What Washington should focus on in 2015

Election Day is finally over—no more fliers clogging your mailbox, campaign ads interrupting your favorite shows, and phone calls during dinner time.  Now the question is, “what next?” 

In the past, newly elected majorities have been tempted to try and pass as many bills as possible in the first 100 days. This strategy implies that the GOP majority will be a failure unless they immediately vote to reverse every single policy mistake from the last six years. 

{mosads}They shouldn’t fall into this trap. Instead, they should carefully develop a strategy for the three areas that have the biggest impact on the economy and that Americans care most about: Promoting patient-centered health care reform, ending the Obama administration’s economically disastrous energy policies, and bringing fiscal sanity to the federal budget. 

These are Americans for Prosperity’s core issues, and for good reason: the American people said that healthcare and the economy were the most important issues in the election. We saw that first-hand over the past twelve months. In key battleground states, we spent the last year talking and listening to Americans about what they see—and what they want—in Washington. During this time, we knocked on 2.5 million doors and made some 7 million phone calls, connecting with Americans who want a change in Washington. 

We learned that Americans want an effective and accountable government that maximizes personal freedom and facilitates economic growth. That’s not what they see in Washington’s recent track record. 

Take the example of health care. ObamaCare is still wildly unpopular—the latest poll shows that 55 percent of Americans disapprove of it and only 36 percent like it, a whopping 19 point difference. Why? Because it empowered government bureaucrats at the expense of individuals and families. It cancels Americans’ health care plans, forces us to buy insurance we may not want or may not be able to afford, and empowers the IRS to penalize us if we don’t follow Washington’s orders—all this while spiking costs and limiting choice. Passing legislation to repeal harmful policies like the medical device tax and the individual mandate is a first step in alleviating these problems. 

Congress should also pursue health care reforms that promote better health for individuals and families, not just universal health insurance. This means leaving some issues to state legislatures and governors, which know their states’ health needs better than bureaucrats in Washington. It means removing bureaucratic impediments to innovation so lifesaving medicines and devices can make it to the market. And it means eliminating the regulations that restrict individuals’ health care choices and increase costs. Ultimately, every reform should give individuals and families more control over their own health care. 

Congress should adopt the same approach with energy policy. The administration’s regulatory agenda is harming the economy and hurting Americans’ quality of life without actually helping the environment. 

After President Obama failed to convince Congress to pass his global warming agenda in his first term, he directed the Environmental Protection Agency to do the job instead. The agency has since released dozens of costly regulation, most notably a preliminary rule that will lower the country’s carbon dioxide emissions by 30 percent over the next 15 years. A recent study found that this would shutter enough electricity generation to power 44 million homes, threatening the reliability of our electricity system, causing double digit percentage increases in electricity bills for our citizens and costing consumers and businesses at least $41 billion a year in higher prices and lower incomes.  

But here’s the kicker: The environment won’t be better off. A climate model developed and funded by the EPA predicts that the regulation will only prevent 0.02 degrees Celsius in global warming over the next 85 years. That paltry improvement isn’t worth the cost that consumers will pay at the pump, in their bills, and at the store. 

Congress should curtail the EPA’s actions and empower states, not the federal government, to protect the environment in a way that serves their unique interests and natural resources. Congress should also recognize that innovations in technology and energy generation, not government mandates, are the best long-term solution to future environmental improvement. Such innovation won’t happen if the Obama administration’s energy policies survive. 

Finally, Washington must address the runaway government spending that’s handicapping America’s economic growth. Whether it’s the hundreds of duplicative and unnecessary federal programs, billions in subsidies and handouts for special interests, or a record national debt of nearly $18 trillion, every American knows that D.C. isn’t spending our hard-earned taxpayer money wisely. Federal tax revenues in fiscal 2014 hit a new record of $3.013 trillion—yet Washington lawmakers claim they still don’t have enough. Instead of bringing America closer to bankruptcy, Congress should pass balanced budgets that reform wasteful and inefficient programs. Taxpayers can’t afford to keep funding a boom in Washington that’s a bust for the middle class. 

Ending Washington’s spending binge will also boost the economy. While bureaucrats and Wall Street have seen a windfall in recent years, average Americans are still bringing home less income than before the recession. In the coming weeks, Americans for Prosperity will spell out specific economic policy goals for Congress to tackle over the next two years. 

And we will hold Republicans accountable on this issue. They must present Obama with a federal budget that cuts waste, reforms federal programs, and fixes our broken tax code. If they can’t do this, it will send a message to the American public that no one in Washington is serious about reform. Americans are sick of the disastrous over-spending from the past two Presidents—Washington must finally practice the same responsible spending habits as the taxpayers who pay D.C.’s bills. 

The American public chose a new direction on November 4. They repudiated the Obama administration’s failed big government policies and Harry Reid’s inaction in the Senate. Now it falls on Republicans to push positive reforms in the areas that Americans care most about. Americans for Prosperity will hold Congress accountable every step of the way—we won’t let Washington ignore what Americans told us in the build-up to Election Day. 

Phillips is the president of Americans for Prosperity, a conservative political advocacy organization.