The Daily Signal - 3 of Biggest Issues Conservatives Face in 2022

Episode Date: January 7, 2022

We’re just one week into 2022 and already political debates are heating up in Washington over election integrity, the Senate filibuster, and spending, among other things. It’s clear that 2022 will be a significant year in the fight for American liberty. Jessica Anderson, Heritage Action for America executive director, says conservatives will face at least three major battles in the year ahead.  “The fight to protect the sanctity of life, I think, is going to be in the forefront of so many voters minds, really, throughout the year,” Anderson says.  The Supreme Court’s decision in the Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization case will determine not only whether or not Roe v. Wade is overturned, but also affect the lives of millions of unborn babies.  In addition to the issue of abortion, Anderson says, election integrity and President Joe Biden’s liberal agenda more broadly are significant issues to follow in 2022.  Also on today’s show:  Both Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris deliver speeches about the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot.  Former President Donald Trump says Biden used his speech about Jan. 6 to distract from his failings as president. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis takes action to limit America’s dependence on China. Enjoy the show! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This is the Daily Signal podcast for Friday, January 7th. I'm Doug Blair. And I'm Virginia Allen. We are one week into 2022, and it's clear that this is going to be a significant year in the fight for American Liberty. So what are the biggest issues facing our country this year? As conservatives, what are the challenges that we need to be aware of? Heritage Action for America Executive Director Jessica Anderson joins the show today to explain three of the most pressing issues ahead of us in 2022.

But before we get to Virginia's conversation with Jessica Anderson, let's hit our top news stories of the day. Thursday marked one year since rioters stormed the U.S. Capitol building. Both President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris delivered speeches at the Capitol and lamented the incidents of January 6, 2021. Though Biden never mentioned President Donald Trump by name, he repeated. referred to the former president and blamed Trump for the riots that day per CNBC. For the first time in our history, a president had not just lost an election.

He tried to prevent the peaceful transfer of power as a violent mob breached the Capitol. But they failed. They failed. And in this day of remembrance, we must make sure that such attack never, never had. happens again. Harris also spoke at the Capitol shortly before Biden and compared the attack on the Capitol to the events of Pearl Harbor and September 11th per today. Dates that occupy not only a place on our calendars, but a place in our collective memory. December 7th, 1941, September 11th, 2001, and January 6th.

2021. Harris went on to discuss the strength and the fragility of democracy. Many lawmakers weighed in on the events of January 6th on Twitter. South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham wrote, the Biden administration seems to be incapable of dealing with the challenges America faces, and their efforts to politicize January 6th will fall flat. Former President Trump also weighed in on Biden's speech, arguing that Biden was using January 6th to distract from his own failings as president. In a Thursday statement, the former president wrote, this political theater is all just a distraction

for the fact Biden has completely and totally failed. Trump continued, the Democrats want to own this day of January 6th so they can stoke fears and divide America. I say, let them have it, because America sees through their lies and polarizations. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, Republican from Kentucky, also weighed in by claiming Democrats were using January 6th as an excuse to change filibuster rules

and pass federal election bills. Here's McConnell via Forbes. It is beyond distasteful for some of our colleagues to ham-fistedly invoke the January 6th anniversary to advance these aims. Washington Democrats have been trying to seize control over elections for years. Their first draft of the legislation at hand was introduced in January of 29, The fact that violent criminals broke the law does not entitle Senate Democrats to break the Senate. It is surreal to hear sitting senators invoke January the 6th to justify. Listen to this, to justify breaking rules to grab outcomes they have not earned. McConnell's statements come on the heels of Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, Democrat from New York,

announcing he planned to force a vote to change the filibuster rules in the Senate. if Democrat-backed voting legislation wasn't passed. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis is taking action to limit America's dependence on China. The governor announced Thursday that he will be investing Florida's funds to grow the manufacturing of microchips and semiconductors in the state. DeSantis said during a press conference he wants to increase manufacturing in Florida so China can't hold our supply chain hostage. key sectors of our economy should not be captive to some of these foreign nations, particularly outfits like the Communist Party of China, and then even when you have allies like Taiwan, how that could impact, if there was a disruption there, could throw a lot of this for the loop

even more than we've already seen over the past year or a half. So the more we have this capacity within our own country, but particularly within our own state here in Florida, the more opportunities there's going to be for people and the more secure both our economic supply chains will be and our national security. The governor's announcement comes after he said on December 20th that he planned to take strategic action to limit dependence on China. Now stay tuned for my conversation with Jessica Anderson as we discussed the biggest issues to watch for in 2022. Never has it been more important for us to fight for America. Each day we see the penalty of progressive policies across our nation.

Our elections are under assault. Our economic freedom is on the decline, and our culture is turning its back on the founding principles that have made us the freest, most prosperous nation in history. That's why the Heritage Foundation developed a plan to take on the left

and take back our country. The Citizens' Guide to Fight for America provides a series of heritage-recommended action items delivered on a regular basis to your inbox. make an impact in your community and in our country. Sign up for the Citizens Guide at heritage.org slash citizens guide and join in the fight for America today.

We are just about a week into 2022, and already there are major debates happening in Washington, D.C. over election integrity, the filibuster spending, and so much more. So many of us are asking the question of what are those big issues? for 2022 that we as conservatives need to be focused on, need to be worried about, and need to be preparing to fight on. Well, here with us to answer those questions is Jessica Anderson, the executive director of Heritage Action for America. Jessica, welcome back to the show. Thanks for having me. It's great to be here. Yeah, it's wonderful to be kicking off the year with you

and talking about, okay, what are these big fights ahead? So we spoke a little bit before the show, And you say, you know, there's really kind of three major things that come to mind right away. One, of course, is broadly speaking, the Biden agenda. We need to know where the Biden administration is heading and what those implications are for all of us as Americans. That's a big category. But then, of course, we also have the issue of election integrity, specifically at the state level and abortion, something that's so close to the hearts of so many conservatives. So I want to work backwards here and start by talking. about the issue of abortion. Just in December, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments for the Dobbs case

that could overturn Roe v. Wade. Where do you think stand right now? What can we expect as we look to 2022 and what is coming down the line on the issue of abortion? So the fight to protect the sanctity of life, I think is going to be forefront of so many voters' minds really throughout the year. Right now, the Supreme Court is still considering we've had the oral arguments from the Dobbs case. That was the first week of December. And that followed the Texas heartbeat Supreme Court case as well, which the Supreme Court heard oral arguments from. So both of those cases ended at the front of the Supreme Court's minds. And as we concluded, 2021, and then now when we expect decisions to be held down, passed down later this spring, I think we'll have some clarity on where the court is going to come

down on the sanctity of life and on some of the main principles around Roe v. Wade. What's interesting to watch, though, is that some states are already anticipating that the court rules to essentially overturn the main principle of Roe. And if that were to happen, a lot of, basically the entire decision around how abortions are regulated will be, pass down for states to decide. So it's not that abortion then becomes illegal. It then becomes something that states have to weigh in on and regulate or not regulate within their own state. And so some states are getting ahead of that. So I think as we watch the legislative sessions open across the country as general assemblies and legislatures come back into session this January,

some at the beginning of February, this is going to be something that they tackle. And how they choose to tackle it will also be interesting, right? Do they do things like the 24-hour waiting period? Do they do a heartbeat bill? Do they do fetal pain? Like, there are so many different ways to back into this issue from a legislative standpoint. It's really going to be up for these state legislative leaders and these lawmakers to decide what sort of policy they're going to put forward. So I would keep an eye on that. I think certainly as these sessions kick back off here at the end of January and And some have already begun as of this next week on Monday. Yeah, well, and I think that's really, really important to explain

because we sometimes hear from the left this language of, okay, if Roe U. Wade is overturned, it's just the end of the world for them. And there's no abortion is going to be allowed anywhere in America. And that's not accurate. What you just explained, it returns back to the states. And then it's in the hands of states to make the policy decisions that they want to around abortion. And so we've already seen with states like California coming out really aggressively saying almost like we're going to be this abortion safe haven.

And of course that opens a whole other debate and shifts the focus of the pro-life movement. But it's really important that we draw the distinctions and parse that out clearly. And I think, you know, there's a lot of goodness in states taking the reins on this issue. I mean, look what Texas was able to do with the heartbeat bell. And the longer that that law stands. the more babies are being saved on a day-to-day basis. And so, you know, whether or not it fails in the courts or not, I don't have a crystal ball.

I don't know what's going to happen. And we certainly don't know the full conclusion of that yet. But what we do know is for as long as it stands, more babies are being saved. And that's something that Texas did, you know, not even 60 days ago. Yeah, yeah. And so we're celebrating. It's been so exciting to see so many states saying, nope, we're going to protect life. So, so good.

Well, and of course, another big state issue is that of election integrity. We're seeing a lot of debates already so far just in the first week of this year around that idea, that concept. And your argument is we really need to be focused on this at the state level. Why? Explain why this is such an important issue. So election integrity and the desire to return trust, sanctity, support, security, fairness. all of that transparency back to the ballot box is really top of mind for so many Americans. I mean, we see this in the grassroots. Our sentinels bring it up day in and day out.

They're asking us, you know, what are we doing to secure the vote? And so there's two ways to look at this. One, on the federal side. The Democrat leadership, Chuck Schumer, Nancy Pelosi, Joe Biden, Kamal Harris, they have made crystal clear that their number one priority at the beginning of 2021 was to pass a federal overhaul, a federal overtake of our election systems through their number one legislative bill, H.R.1, S-1, which is titled, We the People. We have retitled that. It is not We the People. It's for the corrupt politicians act because it basically ushers in an

entire wave of liberal and Democrat victories for decades to come because of how the entire election system would be overhauled. And then it goes after things like common sense, a very common sense policy like voter ID over 85 percent of Americans support it. It would completely shed it and get rid of it, even if states had passed their own voter ID laws. So it's an overhaul, right? It's a complete override. So the federal way to look at this is to simply to say, we need to block the federal overreach of our election systems. Now, conservative activists and those conservative senators and members of the House that were so active about this issue all through 2021, did a fabulous job, keeping the GOP conference together, keeping conservatives in lockstep, the grassroots made it

clear that they didn't want to see HR1 move. And throughout the year, as different elements of the bill, first it was HR1, then an HR4, and then now it's kind of a version of the two with a mansion compromise in that he compromised with himself, all of those different iterations failed. They were not able to get through the Senate. They were not able to push through a nuke the filibuster. So as we start 2022, we've already seen in the first eight days of the year a huge rush of energy from the left to return to that roadmap to nuke the filibuster and pass this federal overreach. So I think our goal as conservatives remains the same as it was last year, which is to block.

that bill. And then the second way to look at the issue of election integrity is at the state level. And there are so many incredibly important reforms that are needed to secure elections through states. And so state legislators like Florida, like Georgia, like Texas, Arizona, Iowa, so many of them stepped up to the plate this last year and put forward reform packages that really did two things. They wanted to make it easy for legitimate voters to vote and hard for cheaters to cheat. Easy to vote, hard to treat. That was the mantra. And the reforms that we saw move through were everything from voter ID to securing absentee ballots, to limiting the number of days around early voting, to making sure voter rolls are updated and clean. So if someone passes away that they're

not being carried on a voter roll for year after year after year, which just asks for more fraud. So this issue is so important because it's just completely ingrained in our psyche as American citizens because the ability to vote is the bedrock of our republic. It's the bedrock of American democracy. And when that feels threatened or it's not protected and secure or transparent, that's really where you see freedom-loving grassroots Americans come out and really demand something different from their state lawmakers. So I would pay attention to states like Georgia and Florida that are going to go deeper on election reform bills this next legislative session.

And I would look for new states like South Carolina and Tennessee to get into the mix to put these reform bills through. And we've put together a whole list that's based on the Heritage Foundation's research from the Mease Center that outlines what these reforms can be. You can find all this at save our elections.com. And then it integrates back with this great new product that Heritage just came out with called the Election Integrity Score. card, which goes through and shows where states need to make changes. And then there's actual model legislation that they can download that is a great starting point that lawmakers can use, can build off of to make sure that their state is in the best shape possible heading into 2022. So the two goals, block the federal overreach, continue to tackle state-based reforms.

That will be front of mind for, frankly, all of us as conservatives throughout the year of 2022. Yeah. Yeah. So we're already seeing movement that, as you mentioned from states like South Carolina that are saying, okay, we want to adopt some of these policies like Georgia has done to make sure that our elections are safer. That's a really good sign. That's encouraging. Yeah, be on the lookout. I think, you know, there's such an interesting phenomenon going on right now as more

and more activists realize how much power state governments have. Yeah. It's like during the lockdowns, right? I know COVID showed us all that. Exactly. How much power the states have? We looked around and we said, who's locking us down? Who's closing my business?

Shutting down my school. Well, it's state governments. And so for the first time in a very, very long time as activists, we realized, okay, we have to have relationships with our state lawmakers, with our governors. We have to know who these guys are and be able to call them and petition our grievances just in the way we would have a federal member of Congress. And so I think that's why you're starting to see some of this shift where activists are being able to do both at the same time. Still work on federal accountability, work with their members of Congress, of course, their senators, but then also build those deep relationships with state lawmakers. Yeah, that's going to be interesting this year to watch that continue to play out because you're right so important. Now, you mentioned the filibuster.

Of course, this flows right into the Biden administration's larger agenda for 2022. There's a big debate right now over the filibuster. We heard about it quite a bit last year. Obviously, it's not gone away. And it's right in line with all this conversation about election integrity and the federal takeover elections. Parsis out a little bit more for us. where do things stand right now? The filibuster simply means that for the majority of a piece of legislation in the Senate,

they require 60 votes. So there's a part of me that has to just step back and laugh a little bit in this conversation because I almost like, well, doesn't the left realize that if they do away with the filibuster, that then if conservatives again control the Senate, well, that's not going to go on their favor. It seems obvious, but somehow they don't seem to be picking up on that. Well, it's a two-step power grab is basically the best way to think about it. First, they want to completely shut down and erode a 200-plus year rule that has governed the Senate. It's been, you know, the cooling kettle for policies that are coming over from the House. It's allowed the voice of the moderate to be heard. It's allowed the

voice of the minority to be heard and to be protected. It's ensured that the country doesn't yo-yo back from one position to another as power changes. And so the filibuster is so much more than just, you know, an ageless Senate procedure. It's really become part of our vernacular because of what it protects and because of what it means. And so as the liberal elites want to squash that and they want to nuke it, that then ushers in their second step for power, which is to go back because that is the only way Nuking the filibuster is the only way they will be able to pass H.R.1, S1, the federal overtake of our elections. They know that they can't get that bill through without nuking the filibuster. And so it's not just the procedure that we're talking about.

It's what that procedure then opens up the door for. First would be H.R.1. And then everything that follows is a complete laundry list of the left's wish list for the last two decades. everything from the Green New Deal to adding additional states to adding additional Supreme Court justices. I mean, the list goes on. And so when you look at this, you realize that this is a power grab. And it's meant to cement Democrat policy, legislative agenda, liberal reengineering of American society in the most aggressive way that we would have seen to date. Now, thankfully, there's two senators that have said no, that they're not budging.

that's Senator Cinema of Arizona and Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia, two senators we've heard a lot from and a lot about throughout 2021. We're going to continue to hear from them in 22. Manton's already making news. He's put a stop to Biden's buildback better or build back broke plan, as I like to call it. That's that legislative agenda that we've been watching from the Biden administration. But he's also said no to this, which is interesting and not to digress too much, but to get back to the earlier point about why do states matter, the left has tried to use the success of states in passing their election integrities. They've tried to reframe those successes to say, no, those states are racist. They're disenfranchising voters. This is white supremacy. And every single time that they've done that,

they've tried to create this narrative to push back to have a voting rights carve out for the filibuster to say, look how crazy the states are. We need to deal with this federally, right? They can't We will. Every time they've done that, though, they failed. You even have the Washington Post coming out and giving Biden for Pinocchio's for his mischaracterizations of the Georgia election integrity bill. I mean, it's not for nothing that we are a year into this. They haven't been successful in passing this because the American people recognize that these are not crazy bills. This is not extremism that's going on in the states. These are good, wholesome reforms that we all want. And they were bipartisan before everything became so partisan.

And so this is truly just a narrative. And if they're able, if they're successful in doing it, and I don't think that they will. But if they are successful in doing it, then the filibuster will be nuked. And it will give the next 12 months or however much longer there's Democrat control of the Congress and the White House. It will give a complete wish list, the entree to move through and to find its way to Biden's desk. So conservatives should stay diligent. We should continue to call and support Mansion and Cinema, urge them to say no. So what else is on that wish list?

You mentioned a few things. I'm especially thinking about our economy. Yeah. And, you know, as a young person, I think, looking towards the future and, you know, with goals to buy a house one day. And, you know, my brother-in-law has his own business and thinking about, you know, okay, where do we stand right now as our country continues to recover from COVID? And what are the implications if Biden has his way as it relates to our economy?

Yeah. The Biden economic, domestic agenda puts Americans last. It just does. And it does it in every single aspect of public policy. When you look at energy and increasing our energy dependence on other countries as opposed to American oil, when you look at how he's dealt with the supply chain, when you look at how he's dealt with health care and COVID readiness versus lockdowns and not getting enough testing or vaccines out to America. Americans that want them. I mean, it's literally one thing after the other. And the hardest part about the Biden domestic agenda in my mind is that he doesn't have a mandate to do this. He didn't

win in a landslide. He did not win in a landslide. He did not win with overwhelming support. It was a close election. And there's no mandate for him to come in and to do this from the people. His only mandate should be, am I giving more freedom or less freedom to the American people? And I would argue he needs to be giving more freedom. So, you know, there's a lot that's at stake. Thankfully, the Build Back Better Plan, which housed a lot of the more egregious policies, is stalled right now, whether or not they are able to chop the bill up and move different parts of it. We don't know yet. That will really depend on how negotiations go in the next 10 to 15 days.

Congresswoman Jayapala, who is the head of the Progressive Caucus, was calling that Biden's slice and dice and start doing. some things with the executive order. While we know how that will end, it won't end well because much of that is unconstitutional to do. And so I don't think they may not go that route, but I think you're going to see a lot of pressure from progressives to do it like that. And then regardless, Manchin will have the pen on pulling bits and pieces of the package and whether or not it's in a buildback better, you know, skinny version or a light version

or is it the full behemoth of a bill that is what we saw at the end of 2021. Yeah, because Mansion has really been the one putting the brakes on this. Yeah, he said no, and they can't pass it without him. Yeah, yeah, wow, a lot rides on it. Wild Times in America. We're all moving to West Virginia so we can be West Virginia activists. There you go. Well, Jessica, what else? What are other things that we need to be aware of as conservatives and thinking about and tracking in 2022? too. Well, I'd be remiss if we didn't at least acknowledge that we have a huge midterm election that's coming up. And so, you know, this is a great time for people to get involved as a volunteer. You can be a poll worker. It can be a poll watcher. You can serve to get out the vote,

going door to door, volunteering to talk in your community about these policy issues, making sure people are registered to vote, making sure you yourself are registered to vote. I mean, so many people moved because of COVID to either more free red states or they just picked up and moved back home with their families or college students that were in school, but now they're remote from home. I mean, the abundance of needs for voter registration couldn't be more obvious going into 22. So make sure you have a plan to vote. Make sure you're registered. Talk to your friends and family.

Do your American civic duty. Certainly a lot going into 2022 in November and the midterms. So keep an eye on that and figure out how you can get pledged. in and how you can get involved. And then, you know, I think there's going to be a lot of fits and starts throughout the year when it comes to, you know, is there an additional recovery package? What do they do with additional appropriations with defense spending? All of those, that sort of regular order of business and a legislative calendar, we will

want to stay on top of that. Conservative activists will engage directly with it as those things become more clear. But you've nailed it. The three big pillars are this legislative agenda that Biden is trying to put. through the Congress now, what happens post-dobs and what that influence and impact is on Roe v. Wade and then protecting the filibuster and the fight for election integrity as it spreads to the state and federal levels. Yeah.

Jessica, you are the executive director of Heritage Action for America. For those that are not familiar with the awesome work that you guys do, share with us just briefly what you all do and how individuals can get involved. I know you have a grassroots army out there and you all are always looking for more people to join that army. We need the help. So you'll never be turned away or not given plenty of work to do, that's for sure. Heritage Action is a network of 2 million grassroots activists coast to coast.

We have over 100 activists in every congressional district. And we engage directly with lawmakers, both at the state level and the federal level, to ensure that they know what the conservative public policy position is on any given issue. And so people get involved in everything from volunteering with the election day operations, as poll workers and watchers to giving public testimony at committee hearings at the state level, working on coalition letters, engaging on social media, letters to the editor. Really, however much time you have, an ability you have, we will put you to work. We have eight field offices across the country, four more that are rolling out this next year.

And so there's a role for everybody in the time to be an activist. It couldn't be, there couldn't be warmer waters, let's say it like that. We'd love to have you. and you can find out more at heritage action.com. Awesome. Jessica, thank you so much for time. We really appreciate it. Thanks for having me. And that'll do it for today's episode. Thanks so much for listening to The Daily Signal Podcast. You can find the Daily Signal podcast on Google Play, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and IHeartRadio.

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