While the President closed his State of the Union address by noting his desire to work across the aisle, much of his speech was spent digging in his heels on the same tax-and-spend policies rejected by the American people rather than identifying areas of common ground. But while I’m generally disappointed he took this tack, I still think there were some hints of bipartisanship that might present opportunities to grow a stronger economy. For starters, I agree with the President that Congress must pass a trade promotion authority bill. With two of the largest free trade agreements in the history of the world currently being negotiated, it is vital that the administration works with Congress to set negotiating priorities so that a deal might be completed quickly. In order to grow our economy, we must continue to open foreign markets to agricultural products and manufactured goods from places like Indiana, and that won’t happen without Congressional authorization. I look forward to President Obama following through on his words tonight, and helping us gather more Democratic support. Second, I appreciate that the President recognizes the need to overhaul our antiquated tax code. However, given the details we’ve heard about his plan, I question the seriousness of his approach. He proposes to increase revenues by shifting wealth and making the tax code more complicated, rather than trying to broaden the tax base by simplifying the tax code and growing the economy from the bottom up. Additionally, he proposes tax reform that only lowers rates for large corporations, while leaving rates high on individual Americans and small businesses. In coming months, I hope he’ll rethink this strategy. Finally, too often over the past few months, the President has made it clear that he intends to act unilaterally whenever possible. In our system of government, where a duly-elected Congress is responsible for writing laws, that course of action only creates more gridlock, erodes the trust of the American people, and sets a dangerous precedent. That’s why tomorrow, I plan to reintroduce the REINS Act with Senator Rand Paul. This bill would require Congressional sign-off before major rules and regulations from the executive branch could take effect, thus helping to restore the Constitutionally-defined role of Congress to the legislative branch. If the President is serious about working with Congress to do what’s best for America, I hope he’ll engage us in this effort to ensure Congress plays a part.
Posted on: Wed, 21 Jan 2015 03:15:32 +0000
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