Policy Papers
Infrastructure Offers Bipartisan Blueprint
KEY TAKEAWAYS Last year, Congress passed the bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, comprehensive legislation to improve America’s infrastructure systems. The law provides long-term authorizations for surface transportation, drinking water, and wastewater programs. Instead of “pivoting” back to their doomed partisan priorities, Democrats should follow this bipartisan approach to work with Republicans to address other important issues. Democrats wasted the month of... Continue Reading
February 8, 2022
Democrats Have Been Bad for Main Street
KEY TAKEAWAYS American small businesses are bearing a heavy burden after a year of Democrats’ bad policies. Persistent cost increases are hitting their bottom lines, and businesses are struggling to find enough workers to fill open jobs. Weighed down by these challenges, small business owners’ optimism has cratered. Democrats’ response is to revive their tax and spending spree, a reckless scheme that will only leave Main Street further behind. American small businesses are... Continue Reading
February 3, 2022
Democrats' Plan to Erode Employer-Sponsored Coverage
KEY TAKEAWAYS Democrats’ reckless tax and spending spree would erode employer-sponsored health coverage by expanding Obamacare subsidies and making them permanent. The changes would discourage businesses from offering health benefits to their workers. Their plan would shift 2.8 million workers out of employer-sponsored coverage, according to the Congressional Budget Office. Democrats’ reckless tax and spending spree includes provisions that would shift more people away from... Continue Reading
February 3, 2022
Data Privacy in America
KEY TAKEAWAYS There are numerous federal laws that regulate specific industries and types of data, but there is currently no comprehensive federal data privacy law in the United States. At least 15 states are preparing to consider data privacy legislation in 2022. A recent poll found “more than 7 in 10 adults say the federal government should establish national standards for how companies collect, process, and share personal data to help protect the privacy and security of individuals in... Continue Reading
February 1, 2022
China, Human Rights, and the Olympics
KEY TAKEAWAYS China is set to host the Winter Olympics beginning February 4, while millions of people in the country suffer persecution, genocide, and lack of basic freedoms under the Chinese Communist Party. The CCP uses invasive state surveillance and police powers to track citizens and foreigners throughout the country and ensures that no one can hide from the repression of the party. The U.S. and some other countries are refusing to send government representatives to the Games as a... Continue Reading
February 1, 2022
Democrats' Draconian Methane Plans
KEY TAKEAWAYS Significant growth in domestic natural gas production over the last several years has contributed to low energy costs and helped support thousands of jobs. The EPA is seeking to regulate methane emissions from domestic oil and gas production, while Democrats in Congress are pushing a methane fee as part of their reckless tax and spending spree. These policies will drive up prices and reduce supply. Natural gas generated 40% of Americans’ electricity in 2020, and almost half... Continue Reading
February 1, 2022
Democrats' Full Circle "Pivot"
KEY TAKEAWAYS After failing to jam through the first iterations of their radical schemes to “transform” the nation, Democrats have gone back to the drawing board. Americans want policymakers to focus on skyrocketing inflation, rising crime, porous borders, and ongoing disruptions from the COVID-19 pandemic. Instead, Democrats are pivoting right back to their tax and spend spree, hoping to rebrand their plans without changing the pieces of their reckless policy agenda. Democrats... Continue Reading
January 24, 2022
December 2021 Biden Border Crisis Report
Southwest Border Encounters December 2021: 178,840 Change from 2020: +104,846 Breakdown of Southwest Land Border Encounters December 2021 Single Adults: 114,993 (up 78% vs. 2020) Unaccompanied Children: 11,921 (up 140% vs. 2020) Individuals in a Family Unit: 51,624 (up 1072% vs. 2020) In December, U.S. Customs and Border Protection encountered 178,840 people attempting to enter the country illegally, up 142% from December 2020. The total number of encounters for calendar year 2021 was... Continue Reading
January 20, 2022
2022 Foreign Policy and National Security Calendar
January 27 – Holocaust Remembrance Day February 1 – President’s budget due to Congress. A delay could set back release of the nuclear posture review, missile defense review, national security strategy, and national defense strategy. February 1 – Anniversary of coup d’état in Burma February 4 – Winter Olympics begin in China February 18 – Munich Security Conference begins February 21 – 50th anniversary of President Nixon’s visit to... Continue Reading
January 20, 2022
State of Federal Cybersecurity
KEY TAKEAWAYS The Federal Information Security Modernization Act requires federal agencies to have specific cybersecurity plans, periodically review their controls, and report major data breaches to Congress. Most federal agencies are still not doing a very good job implementing the law, even though it has been in place since 2002. A review six months after President Biden’s May cybersecurity executive order found that only 19 of 46 tasks mandated had been completed. Cybersecurity... Continue Reading
January 20, 2022
Biden's Bad Year, By the Numbers
Joe Biden’s first year as president ended with skyrocketing prices, soaring COVID-19 cases, and millions of illegal border crossings; and many Americans are worse off than they were one year ago. In a flailing attempt to distract from the real problems facing families, Democrats capped their year in charge by using fake hysteria to try to break the Senate and take over the country’s elections. INFLATION: Consumers are struggling with the worst inflation in 40 years: 7%. The... Continue Reading
January 19, 2022
Democrats' Reckless Tax and Spend Contradictions
KEY TAKEAWAYS Democrats are knotted in a tangle of contradictory arguments about their reckless tax and spending spree. They plan to “transform” America’s economy and society with this one law, but have only provided for short-term implementation of their progressive spending priorities to make them look less expensive on paper. They cannot admit that they have no intention of actually allowing any programs to sunset without running into their promises... Continue Reading
January 13, 2022
Democrats' Growing Crisis in Critical Minerals
KEY TAKEAWAYS Democrats’ push for renewable energy and electric vehicles will accelerate a crisis in the supply of critical minerals used in many industries. The United States is dependent on imports from foreign nations, including adversaries, for many critical minerals. Expanding domestic production would help cut the United States’ dependence on foreign nations and avoid future supply-chain crunches that threaten our economy. Democrats are pushing massive increases in the use of... Continue Reading
January 12, 2022
Democrats' Bad Economics and Broken Promises
Democrats told Americans that the consequences of not passing their $1.9 trillion “COVID relief” boondoggle last year would be “dire.” They dismissed urgent warnings about the inflation threat from their supersized plans. They pointed to the baseline employment projections in the Congressional Budget Office’s February 2021 economic outlook as “a call to immediate action” for their massive spending scheme. They claimed that employment would increase by... Continue Reading
January 11, 2022
What's the Strategy on COVID-19?
KEY TAKEAWAYS Congress has provided billions of dollars for testing to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic and to safely keep the economy going. Despite the investment, pharmacy shelves are empty of tests, and Americans are struggling to make testing appointments. Instead of increasing testing as a safeguard for winter and holiday travel, the Biden administration allowed supply capacity to lapse, leaving the American people with fewer options to protect themselves. Americans deserve proper... Continue Reading
January 10, 2022
Democrats' Radical Takeover Plan
KEY TAKEAWAYS The filibuster lies at the heart of what makes the Senate the Senate. Without the filibuster, we will see wild swings in policy as the parties trade majority control. Democrats know that breaking the Senate by ending the filibuster is the only way to pass their overpoweringly bad idea that Congress should stage a federal takeover of elections. After they break the Senate, they won’t stop at elections. Democrats are intent on silencing the millions of Americans who live in... Continue Reading
January 7, 2022
December 2021 Jobs Reports
Unemployment Rate: 3.9 percent Jobs Created: 199,000 Employment and Unemployment The Department of Labor reported the unemployment rate decreased 0.3 percentage point to 3.9% in December. Nonfarm jobs increased by 199,000 in December, with sizeable job gains in leisure and hospitality and professional and business services. In October and November, job gains were higher on net than first reported. The department revised the change in nonfarm jobs for those months up by a combined 141,000... Continue Reading
January 6, 2022
Iran's March to the Bomb
KEY TAKEAWAYS Iran continues to march toward a nuclear weapon, enriching uranium and producing critical components. The Iranians continue to support and perpetrate acts of terrorism and other violence around the region. The Biden administration’s response is to fail to enforce U.S. sanctions and decline to provide our allies with critical support to protect them from Iranian aggression, while pursuing negotiations that degrade U.S. advantage and credibility. Iran continues to march... Continue Reading
January 6, 2022
2022 Policy Calendar
January 7 – Supreme Court hears oral arguments in legal challenges to the Biden administration vaccine mandate for large employers and health care facilities. January 12 – December inflation numbers released. January 26 – Federal Reserve’s Federal Open Market Committee announces monetary policy updates, which will reflect current economic projections and ultimately affect employment, output, and prices. January 31 – Public comment period ends for the Environmental... Continue Reading
January 4, 2022
Dems Distracted by Radical Agenda, Fail at Basic Governing
Democrats spent 2021 distracted by their radical, partisan agenda. They wasted months on their reckless tax and spending spree as inflation skyrocketed and legislative priorities for the American people piled up. Continue Reading