HERITAGE FOUNDATION NEWS 01/03/2013

Where Lawmakers Can Cut From the Newest Spending Bill to Save You Money by Katie Nielsen Lawmakers are adding the final touches to a gigantic $1 trillion “omnibus” spending bill that they are expected to release next week. The bill would spend vastly more than allowed under the sequestration spending caps. Heritage Foundation budget expert Romina Boccia says lawmakers should eliminate programs that are better suited for management at a state, local, or private level permanently. Doing so would save American taxpayers money in the long run and reduce the size and scope of the federal government—saving even more money, and reducing federal intervention in local government and market functions.  She lists ten such programs that, if eliminated, would save taxpayers $10.2 billion. What other savings and cuts do you propose? Disproving Liberal Economic Theory In One Chart In early December, President Obama gave a speech on the economy. He blamed “the rich” for slowing economic growth by concentrating their wealth in savings and investment rather than spending it on consumption. Heritage Foundation economist Salim Furth explains that the President’s claim is misguided. Instead, what is proven to contribute to a healthy economy is fairer, more open, and more dynamic competition in the American economy. The new edition of Heritage’s Index of Economic Freedom, to be released later this month, will show how America stacks up against the rest of the world on this front. Liberals claim that consumerism drives the economy. But that simply isn't true. Do you think it’s important to encourage economic freedom? 5 Cultural Reasons Conservatives Should Look Forward to 2014 Considering the focus on pop culture and celebrity minutiae in 2013, you would be forgiven for concluding that the ruin of American culture is upon us.  But, despite the many signs to the contrary, there really are some ways in which American culture has improved in the last 20 years. The Heritage Foundation’s Leslie Ford lists the five most encouraging ways our American  culture has changed for the better: Americans are more pro-life than ever before. There has been a decrease in the number of teens in trouble. Seventy-five percent of Americans are religious. Americans are volunteering more. Marriages are lasting longer. That means more Americans value stable families, traditional values, and strong communities. So we conservatives have much to look forward to in 2014. Do you think conservative values will continue to be strengthen in 2014?

Heritage Work of Note Red tape was flying every which way last year. Click here for The Heritage Foundation’s Diane Katz and James Gattuso's list of the ten worst government regulations of 2013. In Other News Supreme Court Justice Sotomayor gave a last-minute reprieve from Obamacare's contraception mandate to a group of nuns in Colorado. It is impossible to go online and update your Obamacare coverage to reflect common life changes including childbirth, marriage, divorce, or death in the family.   The NSA is reportedly planning to spend $79.7 million to build a "quantum computer" that will decipher virtually any kind of encryption. The IMF warns that much of the Western world will require defaults, higher taxes, and higher inflation to recover from record-high debt levels.