Biden was trying to 'kick the can down the road': Robert Henneke
Texas Public Policy Foundation executive director Robert Henneke reacts to Biden administration asking OPEC to delay cutting oil production until after the midterm elections.
In 1992, Bill Clinton campaign strategist James Carville coined a slogan that resonated with voters – "It’s the economy stupid." For Republicans today, "Stop the Stupid" would be a more appropriate campaign slogan given the crises President Joe Biden and his Democrat allies in Congress have either caused, enhanced or failed to address – from the sagging economy to inflation, an energy shortage, open borders, rampant crime, and the threat of Armageddon (I’m sure I missed a few). I saw a simple yard sign earlier this week that appropriately said – "Fix Things, Vote Republican." That really said it all.
American voters seem to get this and the potential for a red wave is growing. Numerous recent polls suggest Republicans will easily retake control of the House of Representatives on Election Day next month. A Monmouth University poll released last week found that 47% of Americans want Republicans to lead Congress versus 44% who prefer Democrats. Republicans also have recently taken the lead in RealClearPolitics' Generic Congressional Vote survey, a somewhat rare event for the party.
Should the election go as expected, GOP control of one or both houses of Congress will thankfully mark the beginning of the end of Biden's disastrous presidency. At the very least, Republicans can stop the reckless spending that has led to historic inflation, declining real wages, and negative economic growth. It will put a nail in the coffin of Democrats' radical legislative priorities. And it will allow Republicans to start bringing the economy out of recession and stagflation while laying the groundwork for meaningful legislative accomplishment and accelerated economic growth following the 2024 election.
But how much can Republicans do should they retake the House and/or the Senate in November? How will things be different?
US President Joe Biden (C-L) and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (C) arrive for the family photo during the Jeddah Security and Development Summit (GCC+3) at a hotel in Saudi Arabia's Red Sea coastal city of Jeddah on July 16, 2022. ((Photo by MANDEL NGAN/POOL/AFP via Getty Images))
To start with, Republicans can put a stop to the Democrats’ partisan spending spree that began shortly after Biden took office and rapidly changed a V-shaped economic recovery into an economic downturn with inflation at levels not seen in 40 years. Former Clinton and Obama economists the likes of Larry Summers, Jason Furman and Steve Rattner all advised against this demand driving spending in a supply restrained economy (something about the law of supply and demand). Biden and his Democrat allies ignored them. But Republicans can put an end to further massive and destructive demand-driving spending sprees should they take at least one house of Congress – reversing runaway inflation and potentially staving off another Great Recession – or worse.
Republicans can also use their House appropriations power to roll back some of Biden's and his Democrat allies’ worst policies. Exhibit A is Democrats' doubling of the IRS to send hither swarms of officers to harass small businesses and eat out their substance.
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy promised Republicans' first bill of the new Congress would repeal this expansion. Such legislation won't become law as long as Biden is president. But as the Wall Street Journal reports this week, Republicans can still starve the IRS of the revenues needed to expand and wreak havoc by withholding funding in annual spending bills. This tactic could work in other areas where the Democrats have overreached since Biden took office.
Republicans can also use their oversight power to hold the Biden administration accountable. They can subpoena officials regarding wasteful spending, supply-chain turmoil, inflation and domestic energy restrictions – shining some light on Biden’s obvious policy blunders. They can hold hearings on the politicization of the FBI and Department of Justice to get to the bottom of how these bodies became enforcement arms of the Democratic Party. A GOP House can also mercy kill the prime-time show trials known as the January 6 Committee.
"We’re going to spend a lot of time in the first three, four months having investigation hearings and then we’re going to be very active in the subcommittee process, focused on substantive waste, fraud and abuse type issues.," promised Rep. James Comer Jr. (R-Ky.) "I'm going to bring the Oversight Committee back to what its original intent was."
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If Republicans can win the Senate, they also can veto Biden's far-left administrative appointees and judicial nominees who serve as a rubber stamp on executive overreach. Biden will increasingly rely on executive orders such as his illegal $400-billion student loan bailout, so blocking activist judges who do his bidding is vital.
A GOP-controlled Congress can also pass pro-growth legislation in an effort to strengthen the supply side of the law of supply and demand. The need for such legislation seems apparent to anyone who took a high school economics class (they call it the law of supply and demand for a reason), but it will have little chance of becoming law with Biden in office. Nonetheless, it will provide the American people with an effective governing alternative that can become reality in 2024 – if Republicans win the presidency.
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The Job Creators Network and Newt Gingrich recently released such a pro-growth governing playbook. The American Small Business Prosperity Plan is a set of eight commonsense provisions for the next Congress. This plan, along with a similar one by House Republicans called the Commitment to America, offers supply-side reforms to boost small businesses, reverse inflation and reignite the economy. It really isn’t that tough – make tax cuts permanent, deregulate our businesses, and focus on domestic energy production. At this point, virtually everyone outside of the D.C./coastal liberal bubble knows what needs to be done – and who can do it.
Should they prevail in November, Republicans can take control of the agenda, "stop the stupid," and begin the process of trying to "fix things" to get America back on track (and to immediately get us off the ridiculously wrong track we are on today). Seriously, two years of watching our incomes, wealth, safety and security all decline precipitously is enough.