For three newly-elected members of Congress, this past weekend’s Heritage Foundation briefings for freshmen lawmakers should have been a refresher. That’s because they participated in Heritage’s educational programs before.

• Rep.-elect Andy Barr (R-KY) was a Heritage intern in 1996 while an undergraduate at the University of Virginia. He worked for Heritage scholar Matthew Spalding before moving to the Hill to work for then-Rep. Jim Talent.
• Rep.-elect Tom Cotton (R-AR) interned at Townhall.com, which was then a Heritage project, in 1997 while an undergraduate at Harvard. Inspired by Heritage, he spent a year at the Claremont Graduate School, before going to law school and joining the military after 9/11.
• Rep.-elect Richard Hudson (R-NC) participated both in our educational programs for Congressional chiefs of staff and in our James Madison Fellows program while serving as chief of staff to Reps. Virginia Foxx (R-NC) and Mike Conaway (R-TX).

One of Heritage’s chief missions is to educate rising leaders in the conservative movement. Our internship program, part of our Young Leaders Program, is just one part of what Heritage does to educate the next generation of policymakers.

That three freshmen lawmakers have links to Heritage indicates that our efforts truly pay off in the long run.

Do you think educating interns and Congress members alike about conservative principles is the best way to ensure the future of the conservative movement?

Conservatives should stick to their principles after the 2012 elections, South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley said Tuesday at a Heritage Foundation event in Chicago.

“We have to fight for what we believe in,” she told attendees at the annual Chicago Business Luncheon, and draw contrasts with liberal policies.

Watch a video of her remarks:

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) is changing the filibuster process, dubbing it “filibuster reform,” in order to shut out the voices of the minority party.

Reid’s “filibuster reform” would “allow less time for deliberation on legislation and nominations for Senators, meaning less time for the American public to view that deliberation,” The Heritage Foundation’s Brian Darling reports.

In addition, Darling explains, in trying to “squelch the rights of individual members of the U.S. Senate…Reid has to ignore the letter of the rules to ‘reform’ them with a simple-majority party-line vote.”

Conservatives may be able to use Reid’s plan to their advantage. Darling explains: Continue Reading »

Videos from last month’s President’s Club meeting in Washington are now available online.

Watch the videos here:

• Heritage President Ed Feulner
• Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli
• And panel discussions on national defense and the conservative agenda

For your invitation to the 2013 meeting, sign up to become a member of our President’s Club today.

Ed Feulner

Heritage Foundation President Ed Feulner joined Heritage’s Mike Franc and Heritage Action for America’s Tim Chapman last week for a conversation with Heritage members on the election results.

You can listen to the audio of the event online in MP3 format.

During the teleconference, Feulner said the conservative movement must refocus on core principles and explained Heritage’s role in this process.

Continue Reading »

Ed Feulner

The following is adapted from remarks Heritage Foundation President Ed Feulner delivered Wednesday to Heritage staff.

I imagine that, besieged and belittled on all sides, and confronted with such a formidable array of adversaries – in the White House, Congress, the media and the academy – all determined to undo the Reagan Revolution and establish the Obama Revolution in its stead, many of you may look around in despair and ask: “Where is the cavalry that can come galloping to our rescue and save us from disaster?”

But I have news for you: This time around, we at The Heritage Foundation are the cavalry.

We are the flagship conservative organization that carries on the Reagan legacy.

We are the people conservatives look to stop the Obama Revolution in its tracks.

In large measure, it’s up to us to nobly save, or meanly lose, this great American experiment in democratic self-government. Continue Reading »

Photo: Flickr/wenzday01

Does President Obama’s reelection mean Obamacare is a settled issue? Far from it, Heritage Foundation scholar Stuart Butler argues on the Journal of the American Medical Association website.

In fact, the challenges facing Obamacare (formally the Affordable Care Act) are actually just getting started, Butler says:

The primary reasons for this are the continuing problems with the federal budget deficit and the national debt and the worrying long-term weakness of the economy. Add to that the increasing skepticism that the ACA’s blunt tools will slow costs.

Heritage’s Bob Moffit outlined a plan to repeal Obamacare earlier this year in National Affairs.

Do you think Obamacare will ultimately be implemented as-is?

I write to tell you to take heart.

Yes, conservatives are disappointed that a President who recklessly spent trillions, expanded government and put many of our values and institutions at risk has won a second term. But many of us have been here before. In Washington, there are no permanent victories or permanent defeats, just permanent battles.

Now is the time to stand up and declare we will continue to fight against big government and for freedom.

We will see unfold over the next four years a crucial battle for the soul of America. This struggle requires committed warriors for the cause. The line must be held against bad policy while we continue advocating conservative solutions. We must fight against the efforts to divide the country through class warfare.

Rest assured this is what The Heritage Foundation is determined to do.

We know that the First Principles reflected in our Constitution made this country great. Those principles are alive and well in the hearts and minds of the American people. We will work harder than ever before to defend them and to see them translated into the right public policies.

President Obama may have won an Electoral College victory, but he knows that he lacks a mandate for changing our nation according to his progressive vision. He is the first re-elected president since World War II not to improve his margin of victory and to get fewer Electoral College votes in re-election.

Let me be clear: The President does not have a mandate.  Continue Reading »

Liberals continue to demonize conservative plans to reform and strengthen Medicare.

A new video from The Heritage Foundation pokes fun at their outrageous claims:

Read Heritage’s plan to fix Medicare and ensure affordable, quality care for seniors.

Do you think liberals will be able to successfully demagogue conservative reforms?