GOP, president still finding their agenda
Since Trump took office, GOP used Congressional Review Act to nullify 14 Obama era rules
Builder-turned-president Donald Trump has in many ways made good on his promise to be a political wrecking ball.
Last week, he withdrew the United States from the Paris climate accord; he has worked to roll back dozens of health, environment, labor and financial rules put in place by former President Barack Obama and he scrapped a far-reaching trade deal with Asia as one of his first acts in office.
But he and his fellow Republicans have made little progress in building an affirmative agenda of their own, a dynamic that will be on display when Congress returns this week with few major policies ready to advance.
Voters are still waiting for progress on the $1 trillion package of infrastructure projects Trump promised, the wall along the Southern border he insisted could be quickly constructed and the massive tax cuts he touted during the campaign. Even debate over health care reform is largely focused on eliminating key parts of the Affordable Care Act and allowing states to craft policies in their place.
After being the “party of no” during the Obama years, Republicans are trying to figure out what they want to achieve in this unexpected Trump era — beyond just rolling back what Obama did.
Trump’s aides fervently push back at the idea that the president is not already in building mode. Marc Short, Trump’s director of legislative affairs, rattled off a list of things the president has built so far: A better job environment with fewer regulations, relationships with fellow foreign leaders and U.S. lawmakers, a budget and a plan for overhauling health care, along with nominating Neil Gorsuch to the U.S. Supreme Court. The administration plans to rollout a number of infrastructure projects this week and tackle tax reform in fall, along with getting started on building the border wall, he said.
“The American people elected him president, in part, to undo much of the damage that President Obama did to our economy,” Short said.
But even some Republicans have raised questions about what the party now stands for.
Asked during a recent interview for a Politico podcast what the Republican Party stands for now, Sen. Ben Sasse, R-Neb., responded: “I don’t know.”
Short said the Republican Party stands for keeping the country secure and freeing businesses so the economy can boom and taxpayers can keep more of their money. He added that the president has been slowed by congressional Democrats who dragged their feet in approving the cabinet and continue to obstruct Trump’s agenda.
Josh Holmes, a former chief of staff to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said the appearance that Trump and Republicans are only focused on reversing Obama-era executive actions stems from the fact that “there’s a lot to do there.”
Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., said in a statement that the past six months have shown that “the hard right, which has enveloped the Trump administration, is seasoned at being negative but can’t do anything positive.”
Republicans have used the Congressional Review Act to nullify 14 rules enacted by the Obama administration. Before this year, it had only been used successfully once in 20 years. If Trump and Republicans had not reversed these rules, then companies applying for federal contracts would have had to disclose their labor violations; coal mines would have had to reduce the amount of debris dumped into streams; telecommunications companies would have had to take “reasonable measures” to protect their customers’ personal information; individuals receiving Social Security payments for disabling mental illnesses would have been added to a list of those not allowed to buy guns; states would have been limited in the drug-testing they could perform on those receiving unemployment insurance benefits; certain hunting practices would not have been allowed on national wildlife refuges in Alaska; and states could have set up retirement savings plans for those who don’t have the option at work.
Short said the fact that Trump was able to use the Congressional Review Act more than a dozen times when it had only been used once before is “a pretty significant accomplishment” and one that he says will benefit the economy by billions of dollars each year.
“We look at that as one of the biggest accomplishments,” he said.