Heard at Heritage

The final report from the National Coronavirus Recovery Commission is now complete! Over the past eight weeks, we've released more than 260 specific recommendations aimed at saving lives and livelihoods. We are thrilled that so many state, local, and federal lawmakers have already begun to implement many of them. With more than 40 million Americans currently out of work, this report is the specifi...

The Libyan civil war has become one of the world’s most complex and dangerous proxy struggles. Outside powers are pouring money, troops, and weapons into the conflict—including a recent Russian deployment of at least 14 fighter jets (conveniently stripped of all Russian markings). Mercenaries from Russia, Sudan, and Chad are involved in the fighting, along with militiamen from Syria, and Libya may...

For two years, Army leaders have flagged the need to modernize the force as the service’s top priority. Near the top of the to-do list is improving Army aviation capabilities—increasing their operational reach and effectiveness against near-peer competitors. Charged with the daily oversight of this critical effort are the Army’s Future Vertical Lift Cross Functional Team (FVL-CFT) and Program Exec...

It has been over a year since the Heritage Foundation released its report “ An Agenda for Immigration Reform .” This report was written to address immigration and border security urgencies that surfaced due to years of bad policy and neglect. So where are we now? And how will the nation adapt its immigration policies to the COVID-19 pandemic and the upheaval of the U.S. economy? At the core of Ame...

In 2018, The Trump Administration left the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), better known as the Iran nuclear deal, because it enabled the rogue regime’s support of terrorism, failed to address its ballistic missile program, and paved the way for Iran to have nuclear weapons in the near future. Despite Iran’s repeated violations of its commitments under the agreement, the other parties h...

In 2005 the United States and India signed a historic civil nuclear deal. The agreement, and the ten-year defense partnership that accompanied it, provided a major boost to the emerging strategic partnership with India nurtured by the George W. Bush administration. It also jump-started the long process of welcoming India into the international club of accepted nuclear powers. Fifteen years later,...

Socialism appears to be on the rise, increasingly appealing to younger generations as both an economic and moral ‘solution.’ Despite the proven economic benefits from capitalism, socialism is being touted as more virtuous. How can we re-frame and show that free markets aren’t just better for the economy, but they are key to the pursuit of happiness, freedom, and prosperity? Join us for an engaging...

For over 25 years, The Heritage Foundation’s  Index of Economic Freedom  has been a mainstay in policy discussions in Washington D.C. and around the world. It is a clear example of why free markets and liberty matter when it comes to building a flourishing society. Using the Index’s metrics, Heritage has produced a  new report  that spells out what the U.S. needs to do to not o...

China’s growing role in Latin America and the Caribbean has been magnified and accelerated by the COVID-19 crisis, but even before the pandemic, China was moving beyond economic ties to advancing a comprehensive agenda for engagement. Now, urgent questions are being asked about China’s role in regional recovery, and the shape of post-pandemic hemispheric relations. Is China the savior some are hop...

The rise of China is the most persistent and consequential challenge that will confront the United States for the next several decades. Even before the outbreak of COVID-19, China served as an irresponsible global actor, who destabilized and undermined the peace and prosperity of the free world. Evidence for this was seen day-to-day on a range of American interests, stretching from freedom of the...

To help fight and rapidly respond to the coronavirus pandemic facing our nation, the Trump administration and state and local governments have suspended over 400 rules and regulations. These have included lifting rules to streamline testing, allowing state reciprocity for medical licenses, relaxing HIPAA requirements to allow for telemedicine, permitting non-hospital sites to be used for patient c...

Hong Kong made headlines last year as ordinary citizens took to the streets to defend their basic liberties against infringements from Beijing. While the protests have faded, China’s attacks continue—this time against the backdrop of the distractions of COVID-19. Just this week, pro-democracy lawmakers were dragged out of the Hong Kong Legislative Council because they objected to a proposed bill t...

The Heritage Foundation is leading the National Coronavirus Recovery Commission and recently made a set of recommendations —one of which includes ensuring that front line clinicians are able to share emerging information in real time. Each day, these clinicians are developing new understandings about the disease and how best to treat it, but are struggling to get the information out to other provi...

States are facing severe fiscal pressures stemming from the unprecedented self-imposed economic freeze, with many quickly depleting rainy day funds. To help states and municipalities avoid the immediate consequences of the plunge in tax revenue, the Federal Reserve is purchasing massive amounts of state and local debt. The federal government has stepped in to help with the jump in state health car...

Young people lose heart early on. Trapped in government-run schools, they learn that America is a nation of imperialism, greed, and racism. Rarely do they hear the truth: that America is the freest, most prosperous nation on Earth—the only nation founded on the concept of human liberty. They learn that perpetual oppression is their fate, and that their only chance at success is through the benevol...

In the face of a worldwide pandemic, America is responding to the ongoing public health crisis on a massive scale to mitigate the impact of the virus in our communities. Meanwhile, civil society has risen to the challenge to support fellow Americans in need. In the pro-life community, pregnancy resource centers continue to serve mothers and families facing an unplanned or challenging pregnancy. Is...

In an attempt to mitigate economic damage from the COVID-19 shutdowns, the Federal Reserve has injected more than $2 trillion of newly created fiat currency into the economy. Since the end of February, the central bank has expanded its balance sheet from just over $4 trillion to more than $6.6 trillion. Rather than limit itself to relying on its usual tools such as lending directly to financial in...

As society opens up and economic activity returns, American history offers important lessons. Today we are still seeing how the massive federal reforms implemented from the top-down by experts and bureaucrats, like those put in place during the Great Depression, often harm rather than help the most vulnerable. How can we ensure our path forward restores opportunity and the pursuit of prosperity fo...

The U.S. Postal Service is in deep trouble and potentially faces the real risk of going bankrupt this year, with taxpayers left to pay the tab. Despite declining mail volume, many Americans depend on the Postal Service to deliver to them essential goods from food to medicine. Private delivery companies move a lot of packages, but don’t go to every household in the country. Some suggest the U.S. Po...

COVID-19 has taken the world by a storm, but none are more deeply affected than the world’s most vulnerable. Refugees and the internally displaced, individuals living under authoritarian regimes, and others living in countries with limited healthcare resources are facing, in some cases, life or death situations. While many countries battling their own domestic fight with COVID-19 are tempted to tu...

The Heritage Foundation’s  2020 Index of Economic Freedom   features a special focus section on free trade, which included four chapters on the most important trade topics of the day. Our two speakers are the authors of the  Index  trade chapters on digital trade and World Trade Organization reform, topics that each present their own challenges to trade freedom. Digital trade i...

As Russia and China advance their nuclear forces and North Korea and Iran continue to pursue nuclear capabilities, the U.S. nuclear arsenal slowly decays. Deterioration of the nuclear enterprise has become so serious that a failure to deliver systems like the Ground Based Strategic Deterrent or the W80-4 warhead on time could result in a critical gap in the U.S. nuclear deterrent. In the new book...

The National Coronavirus Recovery Commission is partnered with the Leadership Institute for a digital town hall to present the commission’s latest recommendations and take questions from participants. Former Virginia Gov. George Allen, a member of the commission, joined Executive Director Charmaine Yoest, a vice president at The Heritage Foundation, for Wednesday’s presentation. Commission spokesm...

Ready or not, COVID-19 swept across the globe and utterly changed the landscape of the world’s workforce. For those accustomed to a shared physical workspace, this disease has changed where we do our work—now, primarily from home—and how we communicate with one another. Now that most Americans have been subject to stay-at-home orders for over a month and are adjusting to the new normal of remote w...

May 4th, 2020 marks 40 years since the day that the federal Department of Education opened its doors. The cabinet-level agency is no longer in its infancy; Americans have four decades of data on academic outcomes by which to measure its impact on our children. Teachers and school leaders also have 40 years by which they can measure the Department’s impact on their working lives. Taxpayers have the...