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Heritage responds to the State of the Union

January 30, 2008 | By Nathaniel Ward

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On Monday, President Bush delivered his final state of the Union address to Congress. His speech emphasized issues like Iraq and the economy, but touched on other areas as well.

» Read the text of the speech.

» Take our poll: Which issue should have received more attention from President Bush during his State of the Union address?

Heritage Foundation policy experts closely watched the speech and posted their reactions on The Foundry, Heritage’s weblog. Here are some excerpts of their comments:

• Iraq. The State of the Union served as a reminder for the American people of the progress made in Iraq since the new surge strategy debuted last year under General Petraeus. Heritage experts point out that the American surge “helped to turn the tide.”

• Health Care. President Bush “proposed sound policy” for health care reform, including reforming the tax treatment of health insurance and allowing the purchase of insurance across state lines.

• Immigration. “Once again the president said all the right words” about immigration and border security. But we should remember that he said much the same thing last year. “The President needed to do more to send the right the signal on the kinds of legislation that Americans would both find acceptable and would actually solve the problem.”

• Defense. When the war in Iraq winds down, some on the Left may want another “peace dividend” and cut spending on defense. “While the president did say Congress must fully fund defense and give the troops all they need—that is just not enough,” Heritage experts argue. “The United States must invest at least 4 percent of GDP on defense spending over the next decade to maintain a trained and ready force, pay for current operations, and modernize for the future. The president should have laid down a marker for long-term investment in defense to build the kind of military America needs for the long war.”

• Intelligence. President Bush quite reasonably asked for an extension of Protect America Act, which gives intelligence agencies the tools they need to intercept terrorist communications. The measure expires at the end of the month.

• Entitlements. The President quite rightly called on Congress “to address the coming tsunami of Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid costs.”

• Energy. “President Bush should be commended for recognizing the need to expand nuclear energy in the United States. As a CO2-free, safe and affordable source of energy, nuclear power can help reduce atmospheric emissions while meeting America’s growing energy demands.”

• Technology. President Bush neglected to mention many of the important technology issues facing the nation. “Now, it’s not like Internet policy should trump the Iraq war or entitlement reform as a topic of interest,” Heritage experts explained. “But it’s also not like the field is devoid of important policy issues.”

• Environment. President Bush quite rightly did not commit to a misguided legislative approach to global warming. “Such cap and trade bills would do more economic harm than environmental good, and it is best that this administration run out the clock on them rather than try to win 11th hour plaudits from environmentalists.”

• Education. President Bush was right to call for expanded school choice, though he also urged reauthorization of No Child Left Behind, which “greatly expanded federal control in education, significantly increased education spending, and [imposed] testing policies that may be having unintended consequences in the states.”

• Earmarks. President Bush plans to issue an executive order that directs federal agencies to ignore any future earmarks that aren’t voted on by Congress as a whole. This is a good start, “but it shouldn’t take an executive order for Congress and the Executive alike to know that committee reports cannot legally bind the President to allocate funds for pork projects.”

• Free Enterprise. New agreements are pending with South Korea, Colombia and Panama. “Especially with the economic uncertainty today,” Heritage experts write, President Bush was right to highlight “the urgent need for Congress to focus on the economic growth these agreements will provide.”

Heritage gets the message out—I

Heritage’s message on reining in runaway government spending seems to be taking hold. In his message to Congress on Monday, President Bush called on Congress to reform the bloated and ever-expanding entitlement programs:

Every Member in this chamber knows that spending on entitlement programs like Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid is growing faster than we can afford. And we all know the painful choices ahead if America stays on this path: massive tax increases, sudden and drastic cuts in benefits, or crippling deficits. I have laid out proposals to reform these programs. Now I ask Members of Congress to offer your proposals and come up with a bipartisan solution to save these vital programs for our children and grandchildren.

Writing on National Review Online, Heritage Vice President Mike Franc said that this “reference to the pressing need to reform our big three entitlement programs — Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security” was “the most revealing moment of the speech.”

Heritage gets the message out—II

Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) delivered the conservative response to President Bush’s State of the Union speech Monday night. He opened his remarks with a call for fully funding America’s armed forces by spending four percent of GDP on defense—a policy Heritage has long recommended.

In other news

• The House passed a 15-day extension of a provision in the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act allowing intelligence agencies to intercept foreign communications. The White House has threatened to veto a short-term extension.
• There’s refreshing news on spending from Congress: the House Republican caucus has called for an immediate end to pork-barrel earmarks as a first step towards spending reform.
•  “Police found nine bodies and 10 severed heads in an abandoned field north of Baghdad on Tuesday,” Reuters reports. This should be a sobering reminder of the nature of our enemy there. For the latest on Iraq, visit Heritage’s Progress in Iraq page.
• The House has approved a massive program of cash handouts, part of an ill-designed economic “stimulus” plan. Many in the Senate, which has yet to vote on the bill, hope to tack on still more lavish benefits at taxpayer expense. Heritage’s Brian Riedl explains why tax rate cuts would be a better option.
• Illegal immigrants are leaving Arizona after that state cracked down on businesses that unlawfully employ such workers.

Coming up at Heritage

To attend these or any other events at Heritage please RSVP at Heritage’s website.  Or you can view these events live online.  All times are Eastern.

• On Thursday, Feb. 7 at noon, Iraq’s ambassador to the United States joins a panel of experts to discuss the situation in his country.
• On Monday, Feb. 11 at 2:00 p.m., a panel of experts assesses the Six-Party Talks on North Korean denuclearization.
• On Tuesday, Feb. 12 at 5:00 p.m., Heritage hosts a special screening of the documentary Demographic Winter: The Decline of the Human Family.

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