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Did Silicon Valley Bank Prioritize Social Justice Over Risk
Management? <[link removed]> - While neglecting critical risk management, SVB's 2023 proxy statement <[link removed]> records 40 mentions of the environmental, social, and governance—or ESG—movement currently in vogue at many corporations and financial institutions. In a “key change,” the board expanded the Governance and Corporate Responsibility Committee's oversight role in ESG. The committee’s oversight includes, according to the proxy statement <[link removed]>, “environmental sustainability, climate change, the Company's external diversity, equity and inclusion ("DEI") initiatives, Board diversity, as well as our philanthropic strategy and advocacy activities.” Heritage Expert: Diana Furchtgott-Roth <[link removed]>
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change was released today and revealed that fearmongering continues to
remain the Biden administration’s greatest ally <[link removed]> - “The Left continues to push obscure climate policies at the expense of stifling the economy. Our most recent data estimates that at the very least the Biden administration’s decarbonization goal will shrink the economy by over $7 trillion, reduce family income by $87,000 for a family of four, and raise electric bills by 30 percent— just to lower global temperatures by 0.2 degrees Celsius,” said Kevin Dayaratna, The Heritage Foundation’s
chief statistician. Heritage Expert: Kevin Dayaratna <[link removed]>
McCarthy Slams Biden’s Veto of Bipartisan Bill Opposing ‘ESG’ Investments <[link removed]> - According to the Labor Department <[link removed]>, its rule “allows plan fiduciaries to consider climate change and other environmental, social and governance factors when
they select retirement investments and exercise shareholder rights, such as proxy voting.” The ESG rule, the agency added, “follows Executive Order 14030, which was signed by President Biden on May 20, 2021.” Last month, Rep. Andy Barr <[link removed]>, R-Ky., and Sen. Mike Braun <[link removed]>, R-Ind., introduced resolutions of disapproval to block the Labor Department rule; those measures succeeded in both the House <[link removed]> and the Senate <[link removed]>, on Feb.28 and March 1, respectively. Heritage Expert: Samantha Renke <[link removed]>
Angry Federal Judge Orders Biden’s DHS: End Mass Parole of Illegal Aliens <[link removed]> - In Florida v. U.S., <[link removed]> the state of Florida is claiming that the DHS is violating the mandatory detention required in federal immigration law by releasing aliens “en masse through various, non-detention policies, including the Parole+ATD policy and the exercise of ‘prosecutorial discretion.’” The Biden administration claims it has “the discretion not to detain
aliens, notwithstanding the mandatory language” of federal law. Parole+ATD is the Biden administration’s name for one of its many parole programs under its general “catch and release” policy, which the Obama administration also used, but which President Donald Trump ended. Heritage Expert: Hans von Spakovsky <[link removed]>
Federal Family Leave Would Make Parents Pay More To Get Less Help <[link removed]> - Women facing unplanned pregnancies have many concerns, including the stability of their relationships, job, income, housing security, and future child-care options. Paid time off certainly helps, but a new entitlement — providing something like six or 12 weeks of leave at 67 percent pay — is unlikely to sway most women’s decisions about whether or not to give birth. Other factors, like flexible work options and access to affordable child care, are bigger concerns for parents. According to a 2018 poll <[link removed]> by the Cato Institute: 26 percent of parents said that a more flexible work schedule was their top priority for balancing work and family; 23 percent cited the ability to work remotely;
and 20 percent listed more affordable child care. By comparison, 10 percent said more paid parental leave. Heritage Expert: Rachel Greszler <[link removed]>
Biden’s budget calls for more plundering of the American taxpayer <[link removed]> - Last year, his budget sought an additional $2.5 trillion in taxes beyond the $55.8 trillion in revenue that was forecast to be collected during 10 years. His latest budget is even more rapacious. The president is calling for $65.2 trillion in taxes and other revenues -- nearly $7 trillion more than his last mega-budget. Yet even with all the extra spoils, Biden's budget would somehow manage to spend $17 trillion more than it would collect. This would shackle the American people with an additional $120,000 in federal debt per household by the end of the decade. While the left portrays America's billionaires as a bottomless well of tax revenues, the government could confiscate every penny of wealth from all the billionaires on the Forbes 400 list, seizing their companies' assets and bankrupting them overnight, and that would barely cover half of Biden's newest round of proposed increase in taxes. It wouldn't even cover 5 percent of Biden's total 10-year budget. Heritage Expert: Preston Brashers <[link removed]>
School Choice Primarily Benefits Students Who Weren’t Already in Private Schools <[link removed]> - The misleading falsehood is the claim that universal school choice programs wouldn’t expand opportunity because the vast majority of the beneficiaries would be students who already are enrolled in private schools. The claim is that choice programs do little more than give taxpayer money to families whose kids already attend or would have attended private schools anyway at their own expense. This may provide financial relief to those families, but they are assumed to be advantaged and therefore undeserving of assistance. Heritage Experts: Jay Greene <[link removed]>and Jason Bedrick <[link removed]>
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