions remain high between Beijing and Washington. “China’s legislature meets for one or two weeks each spring to outline the nation’s policy direction and set economic targets for the year ahead,” Michael Cunningham, a research fellow in The Heritage Foundation’s Asian Studies Center, explained recently for The Daily Signal. (The Daily Signal is the news outlet of The Heritage Foundation.) In October, the 20th Congress of the Chinese Communist Party held its weeklong, twice-a-decade meeting, at which Chinese President Xi Jinping secured his third five-year term as party general secretary, The Daily Signal previously reported. Heritage Expert: Sam Aschieris

I Went to the Southern Border at 3 A.M. This Is What I Saw. - It was 3 a.m. and a line of about 40 illegal aliens stretched along a section of the border wall waiting to be transported to the local processing center. Behind the group stood another 50 people who had crossed the border illegally into Yuma County, Arizona.  A large white bus full of illegal aliens had just departed for the Border Patrol station in Yuma, about 185 miles southwest of Phoenix, and would return in an hour to take the next 40.  “Your country of origin?” I asked, moving down the line.  Peru, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Colombia, Georgia, China, India, and Cameroon – nine nations were represented in a group of 50 illegal aliens. Heritage Expert: Virginia Allen


That Tantrum at Stanford Law School and What to Do About It - Another day, another tantrum at one of the nation’s top law schools. On Thursday, law students at Stanford (the No. 2 law school in the country) followed the example set by their peers at Yale (No. 1) by shouting down U.S. Circuit Court Judge Kyle Duncan, preventing him from delivering a lecture to other students who had invited him.  Student members of The Federalist Society invited Duncan, who sits on the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, to talk about how the decisions of his court have affected Supreme Court decisions. He didn’t get the chance. Heritage Expert: GianCarlo Canaparo

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