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“We shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender…”

These were words President Obama never used during his speech at the National Defense University yesterday. Rather, he said anything but anything that sounded like Winston Churchill’s immortal speech about defiance in the face of the march of tyranny.

In large part, there was nothing new in the counterterrorism strategy the President announced. Flash back to 2011—that was the real turning point. Before then, Obama really followed what was called “Bush-lite,” pretty much the same tactics as the previous Administration—just dropping all the rhetoric.

The war of ideas was completely banned from the Obama lexicon. Islamist terrorism became “violent extremism.” Terrorism became “senseless violence.” In 2011, however, Obama shifted course dramatically. More than dumping the war of words, the White House signed off on a new counterterrorism strategy that amounted to running away from Iraq and Afghanistan as quickly as possible and limiting the offensive campaign to whacking top-level al-Qaeda with drone strikes.

The new strategy was bound to fail, fighting the last war while al-Qaeda evolved into a global insurgency that has spread from Pakistan to Nigeria.

Yet, even as the new fronts in the war on terrorism sprang up, the Administration continued to argue that it was winning. After Islamist terrorists murdered Americans and burned a U.S. consulate to the ground in Benghazi, the President claimed he was winning. As homegrown terrorists kill in Boston and London, he claims he is winning. As the Taliban mocks the U.S. standing down in Afghanistan, he claims he is winning.

>>> See what the Administration said about the London attack

Rather than admit failure and change course, faced with criticism here at home, the President has decided to declare victory, hoping this will reenergize support from the left. In his speech, he promised to do even less and make the less more transparent. This will no doubt please progressives who were unhappy that Obama carried over any vestige of the Bush policies.

While this speech may make the President more popular with the progressive caucus, it amounts to Maginot Line strategy: The U.S. won’t go after them if they don’t come after us. If they do come after us—we will treat them like any other criminal. If they do get through—it won’t be our fault; it will be the result of addled minds and “senseless” violence. Obama has warped backed to the Clinton counterterrorism strategy of the 1990s without remembering that was the strategy that led to 9/11.

Obama framed the challenges we face today as a false choice between sitting back and global, endless, borderless war. In reality, there is much that the U.S. can to defend itself: dismantle global terrorist networks; push back on political Islam; and champion freedom in the world. There are options between doing nothing and invading countries. President Obama has decided to ignore them. He is sick of fighting. Unfortunately, America’s enemies are not.

Read the Morning Bell and more en español every day at Heritage Libertad.

Quick Hits:

• The Boy Scouts of America voted to accept openly gay scouts, though its ban on openly gay leaders remains.
• NBC News reports that Attorney General Eric Holder signed off on a search warrant for a Fox News correspondent’s personal email.
• Yesterday, the Obama Administration refused to characterize the London attack on a solider as terrorism.
• House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) says the House won’t simply pass the Senate’s version of immigration legislation.
• Lois Lerner, the IRS official in charge of the tax-exempt organizations division, has been placed on administrative leave. One Senator says it’s because she refused to resign.

The post Morning Bell: President Obama Is Tired of Fighting Terrorism appeared first on The Foundry: Conservative Policy News Blog from The Heritage Foundation.

The Senate Judiciary Committee approved the Gang of Eight’s immigration bill on Tuesday. It will go to the Senate floor after the Memorial Day recess. Heritage has pointed out the problems with this “comprehensive” approach — including the staggering costs of amnesty and a failure to secure the border.

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Read the Morning Bell and more en español every day at Heritage Libertad.

Quick Hits:

• Two “terrorists wielding a machete and a cleaver hacked a soldier to death on a busy London street Wednesday while yelling ‘Allahu Akbar,’” reports Fox News.
• President Obama will give a national security speech today addressing drones and Guantanamo Bay.
• Lois Lerner, head of the IRS division that approves tax-exempt status for groups, is facing scrutiny that reaches into her past.
• The IRS scandal raises serious questions about the Internet sales tax.
• Heritage’s Derrick Morgan responds today to criticism of Heritage’s study on the cost of amnesty.
• Former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld will speak at Heritage today about his new book, Rumsfeld’s Rules. Watch live at noon ET.

The post Immigration Reform in One Infographic appeared first on The Foundry: Conservative Policy News Blog from The Heritage Foundation.

Members of Congress called Apple executives to testify on Capitol Hill yesterday. Why? Because the company makes money overseas, and some Senators want to get their hands on the cash.

A Senate subcommittee accused the company of “shifting” profits from the U.S. to other countries and avoiding paying taxes.

But Apple pays its U.S. taxes. Heritage tax expert Curtis Dubay said the earnings aren’t “shifted,” because “it’s not income that’s earned here in the U.S.”

“I can’t go down to the Apple store here in Washington, buy an iPad, and have Apple then ‘shift’ that income abroad,” Dubay said.

The Senators were up in arms about Apple keeping income in Ireland. The issue was the company’s foreign income earned from all those iPhones and iPods that people around the world are buying.

The reason the Senate feigned indignation over an issue that had nothing to do with the U.S. is that some Members want Apple to pay more U.S. tax on all that foreign cash. They want Apple to bring all of that profit back into the U.S. and pay the U.S. corporate tax rate—the world’s highest—on it. But as long as we keep the U.S. rate the highest in the world, Apple and other multinational businesses are going to keep their foreign income abroad.

Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) said it was offensive that Senator Carl Levin (D-MI) called in the leaders of a company that is trying to do right by its shareholders. He said:

Instead of Apple executives, we should have brought in here today a giant mirror, okay? So we could look at the reflection of Congress, because this problem is solely and completely created by the awful tax code. If you want to assign blame, the committee needs to look in this mirror and see who created the mess.

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Apple—and any other company that does business outside the U.S.—isn’t doing anything illegal to minimize its tax liability. In fact, America’s high corporate tax rate drives companies to do more business overseas.

Not only that, but “we’re the only country that effectively taxes our businesses on income they earn around the world,” Heritage’s Dubay said. “They’re keeping that income abroad because we add that extra layer of tax.”

What to do? Other developed countries have been cutting their corporate tax rates for 20 years. That’s what Congress needs to be looking into, as well as moving away from our “worldwide system” of taxing foreign income—not putting on business-bashing hearings for show. Fortunately, House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Dave Camp (R-MI) has been doing that necessary and difficult work.

As Senator Paul wrote in an op-ed for Rare:

If you want more money to be earned in the United States—make profit welcome here. Until that time arrives, count me out of any government dog and pony shows that badger business.

Read the Morning Bell and more en español every day at Heritage Libertad.

Quick Hits:

• “A top IRS official in the division that reviews nonprofit groups will invoke the 5th Amendment and refuse to answer questions before a House committee,” reports the LA Times.
• A Senate committee approved the Gang of Eight immigration bill last night. It will go to the Senate floor after Memorial Day.
• We haven’t forgotten about Benghazi. Watch our powerful video and help us spread the word.
• Anthony Weiner, the former congressman who stepped out of public life after his lewd messages to young women were exposed, is now running for mayor of New York City.
• Have a question about the debt ceiling, Benghazi, or the IRS? Get the inside scoop today at 11:30 a.m. ET from the champions of conservatism in the U.S. House.

The post Morning Bell: What Did Apple Do Wrong? appeared first on The Foundry: Conservative Policy News Blog from The Heritage Foundation.

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Where do food stamps come from?

They come from taxpayers—certainly not from family farms. Yet the “farm” bill, a recurring subsidy-fest in Congress, is actually 80 percent food stamps and other government nutrition programs.

The food stamps sweeten the farm deal for lawmakers, who admit that the combination works for their political purposes. As Heritage experts Daren Bakst and Diane Katz explain:

The food stamp portion creates a reason for urban representatives to support farm subsidies, and for farm-state lawmakers to support food stamps.

Talk of de-politicizing agriculture programs and welfare policy is met with stiff resistance. For example, Senator Thad Cochran (R–MS), ranking Republican on the Senate Agriculture Committee, recently told the North American Agricultural Journalists group that food stamps should continue to be included in the farm bill “purely from a political perspective. It helps get the farm bill passed.”

Food stamps are there to help “get the farm bill passed.” And the relation of the rest of the farm bill to farming is also questionable. Bakst and Katz note that “Congress has expanded the farm bill over time into a costly compilation of disparate programs. Along with agriculture and food stamps, the legislation includes dozens of forestry, conservation, energy, and rural development programs.”

It has become the norm that Congress lumps billions—even trillions—of dollars in taxpayer-funded programs together into huge bills. This allows them to sneak in plenty of special-interest pork.

Each of these programs deserves to be evaluated on its own, and taxpayers deserve transparency from Congress about how it plans to spend our money.

For example, food stamps are a massive program that needs a careful look. Food stamp spending has doubled under the Obama Administration, and participation is at historic highs. Recruiters hold bingo games and other “parties” to try to get more people on the food stamp rolls.

Farm commodity programs are also a major concern and in dire need of reform. Congress may eliminate the egregious direct payment program, which pays farmers for doing nothing. However, instead of stopping there, both the House and Senate farm bills would replace direct payments with programs that could wind up being even costlier.

Food stamps and farming ultimately have to do with food, but that’s about all they have in common. Making the farm bill 80 percent food stamps just doesn’t make sense.

LEARN MORE:

Fact Sheet >> Farm Bill: Ripe for Reform

Read the Morning Bell and more en español every day at Heritage Libertad.

Quick Hits:

• Moore, Oklahoma, was devastated by a tornado yesterday that killed at least 91 people and injured hundreds more.
• The labor union representing those who approve immigration applications is speaking out against the Gang of Eight immigration bill, saying it would make the current system “worse.”
• The U.S. has announced it will sign the U.N.’s Arms Trade Treaty. Heritage’s Ted Bromund explains why this would be a terrible decision.
• A high school senior has invented a device that can charge a cell phone in 20 to 30 seconds.
• Are you a veteran looking for a community? Or are you looking for a way to thank our veterans? Here are some places you can get plugged in.

The post Morning Bell: A Bumper Crop of Food Stamps appeared first on The Foundry: Conservative Policy News Blog from The Heritage Foundation.

Lawful immigration can bring important economic and cultural benefits both to the United States and to the immigrants. Americans rightly live and celebrate the values of America, including limited government, personal liberty, and free enterprise, and beckon others to join us. We are united by belief in our founding documents and our creed that all men are created equal. As Ronald Reagan said, “The immigrants who have so enriched America include people from every race, creed, and ethnic background.”

While we welcome those who want to come here, we are a nation of laws and the rule of law requires fair, firm, and consistent enforcement. Immigration is no exception and in fact is critically important, because newcomers need to see the principle in action from their first day in America. Those who enter legally by our slow and bureaucratic system need to be rewarded, not left wondering whether they should have entered or stayed illegally and waited for amnesty.

In addressing immigration, our government should start with keeping the promises they made when they granted amnesty “for only this one time” in 1986. First, they must secure the border. Then they should enforce our laws by imposing stiff fines on those who hire illegal immigrants. These steps are supported by supermajorities of the American people.

After that, Congress should move to fix our slow, broken lawful immigration system. Individual bills addressing these specific problems step-by-step are good for the country because they are simple, clear, and transparent. They make it possible to get legislative victories where we can agree and make it hard to hide loopholes or sweetheart deals for special interests. They can build trust that government is working for the people.

Unfortunately, Congress is moving ahead with a huge, complex, and comprehensive bill that will include amnesty for those who have broken our immigration laws. And in a time of massive and increasing debt, we know that the bill will end up costing taxpayers trillions of dollars. After a short time, millions of illegal immigrants will have access to the full panoply of bloated means-tested welfare programs and qualify for overburdened entitlement programs like Social Security and Medicare.

Instead, Congress should proceed step-by-step: border security, then workplace enforcement, and then fixing our broken legal immigration system. These steps will fulfill past promises and benefit America economically while not adding the unnecessary fiscal costs of amnesty.

Read the Morning Bell and more en español every day at Heritage Libertad.

Quick Hits:

• The IRS had a plan to break the news of its targeting of conservative groups and planted a question to get the story going.
• Chinese hackers continue to attack U.S. cyber-targets.
• North Korea has fired six test missiles in the past three days.
• Iran says it has executed two “spies” working for the U.S. and Israel.
• The U.S. hit the debt ceiling again over the weekend.

The post Morning Bell: Immigration Reform Should Strengthen, Not Cost, America appeared first on The Foundry: Conservative Policy News Blog from The Heritage Foundation.

Experts can’t always predict exactly how public policy will affect the nation, despite our best efforts. But when it comes to immigration policy, we have tried many of the types of reforms advocated by today’s Gang of Eight—so we should consider the effects these reforms had in the past.

In the mid-’80s, many Members of Congress advocated amnesty for long-settled illegal immigrants. President Reagan considered it reasonable to adjust the status of what was then a relatively small population, and as his attorney general, I supported his decision.

The path to citizenship was not automatic. Immigrants had to pay application fees, learn to speak English, understand American civics, pass a medical exam, and register for military selective service. Those with convictions for a felony or three misdemeanors were ineligible.

This should sound familiar, as it’s quite close to the path and provisions set forth by the Gang of Eight.

Today they call it a “roadmap to citizenship.” Ronald Reagan called it “amnesty.” And he was right.

The 1986 reform did not solve our immigration problem—in fact, the population of illegal immigrants has nearly quadrupled since that “comprehensive” bill.

Why didn’t it work? Well, one reason is that everything else the 1986 bill promised—from border security to law enforcement—was to come later. It never did. Only amnesty prevailed, and that encouraged more illegal immigration.

Today, we have many of the same needs we did then. We need to work on better securing our border. We need to modernize our legal immigration system, including effective temporary worker programs. And we need strong enforcement of the laws we already have, including those that enforce immigration policies in the workplace.

The Gang of Eight is making promises now. “Border security” is a big promise. But their proposal spends money and grants amnesty without the guarantee that this promise will be kept.

We are having much the same debate and being offered much the same deal in exchange for promises largely dependent on the will of future Congresses and Presidents.

Instead, we should learn from our mistakes.

America welcomes more immigrants than any other country. As Ronald Reagan said:

In this free land a person can realize his dreams—going as far as talent and drive can carry him. In return America asks each of us to do our best, to work hard, to respect the law, to cherish human rights, and to strive for the common good. The immigrants who have so enriched America include people from every race, creed, and ethnic background. Yet all have been drawn here by shared values and a deep love of freedom. Most brought with them few material goods. But with their hearts and minds and toil they have contributed mightily to the building of this great Nation and endowed us with the riches of their achievements. Their spirit continues to nourish our own love of freedom and opportunity.

But in keeping open that door of opportunity, we also must uphold the rule of law and enhance a fair immigration process, as Reagan said, to “humanely regain control of our borders and thereby preserve the value of one of the most sacred possessions of our people: American citizenship.”

The U.S. Attorney General from 1985-1988, Edwin Meese III is Heritage’s Ronald Reagan Distinguished Fellow Emeritus.

Read the Morning Bell and more en español every day at Heritage Libertad.

Quick Hits:

• Another of President Obama’s “recess appointments” of an official has been struck down by a court.
• A bipartisan group in the House (like the Gang of Eight in the Senate) has agreed to its own immigration plan.
• Yesterday, the House voted to repeal Obamacare.
• Texans are cleaning up from a tornado that killed six people and destroyed homes.
• What has your state decided about Obamacare’s Medicaid expansion? Watch our Google+ hangout today at noon ET to learn the latest.

The post Ed Meese: We’ve Seen the Effect of “Amnesty” Before appeared first on The Foundry: Conservative Policy News Blog from The Heritage Foundation.

Photo: Michael Sandoval

Members of the House of Representatives are scheduled to vote Thursday to repeal all of Obamacare. Given that the House voted to repeal the law last year, some commentators and observers have questioned the need for another repeal vote.

However, the scandals coming to light over the last week perfectly make the case for why Congress must eradicate the law from the statute books.

On Friday, the Internal Revenue Service finally disclosed that it had spent years targeting tea party and other conservative groups, delaying their applications for non-profit status and giving those applications additional scrutiny — solely because of those groups’ political beliefs.

Also on Friday, The Washington Post revealed that Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius personally asked health industry groups to contribute to Enroll America, a pro-Obamacare front group working to “educate” the public about the law’s supposed benefits.

While we don’t yet know all the details about these scandals, we do know that the IRS grossly abused its power at a time when Obamacare grants it massive new authority. The Treasury Department’s Inspector General has said Obamacare represents “the largest set of tax law changes in 20 years,” with at least 42 provisions adding to or amending the tax code.

Obamacare taxes most people with health insurance, and most people without health insurance. Likewise, the law taxes many employers who provide health insurance, and most employers who don’t provide health insurance.

Obamacare’s heavy reliance on the IRS seems somehow fitting, as the entire law relies on a scheme of government controls and regulations to work its will on the health care system. The law imposes price controls on insurance companies and extends a system of price controls for pharmaceutical companies. Obamacare also places a board of unelected, unaccountable bureaucrats at the center of its plans to control health care costs.

A 2010 Congressional Research Service report found that the number of new bureaucracies “that will ultimately be created” by Obamacare “is currently unknowable.” Little wonder that Vice President Biden boasted shortly before the law was passed, “We’re going to control the insurance companies.”

That’s what Obamacare is about. It’s not about health care. It’s about government control and power. And the record of this Administration shows its willingness to use this power in arbitrary and harmful ways.

Secretary Sebelius’s recently disclosed fundraising campaign tried to make an end-run around Congress, forcing private companies to give money for a pro-Obamacare marketing campaign that Congress itself has refused to fund.

It isn’t the first time the secretary has skirted the law, either. HHS’s infamous waivers, the majority of which went to individuals in union health plans, weren’t mentioned in Obamacare. And in recent weeks, Democrats who support the law have criticized the secretary for taking funds from other programs to fund Obamacare implementation.

Just like the IRS, HHS has also targeted the First Amendment rights of private organizations. In 2009, the department applied an infamous “gag order” on Medicare Advantage plans, ordering them not to communicate with seniors about how Obamacare’s cuts to Medicare Advantage would affect their coverage.

If past experience is any guide, IRS and HHS could use their newfound Obamacare powers to target their political opponents. Will individuals who choose not to buy insurance under Obamacare’s mandate find themselves subjected to government audits?

Will corporations who choose not to “donate” to Sebelius’s fundraising campaign find themselves targeted by Obamacare regulators — or even the IRS itself? Given the events of the past week, few can answer these questions with an unequivocal “no.”

There’s one easy way to stop the rot, and that’s to repeal Obamacare once and for all. At a time when this week’s revelations show how the government has abused its existing powers, it’s exactly the wrong time to give the government yet more authority. Congress should instead focus on repealing Obamacare and restoring freedom.

This piece originally appeared in The Washington Examiner.

Read the Morning Bell and more en español every day at Heritage Libertad.

Quick Hits:

• An explosive set of emails released yesterday revealed how the State Department and the White House edited talking points on the Benghazi terrorist attack, removing references to al-Qaeda and Islamic extremists, as well as evidence of prior warnings.
• The acting commissioner of the IRS has been ousted, but congressional committees and the FBI are still investigating potential civil rights violations in the IRS’s targeting of conservative groups.
• Attorney General Eric Holder went before a congressional committee yesterday on the AP phone record scandal, though the hearing yielded few answers.
• Google has launched a new music streaming service to compete with Pandora and Spotify.
• School choice makes sense to moms—they want the best education for their children.

The post Morning Bell: Obamacare Is About Power appeared first on The Foundry: Conservative Policy News Blog from The Heritage Foundation.

Larry Mccormack/ZUMA Press/Newscom

Across this great land, patriotic Americans are behaving subversively.

We’re quoting from our pocket Constitutions, starting reading groups to discuss our founding documents, even gathering together to “petition the government for a redress of grievances.”

Uncle Sam is not amused.

As leaders of tea party groups have been painfully aware for years, the Internal Revenue Service has given “special” attention to conservative groups.

Heritage sounded the alarm on the Obama Administration’s hit list nearly a year ago. Idaho businessman Frank VanderSloot was singled out by the IRS and the Labor Department after making a sizable donation to Mitt Romney. Who ordered his investigation?

>>> Watch our video to hear his story 

The IRS admits that in recent years it has zeroed in on organizations with “tea party” or “patriot” in their names. Further, The Wall Street Journal reports the IRS has also targeted groups that say they are “worried about government spending, debt or taxes, and even ones that lobbied to ‘make America a better place to live.’” Fox News adds that organizations interested in doing “education on the Constitution and Bill of Rights” made the list.

The goal was clearly to reduce the amount of anti-government speech by making it more difficult for these groups to achieve tax-exempt status. And it worked. Just look at these examples from four different states:

• ABC News reports that Jennifer Stefano of Pennsylvania wanted to start a tea party group, but dealing with the IRS “was frightening and that’s why I shut it down. I shut my group down.”
• The IRS ordered an Ohio group to answer 35 detailed questions, including to “provide a listing of all your past activities. Indicate the percentage of your time spent conducting the activity (total of all activities should equal 100%) and the percentage of your funds spent conducting the activity (total of all activities should equal 100%).”
• In Tennessee, Kevin Kookogey was trying to start an educational group called Linchpins of Liberty to teach the economic principles of Milton Friedman and Adam Smith. When he inquired with the IRS in 2011 about the delay in his tax-exempt status, he was told: “We have been waiting on guidance from our superiors as to your and similar organizations.” He is still waiting.
• In Virginia, it took Richmond Tea Party President Larry Nordvig two and a half years to get tax-exempt status. He tells The Washington Post the wait had “a very chilling effect” on how much money his group could raise, and thus on how much speech it could generate.

How many groups are under scrutiny? That remains to be seen. President Obama said yesterday that the IRS’s actions were “intolerable and inexcusable” and that “regardless of how this conduct was allowed to take place, the bottom line is, it was wrong.”

Our federal government was designed to be a neutral arbiter between competing private interests that would protect our liberties. Instead, it has morphed into a permanent interest group of its own.

In some ways, it’s almost as if we’ve disappointed our government by questioning it. As Bertolt Brecht quipped about the late, unlamented East Germany:

The people
Had forfeited the confidence of the government
And could win it back only
By redoubled efforts.

So here’s a charge to all tea partiers, and indeed all “patriotic” Americans of any political bent: Let’s redouble our efforts—to limit government and promote freedom.

Doing so may anger Big Brother, but it will protect the liberty of all Americans.

Read the Morning Bell and more en español every day at Heritage Libertad.

Quick Hits:

• The IRS scandal is one thing that has brought Republicans and Democrats together.
• The IRS isn’t the only agency treating conservative groups differently from liberal groups. The Competitive Enterprise Institute reports that the EPA shows a bias in its answers to Freedom of Information Act requests.
• At a fundraiser earlier this week, President Obama blamed gridlock in Washington on “hyper-partisanship,” saying, “My thinking was after we beat them in 2012, well, that might break the fever, and it’s not quite broken yet.”
• Conservatives should be concerned about modernizing U.S. defenses so that they are there when we need them, says Heritage President Jim DeMint.
• Join us today at noon ET for a debate about defense. Watch online as conservative and liberal debaters face off on national security.

The post Morning Bell: The IRS Wants to Know If You’re a “Patriot” appeared first on The Foundry: Conservative Policy News Blog from The Heritage Foundation.

Yong Kim/MCT/Newscom

Justice has been served for a few infants and one mother whose lives were taken within the filthy walls of 3801 Lancaster Avenue.

Late-term abortionist Kermit Gosnell was convicted yesterday of first-degree murder in the deaths of three infants who were born alive after botched abortions performed in his run-down West Philadelphia clinic. He was also found guilty of involuntary manslaughter in the death of Karnamaya Mongar, a 41-year-old woman who died from an overdose of anesthetic drugs during an abortion procedure.

The jury’s deliberations came after six weeks of harrowing testimony detailing the brutal deaths of newborns and unthinkable mistreatment of women. The gruesome murder of moving, breathing infants after botched abortions allegedly became a regular occurrence at the filthy West Philadelphia facility, with one clinic worker estimating nearly 100 living babies were killed shortly after birth.

Many of those murders followed failed abortions performed after Pennsylvania’s 24-week limit. In addition to the four murder charges, Gosnell was also convicted of more than 200 other criminal counts including violating Pennsylvania’s informed consent law and performing illegal late-term abortions.

In wake of the trial’s disturbing revelations, many are left questioning how the oft-repeated slogan of “safe, legal, and rare” abortions can continue to encompass late-term procedures—especially of the kind that can produce live births.

There is broad consensus that abortions like those Gosnell performed should not take place, whether in a run-down Philadelphia clinic or the sterile facilities of other abortion providers. Nearly two-thirds of Americans generally oppose abortions in the second trimester of pregnancy, while 80 percent oppose abortions in the third trimester.

“The first degree murder conviction of Kermit Gosnell brings some closure to this horrific case, but we must act to address the broader problems highlighted by this tragedy,” remarked Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL). “Congress should conduct a thorough investigation into the practices of late-term abortions in America with the goal of ensuring that these atrocities are never repeated in the future.…Life is precious at every stage, and America’s policies must reflect this fact at every turn.”

That policy work got underway last week, when the House Energy and Commerce Committee began investigations into current state efforts to monitor clinics and protect the rights of born-alive infants and their mothers.

Yet much more needs to be done, especially as current policy entangles taxpayer dollars in the abortion industry.

The leader in that industry, Planned Parenthood, performs roughly one out of every four abortions in the United States. The organization that holds the title of the nation’s largest abortion provider also allegedly turned a blind eye to the safety of women in Pennsylvania and Delaware, opposes legal protections for infants born after botched abortions, and faces repeated accusations of fraud.

This is the organization that President Obama vowed to support at its recent annual fundraising gala. This is the multibillion-dollar industry to which the government sends hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars every year. And the abortion subsidization through taxpayer funding will only increase under Obamacare.

In light of the brutality that became commonplace at 3801 Lancaster Avenue and has appeared elsewhere, policymakers should rethink continued financial support for an industry that creates and supports the likes of Gosnell.

Americans must likewise reexamine the prevailing ethic of abortion-on-demand for any reason—even in late-term abortions.

“[I]n our justice system premeditating and exacting the demise of babies is only a crime if a child is fully outside the womb,” stated Representative Virginia Foxx (R-NC). “We would do well as a society to consider what deciding murder based upon geographic technicalities reveals about our collective conscious.”

For over four decades since the Roe v. Wade decision, American medical practice, politics, and laws have separated the health of mothers from the well-being of the children they carry. Gosnell’s “house of horrors” should demonstrate that the severing of that connection does a disservice and risks the health and lives of both child and mother.

Read the Morning Bell and more en español every day at Heritage Libertad.

Quick Hits:

• “The Justice Department secretly obtained two months of telephone records of reporters and editors for The Associated Press in what the news cooperative’s top executive called a ‘massive and unprecedented intrusion,’” AP reported.
• The IRS scandal keeps growing.
• Guess what country is presiding over a U.N. arms control forum? Iran.
• Join us tomorrow at noon ET for a national security debate co-hosted by Heritage and National Review. Heritage and the American Enterprise Institute will face off against the Truman National Security Project and the Center for American Progress.
• The farm bill is terrible for taxpayers — and Heritage Action for America has teamed up with groups including Americans for Tax Reform, Americans for Prosperity, and the R Street Institute to expose the “terrible 12” farm-related pieces.

The post Morning Bell: Serving Justice to Gosnell appeared first on The Foundry: Conservative Policy News Blog from The Heritage Foundation.

The Internet sales tax passed the Senate, but a growing chorus is pointing out that it would hurt many to help the tax man.

The Senate passed the misleadingly named Marketplace Fairness Act last week by a vote of 69-27. But House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) said that he is unlikely to support it—and other House Members said they want to take a thorough look at it through the normal committee process.

“Moving this bill where you’ve got 50 different sales tax codes, it’s a mess out there,” Boehner said. “You’re going to make it much more difficult for online retailers to be able to comply.”

>>> See our INFOGRAPHIC on what small businesses are saying

Not only would it charge a new sales tax to many consumers shopping online, but it fails to do what its proponents say—achieve “fairness” for stores.

As Heritage’s Curtis Dubay says:

The MFA is anything but fair, because instead of leveling the playing field, it would tilt it decidedly against online retailers, particularly small ones. Brick-and-mortar stores would still have to collect sales taxes only where they are physically present. Online retailers would have to collect sales taxes from the nearly 10,000 sales tax jurisdictions around the country where their customers live. That is not an equal burden.

For someone running—or thinking about starting—a small online business, trying to deal with tax codes for all of the states that charge sales tax is a huge deterrent.

Yet the Senate rushed this bill through. Americans for Tax Reform’s Grover Norquist said the rush itself was one of the reasons the Internet sales tax made it this far.

“It’s only passing the Senate because they took it out of regular order,” he said. “Why did they want to rush it through without amendments? Why did they do that? Because if people looked at it too long, it wouldn’t pass easily.”

The House is going to consider the bill through the normal committee channels, giving Members more time to review it and ask questions.

This also allows time for more facts to enter the debate and misconceptions to be exposed. Share this with your friends and family to spread the word.

Read the Morning Bell and more en español every day at Heritage Libertad.

Quick Hits:

• Representative Mike Rogers (R-MI) said yesterday that he expects more Benghazi whistle-blowers to come forward.
• “At various points over the past two years, Internal Revenue Service officials targeted nonprofit groups that criticized the government and sought to educate Americans about the U.S. Constitution,” reports The Washington Post.
• Vice President Joe Biden says he believes a number of Senators “have seen the Lord” on the issue of gun control.
• To get an idea of what some conservative House Members are thinking on the Internet sales tax, check out this video.
• British Prime Minister David Cameron is meeting with President Obama today. Here’s what they will likely talk about — and what they should talk about.

The post Morning Bell: The Ugly Facts About the Internet Sales Tax appeared first on The Foundry: Conservative Policy News Blog from The Heritage Foundation.