America ‘at the edge of catastrophe’
July 21, 2009 | By Nathaniel Ward
"We are living at the edge of catastrophe," and we can only recover with a sound national security strategy,former House Speaker Newt Gingrich told a Heritage Foundation audience Monday.
Speaking to a full house in Heritage's Douglas and Sarah Allison Auditorium, Gingrich said American defense spending must anticipate future challenges and not focus simply on today's threats. The government must use its imagination to foresee potential attacks and "translate the imagination into public policy," he said.
» Watch the entire speech on MyHeritage.org.
The speech marked the end of Heritage's "Protect America Month," which drew attention to the need for a sustainable military policy that makes America safe, prosperous and free. This requires the capacity to act on behalf of America's global interests.
Heritage Foundation experts have for three years advocated a sound national defense policy, dubbed "Four Percent for Freedom." A responsible defense policy requires a regular defense budget of at least four percent of the gross domestic product.
» Join over 50,000 others in signing the "4 percent for Freedom" petition
"Ensuring a robust defense and a strong military should not be controversial," argues Heritage fellow Jim Talent. This commitment to maintain defense funding is "even more compelling now than it was when first proposed."
Yet even as the federal government throws hundreds of billions of taxpayer dollars at bailouts, "stimulus" packages and nationalized health care, lawmakers are looking to make drastic cuts where spending is most necessary: defense.
Heritage President Ed Feulner argues that government's "spending spree and cutting defense don't add up." Increased domestic spending and slashed military spending cannot possibly fulfill America's long-term security needs and meet the challenges of the future.
-- Amanda Reinecker
Other Heritage work of note
- A brand-new analysis from The Heritage Foundation -- conducted by the Lewin Group -- shows that 83.4 million people would lose their private insurance under the Left's health care proposal. About 88.1 million workers would see their current private, employer-sponsored health plan go away and would be shifted to the public plan, and private insurance premiums could rise by $460 per insured person. Read the full Heritage/Lewin report (PDF).
- "With 256 House members and 60 Senators, Democrats can pass almost anything they wish," writes Heritage fellow and former Congressman Ernest Istook. As a result, the fate of the most costly and expansive proposals, such as nationalized health care, rests solely on certain "Blue Dog," or fiscally conservative, Democrats. It's up to them to hold to principle and "stand up against their own party's juggernaut."
- Serious immigration reform could be a boon to the economy, argues Heritage national security expert James Carafano. "Part of the answer is getting employers the legal work force they need so they can grow their businesses, which in turn will create more jobs." Unfortunately, the government is weakening critical enforcement programs, "kowtowing to constituencies and playing politics." This approach, he says, "compromises both our security and our prosperity."
- "The issue of taxpayer funding for abortion is threatening to take center stage" in the upcoming debates on nationalized health care, writes Heritage's Randy Pate. Many lawmakers, particularly moderate Democrats, are expressing vehement concern that the proposed health care program would fund abortions with taxpayer dollars. Nineteen Democrats, for instance, have written a formal letter to Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) asking that such funding be specifically excluded.
- Chinese officials are calling on the U.S. to curtail its military support for Taiwan. But Heritage Asian studies expert Walter Lohman warns that reducing support "would both jeopardize Taiwan's security and risk of returning to a fractious, tense and dangerous cross-Strait relationship." There is little doubt that Beijing's interests in Taiwan remain focused on unification -- an objective that endangers both Taiwanese and American interests. Lohman urges the U.S. to maintain its support for Taiwan and secure "greater international breathing room."
In other news
- Facing political pressure, the Left may back off its plan to impose a new income surtax to pay for massive new government spending on health care. Better still would be if they backed off their health care "reform" plans altogether.
- Recovery.gov, a website documenting "stimulus" spending, has released some hard numbers. It turns out the spending is on exactly the sort of pork we've unfortunately come to expect: $1.5 million of taxpayer money for cheese, $350,000 for a dumbwaiter and $1.2 million followed by an additional $2.5 million for two loads of ham. The government defends these expenditures as helping the needy, though they also argue that they benefit the economy by propping up farmers and other special interests. Meanwhile, the Allentown Morning Call offers this nugget: "The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation is spending $60,000 of its stimulus money on $2,000 road signs to highlight projects funded by the massive economic recovery package."
- California lawmakers appear to have come to a budget agreement. The plan would cut spending and use budget gimmicks to overcome a $26 billion deficit. Special interests, of course, are already lining up to oppose the cuts.
- President Obama has extended the timeline for closing the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay by six months. This decision reaffirms what Heritage experts have been arguing: there are no easy answers when it comes to Guantanamo.
- The White House failed to issue a report on whether it successfully cut spending by $100 million. Of course, these $100 million in "cuts" pale in comparison to the "stimulus" bill, which was 8,000 times larger.
- The Mexican government is cracking down on drug cartels by deploying troops to the western state of Michoacan. Drug cartels control many local officials in the state.
- What's the price tag of the economic "rescue" plans of the past few months? More than all the money spent on all the wars America has ever fought.
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 Wednesday, July 22 at 11:00 a.m., Heritage's Lee Edwards will join scholar Marek Chodakiewicz for a discussion in honor of Captive Nations Week.
- On Wednesday, July 22 at 2:00 p.m., Alaska Gov. Mark Begich will discuss his state's important role in securing the nation from ballistic missile attack.
Nathaniel Ward is the Editor of MyHeritage.org—a website for members and supporters of The Heritage Foundation. Amanda Reinecker contributed to this report.
