Dana Blauvelt, a member of Heritage's Young Leaders Program

Adjusting to life as an intern at The Heritage Foundation was probably the easiest transition I have ever made. As a student from a conservative college with a strong background in America’s founding principles, there couldn’t have been a better fit for me this summer.

Nor could my experience have come at a better time. I have had the privilege of a front row seat in the theater of American politics at a time of unprecedented fiscal debate. I was able to promote essential conservative principles while being exposed to heated political discourse. The textbook knowledge I gained in my economics, American history and Constitutional law classes came alive in Washington as I dug deeper into the reasoning behind the latest legislative proposals. Continue Reading »

Heritage Commentary

• Ariel Cohen explains the failures of Obama’s Russian “re-set” policy in The Washington Times.

Others’ Commentary

• Michael Franc talks about the increase in Republican voters under Ronald Reagan in Canada’s The Globe and Mail. Continue Reading »

Heritage Commentary

• Dr. Ed Feulner writes about rising gas prices and restricted energy production in The Washington Times.
• James Carafano discusses Yemen as the new home base for al-Qaeda in The Examiner.
• Brian Darling responds to liberal smears against the Tea Party in Human Events.
• Jennifer Marshall writes about Christianity and welfare reform in McClatchy newspapers, the Kansas City Star, the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, the Sacramento Bee, the Akron Beacon Journal, and more.
• Bill Beach and Dustin Siggins identify three keys to relief for the Debt-Paying Generation in the Portland Oregonian, the Savannah Morning News, and the Atlantic City Press.
• Chuck Donovan comments on climate alarmists and population control in the Modesto Bee and the Gulf Times.
• Hans von Spakovsky explains the sensible precaution of voter ID laws in the Fresno Bee.

Others’ Commentary

• Mackenzie Eaglen comments on defense cuts in Robert Samuelson’s syndicated column and Defense News.
• Brian Riedl talks about spending as a major cause of the deficit in Human Events.
• Heritage is quoted on the mandatory coverage of contraceptives through Obamacare in The Washington Times and Deseret News.
• CNN anchor Carol Costello cites Heritage’s “What is Poverty” study in the Huffington Post.
• Heritage’s “Saving the American Dream” plan is considered a good framework for guiding the Super Committee says Hot Air.
• Heritage’s 2011 Budget Chart Book is cited on entitlement spending in The Week.
• Rea Hederman elaborates on employment numbers in the Daily Caller.

Heritage in the News

• Michael Franc calls for Congress to return to Washington early and further reduce the deficit in McClatchy newspapers.
• James Carafano encourages merit-based foreign aid in Voice of America.
• David Kreutzer explains how a drop in crude oil prices affects general economic affordability in Christian News.
• Baker Spring talks about how the debt deal undermines national security in The Hill and the Fort Worth Star Telegram.
• Derek Scissors discusses the U.S.-Taiwanese trade relationship in the Taipei Times.

Heritage Commentary

• Bill Beach and Dustin Siggins propose relief for the “Debt-Paying Generation” in the Green Bay Press Gazette.

Others’ Commentary

• Brett Schaefer provides data on rising U.S. funds for the U.N. in the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review.
• Mike Franc identifies Obamacare as the first unpopular entitlement program in Hot Air.
• Heritage’s chart on the U.S. debt limit is referenced in SmallCapInvestor.

Heritage in the News

• Derek Scissors comments on obstacles to the U.S.-Taiwan Free Trade Agreement in the China Post.
• Kathryn Nix talks about Obamacare and runaway health care costs in The News Tribune.
• Curtis Dubay discusses tax cuts and deficits on NPR.
• Mike Franc identifies issues that matter the most to conservative voters at IowaPolitics.com

Heritage Commentary

• Dr. Ed Feulner discusses “Red Tape Rising” and the effects of over-regulation on a stagnant economy in The Washington Times.

Others’ Commentary

• Hans von Spakovsky identifies the benefits of voter ID laws in the Wall Street Journal.
• Heritage is cited on the need for voter ID laws in the Charlotte Observer.
• Heritage’s Social Security reform proposal is praised in the Fredericksburg Free Lance Star.
• J.D. Foster elaborates on the details of a government default in PolitiFact. Continue Reading »

Heritage Commentary

• Chuck Donovan confronts overpopulation alarmists in the Philadelphia Inquirer, the Portland Oregonian, and Deseret News.
• Dr. Kim Holmes analyzes the defense risks of the debt deal in the Eurasia Review.
• Hans von Spakovsky discusses South Carolina’s voter ID law in the Pajamas’ “Tatler”.

Others’ Commentary

• Thomas Sowell references Heritage’s research on “What is Poverty” in his syndicated column.
• Heritage’s research on marriage and poverty is cited in the Minnesota Public Radio. Continue Reading »

Heritage Commentary

• Ariel Cohen and Robert Nicholson discuss Azerbaijan’s support for the U.S. in the War on Terror in The Washington Times.
• James Carafano writes about the Coast Guard’s need for a new kind of ship in The Examiner.
• Diane Katz summarizes the increase of red tape during the Obama Administration using results from her recent “Red Tape Rising” study with James Gattuso in the Kansas City Star.
• Chuck Donovan explains why global warming campaigners seek to limit child-bearing in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.
• Hans von Spakovsky explains the role of voter ID laws in protecting election integrity in the Arizona Daily Star. Continue Reading »

“Do you heat your home? Light your rooms? Buy and cook food? Watch TV? If the answer is ‘yes,’ then you’ve fallen under federal regulation,” explains Heritage’s Mike Brownfield. “And you’re paying for it, too.”

In Red-Tape Rising: A 2011 Mid-Year Report, The Heritage Foundation’s James Gattuso and Diane Katz identify 15 new major regulations that have added $5.8 billion in annual costs along with $6.5 billion in costs for one-time implementation. And that’s just new regulations so far this year – there are thousands more, costing an estimated $1.75 trillion annually. 

Gattuso and Katz explain how these billions of dollars will hit home for Americans:

Many people may think that regulatory costs are a business problem. Indeed, they are, but the costs of regulation are inevitably passed on to consumers in the form of higher prices and limited product choices. Basic items, such as toilets, showerheads, lightbulbs, mattresses, washing machines, dryers, cars, ovens, refrigerators, television sets, and bicycles, all cost significantly more because of government decrees on energy use, product labeling, and performance standards that go well beyond safety—as well as hundreds of millions of hours of testing and paperwork to document compliance.

Reining in bureaucratic costs will require legislative action. The first steps, according to Gattuso and Katz, are to ensure Congressional review of all major regulations and to require a sunset date for each rule so that unnecessary regulations will automatically expire.

For more details on America’s growing red tape, see Gattuso and Katz’s full report.

Heritage Commentary

• Robert Rector’s article on ‘What is Poverty’ is featured in Xinhua.
• Jennifer Marshall analyzes the Atlanta school cheating scandal in the St. Paul Pioneer-Press.

Others’ Commentary

• Heritage’s debt-limit chart is highlighted in Powerline.
• Heritage attributes the deficit to excessive spending in the New Zealand Herald.
• Robert Rector states that welfare programs erode self-sufficiency in Investor’s Business Daily. Continue Reading »

“We live at the end of a certain kind of world” with the rise of Facebook and similar technologies, but we should not fear that change, social media researcher John Mark Reynolds said Monday at The Heritage Foundation.

Reynolds said he is confident that we will not simply cease to pursue the personal connections that are critical to a free society as we develop online relationships. Instead, he predicts that personal relationships and private forums for the safe exchange of ideas will become all the more valuable as they become rare.

That’s not to say that the rapid rise of social networks like Facebook and Twitter is without negative consequences. Continue Reading »