Here is the Heritage Take on the top issues today.Please reply to this email to arrange an interview.

Left Is Using Supreme Court Commission to Change Court’s Decisions, Not to Improve It <[link removed]> – Left-wing groups have been demanding a judiciary
makeover in general, and court-packing in particular, for years. The group Demand Justice, for example, says that “structural” reforms, such as adding four Supreme Court seats, would be “big, bold solutions” to “big, urgent problems.” It also wants term limits for Supreme Court justices, another issue the Biden commission will examine. Unlike previous commissions, however, the
Biden commission includes members who are already on record as favoring some of the very proposals that they will be tasked with examining. For example, one commission member is Michael Waldman, president of the Brennan Center for Justice. This organization has advocated judicial term limits and changing the method of appointment. It is hard to imagine Waldman examining the pros and cons of these reforms evenly, rather than agree with them as a foregone conclusion. Heritage expert: Tom Jipping <[link removed]>

A Strong U.S. Response to the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing <[link removed]> – The 2022 Winter Olympics are still scheduled to take place in Beijing—despite the Chinese Communist Party’s well-documented and gross human rights violations about which the U.S. and many other countries have expressed grave concern. The U.S. should lead an international coalition to pressure the International Olympic Committee to postpone the 2022 Olympics for the purpose of selecting a new host city. Should the Olympics take place in Beijing, China will have scored a major propaganda victory—giving the regime no incentive to end its abuses—proving that human rights are not really a serious concern for the U.S. and its friends around the world, after all. Heritage expert: Olivia Enos <[link removed]>
Johnson & Johnson Vaccinations Halt Across Country <[link removed]> – Taking a pause on the Johnson &Johnson vaccine is part of the federal government’s job to ensure safety for new drugs as they come to the market. Thankfully, the incidents of those impacted by the J&J vaccine’s side effects are rare. The concern is that the J&J vaccine could cause blood clots. It's unclear whether the vaccine is responsible. Pausing distribution while evaluating new data is something the FDA might do with any drug experiencing post-approval safety concerns. It's right to take stories like this seriously and dig deeper. Part of a getting a drug to market faster means we learn more after it's on market, and we need to take those emerging issues seriously and adjust accordingly. Heritage expert: Ed Haislmaier <[link removed]>
Putin threatens Ukraine – here's the danger and what US, allies should do about it <[link removed]> – Ukranian sovereignty and territorial integrity (along with that of Georgia) should be
elevated to top-level priorities in U.S. European policy. Helping Ukrainians build a strong, sovereign state is in the long-term U.S. interest. As for Putin, he this week signed a law allowing him to run for two more six- year presidential terms. If not now, then certainly sometime in the future he will need another popularity boost – and that will place neighboring nations trying to break free from Russian influence once more in Putin’s crosshairs. Heritage expert: Jim Carafano <[link removed]>
Supreme Court Punted on Protections for Religion in Workplace. Justice Gorsuch Wasn’t Having It. <[link removed]> – Gorsuch reminded the court in his Small dissent that because Hardison is still alive and well, “the company had no obligation to provide Mr. Small his requested religious accommodations because doing so would have cost the company something (anything) more than a trivial amount.” That cannot be the right balance between an employee’s religious liberty and his employer’s interests. The Supreme Court had a chance to correct that imbalance—but declined. That’s why a frustrated Gorsuch concluded his dissent in Small: “[T]oday, this Court refuses even to entertain the question. It’s a struggle to see why.” Heritage expert: Sarah Perry <[link removed]>
FDA lifts curbs on dispensing abortion pills during pandemic <[link removed]> – Chemical abortion poses serious health risks to women, and has a complication rate four times higher than that of surgical abortion. The farther along a woman is in her pregnancy, the more likely she is to experience complications. Policymakers and the administration should strengthen, not weaken, restrictions on the abortion pill. The abortion lobby downplays the risks of chemical abortion. But the facts are clear; in the United States, 24 women have died following a chemical abortion and the FDA has documented thousands of cases of adverse events—including serious complications such as hemorrhage, ruptured ectopic pregnancies, and sepsis. With the Biden administration once again falling in line to do the bidding of the abortion lobby, it’s clear that policymakers, particularly at the state level, will have the burden of protecting women from dangerous abortion pills. Heritage expert: Melanie Israel <[link removed]>
Lack of Economic Freedom in Central America Spurring Mass Migration <[link removed]> – A core of the strategy must be about advancing economic freedom in the Northern Triangle. Improving economic governance and thus installing real economic development in the countries of the region would offer practical and lasting solutions to ultimately reverse the unacceptable illegal immigration into America. Unfortunately, the Biden administration is satisfied with simply returning to the practice of sending foreign aid to the Northern
Triangle countries, without conditions to end their corruption or improve their economic governance. That practice has not succeeded in the past, as shown by the continuous migration flow out of the region. Worse, the administration is now considering giving cash transfers to nationals of the three countries. That’s neither a serious nor lasting economic solution, and the money will likely still end up in the human smugglers’ pockets. Heritage expert: Lora
Ries <[link removed]>
Biden’s Appropriations Budget Proposal Is Unreasonable, Irresponsible <[link removed]> –  Instead of new spending, it is important for Congress to start implementing a responsible budget. Lawmakers should carefully review
the budget and wind down programs that do not carry out the proper constitutional powers of the federal government and are otherwise unnecessary. At the same time, Congress should ensure that important priorities receive responsible funding levels. Vital riders, such as the long-standing Hyde Amendment to protect taxpayers from paying for abortions, must be included. Finally, Congress should not include earmarks in the spending bills. Despite an effort to rebrand them with the euphemism “community project funding,” there is nothing more emblematic of the proverbial Washington “swamp” than earmarks. Heritage expert: David Ditch <[link removed]>
Biden's Medicare expansion proposal: More power to Washington <[link removed]> – Biden’s Medicare expansion comes with big tradeoffs: Millions of Americans dropping — or being dumped —
out of their private and employer-based health insurance; bigger taxes and more Medicare cost shifting to the private insurance of younger working families; bigger incentives for early retirement and reduced workforce participation; and a worsening of the growing imbalance between the shrinking number of persons working to finance the growing number of Medicare beneficiaries. Health policy is not just about care and coverage; it is about power and control. By creating more widespread popular dependence on government and displacing private alternatives for care and coverage, Washington politicians and their agents in the federal bureaucracy increase their power and control. Ignore the syrupy rhetoric. That is the real agenda. Heritage expert: Bob Moffit <[link removed]>
Biden’s New Policy On Transgender Troops Will Weaken Our Military <[link removed]> – While China and Russia are busy investing in their military capabilities and seeking new ways to kill Americans and
threaten our interests, the Biden administration is promising to not only welcome individuals with once-disqualifying medical conditions into the ranks, but to reward those individuals with taxpayer-funded “gender reassignment” surgeries and time off away from their unit and training regimen to recover. But don’t worry – those
taxpayer dollars will only add up to “a handful of a million dollars,” according to the Pentagon. As usual, the consequences of this decision will be felt by the men and women responsible for our security, not the policymakers in DC. Heritage expert: Tom Spoehr <[link removed]>
The Growing Danger of Iran’s Missile Programs <[link removed]> – Stopping Iran from developing nuclear weapons is a clear national security imperative for the United States—and for many other countries. So, too, is preventing Iran from developing the means to deliver these weapons to potential targets in the Middle Eastern region—or beyond, including the U.S. homeland. Nor can the U.S. ignore Iran’s conventionally armed missiles as a significant threat, as evidenced by attacks in the region directly or through Iranian proxies against Israel, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and U.S. forces in Iraq. Iran’s missile programs are an increasing threat to America’s national interests and those of U.S. allies and other partners in the Middle East. Failing to deal with Iran’s growing missile arsenal will only elevate the risk of crisis and conflict. Heritage expert: Jim Phillips <[link removed]>

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