Few lawmakers have expressed as much outrage over President Obama’s unconstitutional “recess” appointments as Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT). He was among the first to warn about the consequences of the president’s unilateral action on Jan. 4.

More than a month later, a new director is running the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and three members of National Labor Relations Board are conducting business—all in blatant violation of the U.S. Constitution, Lee said in a recent interview with The Heritage Foundation.

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Sen. Roy Blunt (R-MO) introduced legislation to protect religious organizations from Obamacare’s overreach last summer. Now, as President Obama presses forward with his anti-conscience mandate, Blunt is prepared to keep the pressure on the White House.

“We want to be sure we’ve established the principle here that the Constitution establishes — that President Washington understood and President Jefferson understood, and my guess is, every president between them and right now understood — and that is respect for conscience is respect for religious freedom,” Blunt said.

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As others have noted, this past Tuesday marked the 1,000th day since the Senate has passed a budget. Heritage’s Mike Brownfield explains:

Instead of respecting the people’s money and putting it to its appropriate use, the Senate has chosen to pass short-term “business as usual” continuing resolutions, one after another, all while government spending continues to skyrocket, deficits are exploding, the country’s credit rating is in jeopardy, Social Security and Medicare are in crisis states, and future generations are left holding the bag.

As we point out in our new video, plenty of great achievements in history have been made in less than 1,000 days. And all the American people are asking of the Senate is that they pass a budget. If Christopher Columbus can discover the New World in 70 days, why can’t the Senate pass a budget in less than 1,000 days?

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In an exclusive interview with the Heritage Foundation, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) had strong words for President Obama:

Freshman Senator Pat Toomey (R-PA) was one of twelve members of the so-called Super Committee which failed to reach an agreement late last month to cut at least $1.5 trillion in savings. In an interview with The Heritage Foundation, Toomey explained that not every member was on board with reaching a deal.

Again, to be fair, I think several of the Democrats on the committee really wanted to find a way to reach an agreement. In the end, what they were not willing to do was to stand up to the most liberal wing of their caucus. And the pressure pushing them away from a deal was significant.

But despite the Super Committee’s failure, Toomey has been very vocal that we cannot now ignore our nation’s fiscal crisis and that a deal to tackle our mounting debt must still be reached.

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Tonight, eight Republican presidential candidates will take the stage at Constitution Hall in Washington, D.C., to share their foreign policy and national security views with the American people. The debate, hosted by The Heritage Foundation and the American Enterprise Institute, will be broadcast on CNN at 8PM ET.

The debate will focus on a number of crucial national security and foreign policy questions that will undoubtedly reach the President’s desk in the coming years. Ensuring our country’s defense is a fundamental responsibility of the federal government, as set forth in the Constitution. And it is up to the President to take the lead in crafting American foreign policy while also serving as commander in chief of the armed forces.

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In an interview at The Heritage Foundation, Texas Senator John Cornyn had strong words for President Obama. “Unfortunately the President is already out complaining trying to channel Harry Truman, railing against a “Do Nothing Congress”, when he has apparently given up on governing and has decided to campaign full-time and he’s not really contributing towards the solution.”

Cornyn (R-TX) was at Heritage to stress the importance of enacting the strongest possible Balanced Budget Amendment, one that caps federal spending at 18 percent of the economy and requires a super-majority vote in Congress to increase taxes.

During his interview, Cornyn gave a brief overview of that fight:

Starting in the House this week they will vote on a Balanced Budget Amendment. And then before the end of the year, we are guaranteed by the provisions of the Budget Control Act a vote in the Senate. I expect there will be two votes. One on what I call the “strong” version that 47 Republicans have co-sponsored and another on one that will, honestly, be more in the nature of a cover vote.for Democrats up for election in 2012.

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Senator Joe Lieberman (I-CT) visited Heritage this week to give the annual B.C. Lee lecture, focusing on the importance of American leadership in the Asia-Pacific region. After his speech, he sat down for a wide-ranging interview.

In addition to fears about losing the additional security gained by the surge in Afghanistan, Lieberman expressed concerns with the signal a premature withdrawal might send to allies and enemies around the world.

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In a speech last week at The Heritage Foundation, House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-WI) spoke about saving the “American Idea.” Afterwards, he sat down for a short interview to discuss the President’s class warfare rhetoric and the nation’s looming fiscal crisis. He was clearly frustrated by what he sees as the President’s failure to lead on the important issues of the day.

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Gibson Guitar is an American icon. Musicians ranging from blues legend B.B. King to rock stars with Led Zeppelin and Aerosmith have used its guitars.

Today, however, the guitar maker is facing a high-profile persecution from its own government. The U.S. Justice Department is pursuing a case that smacks of overcriminalization.

Federal agents raided Gibson’s Nashville headquarters in August, the second raid on the company since 2009. Agents were working off a tip that Gibson broke laws in India and Madagascar, two countries that supply Gibson with ebony and other scarce woods for its guitars.

Even though both countries say Gibson did nothing wrong, the company is facing an uncertain future. The Justice Department has yet to press charges under the Lacey Act, but it also refuses to drop the case. It has left Gibson in legal limbo.

Gibson chairman and chief executive Henry Juszkiewicz, himself a conservationist devoted to preserving natural resources, testified in Washington last week about the ordeal. He also visited Heritage to recount the story and how it is illustrative of Washington’s overreach. (more…)

The latest iteration of No Child Left Behind comes before a Senate committee tomorrow with bipartisan support. But if Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) has anything to say about it, the bill won’t go anywhere fast.

“I think the whole process stinks from top to bottom,” Paul said. “The bill is 867 pages and we got it yesterday? I talked to committee members today and said this isn’t the way government should work.”

A Tea Party favorite who won election last November, Paul has promised to introduce 100 amendments to No Child Left Behind which comes before a Senate committee tomorrow, including a complete repeal of the legislation.

Paul also addressed the ongoing Occupy Wall Street protest in New York and similar demonstrations taking place across America. “I see a lot of hypocrisy in the movement,” he shared. “But I also see some lurking danger in the sense that they are saying that people who are successful got it somehow immorally and that it’s immoral for them to have it.” (more…)

Richard Cordray, President Obama’s pick to lead the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, won approval from the Senate Banking Committee last week on a party-line vote. His confirmation to run the new agency faces fierce opposition from Republicans, who have vowed to block Senate approval until reforms are made to the agency.

As the ranking Republican on the Banking Committee, Sen. Richard Shelby (R-AL) is leading those calls for reform. In an interview at The Heritage Foundation this week, Shelby criticized Obama for failing to respond to the GOP’s suggested reforms for the CFPB.

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This week, the Restore America’s Voice Foundation delivered 1.6 million petitions from Americans demanding the repeal of Obamacare to Congress. The Heritage Foundation attended the press conference and spoke to some legislators afterwards about the problems with Obamacare, the progress of the repeal effort, and the sorts of conservative solutions they would like to see introduced.

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As the Super Committee continues to meet (largely in secret), the lasting impact of its decisions on our national security is still unclear.

The Heritage Foundation recently sat down with Frances Fragos Townsend, former Assistant to the President for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism and former New Jersey Governor and 9/11 Comission Chairman Thomas Kean at the first ever Concordia Summit on global extremism to discuss the national security threats we face and the concerns they have for our national defense in light of these looming cuts.

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Last week, Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels (R-IN) reviewed the reforms Indiana has instituted since he took office in a wide-ranging speech at The Heritage Foundation. From education reform to challenging public employee unions, Daniels has strived to make government work well. In an interview following his speech, Daniels discussed the reforms he made to state government, the Democrats’ walkout from the legislature this year, and what the federal government can learn from Indiana.

And the effort seems to have paid off. As we discussed in the interview, a recent Manhattan Institute poll revealed that 77 percent of Hoosiers rate Indiana’s government as “efficient.” That’s the highest percentage of any state surveyed and a stark contrast to neighboring Illinois’ 23 percent.

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Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) came to Washington as the a tea-party conservative with the goal of fixing the economy, addressing the debt crisis and curbing the growth of the federal government. It’s an uphill battle for the youngest member of the U.S. Senate, but one he’s prepared to fight.

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As Americans prepare to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the September 11th terrorists attacks, The Heritage Foundation has been busy reminding Congress and the public of the importance of staying the course in the War on Terror.

Since 9/11, at least 40 terrorist plots aimed at the US have been foiled. We have disrupted terrorist networks, captured or killed their leaders, and worked to keep them from rebuilding. But as Heritage’s James Carafano explains, our continued security is anything but certain:

The Administration now seeks to treat terrorism under a law enforcement paradigm that failed to protect Americans from terrorism when it was adopted by the Clinton Administration before 9/11. In addition, the White House intends to follow a “small footprint” strategy for overseas operations, relying primarily on Special Forces operations, covert action, and strikes with unmanned aerial vehicles.

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Maine Governor Paul LePage is no stranger to hard times. He left home at 11 after a rough childhood, spending time on the streets, yet managed to finish both high school and college. He later went on to work as a Pepsi-Cola truck driver, at a meat-packing plant and as a short-order cook.

This is the story of Gov. Paul LePage, who, in a little more than six months, has ushered in sweeping reforms for Maine — a record of accomplishments it might take other governors years to achieve. What’s even more remarkable is that LePage is a tea party-backed conservative making significant strides in supposedly hostile New England.

LePage visited Heritage recently and shared the piece of advice that have inspired him throughout his life — just 10 two-letter words: “If it is to be, it is up to me.”

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Despite a high unemployment and a sputtering economy, a new report reveals how the government may be making things worse by imposing bigger burdens on business. A new video from the Heritage Foundation highlights this explosion of government red tape.

And while this problem is not new—over $60 billion in new burdensome red tape was imposed under the previous Bush Administration—the explosion of new regulations under President Obama is unprecedented.

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Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC) is no stranger to fights with party leadership. And he’s not holding back in his criticism of the so-called “Plan B” that’s being developed by Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV). In an exclusive interview with The Heritage Foundation this afternoon, DeMint didn’t hold back:

It seems to be a cover-up to me. It’s like I’ve said, it’s like leaving the door to the federal vault open, looking the other way, and saying we had nothing to do with the robbery. The debt limit is set up to keep us from increasing our debt without Congressional action—hopefully to reform the spending process.

He blamed President Obama for politicizing the debt-limit debate rather than seeking a consensus.

“I’m convinced the president has not been negotiating in good faith. He’s got a bad economy. His policies have made it worse. And he’s hoping this debt-limit debate will allow him to blame Republicans.”

The interview runs about 4 minutes. Hosted by Rob Bluey and produced by Brandon Stewart, with help from Hannah Sternberg.