Right On: Republicans’ impressive congressional scorecard

January 2, 2019 Utah Channel 3

OPINION — Americans love to hate Congress. Nevertheless, for conservatives, this last Congress deserves grudging respect as the best one since Newt Gingrich’s first two years as speaker of the house in 1995-96.

Progress was made unwinding the damage done during Obama’s eight-year reign. Here’s a rundown of some of Congress’ most important accomplishments.

Judicial confirmations, especially the two Supreme Court justices, are at the top of the list. The Supreme Court has been liberals’ legislature of choice. Eliminating fanciful interpretations of the Constitution was for many the primary reason they voted for Donald Trump.

A liberal columnist asked recently if those confirmations were worth all the drama that came with Trump’s presidency. For this conservative and for many like me, the answer is a resounding yes.

To the Supreme Court, add confirmations of 20 appellate court judges and 55 district court judges. Prospects for interpreting laws as written rather than as liberal judges wish they were written are greatly enhanced for a generation.

Trump nominated them but much credit goes to Sen. Mitch McConnell for guiding them through Senate confirmation.

Tax reform is high on the Republican Congress’ list of accomplishments. Lowering the developed world’s highest corporate tax rate to one that is competitive with most other countries puts our corporations in a better position to compete globally.

The Republican reform’s immediate impact was a flood of cash returned from overseas subsidiaries. Many companies committed to use that cash for new investment in the U.S. and to provide raises and bonuses for employees.

Our economy is growing almost twice as fast as the average of the previous eight years of Obama stagnation. It’s likely to slow in 2019 as the rest of the world slows to a crawl. But tax reform has moved us up to a higher plateau: Even slower growth will start from a higher base.

Deregulation goes hand in hand with tax reform in sparking an economic renaissance.

Using the Congressional Review Act, Republicans rolled back 16 rules promulgated in the waning days of the Obama administration. Many of these were issued without the legally required public comment period. The regulator-in-chief never let legal niceties get in his way when issuing rules with idealistic purposes but with economically deadening effect.

For example, every farmer’s ditch that runs to a local stream that in turn runs to a navigable waterway was dubbed as being under Environmental Protection Agency purview. Online privacy regulations that somehow didn’t apply to liberal darlings Facebook and Google were no better.

Health care reform was a disappointing Republican failure thanks to John McCain’s spite in thwarting a Trump campaign promise. Eliminating the Obamacare mandate was a step in the right direction but not enough.

Republicans had an Obamacare replacement that provided coverage for those with pre-existing conditions along with other popular provisions. Failure to enact it gave Democrats their most potent election issue and may have been enough alone to tip the House in their favor.

Democrats won’t want to lose that advantage and Republicans will never agree to liberal’s single-payer health care pipe dream. Don’t expect any progress in the next two years.

Entitlement reform, one of my hot buttons, was conspicuously ignored by the Republican Congress. Sadly, any reform – either trimming benefits or increasing taxes – will be highly unpopular with voters. Politicians making either proposal are either in very safe seats or can expect to lose the next election.

Immigration reform sadly devolved into hardened, no-compromise positions with Trump on one side and congressional Democrats on the other. Most congressional Republicans are caught in the middle.

Like health care, Democrats see this as a wedge issue. If they don’t allow any progress, they find it easy to place blame on Republicans.

A compromise approach is obvious: Grant a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants brought here as children – the Dreamers – and provide funding for a wall. Instead we get a partial government shutdown.

Criminal justice reform legislation attracted wide bipartisan support and passed handily. Likewise, Sen. Orrin Hatch’s legislation to establish a human trafficking advisory council was easily enacted.

In a surprising bipartisan move, legislators passed the Congressional Accountability Act that strikes a balance between protecting legislative branch employees from sexual harassment while respecting due process.

Sadly, Republicans kowtowed to special interests by extending federal flood insurance for flood-prone homeowners who knowingly build in harm’s way. Likewise, they bowed to Democrats’ refusal to establish food stamp work requirements for healthy adults without dependents at home.

Other promising legislative initiatives fell victim to a lack of time to address them. For example, Utah Gov. Gary Herbert and others complained that a package of bills regarding public lands in Utah wasn’t addressed.

As happens all too often, Republicans didn’t adequately explain to voters the benefits of what they have done. Democrats were able to portray Republicans as a threat to health care and as catering to fat-cat corporate interests. The result: a Democratic House majority.

Conservatives can applaud a more workable 54-seat Senate majority and with it, the prospect of more judges who respect precedent and interpret laws as written. A divided Congress makes any sweeping new programs unlikely, a blessing in its own right.

Standby for frustration starting with this week’s new Congress as both parties begin posturing for 2020. Nonetheless, we’re better off today and will be for years thanks to the last one.

Howard Sierer is an opinion columnist for St. George News. The opinions stated in this article are his own and may not be representative of St. George News.

Email: hsierer@stgeorgeutah.com

Twitter: @STGnews