Recent Policy Studies

• Budget & Taxation
  

  Which Tax Plan Is Best for Maine?

  By J. Scott Moody, Maine Heritage Policy Center
  
  Path to Prosperity, 05/26/2011
  

  There is finally some good news for Maine taxpayers. The tax discussion on both sides of the political aisle in Augusta is not whether to have tax relief, but how much tax relief Mainers should have. However, two proposed tax plans—one by the Republicans and the other by the Democrats—approach individual income tax relief from very different angles. As a result of these differences, the two plans will have significantly different effects on Maine’s economy. An analysis of both plans shows that one plan in particular—the Republican plan—will do far more to create tax relief and boost Maine’s economy.

  
  
  
• Budget & Taxation
  

  Pension Reform and Retention: Government Employee Turnover Would Have to Quintuple to Match Private Sector Rates

  By Kristina Rasmussen, Illinois Policy Institute
  
  Tax & Budget Brief, 05/26/2011
  

  If private sector-style retirement savings plans were truly as unattractive as opponents claim, it’s difficult to explain why 18,467 Illinois public higher education employees opted into to a defined-contribution plan over the past decade. The State Universities Retirement System reports that participation and total investments in their private sector-style retirement plan have continued to grow.

  
  
  
• Budget & Taxation
  

  We Are 21: How Many Illinoisans Does It Take to Fund One State or Local Government Job?

  By J. Scott Moody, Illinois Policy Institute
  
  Tax & Budget Brief, 05/26/2011
  

  Every dollar spent by government – and every job bankrolled by government – is made possible by the men and women who work in the private sector. Taxes on their productive activity pay the public sector’s bills. In essence, every private sector worker is responsible for not only his or her job, but also for the jobs in the state and local government workforce. As such, policymakers should make every effort to ensure that this burden is as small as possible. It takes 21 Illinoisans working in the private sector to fund one Illinois state government job.

  
  
  
• Budget & Taxation
  

  A Constitutional Solution to Runaway Federal Spending: The Need for a Balanced Budget and Spending Limits Amendment

  By Mario Loyola, Texas Public Policy Foundation
  
  Policy Perspective, 05/26/2011
  

  The American people are increasingly demanding a halt to the expansion of the federal government and in particular to runaway federal spending. To keep the federal government and federal debt from reducing our nation’s wealth and depriving future generations of the opportunities and economic liberties that made this country great, a constitutional amendment is now clearly needed. An amendment that requires Congress to adopt balanced budgets, limits its power to tax and spend, and provides narrowly-drawn exceptions for real emergencies, should be a priority for our elected representatives, federal and state.

  
  
  
• Crime, Justice & the Law
  

  Unlocking the Key Elements of the Adult Corrections Budget

  By Marc Levin, Texas Public Policy Foundation
  
  Policy Perspective, 05/26/2011
  

  As a conference committee finalizes decisions on reconciling the House and Senate budget proposals, corrections expenditures are receiving far less attention than those in other areas, such as education and health care. Corrections may receive less notice even though there is a $360 million gap between the Senate’s larger budget for the Texas Department of Criminal Justice and the House’s blueprint because in the last few years expenses have not skyrocketed as they have in areas such as Medicaid. Nonetheless, cost-effective policies in corrections are just as important as elsewhere in the budget.

  
  
  
• Crime, Justice & the Law
  

  The Role of Parole in Texas: Achieving Public Safety and Efficiency

  By Marc Levin, Vikrant P. Reddy, Texas Public Policy Foundation
  
  Policy Perspective, 05/26/2011
  

  Some may say parole is a topic a Texas politician wouldn’t touch with a 10-foot pole. No one wants to be blamed for releasing an inmate who commits another crime. Yet, with limited taxpayer resources for corrections and law enforcement, risk must be managed and funds allocated to strategies that will be most effective in reducing crime. Parole must continue to be difficult, if not impossible, for violent criminals and sex offenders to earn, but lawmakers must also consider parole reforms for offenders at the other end of that 10-foot pole. Through targeted, evidence-based parole initiatives, more nonviolent, low risk offenders can be released with proper supervision, thereby safeguarding public safety while also freeing up existing space behind bars for the most dangerous criminals.

  
  
  
• Health Care
  

  Comparative Effectiveness Research: Effect on Pharmaceutical Innovation, Value of Health and Longevity

  By John A. Vernon, Robert Goldberg, Center for Medicine in the Public Interest
  
  Studies, 05/26/2011
  

  The uncertainty associated with technological progress and medical progress, in particular, along with the long-time horizons associated with pharmaceutical innovation, result in considerable vulnerability to sound public policy; public policy that fosters market-based incentives for biopharmaceutical innovation in what is, perhaps, one of the highest return-on-investment sectors of the U.S. economy. Myopically-focused political agendas and the failure to recognize the underlying economic value of innovation are forces that need to be overcome, or at least tempered, if society is to allocate resources in an efficient, social welfare optimizing manner. In sum, while at this time it remains unclear if and how comparative effectiveness research will be implemented in the U.S., it is critical to recognize and acknowledge that threats to innovation do exist and are balanced fairly in the policy debate.

  
  
  
• Budget & Taxation
  

  Land of Delinquents: Illinois’ Ongoing Budget Crisis—and How to End It

  By Josh Barro, Manhattan Institute
  
  City Journal, 05/26/2011
  

  Having spent a decade learning that it can’t borrow its way out of a fiscal hole, Illinois is about to learn that it can’t tax its way out, either. Only by enacting structural spending reforms—including fixing the pension system for its public employees, which is the nation’s worst-funded—can Illinois solve its never-ending budget crisis.

  
  
  
• Immigration
  

  Comparing Immigrant Assimilation in North America and Europe

  By Jacob L. Vigdor, Manhattan Institute
  
  Civic Report, 05/26/2011
  

  This report provides new information on the characteristics of newly arrived immigrants and the pace of their integration into society, as measured by a series of summary indices through 2009. It also introduces a series of comparisons among countries, using data from the United States and ten other countries drawn from the period 1999-2001. Although these international data are slightly dated, they are the most recent comparative data available, and few major changes are likely to have taken place since. The study’s focus is the comparative progress individual ethnic groups, particularly immigrants from nations with predominantly Muslim populations, have made in the destination countries where they have chosen to reside.

  
  
  
• Health Care
  

  Failure to Provide: Healthcare at the Veterans Administration

  By Ronald Hamowy, Independent Institute
  
  Policy Report, 05/26/2011
  

  While it is true that conditions at VA facilities have improved since the late 1980s, they still lag behind those that obtain at the nation’s voluntary hospitals. The shift from inpatient to ambulatory care, an increase in chronic care needs in an aging population, and increases in the demand for medical services as a result of the most recent Middle Eastern conflicts clearly undermines the reason originally put forward to operate a direct health care system. However, given the pressures put upon Congress by the American Legion and other veterans groups, it is unlikely that the United States will follow the lead of the governments of Australia, Canada, and the United Kingdom and close or convert their hospitals to other uses and integrate the treatment of veterans into the general heath-care system.

  
  
  
• Philanthropy
  

  Index of Global Philanthropy and Remittances 2011

  By Hudson Institute, Hudson Institute
  
  Report, 05/26/2011
  

  Several years into the financial slowdown that has reshaped the global economy, it is clear that private financial flows have proved their staying power in terms of international assistance. Overall, private financial flows to the developing world have The Index of Global Philanthropy and Remittances 5 remained remarkably stable in the face of economic turmoil. Philanthropy and remittances continue to provide a lifeline to the poor around the world. U.S. Private philanthropic giving abroad rose slightly in 2009, despite the continued economic downturn, increasing by $200 million from 2008. Remittances declined only marginally, from $96.8 billion to $90.7 billion in 2009, as predicted, and are expected to climb in 2010. Private capital investment flows returned to positive territory in 2009 after taking a dramatic downturn in 2008 as a result of the financial crisis.

  
  
  
• Education
  

  Creating a Corps of Change Agents

  By Monica Higgins, et al., Education Next
  
  Education Next, 05/26/2011
  

  What do former D.C. Public Schools chancellor Michelle Rhee, KIPP Academy cofounders Mike Feinberg and David Levin, and Colorado state senator (and author of that state’s nationally noted teacher-quality legislation) Mike Johnston have in common? Answer: They’re all alumni of Teach For America. While much of the debate around Teach For America (TFA) in recent years has focused on the effectiveness of its nontraditional recruits in the classroom, the real story is the degree to which TFA has succeeded in producing dynamic, impassioned, and entrepreneurial education leaders.

  
  
  
• Education
  

  Valuing Teachers

  By Eric A. Hanushek, Education Next
  
  Education Next, 05/26/2011
  

  Salaries several times higher than those paid teachers today would be economically justified if teachers were compensated according to their effectiveness. But unless we can replace the current system with one that better links teacher recruitment, compensation, and retention to effectiveness, we should expect both our schools and our economy to underperform relative to their potential. The cost to the nation at a time of intensifying international competition is high indeed.

  
  
  
• Education
  

  Evaluating Teacher Effectiveness

  By Thomas J. Kane, et al., Education Next
  
  Education Next, 05/26/2011
  

  The ubiquity of “satisfactory” ratings stands in contrast to a rapidly growing body of research that examines differences in teachers’ effectiveness at raising student achievement. In recent years, school districts and states have compiled datasets that make it possible to track the achievement of individual students from one year to the next, and to compare the progress made by similar students assigned to different teachers. Careful statistical analysis of these new datasets confirms the long-held intuition of most teachers, students, and parents: teachers vary substantially in their ability to promote student achievement growth.

  
  
  
• Education
  

  Stop the War Against Standardized Tests

  By Herbert J. Walberg, Hoover Institution
  
  Defining Ideas, 05/26/2011
  

  President Barack Obama and leaders of the teachers unions disagree with the view of citizens that schools, educators, and students should be held accountable for their performance on standardized tests. Despite strong public support for testing programs, influential educators have defined standardized tests as beasts that should be removed from schools. To quote one prominent critic, Gerald Bracey, they are “infernal machines of social destruction.” Political leaders have also revealed a deep misunderstanding about the purpose and use of standardized testing when they claim tests are too simple or too biased to measure up to the subjective judgments of educators themselves. Such claims are naïve or deliberately misleading.

  
  
  
• Foreign Policy/International Affairs
  

  The Year That Changed the World

  By Charles Hill, Hoover Institution
  
  Defining Ideas, 05/26/2011
  

  Though political Islam has been at war with the international system of states for many years, it was not until the opening of the twenty-?rst century that American leaders began to comprehend the sources, extent, and objectives of Islamism’s rise through the later decades of the twentieth century. In retrospect, 1979 was a turning point.

  
  
  
• International Trade/Finance
  

  The “Fair” Trade Delusion

  By Richard A. Epstein, Hoover Institution
  
  Defining Ideas, 05/26/2011
  

  Last week President Barack Obama announced that he would not submit any of these three free trade agreements to Congress unless and until Congress decided to reauthorize and extend the Trade Adjustment Assistance (“TAA”) program that offers a rich package of financial benefits to various workers whose jobs are lost as a result of imported goods and services. Once it is accepted that all free trade agreements can be tied to other demands, the sky is the limit. For instance, labor groups have long insisted on the fair trade provision that we can only have free trade agreements with those nations whose labor laws look remarkably like our own. Their intention is to use these conditions to hobble their foreign competitors by forcing the competitors to abandon their own low-cost practices, thereby depriving free trade of much of its punch.

  
  
  
• Education
  

  How Teachers in Texas Would Benefit from Expanding School Choice

  By Joseph L. Bast, Herbert J. Walberg, Bruno Behrend, Heartland Institute
  
  Policy Brief, 05/26/2011
  

  Teacher unions often lead the opposition to legislation that would expand the ability of parents to choose the schools – whether public or private – their children attend. Many observers assume individual teachers also oppose school choice initiatives and that they do so because school choice is somehow against their self-interest. This Policy Brief challenges both assumptions.

  
  
  
• Budget & Taxation
  

  Budget Impact of the Texas Taxpayers’ Savings Grant Program

  By John Merrifield, Joseph L. Bast, Heartland Institute
  
  Policy Brief, 05/26/2011
  

  The Taxpayers’ Savings Grant Program (TSGP) is a very concise piece of legislation, apparently intended to address the state’s looming biannual budget deficit by reducing enrollment and associated costs in the state’s public K-12 schools at a time of budget shortfalls. By reimbursing parents and legal guardians for “the amount of actual tuition costs or sixty percent of the state average per-pupil maintenance and operations expenditure, whichever is less,” the state should save money every time a child is moved from a public to a private school. The program would generate a net savings to the state of approximately $2.0 billion in the first two years.

  
  
  
• Education
  

  10 Questions State Legislators Should Ask About Higher Education

  By Vicki E. Murray, American Legislative Exchange Council
  
  Report, 05/26/2011
  

  Higher education has long been part of the American Dream as well as the envy of the world. Today universities in the United States dominate international rankings, with eight universities in the top 10, and 54 universities in the top 100. Once a service for just the privileged few, postsecondary education has become a reachable, and in many cases, necessary goal for the majority. However, such accessibility and stature are now in question; and legislators, taxpayers, parents, and students need answers.

  
  
  
• Health Care
  

  Will Comparative Effectiveness Research Kill More People Than It Helps?

  By Ronald Bailey, Reason Foundation
  
  Reason, 05/26/2011
  

  Better health care at lower cost. That’s what comparative effectiveness research promises, but can it deliver? A new study argues that federal comparative effectiveness research won’t generate cheaper, better medical care to the American public. Instead, it will force cuts in pharmaceutical and medical device research and development, resulting in 32 million lost years of life and economic losses totaling $1.7 trillion.

  
  
  
• Natural Resources, Energy, Environment, & Science
  

  Government Fast-Food Toy Bans

  By Julie Gunlock, Independent Women's Forum
  
  Policy Focus, 05/26/2011
  

  The government is increasingly trying to control what you can and cannot feed your children. In the name of improving children’s health, governments are banning toys in Happy Meals and considering numerous other regulations, taxes, and initiatives to limit how restaurants and other entities can market and prepare food. Yet studies show that these efforts are unlikely to improve children’s health. Studies have failed to establish a clear link between fast food consumption and childhood obesity, or that government is effective in encouraging healthier eating. Toy bans are particularly bad policy since there is no evidence that they discourage people from purchasing fast food.

  
  
  
• Elections, Transparency, & Accountability
  

  Newspapers + Government: 2.0

  By Pete Peterson, American Enterprise Institute
  
  The American, 05/26/2011
  

  The way to build the most effective online engagement platforms is for news organizations and local governments to collaborate from their strengths: newspapers bringing their informed readership and marketing skills, working with a municipality’s budget and policy experts. Of course, these relationships demand both transparency and a lack of bias—qualities neither party is known for. But—and this may be hardest of all—these tools also need citizens who are both engaged on local issues and humble about the challenges of forming public policy.

  
  
  
• Welfare
  

  Religious Alternatives to the Public Sector

  By Lewis M. Andrews, American Enterprise Institute
  
  The American, 05/26/2011
  

  doubt that for many the situation is about to get worse. The unfortunate consequence of reductions needed to balance state and local budgets, worries Orin Kramer, former chairman of New Jersey’s public pension fund, “Is that various safety nets for the most vulnerable citizens will be cut back.” If there is a silver lining, it is the opportunity to restructure many services that, while well intended, are not the most effective use of taxpayer dollars. One interesting question that so far has received little attention is the part that organized religion may play in the coming restructuring. Down through history, many of America’s most successful welfare organizations, including the Salvation Army, Habitat for Humanity, and hundreds of denominationally affiliated hospitals, have emerged as a religious response to social crises.

  
  
  
• Natural Resources, Energy, Environment, & Science
  

  The Problems with Precaution: A Principle without Principle

  By Jonathan H. Adler, American Enterprise Institute
  
  The American, 05/26/2011
  

  If the true aim is a safer world, and not merely to restrict industrial activity for its own sake or to retard technological progress, the risks of new chemicals or products must be weighed against the risks that they ameliorate or prevent. The risks of change must be weighed against the risk of stagnation. In every case, “the empirical question is whether the health [and environmental] gains from the regulation of the substances involved are greater or lesser than the health [and environmental] costs of the regulation.” While the advocates of the precautionary principle rely on the rhetoric of prudence and public health protection, they encourage the exclusive focus on one set of risks while ignoring others. Contrary to what your mother may have told you, “better safe than sorry” isn’t always safer.

  
  
  
• Foreign Policy/International Affairs
  

  Ahmadinejad versus Khamenei: IRGC Wins, Civilians Lose

  By Ali Alfoneh, American Enterprise Institute
  
  Middle Eastern Outlook, 05/26/2011
  

  Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad risks impeachment following his failed attempt to wrest control over the Intelligence Ministry from Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. Khamenei correctly considered Ahmadinejad’s dismissal of Intelligence Minister Hojjat al-Eslam Heydar Moslehi a direct attack against him and mobilized the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) to restrict Ahmadinejad’s power. Should Ahmadinejad survive parliamentary attempts at impeachment, the conflict between the supreme leader and the president is likely to continue. However, the IRGC may be the main beneficiary of the continual battles between the two civilian leaders of the Islamic Republic.

  
  
  
• Economic and Political Thought
  

  The Right to Property in Global Human Rights Law

  By Jacob Mchangama, Cato Institute
  
  Cato Policy Report, 05/26/2011
  

  Mainstream human-rights thinking is increasingly hostile to the protection of private property and receptive to the ideas of economic, social, and cultural rights that often conflict with the right to property. Accordingly, those who believe that human rights are essential for freedom and prosperity and that the right to property is an essential human right should urgently focus their efforts on strengthening the protection of the right to property under international human rights law.

  
  
  
• Foreign Policy/International Affairs
  

  President Obama Should Advance the Polish–American Relationship

  By Sally McNamara, Morgan Roach, The Heritage Foundation
  
  WebMemo, 05/25/2011
  

  The Polish–American relationship is based on shared values and common interests. Warsaw was one of the four leading countries in the coalition present in Iraq from the outset of Operation Iraqi Freedom. More than 2,500 Polish soldiers continue to stand alongside the U.S. and other coalition forces in Afghanistan—significantly, with no national caveats imposed by Warsaw. Although the early part of his Administration saw a series of missteps in the region, President Obama has an opportunity to revive relations with Warsaw and reaffirm that Poland is one of America’s closest allies. During his visit, he must not only strike the right tone, but also advance policy initiatives to demonstrate the enduring value of the U.S.–Polish relationship.

  
  
  
• National Security
  

  The Great Eastern Japan Earthquake: Assessing Disaster Response and Lessons for the U.S.

  By James Carafano, The Heritage Foundation
  
  Special Report, 05/25/2011
  

  In virtually every major respect, the lessons to be learned from the Great Eastern Japan Earthquake are ones that the United States should already know well. Many are reminiscent of the challenges the U.S. faced in recent large-scale disasters, such as Hurricane Katrina and the Gulf oil spill. Addressing the shortfalls of catastrophic disaster response is vital. Catastrophic disasters are one of the few challenges that can bring even the most rich and powerful nations to their knees. Yet, these shortfalls are avoidable calamities. This paper offers multiple recommendations for U.S. policymakers to address shortfalls in terms of preparedness and response, risk communication, international assistance, and critical infrastructure.

  
  
  
• Budget & Taxation
  

  Obamacare Tax Subsidies: Bigger Deficit, Fewer Taxpayers, Damaged Economy

  By Paul Winfree, The Heritage Foundation
  
  Backgrounder, 05/25/2011
  

  The number of Americans who pay federal income taxes has been shrinking every year, with a recent report suggesting that less than half of American households owed federal income taxes in 2009. One of the key components of Obamacare, tax subsidies to purchase federally approved health insurance, will substantially increase the number of people who are not paying for government services and thus have a lower incentive to be concerned about record-breaking government spending. These tax subsidies, which take effect in 2014, will also harm the economy by increasing the national deficit and by creating huge marginal tax rates that will discourage productivity for many households. Obamacare’s tax subsidies are one of the primary reasons to repeal Obamacare.

  
  
  
• National Security
  

  Don’t Be Misled on Reauthorization of Anti-Terrorism Tools

  By Andrew Grossman, The Heritage Foundation
  
  Legal Memorandum, 05/25/2011
  

  The three anti-terrorism tools scheduled to sunset on May 27, 2011—the authority to conduct “roving” wiretaps of terrorist suspects, to obtain “business records” relating to terrorism investigations, and to conduct surveillance of “lone wolf” terrorist suspects—clearly pass constitutional muster. Each follows the approach, laid out by the courts and by Congress in the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, of allowing the executive to act aggressively while still subjecting executive action to oversight where the domestic activities of foreign powers threaten the nation’s safety. To provide certainty in terrorism investigations, Congress should make these tools permanent while continuing to conduct appropriate oversight to ensure that they are used properly.

  
  
  
• Foreign Policy/International Affairs
  

  Does the Tea Party Need a Foreign Policy?

  By Marion Smith, The Heritage Foundation
  
  WebMemo, 05/25/2011
  

  While many political observers agree that “the great mass of Tea Party America does not seem headed toward a new isolationism,” its silence on foreign policy issues has allowed isolationist voices to speak up for the Tea Party as a whole and to discredit the movement’s relevance to American diplomacy. This isolationist voice could be detrimental to America’s security and is at odds with the principles of America’s founding, from which tea parties rightly gain much inspiration. Tea parties have the opportunity to reject isolationism and advocate the founding principles of America’s indispensible role in the world.

  
  
  
• International Trade/Finance
  

  Vietnam’s State Sector Should Not Dictate the Trans-Pacific Partnership

  By Derek Scissors, Walter Lohman, The Heritage Foundation
  
  WebMemo, 05/25/2011
  

  It is definitely worthwhile for the U.S. to work with Vietnam to improve its economy. The bilateral relationship has a track record of substantive cooperation on reform. Vietnam’s World Trade Organization accession and its bilateral trade agreement with the U.S. have served to bring necessary change to the Vietnamese economy. However, America’s current trade focus, the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), will ask much more of Hanoi. Much of what it will ask—non-discriminatory regulations, non-preferential lending, transparency in governance, lifting of investment barriers—impinges directly on the beleaguered state sector. Given the present state of its economy, Vietnam may not be capable of meeting these and other extensive commitments. As a result, talks on the TPP could be held hostage to state-imposed Vietnamese inefficiencies. The U.S. should not allow that to happen.

  
  
  
• International Trade/Finance
  

  Complaints About North Korean Imports a Smoke Screen for Trade Protectionism

  By Bruce Klingner, The Heritage Foundation
  
  Backgrounder, 05/25/2011
  

  After years of needless delay, the South Korea–U.S. free trade agreement (KORUS FTA) is finally gathering momentum for congressional approval. Several key Members of Congress who previously opposed the FTA are now advocating its implementation. However, some die-hard opponents are making a last-ditch effort to stoke resistance to the agreement. The most egregious myth is that North Korean goods will freely enter the U.S. market via the North Korean Kaesong Industrial Complex (KIC), resulting in America’s de facto subsidization of Kim Jong-il’s regime.

  
  
  
• National Security
  

  Ten Years After 9/11: Thinking Smarter About Homeland Security

  By Jena Baker McNeill, Matt Mayer, The Heritage Foundation
  
  America at Risk Memo, 05/25/2011
  

  America is at risk. It is essential that policymakers make smart choices today that will keep the homeland secure and counter emerging 21st-century threats.

  
  
  
• International Trade/Finance
  

  President Obama Visits the Irish Financial Crisis

  By Theodore Bromund, J.D. Foster, The Heritage Foundation
  
  WebMemo, 05/25/2011
  

  Ireland’s peril holds three lessons for the U.S. and for the world. One is that the financial crisis that began in 2008 was truly global. The second is that Ireland has since 2002 been taking part in a great experiment called the euro. It is being conducted to determine if political will can outweigh economic reality. The Irish crisis, and the broader European one, implies that economic reality is likely to win out. Third, the U.S. should also remember that it historically supported European integration—and continues to support it today—as a means to promoting prosperity and democracy in Europe. But if there comes a point when the U.S. or an EU member state finds that the institutions of an integrated Europe are irredeemably endangering its prosperity or democracy, the U.S. must not back the means of integration at the expense of the ends of its policy.

  
  
  
• National Security
  

  Terror Trends: 40 Years’ Data on International and Domestic Terrorism

  By David Muhlhausen, Jena Baker McNeill, The Heritage Foundation
  
  Special Report, 05/25/2011
  

  A decade after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, looking back is as important as looking forward in order to learn from the past and to examine the current and future threats facing the U.S. This survey aggregates international data on global and domestic terrorism from the past 40 years. Combined with new intelligence, this data can better inform U.S. counterterrorism decisions and continue the process of delineating enhanced homeland security policies for the future. From 1969 to 2009, almost 5,600 people lost their lives and more than 16,300 people suffered injuries due to international terrorism directed at the United States. The onus is now on the President and Congress to ensure that the U.S. continues to hone and sharpen its counterterrorism capabilities and adapt them to evolving 21st-century threats.

  
  
  
• National Security
  

  39 Terror Plots Foiled Since 9/11: Examining Counterterrorism’s Success Stories

  By Jena Baker McNeill, James Carafano, Jessica Zuckerman, The Heritage Foundation
  
  Backgrounder, 05/25/2011
  

  The Heritage Foundation began tracking foiled terror plots against the U.S. in 2007—counting at least 19 foiled plots since 9/11. Today, that count stands at 39 plots against the U.S. foiled—thanks overwhelmingly to the Bush-era policies of enhanced information sharing and intelligence gathering. Three Heritage national security experts summarize the data, explain the lessons that Americans should learn from the anti-terror successes, and delineate essential principles that American policymakers should follow to continue to protect this country and its citizens.

  
  
  
• National Security
  

  What President Obama Should Tell Prime Minister Cameron About Britain’s Defense Cuts

  By Theodore Bromund, The Heritage Foundation
  
  WebMemo, 05/25/2011
  

  The future of Britain’s armed forces is bleak: Efficiencies in procurement, though desirable, can go only so far in compensating for continued spending cuts, especially when these cuts find their justification in a doctrine that has been fundamentally shaped by a desire to spend less money. The President and the Prime Minister have a vital obligation to recognize that the policies they are pursuing are reducing the capabilities of their armed forces, hollowing out NATO and the Special Relationship, and diminishing their security and power in the world.

  
  
  
• Foreign Policy/International Affairs
  

  What President Obama and Prime Minister Cameron Should Do to Preserve the Anglo–American Special Relationship

  By Theodore Bromund, The Heritage Foundation
  
  WebMemo, 05/25/2011
  

  Just because the Special Relationship is deep and important does not mean it is immune from disruption. If the alliance between Britain and the U.S. is to remain special, its partners must treat each other specially and better than they do other states. The President and the Prime Minister have a vital obligation to pursue policies that clearly demonstrate the value that they place on the Special Relationship.

  
  
  
• Foreign Policy/International Affairs
  

  Preserving the Special Relationship: A Conservative Agenda for President Obama’s State Visit to Great Britain

  By Theodore Bromund, The Heritage Foundation
  
  Backgrounder, 05/25/2011
  

  The summit meeting in May between President Barack Obama and Prime Minister David Cameron comes at an important moment in the Special Relationship between the United States and Great Britain. The two powers lead NATO, which has again proved that it is the only European and Atlantic institution capable of creating consensus and responding in a crisis. However, the political tensions and military failings exposed by the Libyan intervention reflect broader weaknesses in the Anglo–American alliance and in NATO as a whole. The President and the Prime Minister need to address these weaknesses forthrightly and not allow rhetoric about the Special Relationship to substitute for serious action to preserve it now and strengthen it for the future.

  
  
  
• National Security
  

  Homeland Security Grant Guidelines Make Security and Fiscal Sense

  By Jena Baker McNeill, Matt Mayer, The Heritage Foundation
  
  WebMemo, 05/25/2011
  

  DHS should be applauded for starting the process of making better decisions when it comes to assistance for states and localities, beginning with the UASI program. Now the Administration, working with Congress, should begin to assess the current grant structure and strive to focus federal dollars exclusively on closing gaps in capabilities, thereby making America safer against terrorism and more prepared when disaster strikes.

  
  
  
• Natural Resources, Energy, Environment, & Science
  

  U.S. Nuclear Policy After Fukushima: Trust But Modify

  By Jack Spencer, The Heritage Foundation
  
  Backgrounder, 05/25/2011
  

  Until the full scope and implications of the Fukushima disaster are understood, it will be unclear which lessons the U.S. should learn. In the meantime, there is an issue that can, and should, be addressed immediately—disposal of nuclear waste.

  
  
  
• Natural Resources, Energy, Environment, & Science
  

  A Bridge over Troubled Waters: Alternative Financing and Delivery of Water and Wastewater Services

  By Elizabeth Brubaker, C.D. Howe Institute
  
  Commentary, 05/23/2011
  

  Drinking water and sewage systems across Canada threaten public health and the environment. Municipalities lack the resources to correct utility failings. Private water and wastewater services providers are well positioned to help municipalities with needed capital and expertise. Engaged through competitive contracting and governed by performance-based contracts, private providers have incentives to find efficiencies and perform well.