Party of Limited Government
Our record of accomplishment speaks for itself.
BY ROY BLUNT
Thursday, January 19, 2006 12:01 a.m. EST
WASHINGTON--As readers of this page know all too well, excessive government regulation, taxation and spending strangle economic growth as frequently as runaway litigation and soaring health-care and energy costs do. What politicians say about these issues does not matter much, but what we do about them does. I'm proud of what House Republicans have accomplished on this front over the last several years, but I know that much remains to be done.
House Republicans have cut the tax rate on capital gains and dividends, substantially lowered personal tax rates, and set in motion a plan to eliminate the death tax once and for all. In just the past year we have reformed our bankruptcy laws, placed limits and restrictions on class-action lawsuits and--for the first time since 1997--passed reforms in mandatory spending programs to reduce the federal budget deficit. And after freezing regular domestic discretionary spending the year before, we enacted a real cut in spending this year.
House Republicans even enacted an energy bill that included reforms that helped us through the energy crisis after Hurricane Katrina. We have begun the long process of reforming our health care system by enacting one of the first elements of consumer-driven health care in the form of Health Savings Accounts.
The House, led by a Republican majority, has acted to create an environment where our economy can grow. These policies have had a real effect on American families and businesses.
Just last month, the editors of The Wall Street Journal made special note of the impact the reduction in the tax rate on capital gains and dividends has had on the economy. In particular, the capital gains and dividends rate reductions have positively affected business investment, stock market value, employment and the expansion of the investor class; the tax cuts have even helped reduce the federal budget deficit through record revenue growth fueled by an expanding economy.
Our record of accomplishment speaks for itself, but we still have our work cut out for us. The tax relief that has already been enacted must be made permanent. Health Savings Accounts should be expanded through additional incentives, medical malpractice laws must be reformed, and health insurance must be more portable. Domestic energy production should be expanded and regulatory barriers to increase refinery capacity removed.
America's private sector is constantly demonstrating how to do more with less. Likewise, Congress must continue to work to shrink the size of government and apply the best practices of the private sector to how we do business. We need smarter--not bigger--government. If I'm elected majority leader, I will work to make sure that any new programs are paid for by eliminating or reducing lower-priority programs. Families and businesses with finite budgets live under this requirement, and the government should be no different.
Reforming our mandatory programs to save money should not be a once-a-decade process. That is why I have proposed annual spending reconciliation bills. It is my hope that we can use that annual process to apply the reforms and work requirements that have been so successful with welfare to other public assistance programs.
We must also reform the earmark and federal grant-making processes. Specifically, earmarks should be identified with the member who is requesting them, and accompanied by a justification for how the expenditure serves a public purpose. Grants made by federal agencies should be open to more scrutiny with the creation of a public database of all those receiving grants, along with a justification for how the grant serves the public interest.
While House Republicans are working to enact this agenda, you can be sure that our opponents will be working to undo our past victories. Two years ago, during the debate on the annual budget, the Senate insisted on so-called pay-go for taxes, a policy that would have required that the cost of any new tax relief--or the cost of extending existing tax relief--be offset with tax increases elsewhere. I fought back. I insisted that I would rather have no official budget resolution than concede the point that lower tax rates are critical to economic growth. We won that battle with the Senate two years ago, and I'm prepared to fight and win that battle again.
The Republican legislative agenda for the year is not one crafted in response to the day's headlines or the latest poll numbers. Instead it is an agenda built around our core philosophy of limited government that promotes entrepreneurs, encourages job growth, defends the family and secures our country.
Unfortunately, recent scandals have caused some to question whether we have lost our vision, and if the faith they have placed in us is justified. While I have no doubt that it is, it will be difficult to move forward with our platform until we regain the trust and confidence of our constituents by enacting new lobbying reforms and enhanced penalties for those who break the public trust. These reforms will include new rules governing privately funded travel, new public disclosure requirements for lobbyists, and new requirements subjecting shadowy 527 organizations to the same rules and regulations as others who attempt to influence the legislative and political process.
As majority whip for the past three years, I've always understood that an important part of my job was to know the Republicans in Congress better than anyone else, and to listen and learn from each of them. I believe this approach helped us to pass some of the most challenging and rewarding legislation in years, and I want to bring this approach to the job of majority leader. Together, House Republicans will continue working to achieve the best results for the American people.
Rep. Blunt of Missouri is the House majority whip and a candidate for majority leader.
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