At the time of the presidential election in 1980, over the course of many decades taxes had gotten way too high, government had grown far too big, inflation had become unbearable and Americans were facing an energy crisis.
The burden on hardworking families was just too much to shoulder and something had to change. So, the American people fired Jimmy Carter and hired Ronald Reagan, along with a Republican-controlled U.S. Senate and a Democrat majority in the U.S. House of Representatives to solve the problems.
Throughout the early part of 1981, a divided Congress debated President Reagan’s economic recovery proposal, which included big tax cuts and budget cuts to spur job creation, grow the economy, and shrink the bloated federal government.
The 1981 Reagan budget was the most dramatic set of reforms passed in a generation, and it paved the way for an amazing period of economic prosperity. And it became a reality only because Republicans and Democrats alike listened to voters who said it was high time for America to make a desperately needed comeback.
Fast-forward to today and the bitter realization that it took President Joe Biden only four years to drive America into a dire economic predicament like the one we were facing in 1980. In the historic election of 2024, the American people re-elected President Donald Trump with an overwhelming mandate to fix the mess, but this time they decided to send a Republican majority in both the House and Senate to help him deliver on his campaign promises.
Make no mistake about it, the coming weeks are the best opportunity for Congress to pass pro-growth economic reforms of this significance in nearly 45 years. A monumental bill to cut taxes, gut wasteful, fraudulent and abusive government spending, secure the border, unleash American energy dominance and rebuild our national defense is finally within reach.
The coming budget reconciliation package will dramatically lower the tax burden on the American people by extending the successful Trump tax cuts and enacting other long overdue pro-growth tax reforms. This will provide job creators, entrepreneurs and businesses large and small with much needed — and deserved — certainty to plan for a more successful and prosperous future.
While the House’s passage of the budget blueprint was a great first step, the U.S. Senate must now adopt the identical proposal and then get to work on the policy specifics of the reconciliation legislation.
Big moments — when all the stars align politically — don’t come along very often and when they come, failure is not an option. But with a razor thin majority in the U.S. House of Representatives, it’s never been more important for the GOP conference to stay focused on the enormity of what’s at stake.
Because of the last four years, our country is in trouble financially and economically and Americans from across the political spectrum regardless of socio-economic status are expecting results.
This is no time for selfishness and grandstanding; Republican members of the House and Senate must get on the same page by adopting a “90 percent mindset” – which is to say be happy with getting 90% of what you want — and then declare victory. Any legislator considering holding up progress for a pet project or an ego-boosting headline is making a catastrophic mistake at this all-important juncture.
It must be remembered that much has changed politically since 1981. President Reagan’s economic recovery plan received robust bipartisan support because the American economy needed a shot in the arm and back then even many Democrats acknowledged that consequential tax relief would make it happen. Sadly, whatever budget bill emerges from Congress at the present time will almost certainly do so without any Democrat support.
Today, Democrat Party politicians are so Trump deranged they would happily vote for higher taxes and more economic malaise just to fight President Trump.
Voting against the Trump budget bill will truly be a vote against prosperity — and congressional Democrats fully understand this — but will vote “no” anyway. You can’t fix crazy; this is one of the biggest reasons for GOP members to stick together at all costs.
Instead of trying to help, the radical left is waiting for any indication of dissention or division in the GOP ranks. The unthinkable scenario of a “Democrat victory” — if they were to succeed in stalling the budget bill — should be enough motivation for any fence-sitting Republican to get with the program.
The economy and Republican majorities in Congress are both on the line.
Yes, “one big, beautiful bill” will stimulate the economy, grow jobs, and start to chip away at the Biden inflation disaster. The sooner it becomes the law of the land the better.
If the bill gets bogged down by any shortsighted member of Congress, the inflation and stalled economy blame game will shift and the biased mainstream media will be more than happy to drive the narrative that it’s now a Republican problem and Trump’s fault.
The good news is that this is easily avoidable — Republicans in the U.S. House and U.S. Senate just need to stand courageously with President Trump in his mission to save America.
There’s no time to waste.
David Bossie is the president of Citizens United and served as a senior adviser to the Trump-Pence 2020 campaign. In 2016, Bossie served as deputy campaign manager for Donald J. Trump for President and deputy executive director for the Trump-Pence Transition Team.
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