A new initiative is putting a spotlight on dozens of bills currently before Congress that critics say would move the United States toward dramatically greater government control of healthcare, energy, housing, employment, and the economy.

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The American Free Enterprise Chamber of Commerce has launched “Socialism Watch,” tracking 32 congressional proposals it says advance socialist policy goals. Former Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares, whose family fled Fidel Castro’s Cuba and who now serves as honorary chairman of the organization, is warning Americans to pay attention to what lawmakers are actually proposing.

From Fox News:

“The year Fidel Castro took power in Cuba, Cuba had the same GDP as Greece. The year that he died, too bad the same GDP as Sudan,” Miyares told Fox News Digital. “Socialism doesn’t work. It impoverishes every country that embraces it.”

Among the bills highlighted by Miyares and the American Free Enterprise Chamber of Commerce is legislation that would ban fracking nationwide beginning in 2029, prohibit greenhouse-gas emissions from power plants and restrict new liquefied natural gas infrastructure and most U.S. oil and natural gas exports.

Others would create government-backed job-guarantee programs offering employment to qualifying applicants, replace private health insurance with a national Medicare for All program and impose annual taxes on accumulated wealth, even when those gains have not been realized through a sale.

The proposals tracked by Socialism Watch extend well beyond energy and healthcare. One measure, the “Housing is a Human Right Act,” would spend $300 billion on housing and homelessness initiatives while declaring housing a human right. Critics such as Miyares argue that expanding government-backed “social housing” on such a scale could undermine the role of private landlords and reshape the American housing market.

The organization is also highlighting a proposal for a National Infrastructure Bank and a $1.6 trillion “Green New Deal for Public Schools.” According to the American Free Enterprise Chamber, the latter would significantly expand the federal government’s role in local education while directing enormous amounts of federal spending toward environmental and infrastructure initiatives.

For Miyares, however, the debate is personal. His mother fled Castro’s communist Cuba in 1965 at age 19, leaving nearly everything behind. Miyares has also recounted how his uncle, who opposed Castro, was arrested following the Bay of Pigs invasion and subjected to a mock execution. That family history has shaped his warnings about Americans embracing socialist ideas without considering their historical consequences.

Miyares argues that the 32 bills tracked by Socialism Watch, which he describes as “straight from Castro’s playbook,” demonstrate that these ideas are no longer confined to political activism or academic debate. Whatever their prospects of becoming law, proposals for government-guaranteed jobs and housing, nationalized health insurance, sweeping federal intervention in energy markets, and new forms of wealth taxation are now being introduced as legislation in Congress.

There is also an important distinction worth keeping in view: supporters of these individual bills may dispute the “socialist” characterization and describe their proposals instead as efforts to expand healthcare, address housing shortages, combat climate change, or strengthen economic security. Socialism Watch represents the American Free Enterprise Chamber’s assessment of the measures and their economic implications.

For intercessors, the debate reaches beyond political labels to fundamental questions about government, stewardship, work, property, freedom, and responsibility. As Congress considers policies that could significantly alter the relationship between Americans and the federal government, let’s pray for wisdom and discernment among our elected officials, for economic policies that allow families and communities to flourish, and for Americans to learn from the successes and failures of history.

What policies on the Socialism Watch list concern you most? Share your thoughts and prayers below.

(Excerpt from Fox News. Photo Credit: Bernard Gotfryd)