Agenda

Written by Ben Sasse on November, 2014:

Tomorrow night, if things go the way conservatives hope and forecasters predict, Republicans will retake the Senate. Already the process stories have started, claiming that this is essentially “the Seinfeld Election,” an election about nothing. Supposedly, Republicans are winning simply by being against Barack Obama’s bad policies, instead of actually being for good policies.

With constructive optimists like Joni Ernst and Cory Gardner running in my neighboring states of Iowa and Colorado, I completely disagree, but it’s important for Republicans to understand where the narrative is going next. Starting Wednesday, the cry from Democrats and the media will be that Republicans do not have a real governing agenda, that all we care about is shutting down the government, and that the supposed “GOP civil war” is back and worse than ever. Even though there will often be little data to support this handwringing analysis, the media will frame the new majority as a dysfunctional caucus with two warring factions: “Team Small Ball” vs. “Team Shutdown.”

I categorically reject these categories. But there is only one way for Republicans to combat this obsession with intra-Republican debate: Go big.

The media’s portrait of an agenda-less GOP rings true to many because it was true for too long: In each election, Americans had to choose between Democrats with Big Government bad ideas, and Republicans with seemingly no ideas at all and no passion for tackling the nation’s biggest problems. Heading into 2016, we cannot beat something with nothing. We have to get good at explaining what we are for.

If there is one lesson of this election, it’s that the American people are desperate for real leadership. For six years, we have watched our federal government try to do more things than ever before, inserting itself into every sector of life but not really doing anything very well.

The signers of the Declaration of Independence did not pledge their fortunes and sacred honor so the federal government could play “helicopter parent” to a free people. They saw government as our shared project to secure liberty, doing a few big things and doing them well. We need to get back to that.

The first step is explaining to Americans that we must get our house in order. That we must take a hard look at what our government is doing in D.C. and ask tough questions. We have to state more clearly that fixing the broken parts of government is not the same as opposing government in and of itself.

If elected, I want to take part in a vigorous reaffirmation of the basic American ideal of a limited government with enumerated powers. But inside that limited set of governmental duties, we should actually get the big things done. We must energetically tackle the significant problems the voters rightly want Washington to be addressing.

To do that, we need a bold agenda that is easy to understand and tackles head-on the crises we face. Republicans must sell a big-cause, problem-solving vision — low-ego and happy-warrior in tone.

In policy arena after policy arena, Democrats respond to every failure of clunky government by proposing the addition of still more layers to 1960s-era bureaucracies as they break down. Republicans should invite them instead into a conversation about actually modernizing government, by fundamentally overhauling outdated federal programs to become nimble enough for the age of Uber and of lifelong job retraining.

I recognize that President Obama is likely to veto much of what we propose. Let him. If we aren’t at least laying out a vision of what we’re for, then many voters in the 2016 presidential election are ‎going to remain skeptical that Republicans are serious about actually tackling the biggest national policy problems before us. Here are nine bold ideas we need to get behind:

1. Entitlement reform that ties the retirement age to our growing life expectancy, and that means-tests our insolvent safety-net programs instead of letting them mushroom further.

2. Health reform that affirms a societal (not governmental) goal ‎of universal catastrophic health insurance by addressing the government roadblocks that make it difficult for families to choose from a broad, private-sector menu of health-insurance policies that they can keep even when changing jobs or states.

3. Welfare reform that eliminates the marriage penalty and “dependency lock,” tackling today’s overlapping programs that absurdly disincentivize both healthy family structures and the move from welfare to work, which should be the fundamental goal of these programs.

4. Education reform that champions more choices for parents and for those needing job retraining, making clear that our policies put students rather than incumbent institutions first.

5. Tax reform that spends far less rhetorical energy on the marginal tax rate of the top 1 percent and instead begins with a goal of maximum economic growth and more opportunities for the poor and the middle class.

6. Regulatory reform that doesn’t scare the American people into thinking we might not be interested in protecting them from genuinely predatory actors, but that attempts to devolve all possible regulation to the state and local level, and that causes all major federal rules to sunset after a short period unless Congress votes to keep them.

7. Immigration reform that prioritizes securing the border but also outlines the broader changes we plan to implement once the border is secured.

8. Electoral reform that includes term limits and makes it more difficult for incumbent politicians to fundraise when they should be doing the people’s work.

9. Science- and research-funding reform that reengages the imagination of the most innovative people in the history of the world by defining concrete — but lofty — goals like the cure for cancer.

Over the next two years, it’s not enough to simply be against President Obama. We have to explain that we are actually for people.

It’s time to rally around a vision of America that creates more opportunity for all, not through government mandates, but through rediscovering an optimism about the American identity. That’s what made our country great at the Founding. Let’s do it again.

— Ben Sasse

My family and I have traveled across all 93 counties in the state, visiting with Nebraskans, and listening to their hopes and fears about the future of America. The families, ranchers, and small business owners we met with want to send a message to Washington. They believe in humbler politics where Washington tries to do fewer things, but the more important things, with more urgency and more transparency.

The 93 ideas below reflect the themes we heard and discussed with Nebraskans at these town halls. These are not Democratic or Republican ideas. They are ideas from individual Americans. While these ideas are clearly not an exhaustive list, they do reflect an important start to the debate about how to change in Washington.

Restrain Washington’s overreach

Restore the Constitutional design of checks and balances by eliminating unaccountable “czars” and restoring the Senate’s role in advice and consent of key Presidential appointments
Implement term limits for Members of both houses of Congress

Reduce the size and scope of Washington

Assess every federal government program’s effectiveness and efficiency
Reduce the influence of special interests and lobbyists in Washington by reducing the size and scope of the federal government
Modernize federal programs with information technology to reduce costs and achieve better results
Implement regular assessments of the regulatory impact of legislation under consideration
Require federal regulations to be reviewed every ten years to evaluate economic impact and effectiveness
Evaluate and streamline the purview of potentially duplicative federal agencies and programs
Require federal agencies to evaluate the impact of regulations on small businesses and whether new regulatory requirements create disincentives for entrepreneurship
Require federal agencies to preform cost-benefit analyses of all rules they promulgate and to explore lower cost alternatives
Curb unilateral decisions from federal bureaucracies by requiring congressional approval before major federal regulations take effect
Reject brazen attempts to rewrite public laws and regulations via memos or sub-regulatory guidance documents

Restrain Washington spending

Make Congress play by honest budgeting rules so the American people understand the full fiscal implications of spending legislation
Require programs with budgetary impact to be reviewed by an independent commission every ten years
Establish regular reviews of economically significant rules so that Congress and the American people are aware of the economic benefits and costs of public laws
Create a commission to identify budget savings that could be divided between investments in national priorities and deficit reduction
Stop crony capitalism in awarding investment tax credits
Reveal the true costs and risks of government-sponsored enterprises (GSEs) to the American public
Cap federal spending on discretionary programs at the rate of economic growth
Enact a Balanced Budget Amendment to make Washington live within its means like American families must do
Adopt a two-year budget cycle that provides more certainty in the budget planning process and forces agencies to manages their programs more effectively
Establish a multi-year budgeting process for entitlement spending, including routine reviews of progress towards budget goals to get the programs back on track

Insist on performance from Washington bureaucrats

Modernize the federal workforce job classification and pay scale system to promote the hiring and retention of highly skilled civil servants
Reward exceptional performance in the civil service for those who go above and beyond the call of duty
Implement efficient private sector management techniques across the federal bureaucracy, including performance incentives and the ability to fire consistently underperforming bureaucrats

Promote economic growth

Strengthen the economy and American competitiveness across the world by implementing comprehensive tax reform that lowers taxes for individuals and American businesses, while reducing special interest loopholes
End taxation of business income generated outside American borders to encourage investment, job growth, and global competitiveness
Reform the tax code to end marriage penalties
Promote individual giving by protecting and strengthening charitable deductions
Increase individual retirement account contribution limits to encourage retirement savings
Reduce the complexity of the tax code for American small businesses
Develop a tax code that supports rapid growth and adoption of technologies that are a necessity for farms to continue to be successful
Allow the deduction of technology and equipment expenses under Section 179 to promote this essential tool for agriculture
Stop the Internal Revenue Service from restricting the freedom of speech

Modernize energy, environment, and agriculture policies

Fight for a farm bill that provides predictability to farmers and is not tied up together with food stamps and other unrelated programs
Reduce dependence on foreign oil and create jobs by building the Keystone XL pipeline
Encourage the production of coal and capitalize on recent technological improvements that have made coal a cleaner source of energy
Open federal lands to oil and natural gas drilling where environmental effects are demonstrated to be minimal
Review the costs of extant rules and regulatory proposals on the energy sector to ensure they are not overly burdensome
Require the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to adopt realistic timeframes for rules and regulations, and to lower costs for companies struggling to comply with hastily implemented mandates
Streamline environmental review processes for infrastructure projects that are undertaken, reviewed, or funded by federal agencies to continue modernizing America’s infrastructure
Fight expansion of the Clean Water Act and regulatory overreach of the EPA

Improve financial system regulations

Simplify financial regulations to protect consumers and overhaul Dodd-Frank
Dissolve the failing Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB)

Strengthen American leadership across the world

Repair America’s long-standing alliance with Israel and support democracy in the Middle East
Restore the Pentagon’s budget to pre-sequester levels to keep America strong and safe
Ensure defense spending goes to military priorities and not Congressional special interests
Ensure any agreements with Iran actually prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon
Restore America’s standing in the world, so that our adversaries fear us and our friends trust us
Defend religious freedom abroad from the unprecedented persecution
Get serious about fighting and defeating the Islamic State
Grant the President Trade Promotion Authority
Ensure that the National Guard and Reserve have access to the latest training, equipment and technology available
Prevent the federal government from removing equipment that is needed and used by the National Guard and its Governors in their State emergency response mission
Honor commitments to and the service of American veterans

Strengthen American intelligence capabilities

Boost military cyber-crime investment to be prepared to meet, repel, and deter attacks on the battlefield of the future
Improve information sharing between the intelligence agencies to increase the efficiency and effectiveness rather than simply their size or number
Enhance intelligence capabilities along our borders to identify and stop terrorists before they make it to American soil

Promote independence among individuals relying on federal programs

Streamline federal anti-poverty programs and empower states to develop solutions that promote independence and target assistance to the most vulnerable
Strengthen work requirements and support transitions to independence for Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) enrollees
Increase fiscal discipline in SNAP and give states tools to tailor a program that is best for their state
Strengthen work requirements and support transitions to independence for those receiving federal housing assistance
Reform safety net program policies that penalize marriage
Reform federal housing programs to streamline programs and allow states to design the system that works best in their state
Strengthen federal disability programs by targeting benefits for those who need them most and increase their services options by encouraging individuals to purchase coverage that meets their needs
Consolidate the federal government job-training programs into fewer that target training at the changing needs of the nation’s workforce

Enact common sense reforms to entitlement programs

Gradually adjust the Social Security retirement age to reflect gains in longevity and in a way that gives sufficient time to plan for the change
Expose Washington’s entitlement over-promising and protect Medicare for the next generation
Transition Medicare to a defined contribution system that guarantees basic Medicare benefits and offers more choice and higher quality coverage to seniors
Gradually adjust Medicare’s eligibility age to reflect advances in longevity with an approach similar to what President Reagan used to reform Social Security
Adjust Medicare premiums for wealthier Americans to reduce the rate of growth in Medicare spending
Protect seniors from identify theft by removing Social Security numbers from Medicare cards

Lower costs and increase access to health care

Repeal ObamaCare
Level the playing field for the farmers, ranchers, entrepreneurs, and the self-employed with a tax deduction for individually-owned health insurance
End geographic mandates and allow Americans to purchase the health insurance across state lines
Dismantle the corporate insurance monopoly in health care delivery and free doctors, nurses, and new market entrants to design higher quality, lower cost care for patients
Enable individual ownership of health policies by allowing employees to take the insurance they buy with them from job to job
Modernize the healthcare system with digital technology to create better experience and higher efficiency for both patients and providers in the private sector
Increase attractiveness of Health Savings Accounts (HSAs) for consumers by raising the limit of allowable contributions to HSAs, expanding allowable expense categories, and extending participation to those covered by government health programs
Unlock the value of information technology for consumers by providing them with access to price and quality information to support value-based decisions about health services
Protect consumers by enforcing contracts made between private parties and ensure consumers are given clear and transparent information about plans they purchase
Implement medical liability reform at the state level through strategies such as caps on non-economic damages or a “loser pays” policy to reduce junk lawsuits and defensive medicine
Streamline all federal funding to the states by reviewing each federal program for effectiveness, duplication, and whether each program should be designed and funded at the state level without interference from Washington
Give states the freedom to make Medicaid work for the most vulnerable by defining budgets and a toolkit to improve benefit designs, and demanding accountability for meeting transparent goals on coverage and quality
Enable states to meet the needs of Americans with pre-existing conditions with targeted solutions, such as appropriately funded high-risk pools, for these individuals

Strengthen investment in basic science and research

Implement science and research funding reforms to reengage the imagination of the most innovative people in the history of the world by defining concrete — but lofty — goals like the cure for cancer

Invest and innovate in education

Increase options for the use of existing tuition assistance programs, such as the ability to offer apprenticeship and community college training programs
Encourage innovative college programs that reduce the time and costs required to earn a college degree
Support the development of competency-based, post-secondary pathways to education opportunities, such as industry-endorsed certifications with value in the workplace
Support alternative accreditation schemes for colleges and universities and avoid funneling all federal education dollars through a single, incumbent accreditation system
Target scarce federal tuition assistance resources, such as Pell grants, to low income students
Consolidate income-based repayment plans currently run by the government into one program for which all students are eligible

Preserve fundamental American rights

Affirm the rights of Americans to protect their families and property by preserving the right of Americans to keep and bear arms