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House Republicans should offer an agenda for ‘One America’
To the tune of "There is Nothing Like a Dame"
OPINION:
The Republican House now must offer a governing agenda, and with a Democratic Senate, that’s no easy task.
Faring well in the midterms, Democrats feel emboldened. They will continue to push race essentialism and misandry, deride capitalism and fabricate grievances to win votes.
Opposing President Biden on taxes and spending is not enough for the GOP to hold on to power. But writing bills with reasonable prospects for success in the House and Senate won’t be easy if Republicans address the nation’s problems as progressives demagogue them.
Republicans should change the terms of the debate by offering a salient message of “One America” and pragmatic conservatism.
Too often, conservativism is reduced to lower taxes, deregulation and free markets, and defending traditional institutions and mores.
The challenge of adequately financing a military that is ill-prepared to take on Russia, Iran, China and North Korea, addressing threats to the financial stability posed by cryptocurrency abuses and the damage wrought by trade with China lay bare the fallacy of the simplistic distillation of conservative values.
The dysfunction of our public schools, rampant crime and collapsing infrastructure illustrates the bankruptcy of Democrats’ obsession with critical race theory, nihilism to civil disorder and patronage politics.
Institutions, governing philosophies and laws must evolve with demographics, social structures and technology. Government should be activist in the Hamiltonian sense — by creating a supportive environment for industry and citizens to thrive.
Republicans must offer a positive vision for a united America as a counterpoint to Democrats’ woke divisiveness and policies that embrace all Americans.
The America of Presidents Thomas Jefferson, Andrew Jackson and Franklin Roosevelt bears the same relationship to 21st-century America as the Roman Republic to the European Union. On their continents, both reinvented and elaborated liberal democracy and engaged in terrible campaigns of conquests, slavery and internments. That’s history and not our sins.
Republicans should repeatedly state they are in the business of promoting One America, and hue to several disciplines.
Aggressively pursuing Hunter Biden or defending former President Donald Trump is a fool’s journey. The Justice Department is going to do the president’s bidding, and it’s better to hold them accountable in the next election.
Even Mr. Biden acknowledges bringing down the budget deficit is one of the most significant things Congress and the White House can do to defeat inflation. All new spending should be funded with either added taxes or savings from existing programs.
As advocates of One America, Republicans should simply refuse to write legislation with preferences and set-asides based on race, gender and envy. Success is not a crime any more than poverty, and if Democrats are obsessed with punishing achievement, House Republicans shouldn’t enable them.
Select three or four issues where House Republicans can find allies in the Senate.
Families should have a floor under the resources available to raise children. Democrats want to resurrect the expired refundable $3,600 per child tax credit, but that should be considered in the context of consolidating the present child tax credit, earned income tax credit and dependent care tax credit into a single program.
Additional funding should be accomplished by reimposing work requirements for food stamps and, as Sen. Mitt Romney has proposed, closing some tax loopholes.
Since Mr. Biden took office, about 2 million immigrants have entered America illegally. We need better border security and more workers — but not necessarily those sneaking across our southern border.
Challenge Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer to create a bipartisan group of eight members from the House and Senate to draft a bill both sides can accept that secures the border, resolves the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals issue and establishes a point system for legal immigration based on workforce needs. Report back in 60 days so that committees in both houses can debate and mark up the bill for floor votes.
An important element in the student debt and labor force challenges is that we send too many young people to college. The Department of Labor has effective internship programs that lead to good-paying jobs after a year or two. Still, high schools continue to channel young people to community colleges and universities.
The federal government should redirect aid from schools and universities to establish a national training network and enable high school graduates to travel and live in places where one- and two-year programs are offered. And build on more affordable, job-waiting training programs offered by private companies and Coursera.
We can’t completely disengage from trade with China, but the House should take up proposals to limit our vulnerability by realigning tariffs to compel balanced trade with the Middle Kingdom. And reexamine negotiations for free trade agreements with allies such as the United Kingdom, the European Union and the Trans-Pacific Partnership to spread the costs of R&D and accomplish economies of scale.
All those would broaden opportunities for American workers and strengthen our institutions and families.
• Peter Morici is an economist and emeritus business professor at the University of Maryland, and a national columnist.
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