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Townhall...
Conservatism On the
Rise
By Mike Needham
It’s been a long time since you could say this, but last week was a
great week for conservatives in Washington.
On Tuesday, House Republican leaders decided not to pursue an extension
of Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA), a $2.4 billion program that isn’t
equital and doesn’t work.
Of all the Americans who lose their jobs, only about one percent of
those who filed for unemployment benefits in 2010 received TAA. Why
should these individuals get a better benefit than the other 99% of
Americans filing for unemployment benefits?
Further, the idea of TAA – to provide retraining to workers who lose
their jobs due to the creative destruction which allows for mutually
beneficial trade – has not worked in reality. Studies show workers who
complete TAA job training earn no more afterwards than those who do not.
Well, chalk up a win for the good guys. Conservative members of the
House of Representatives were joined by outside activist groups such as
Heritage Action for America to highlight the flaws in the extension of
TAA. This inside-outside combination was enough to postpone the vote.
An even larger conservative groundswell has substantially impacted the
spending debate in Washington.
Everybody understands that President Obama and Democrats in the Senate
are going to stand in the way of common sense efforts to rein in
spending. This is why it is critical that the House of Representatives
paint in bold colors and draw a contrast between conservatives’ desire
to restore fiscal sanity to Washington and the Obama/Reid approach of
giving our children’s wealth to the Chinese.
To have this debate, the House of Representatives must send a bold
spending reduction plan to the Senate. In a letter to Speaker Boehner,
nearly a dozen senators urged him to send a continuing resolution to
the Senate with spending reductions of no less than $100 billion.
As one senator privately noted, “You guys need to send us the boldest
proposal you can because it’s going to be watered down in the Senate.”
So what would a bold proposal look like? First, it would achieve the
mark laid down in September’s GOP Pledge to America, which called for
$100 billion in non-security discretionary cuts. At $58 billion, the
GOP’s first proposal in the House of Representatives fell far short of
this goal. A subsequent proposal made substantial progress towards the
goal by getting up to $84 billion.
While this proposal falls short of the $100 billion in non-security
spending, it already has Harry Reid up in arms. Conservatives should
welcome this fight and it’s time for us to engage it.
“We’re eager to work with Republicans to cut spending and reduce our
debt,” Sen. Reid said. But “the House Republicans’ proposal isn’t
responsible.” Earlier in the week, we learned Sen. Reid thought the $58
billion proposal was “draconian.”
If Harry Reid thinks trimming our spending by 1.5% is draconian, that’s
fine, but he should put his cards on the table. If he wants to “cut
spending and reduce our debt” then he has a duty to tell voters by how
much. If he thinks 1.5% is too much then he is acknowledging that he
has nothing substantive to offer our national debate on spending
because the choices only get more difficult.
In attacking the Republicans’ substantive spending cuts, Harry Reid is
telling voters everything they need to know. In the big picture, he is
fundamentally unserious. In the details, he just wants to continue
failed Washington programs – like TAA – which are the reason America is
on the verge of a fiscal crisis.
Reid specifically criticizes Republican plans to reduce spending on the
COPS program. This is a poster child for failed Washington programs, as
Heritage Foundation scholar David Muhlhausen has argued for years. In
2001, Heritage found COPS grants had no statistically significant
effect on reducing the rates of violent crimes. A 2006 follow-up study
confirmed this result and found additional evidence that the federal
money was merely replacing local spending.
Ronald Reagan once observed “a government bureau is the closest thing
to eternal life we’ll ever seen on this earth.” TAA and COPS are
perfect examples of this observation. Yet, if America wishes to remain
eternally strong, we need to have the courage to take on these failed
programs and the establishment politicians who protect them.
Read it at Townhall
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