December 4, 2014 This Is How Congress Can Stop Obamas Amnesty by Tyler McArthur Five million people in the United States illegally will be shielded from deportation and allowed to receive work permits under President Obama’s unconstitutional executive action. Today Congress is voting to express its displeasure, but the vote is merely symbolic. The real debate will occur next week. It will allow Congress to use its power of the purse to block programs associated with President Obama’s amnesty executive order. Here is The Heritage Foundation’s round up of the different ways Congress can block amnesty. Congress has constitutional powers over appropriations, meaning it is acceptable and lawful for Congress to provide or deny taxpayer funds to any government programs and can determine the conditions under which money is spent. But what if the federal agency is funded using fees, not taxpayer money? Congress still has the power of the purse. They can limit and determine how money is expended in any federal agency, regardless of where the money comes from. So although the Department of Homeland Security funds its immigration services in part through fees that it collects, Congress still has the final say on how this money is put to use. Bottom Line: Congress has the power to govern all aspects of how federal money is used. Should Congress defund President Obama’s unlawful executive order? Why It Probably Doesnt Matter Who the Next Secretary of Defense Will Be Late last week, Chuck Hagel announced he would be stepping down from his position as secretary of defense. Unfortunately, though not surprisingly, the media was so distracted by guessing his replacement, they failed to note the policy failures that led to his departure. Today, the secretary of defense is weaker due to (1) the President’s failed national security agenda and (2) his dysfunctional approach to handling national security matters, Heritage Foundation experts Jim Carafano, Dakota Wood, James Phillips, and Luke Coffey report. And until these issues are sorted out, it won’t matter who takes over after Hagel. Here are the five steps the White House needs to take to make the secretary of defense position is more than just a figurehead: Renounce the 2014 Quadrennial Defense Review (QDR); Submit a realistic 2016 defense budget request that clearly highlights the risks facing America; Scrap the current approach to nuclear negotiations with Iran; Make a real commitment to transatlantic security; and Fully commit to a robust presence in the Asia–Pacific region. How would you fix the Department of Defense? Obamas Immigration Task Force Skips Assimilation President Obama’s “Task Force for New Americans” takes a fundamentally wrong approach to immigration, The Heritage Foundation’s Mike Gonzalez explains. His initial memorandum makes no call for assimilation, and includes no concept of encouraging immigrants to see themselves as Americans first and members of ethnic groups second. And it calls for America to be like other advanced economies–which have themselves done a poor job of integrating new immigrants. Most troubling is the tight-knit relationship between the administration and La Raza, a far-left group that emphasizes ethnic division rather than national unity. President Obama appointed La Raza’s former vice president to be co-chair of the task force. Do you think immigrants should consider themselves Americans before anything else? Heritage Is Formidable in the World of Think Tanks Its thanks to your support that Heritage has been able to accomplish so much in recent years. And since Jim DeMint took the reins at Heritage last year, The Heritage Foundation has become an even more powerful force for conservative ideas. “The one-two punch of scholarly research and grassroots activism has made Heritage formidable in the world of think tanks,” McClatchy’s William Douglas writes. Douglas explains Heritage’s new assertiveness: quote In the most recent example, 18 newly elected Congress members earlier this month journeyed from freshman orientation sessions on Capitol Hill to attend separate orientation meetings at Heritage’s headquarters. And just as it did when it delivered a governing road map to President Ronald Reagan in 1980 with a 3,000-page “Mandate for Leadership,” the foundation is putting the finishing touches on a legislative blueprint that it hopes to guide conservatives in the 114th Congress. This time, the working theme is “Opportunity for All, Favoritism for None,” and DeMint plans to deliver it as the new Congress takes office in January. “A lot of what we’re doing is pushing Republicans, not just with a positive agenda, but to recognize things like corporate welfare are favoritism,” he said. “They can’t talk about welfare reform if they’re not getting at corporate welfare first.” Heritage has changed under his leadership. It has stepped up its advocacy activities largely through Heritage Action for America, a political arm created four years ago to help convert Heritage’s academic work into political reality. quote How do you think Heritage is making a difference? Heritage Other Work of Note Writing in the Boston Herald, Heritage’s James Gattuso explains what’s wrong with President Obama’s endorsement of treating Internet providers as mere utilities. Work, marriage, and education–not government programs–are the antidotes to poverty, Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC) said last month at The Heritage Foundation’s Anti-Poverty Forum. This annual forum brings together academics, politicians, and leaders from non-profits and religious institutions to discuss conservative solutions to poverty and social breakdown. Heritage research shows that after 50 years, the liberal war on poverty has been a miserable failure. In Other News Budget negotiations are under way in Washington. The Obama administration, along with Senate Democrats, signaled that they might be willing to accept a GOP plan to fund the entire government through next year, except for the Department of Homeland Security, which would be funded through March. Seventeen states sued President Obama over his executive action on illegal immigration. A new poll shows that Americans’ approval of giving illegal immigrants citizenship is at its lowest point ever. Al-Qaeda in Yemen announced that it would kill an American hostage in three days unless its demands were met. A U.S. Special Forces attempt last week to find the journalist ended up freeing eight hostages, but the American was not among them. Iran bombed ISIS targets in Iraq for the first time. Both the U.S. and Iran stressed that the two countries were not working in coordination with one another. Violence in Chechnya adds to Russia’s woes. Islamist terrorists seized a media building, killing at least at least 16 people, including 10 police officers. Donate to Heritage | Follow on Twitter | Connect on Facebook The Heritage Foundation | 214 Massachusetts Avenue, NE Washington, D.C. 20002 | (800) 546-2843 The Heritage Foundation -
Posted on: Fri, 05 Dec 2014 03:56:59 +0000
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