GOP: constructive, yet principled

The 111th Congress is under way and our nation is facing unprecedented challenges. During the last two years we let the opportunity to pass key pieces of legislation slip away.

From energy to immigration, healthcare reform to trade, the majority favored inaction over taking a stand. It is my hope, however, that we can show that when it comes to turning great challenges into an opportunity to achieve great things we can prove the past truly isn’t prologue.

There will be another election to gear up for in two years but for the next 12 months Congress has the best window to get things that matter done. I’m hopeful that we can make progress in areas like healthcare and energy policy. And I wish I had more reason to be optimistic when it comes to other issues like trade and tax policy, though the incoming administration has started making encouraging overtures on the latter.

I expect Republicans will be willing to work with the new administration, but Pennsylvania Avenue is a two-way street. There has to be some level of good-faith give-and-take if Democrats want the help of Republicans. Both sides must know when to be flexible and when to stand on principle. We shouldn’t yield to the reflexive urge to fight simply for the fight, but we should fight when our principles are in jeopardy

The few pieces of legislation passed during the 110th Congress proved that knowing how to compromise without yielding core principles remains the most important skill in the legislative process and the most important skill a leader can possess.

Legislation to update our nation’s foreign intelligence surveillance laws, to pass the initial stimulus or even the last economic stabilization package were all examples where leaders made tough decisions to get results.

Our first order of business this year has to be righting our economy. We need to do more to foster the growth of small businesses by eliminating burdensome taxes.

Promoting trade and fighting protectionist policies will do far more good for our economy than it would to endanger jobs at home. Trade with South Korea helps cattle farmers in Missouri and opens that economy to American products. Even industrial states like Michigan, currently feeling the pinch from the Big Three’s troubles, owe about a fifth of their jobs to trade.

As a member of the Energy and Commerce Committee, healthcare, energy policy and telecommunications are going to be areas that I will pay special attention to. Last summer we had a chance to pass comprehensive energy legislation and the only progress we made was allowing an offshore exploration moratorium to expire. And that was done simply by inaction.

I’m afraid that with gas well below $2 a gallon many people will convince themselves we don’t have a problem. Rest assured prices will rise again.  Even without another price hike, American-made energy makes sense for our national security and American jobs. We must continue the effort House Republicans started last summer and pass legislation that puts our nation on a path to energy independence.

Government, at all levels, is the last place to assign value to a program based on how much money is poured into it and not the results generated. That foolish way of thinking has become the norm in healthcare policy at the detriment to patient care. I could see myself, and many other Republicans, helping the majority come up with a healthcare policy that focuses on the quality of care over the amount of government money spent.

Our country is at a crossroads. Congress occasionally proved last year that when we work together for a common goal, the betterment of our nation, there was credit to go around.

Politics always plays a large role in the job of a party’s elected leadership, and the dynamics of this new Democratic Congress and administration mean that the political role will dominate their work as we work to regain the majority. But there is more to Congress than politics. Legislative leaders are also important to make sure that good Republican alternatives are possible when compromise is not. And I intend to work with the current leadership team and the Energy and Commerce Committee’s top Republican, Rep. Joe Barton (Texas) to make sure Republicans speak with a clear, constructive and principled voice at the policy table.

Blunt was the House minority whip in the last Congress.