April 5, 2007 | By Nathaniel Ward

Speaker Pelosi’s trip to Syria

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) traveled this week to the Middle East. She met with officials in Saudia Arabia, Israel and, notably, Syria. But she did more than simply conduct a fact-finding mission as members of Congress typically do.

Members of Congress should travel to international “hot-spots” so they can make informed decisions about foreign policy, Heritage Senior Fellow Peter Brookes explains in a new video. However, “fact-finding  is one thing. Freelancing American diplomacy is another.”

“Diplomacy is the domain of the executive branch, not the legislative branch,” he says.

Brookes also expresses concern that America should present a unified message in foreign policy, especially when it comes to rogue terror-sponsoring states like Syria.

Take our poll: Should members of Congress conduct diplomacy with foreign leaders?

The Massachusetts model for health care reform

Massachusetts’ experiment in market-based health care reform is showing progress already, Heritage health care expert Bob Moffit argues. The program, designed by former Gov. Mitt Romney with the help of Heritage Foundation experts, offers lower health insurance costs and allows more people to purchase private health coverage.

While early estimates indicated the average health care plan might cost an average of nearly $400 each month under the market-based Connector, revised assessments put the figure at $175. And some plans, Moffit notes, might be available for as little as $109 a month.

The plan works by creating a statewide market for health insurance, Moffit explains. In addition, government funds that once subsidized hospitals and other institutions have been redirected to help individuals purchase private insurance. But the success of the Massachusetts reform is also due in large part to deregulation, Moffit explains.

Click here to read more about the reforms—and how other states improve on them.

The cost of government programs

Heritage researcher Robert Rector has conducted another important study. This one identifies the tremendous costs of America’s government programs, especially those for low-skill workers (those without a high school diploma).

“Before government undertakes to transfer even more economic resources to these households,” Rector insists, “it should have a very clear account of the magnitude of the economic transfers that already occur.”

What do his findings mean for immigration policy? Click here for more about this and the rest of his data.

In other news

• Liberals in Congress recognize that President Bush will likely veto the emergency bill to fund the war in Iraq if it contains unconstitutional limits on his authority as commander in chief. But they’re worried he may veto the bill even without those provisions—over the excessive non-defense pork it contains.
• The New Hampshire House of Representatives has passed a law granting same-sex civil unions the same legal privileges as married couples. Supporters of same-sex marriage, however, argue that the new law does not go far enough since it would not provide full marriage.
• The 15 British sailors and marines kidnapped by Iran two weeks ago arrived safely back in the United Kingdom today.
• American plans to establish common-sense missile defenses are not intended to restart the Cold War with Russia, the head of the Missile Defense Agency said today.

Coming up at Heritage

To attend the following Heritage Foundation events, RSVP at Heritage’s events website. Or you can watch these events live online at Heritage.org.  All times are Eastern.

• On Tuesday, April 10 at 10:30 a.m., Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK) joins health care scholars to discuss a plan to reduce health care costs and expand coverage without expanding government.
• On Wednesday, April 18 at 6:00 p.m., Steven Hayward of the American Enterprise Institute will present a special screening of his new documentary, An Inconvenient Truth...or Convenient Fiction: Sorting Out Sense from Nonsense on Global Warming. To attend, please RSVP to Cindy Chin at the Pacific Research Institute.

Nathaniel Ward is the Editor of MyHeritage.org—a website for members and supporters of The Heritage Foundation.

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