Solutions for America
Compiled by a team of Heritage experts, Solutions for America identifies the nature and scope of our most pressing problems in 23 discrete policy areas, and recommends 128 specific policy prescriptions for Congress to consider. Some of the recommendations are groundbreaking. Others are familiar. Some are being debated right now. All have one thing in common: They would return power to the people. And, collectively, they will transform America, setting her back on the track to prosperity and greatness.
Perilous times necessitate bold action. America is at a tipping point. To continue on the current path of ever-expanding central government will plunge us into a statist abyss of lost liberties, vanishing opportunity and dying prospects of a better tomorrow. But our nation can just as well correct course, as she has so often in the past.
Americans by the millions have begun the process, rallying around the vision of the Founders. The policies articulated in Solutions for America are calculated to make that vision a reality, to build an America where freedom, opportunity, prosperity, and civil society flourish anew.
Part 1: Changing America’s Course
Published on August 17, 2010
THE ISSUE:
The United States is the world’s strongest, most prosperous, most just, and freest nation. Yet the path we have been following is turning America into a very different place: a country stifled by a highly regulated economy, nationalized industries, and government-run health care, ruled more by bureaucrats and judges than by the consent of the governed and with a foreign policy that pays far too much deference to international organizations and erodes American sovereignty. The American people now face the choice of either continuing the policies of progressive liberalism or changing course to a new direction that is guided by principle and oriented toward renewing America’s greatest purpose and promise. Read more
Part 2: Restoring the U.S. to a Free Economy
Published on August 17, 2010
THE ISSUE:
In 2010, for the first time ever, the United States has fallen from the ranks of the economically “free” as measured by the Index of Economic Freedom, published annually by The Heritage Foundation and The Wall Street Journal, falling below the cutoff that earns countries the right to call themselves “free.” The status of the United States today? “Mostly free.” The reason? Notable decreases in financial freedom, monetary freedom, and property rights. The U.S. scores particularly badly in areas where the government has taken too large and intrusive a role. This decline must be reversed. Read more
Part 3: The Entitlement Crisis
Published on August 17, 2010
THE ISSUE:
Entitlements—Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid—threaten to bankrupt the nation. The unsustainable tsunami of spending on these programs will accelerate as 77 million baby boomers flood into them. Unlike other parts of the federal budget, such as defense or most education programs, Congress does not review and approve the level of funding for these programs annually or…ever. Rather, their expansion is on autopilot, fueled by demographic changes and rapidly rising health care costs. We are reaching a budgetary tipping point as entitlement spending’s automatic “first call” crowds out other national priorities. Recent studies show that America’s long-term fiscal situation is one of the world’s worst, which makes reforms even more urgent if we are to avoid the fate of Greece or even Britain. But entitlements are also a moral challenge. It is simply wrong to make unsustainable promises to today’s adults by shackling our children and grandchildren with crippling debt or heavy taxes. Read more
Part 4: Reining in Runaway Spending and Deficits
Published on August 17, 2010
THE ISSUE:
The Obama Administration has used the recession as an excuse for a historic and permanent expansion of government and deficits. Only during the height of World War II has Washington matched current levels of spending (25% of GDP) and deficits (10% of GDP). Even after the recession, runaway spending is expected to keep annual budget deficits over $1 trillion, which could result in sharply higher interest rates, painful tax increases, and even a Greece-like economic crisis. Beyond our own economic consequences, dumping this staggering debt on future generations would be absolutely immoral.
Part 5: Tax Reform
Published on August 17, 2010
THE ISSUE:
Taxes should raise the revenue to fund necessary government operations in ways that cause the least possible economic damage. Accordingly, Congress and President Obama should reform the existing tax code and drop their current plans to increase taxes on high-income earners, small businesses, investors, and other job creators. For good reason, no school of economic thought advocates raising taxes during a recession or in its immediate aftermath. Raising taxes now would be reckless and irresponsible. Instead, Congress should focus on tax reforms that would grow jobs and the economy.
Part 6: Meeting America’s Energy and Environmental Needs
Published on August 17, 2010
THE ISSUE:
America needs an energy policy that promotes environmental sustainability and economic growth. Yet many Members of Congress and the Administration are promoting policies and promulgating regulations that centralize power in Washington—an approach that leads to the high prices, energy shortages, and foreign dependence that politicians use to justify their failed big-government policies. Americans should demand an energy policy that is rooted in the free market, builds on private property rights, and relies on the initiative and entrepreneurial spirit of the private sector. This will not only promote economic growth, but also help Americans to achieve their environmental objectives. Ultimately, it is economic prosperity, not government dictate, that provides the means to protect the environment.
Part 7: The Unsustainable Growth of Welfare
Published on August 17, 2010
THE ISSUE:
Despite spending almost $16 trillion since the War on Poverty began in 1964, welfare programs have failed to reduce the causes of poverty, and instead have hurt many of the people they were intended to help. Poverty in America is overwhelmingly linked to the absence of fathers and a lack of work, but welfare payments have had the destructive effects of eroding marriage and the work ethic in low-income communities. The welfare reform of 1996 transformed one program, significantly reducing welfare rolls and lowering child poverty. But today that reform is in jeopardy, and some 70 other federal means-tested programs need similar reform.
Part 8: The Unsustainable Growth of Welfare
Published on August 17, 2010
THE ISSUE:
Despite spending almost $16 trillion since the War on Poverty began in 1964, welfare programs have failed to reduce the causes of poverty, and instead have hurt many of the people they were intended to help. Poverty in America is overwhelmingly linked to the absence of fathers and a lack of work, but welfare payments have had the destructive effects of eroding marriage and the work ethic in low-income communities. The welfare reform of 1996 transformed one program, significantly reducing welfare rolls and lowering child poverty. But today that reform is in jeopardy, and some 70 other federal means-tested programs need similar reform.