Government Regulation

The last four elections have defined one of the most dramatic political realignments in our country’s history. In those elections, we’ve seen a net shift of 64 U.S. House seats, 12 U.S. Senate seats, 10 governors, 919 state legislative seats and the presidency shift from Democrats to Republicans. This happened in large part on three overarching mandates: revive the economy; secure our borders and repair our healthcare system. If President Trump can accomplish these three objectives, his administration and this congress will be remembered as one of the most successful and beneficial in our nation’s history.

Droughts are nature’s fault. Water shortages are OUR fault. Water shortages are a choice we made a generation ago when we stopped building new reservoirs to meet the needs of a growing population. We will not solve our water shortages until we build new reservoirs. And we cannot build new reservoirs until we overhaul the radical environmental laws that have made their construction endlessly time consuming and ultimately cost prohibitive.

I support the REINS act, but want to underscore the point raised by Mr. Barr. The REINS Act says that any regulation – that is, an act with the force of law – that’s adopted by the executive branch and costs more than $100 million, must then be approved by Congress in order to take effect. As necessary as this bill is in the current environment, I’m afraid we have it backwards. Under the Constitution just read on this floor again today, it is not the role of the executive branch to make laws and for the legislative branch to approve or veto them.

On December 6, Congressman Jim Jordan moved to impeach John Koskinen as IRS commissioner for actions related to the IRS harassment of taxpayer groups based on their political beliefs.

President-elect Trump has many difficult fiscal tasks ahead – one of which is to promote long-overdue infrastructure construction at a time when the national debt exceeds our entire economy and interest costs alone are eating us alive. Some have said that a rebounding economy resulting from tax reform will pay for it. That may be, but it’s not guaranteed; it cannot be accurately forecast; and we’ll need any new revenues to beef up our defenses and reduce our deficit – two other critical objectives of the new administration.