Featured video

Senators Hutchison and Tester explain the Second Amendment at Heritage Thursday.

Congress passes giveaway plan

Congress has passed a bloated $152 billion economic “stimulus” package that consists largely of giveaways and handouts to special interest groups.

Throwing money at the economy—a “solution” to economic softness based on the discredited big-government economic ideas of John Maynard Keynes—is unlikely to improve matters. Simply sending checks to taxpayers has historically proved a poor route to economic growth. Heritage Foundation economist Brian Riedl points out that the tax “rebates” issued in 2001 did little to bolster the weak economy.

If Congress really wants to help the economy, a better plan would be to cut tax rates—and prevent tax increases by making permanent the 2003 tax rate cuts. The economy took off after those tax cuts, which reduced the penalties on work and investment, Riedl explains.

President Bush has said he will sign the package.

What the Second Amendment really means

The Constitution secures an individual’s right to bear arms, Sens. Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-Tex.) and Jon Tester (D-Mont.) said Thursday at The Heritage Foundation. They urged the Supreme Court to keep this in mind as they consider an important Second Amendment case.

» Watch the videos of their presentation

The high court will hear arguments next month about whether the District of Columbia’s effective ban on firearms violates the Constitution. The case, District of Columbia v. Heller, could result in the most important Second Amendment decision since 1939.

The issue at stake, Tester said, is “about rights granted in the Constitution.”

Hutchison echoed the sentiment and dismissed critics who argue that the right to bear arms is collective, not individual. “The simple fact that [the right to bear arms] is located in the Bill of Rights and not Section 8 of the Constitution shows the Framers’ intent.”

Both senators cited the growing threat to this fundamental right. Tester, for example, said he was appalled by the New Orleans gun confiscations which followed Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

Heritage has been an effective advocate for a common-sense understanding of the Second Amendment. When District of Columbia v. Heller came before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, Heritage legal scholars helped the winning side prepare its arguments.

—Chris Albright

Heritage scholar appointed to civil rights body

House Minority Leader John Boehner has appointed Heritage legal scholar Todd Gaziano to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights.

» Watch the video of Gaziano’s appointment

The appointment adds “another strong and thoughtful defender of equal rights to the commission,” said Edwin Meese, who served as President Reagan’s Attorney General and is now the Ronald Reagan Distinguished Fellow at Heritage.

Gaziano will help the commission analyze civil rights issues, including enforcement of civil rights laws.

For the past decade, Gaziano has worked to ensure equal protection under the law and battled against the unconstitutional quotas and preferences advanced by the Left. He has headed Heritage’s Civil Rights Working Group and served on the Virginia Advisory Committee to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights.

Other Heritage work of note

Entitlements. President Bush’s budget request for 2009 calls for decreasing discretionary spending and earmarks, extending the tax cuts and enacting overdue reforms to Medicare, Heritage budget expert Brian Riedl writes. Unless action is taken on Medicare and other entitlements, “lawmakers would eventually have to choose between permanently raising taxes by a staggering 10.3 percent of GDP or eliminate every other federal program in order to fund Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid,” Riedl explains. Heritage’s Bob Moffit argues that the budget should jump-start this entitlement-reform debate. —Chris Albright

Health Care. The President’s budget proposal “would eliminate unfair tax discrimination against those who are not offered employer-sponsored health insurance,” says Heritage expert J.D. Foster. This is a sound proposal that could strengthen health care by allowing free enterprise to work. —Chris Albright

Energy and Environment. The European Union’s climate change package, a flawed successor to the failed Kyoto Protocol, leaves much to be desired and should not be emulated in this country, Heritage’s Sally McNamara argues. The United States, she says, should avoid making policies that cater to European elites. Instead, America “should continue to explore affordable ways to enact sensible environmental policies.” —Chris Albright

In other news

Wednesday was Ronald Reagan’s birthday. As we remember his life, we should also think back to the principles he espoused and ask ourselves, what would Reagan do?
A proposed bill in Maryland would replace civil marriages in the state with “valid domestic partnerships.”
A year ago, Congress initiated a “Green the Capitol” initiative to make the legislature’s home “carbon neutral.” The result? Taxpayer dollars were sent to midwestern farmers to do—not much, actually. “While several farmers who had received money from the House purchase were actively sequestering carbon,” The Hill reports, “they might not actually be using the money to further their carbon reduction efforts.”
While a recent intelligence report said Iran has ended its nuclear weapons program, the nation recently began testing advanced centrifuges, which could be used to process nuclear material for weapons use.
It turns out supply-and-demand still works, despite what some in Washington might think. Some reports suggest that gasoline prices could plummet as demand decreases with the softening economy. But even if prices fall, that’s no excuse for Congress to impose new economic controls that artificially increase the costs of energy.
Eugenics is alive and well, the AP reports. Scientists hope to perfect a technique for genetic manipulation to “produce embryos free of inherited diseases.”
The military has revealed the existence of a secret detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

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 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 noon, Professor Lucas Morel discusses the purpose of Black History Month and its effects on racial polarization in America.
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.