Pro-Life Heartbeat Bill Introduced in U.S. House

Right before the U.S. House of Representatives went into August recess, legislation was introduced that would block abortions after a fetal heartbeat is detected. House Resolution 3985 was introduced by Rep. Bill Flores (R-Texas) and was immediately co-sponsored by Rep. Debbie Lesko (R-Ariz.). The bill is currently scheduled to be heard by the House Judiciary Committee. While there is not currently text available for the bill, a quick summary reads: “To amend title 18, United States Code, to prohibit abortion in cases where a fetal heartbeat is detectable.” The bill has been referred to committee, and will be taken up

The Swamp Wins Again: New Budget Agreement Explodes Spending

On Thursday, the House of Representatives passed a new budget agreement that would explode federal spending by an additional $320 billion over two years in a bipartisan vote. Most disappointingly, the budget deal really amounts to the final nail in the coffin repealing “sequestration” — the hard fought (yet entirely non-draconian) spending restraint won by the the Tea Party during the Obama-era — by kicking the spending caps all the way out to 2028 and 2029 where, the safe money says, they will be ignored again. The deal was reportedly brokered by Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin and Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

This Week in Economics: 3 Stories You Should Know About

This week we had some interesting economic developments in both monetary policy and regulatory policy. Here is a look at the top stories you should pay attention to: 1) House Democrats vote to raise minimum wage to $15 per hour. Yesterday House Democrats voted almost unanimously in favor of raising the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour. Only six House Democrats voted “no” while only three House Republicans voted “yes.” You can see those who bucked the party leadership here. Putting aside the fact that the Congressional Budget Office estimates this legislation would destroy 1.3 to 3.7 million jobs,

Congress Injects Ideology into Anti-Child Abuse Bill

In late May, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill that reauthorized the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act (CAPTA) by a voice vote. The new version, H.R. 2480, the Stronger Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act sponsored by U.S. Rep. Kim Schrier, D-Wash., expands the current law’s abuse prevention outreach requirements to include “sexual and gender minority youth.” CAPTA was first passed in 1974 and was last reauthorized in 2010. Since then, the law has been amended four times. CAPTA provides federal funding and guidance to states in support with their child abuse prevention, assessment, investigation, prosecution, and

Democrats’ Pro-Abortion Arguments Fall Flat in House Hearing

Earlier this week, the House Judiciary Committee held a hearing addressing recent pro-life legislation in several states, titled “Threats To Reproductive Rights in America.” In the opening statement, Representative Steve Cohen (D-Tenn.) echoed many typical arguments promoting the Left’s status quo on abortion legality, as did Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler (D-Calif.) in his comments. The Republicans, however, had strong retorts on the issue. The intent of the hearings — from the witnesses each side invited, to statements and questions from Committee members — typified the parties’ differing agendas on the issue. Rep. Cohen stated that he aimed to de-stigmatize the

Radical Lesbian Feminist Activist Tells Truth About Transgender Agenda

Julia Beck, a self-described radical lesbian feminist and the former law and policy co-chair of Baltimore’s LGBTQ Commission, testified before the House Judiciary Committee on Tuesday during their hearing for H.R. 5, the Equality Act. The Equality Act would amend virtually all current federal laws covering employment, housing, credit, education, public spaces and services, federally funded programs, and jury service to include sexual orientation and gender identity among the prohibited categories of discrimination or segregation in places of public accommodation. The Equality Act also expands the scope of what the Civil Rights Act of 1964 considers “public accommodation” to include

House Democrats Vote Unanimously to Silence Conservatives

Last week, Nancy Pelosi and the House Democrats rammed through H.R. 1, the “For the People Act,” in a party-line vote. While Democrats and their media allies claim the House passage of this legislation amounts to a victory for “transparency” that would make our elections process more democratic, H.R. 1 does quite the opposite. The “For the People Act” is potentially the most egregious attack on free speech ever proposed in legislative text and was crafted with an apparent goal in mind of tilting the electoral playing field to benefit Democrats during the 2020 election cycle and beyond.  And not

Congress Ignores Citizens, Votes to Pass Swamp-Expanding Database Bill

There they go again. Big Government and Big Data have received another gift from Congress while the privacy of ordinary citizens has been further eroded. In sadly typical lame-duck fashion, the Senate passed HR 4174, the Foundations for Evidence-based Policymaking Act, right before Christmas after strong citizen opposition had held up its passage for 13 months. The bill was brought to the Senate floor from committee without even a perfunctory hearing. As in the House, there was no real debate about the enormous privacy implications for individual American citizens. Except for the great efforts of constitutionally minded conservatives like Rep. Justin

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