Tag: Heritage Foundation

The bogus claim that Democrats seek to register ‘illegal aliens’ to vote

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“Democrats also want to register illegal aliens [to vote].”

— Voice-over in an ad placed by Heritage Action for America, March 23

Heritage Action for America, a conservative group affiliated with the Heritage Foundation, is spending $750,000 on television ads in Arizona targeted at convincing two Democratic senators — Kyrsten Sinema and Mark Kelly — to vote against an elections bill called S.B. 1.

A virtually similar bill, H.R. 1, has already passed the House of Representatives on a party-line vote. The bill, among its provisions, would create uniform national voting standards, overhaul campaign finance laws and outlaw partisan redistricting.

Both senators are co-sponsors of the companion Senate legislation, so the odds are slim that the ad will have an effect. (The ad also looks like it was produced with a minimal budget.) But perhaps it might convince voters that the Democrats are supporting what the ad calls a “partisan power grab.” Continue reading.

Trump administration swayed by conservative think tank on abortion, LGBT decisions, group says

Ties between administration and The Heritage Foundation correlate with several health policy decisions, liberal watchdog group says

Close ties between the administration and a prominent conservative think tank correlate with several Trump administration health policy decisions, according to new information from a liberal government watchdog group shared exclusively with CQ Roll Call.

The 35-page Equity Forward report says that The Heritage Foundation’s influence plays a large role in decisions related to abortion, fetal tissue research, contraception and protections for same-sex couples.

Think tanks that support an administration are known to yield influence over policy decisions, but Equity Forward calls the ties with The Heritage Foundation “alarming” because the organization says Heritage is succeeding in securing policy decisions that contradict HHS’ intended mission.

View the complete April 25 article by Sandhya Raman on The Roll Call website here.

Trump Is Putting Indelible Conservative Stamp on Judiciary

The following article by Thomas Kaplan was posted on the New York Times website July 31, 2018:

Credit:
Carlos Barria/Reuters

WASHINGTON — With another judge confirmed Tuesday by the Senate, President Trump and Senate Republicans are leaving an ever-expanding imprint on the judiciary, nudging powerful appeals courts rightward through a determined effort to nominate and confirm a steady procession of young conservative jurists.

The confirmation of Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court would tilt the balance of the nation’s highest court, but, already, the president and the Senate have proved strikingly efficient at installing judges to lifetime appointments on appeals courts that handle far more cases.

The narrow, 52-to-46 appeals court confirmation on Tuesday of Britt C. Grant, 40, a Georgia Supreme Court justice who was once a clerk for Judge Kavanaugh, was Mr. Trump’s 24th circuit court appointment — more than any other president had secured at this point in his presidency since the creation of the regional circuit court system in 1891, according to an analysis of judicial records by The New York Times. The Senate did not confirm President Barack Obama’s 24th nominee to the regional circuit courts until the fourth year of his presidency.

View the complete article here.

Republicans plan mega marketing push to sell unpopular tax plan

The following article by Kevin Robillard, Nancy Cook and Cristiano Lima was posted on the Politico website December 21, 2017:

‘When [voters] start to see what happens to their paychecks,’ said one conservative, ‘they will change their minds.’

“We have a job that’s not that hard. We have to make sure people understand the benefits they’re going to receive from this legislation,” said Tim Phillips, president of Americans for Prosperity. | Andrew Harnik/AP Photo

Conservative groups are planning a multimillion-dollar effort to sell the GOP’s tax cut law, hoping the American electorate can learn to love the party’s signature — but massively unpopular — legislative achievement.

“We have a public that distrusts anything coming out of Washington, especially anything from the majority party,” said Tim Phillips, president of Americans for Prosperity, the grass-roots organizing arm of the powerful Koch brothers network of conservative groups. “We have a job that’s not that hard. We have to make sure people understand the benefits they’re going to receive from this legislation.” Continue reading “Republicans plan mega marketing push to sell unpopular tax plan”