December 4, 2007 | By Nathaniel Ward

	Featured video Secretary Gutierrez speaks at Heritage about free enterprise in Latin America. More videos »

Did you pay the Thanksgiving tax?

When millions of Americans celebrated Thanksgiving this year, little did they realize that they were paying more for their turkey, thanks to misguided government energy policies.

In fact, according to a panel of experts who met last week at The Heritage Foundation, Americans had to fork over an extra $69 million on Thanksgiving because of the federal government’s ethanol mandates. This, argues Heritage fellow Ernest Istook, is little more than a “Thanksgiving tax.”

Take our poll: Do the benefits of government ethanol policy outweigh the costs?
 
“Americans pay $9 billion a year more for our food because of ethanol policy,” Istook argues in an article published Monday.

The Congressionally-imposed mandate for ethanol usage has caused feed prices for chicken, turkey and cattle farms to increase substantially, the panel said. Many of these animals eat mainly corn feed, and much of the cost of raising them is in food costs. These new high costs discourage farmers from raising cattle and other animals, further increasing the amount you and I pay at the supermarket.

“Biofuel mandates hold the market captive” as government requirements increase costs, said panelist Joel Brandenberger, President of the National Turkey Federation.

Congress is now considering expanding on this misguided policy with a proposal to triple the ethanol mandate, which would further increase the costs of corn-based food. But why? As a recent Heritage study concluded, bio-fuels like ethanol are not a cost-efficient or environmentally-friendly source of energy, nor do they appreciably improve America’s energy security.

—Colin Gowan

What’s wrong with the SCHIP bill?

Liberals are attempting to override President Bush’s veto and revive legislation that would expand a government health benefit for kids into a new entitlement. Heritage experts are hard at work outlining the problems with this latest plan.

Just this week, our experts have released four research papers on the bill’s flaws.

• Illegal immigration and welfare reform. The liberal bill “fails to adequately prevent abuse of taxpayer funds,” Heritage’s Robert Rector finds. “It increases opportunities for illegal immigrants to obtain Medicaid benefits and for legal immigrants to enroll in SCHIP or Medicaid before living in the U.S. the requisite five years.”
• A backdoor to entitlement expansion. If the current proposal becomes law, explains Heritage health care expert Nina Owcharenko, “liberals could resort to Medicaid as a way to circumvent” eligibility rules “and expand the reach of these programs into the middle class.”
• More birth control and less parental involvement. Heritage’s Daniel Moloney reports that “if the proposed legislation goes into effect, federal laws and regulations would make contraception available to millions of children, for free, while prohibiting doctors and schools from informing the children's parents.”
• The wrong way to advance private coverage. The bill is designed, Owcharenko finds, “to hinder any robust provision of private health options for children” by adding red tape and complexity and blocking access to market-based health care.

Heritage experts will present these facts to lawmakers on Capitol Hill and in the White House. And they will ensure the American people are aware of the consequences of the liberals’ march towards government-run health care.

Last chance to RSVP to see Steve Forbes in Chicago

On Thursday, Heritage Foundation Trustee Steve Forbes will speak at the Annual Chicago Business Luncheon about advancing the conservative agenda.

RSVP today to attend! MyHeritage.org/Registration

His remarks, sponsored by the Chicago Committee for Heritage, will be played live on MyHeritage.org at 1:40 p.m. Eastern time on Thursday.

Expanding free enterprise in Latin America

A proposed new agreement with Colombia would benefit American businesses, workers and consumers, Secretary of Commerce Carlos Gutierrez said Monday at The Heritage Foundation.

» Watch video clips of Secretary Gutierrez’s remarks.

A new pact would allow Columbians to import American goods, including farm equipment and technological devices, without paying import duties. It could also serve as “a catalyst for reform” and create hundreds of thousands of jobs in the Latin American country.

American goods are currently subject to taxes and other government restrictions when imported into Columbia, Gutierrez said. The United States does not impose tariffs on Columbian goods, however.

Heritage Latin America expert James Roberts has also noted that the deal, which is up for Congressional approval, would bolster American security.

Similar arrangements to expand free enterprise are in place or pending with Panama, Peru, Chile and other Latin American countries. In a new analysis, Heritage’s Daniella Markheim and Roberts explain why the proposed U.S.-Peru pact would be a winning proposition for both countries.

—Colin Gowan

In other news

• Because Congress has delayed enacting a fix for the Alternative Minimum Tax, which would hit millions more taxpayers next year, the IRS may postpone the delivery of tax refunds.
• How badly is Congress overspending? It adds million dollars to the national debt every minute, according to Associated Press statistics.
• A new National Intelligence Estimate released Monday concluded that Iran ceased development of nuclear weapons in 2003.
• Hugo Chavez, Venezuela’s would-be despot, suffered a setback when his planned constitutional reforms were blocked by a referendum. The new constitution would have enacted misguided socialist policies and allowed Chavez to remain president indefinitely.
• A federal appeals judge said federal prosecutors may have “overreacted” when investigating the cases of Jose Alonso Compean and Ignacio Ramos, two Border Patrol agents imprisoned for shooting an alleged drug smuggler.
• Russian President Vladimir Putin’s United Russia party won the weekend’s parliamentary elections. Observers have called the vote unfair and fraught with voter intimidation and other irregularities.
• How is the Left going to handle this news? A new study reports that stable families are better for the environment than those that split up.
• A British teacher arrested in Sudan for allowing her students to name a teddy bear “Mohammed” has returned home safely.
• Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) has fired one of her schedulers after he was arrested by the FBI in a child sex sting.
• Citing safety concerns, Massachusetts authorities will remove all American flags and other tributes to the troops from state overpasses.

Coming up at Heritage

To attend these or any other 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 Wednesday, Dec. 5 at 10:30 a.m., experts including Coast Guard Rear Admiral Mary Landry discuss the effectiveness of America’s maritime security policies.
• On Thursday, Dec. 6 at 10:00 a.m., a panel of experts discusses how nuclear power is emerging as a solution to America’s energy concerns.

Nathaniel Ward is the Editor of MyHeritage.org—a website for members and supporters of The Heritage Foundation. Colin Gowan contributed to this report.

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