Back on June 12, we endorsed the House Freedom Caucus call to cancel the traditional congressional August recess so that the Republican majority could start acting like a majority and pass the agenda that elected President Trump.
Now a group of conservative Republican senators has joined their House colleagues in demanding that Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Speaker Paul Ryan cancel the August recess.
According to Politico, the group was spearheaded by Sen. David Perdue of Georgia. The bloc of 10 senators said the five-week break should be on the table if Republicans don’t make progress on repealing Obamacare, passing a budget, averting a government shutdown at the end of September, avoiding a debt default and getting to their top priority: reforming the tax code.
“Our current Senate calendar shows only 33 potential working days remaining before the end of the fiscal year. This does not appear to give us enough time to adequately address the issues that demand immediate attention. Therefore, we respectfully request that you consider truncating, if not completely foregoing, the scheduled August state work period, allowing us more time to complete our work.” the senators wrote according to Politico’s Burgess Everett.
In addition to Perdue, the letter is signed by Sens. Steve Daines of Montana, Joni Ernst of Iowa, John Kennedy of Louisiana, Mike Lee of Utah, James Lankford of Oklahoma, Mike Rounds of South Dakota, Luther Strange of Alabama, Thom Tillis of North Carolina and Dan Sullivan of Alaska.
“The House Freedom Caucus has taken an official position in support of the House staying in session through the August recess to continue working to accomplish the priorities of the American people,” the group said in a statement a month ago.
Rep. Dave Brat, R-Va., noted strong supply-side policies will create economic growth, which is the only way the country can dig out of a fiscal hole.
“You’ve got $20 trillion in debt and then $100 trillion in unfunded liabilities for … young people,” Brat said. “Medicare and Social Security are insolvent in 2034. And [the Congressional Budget Office] … [said] in about 15 or 20 years, all federal revenues will go only to mandatory and entitlement programs—all federal revenues. So, that means there is nothing left for the military, education, transportation, etc. … “
Congressman and economics professor Dave Brat is right, yet, none of those economic growth policies have even passed the first hurdle in the House, let alone gone to the Senate for its action.
“The stakes are much higher this year. We simply cannot afford to lose any additional time in resolving these issues when tax reform is hanging in the balance. Robust change to our tax code is our single most important economic growth tool, and there is already growing anticipation for us to act,” the senators said. “Failure to deliver could have devastating economic consequences.”
One of the reasons for cancelling the August recess and working is that the House Freedom Caucus also wants to “go big” on a tax reform package, so for once, the interests of our friends in the House Freedom Caucus and a significant block of Senate Republicans line up.
Failure to deliver could indeed have devastating economic consequences, but it could also have devastating political consequences, especially for the establishment Republicans, who seem to be the major stumbling blocks to the agenda of the voters who elected President Trump.
The Capitol Switchboard is 1-866-220-0044. We urge you to call your representatives and senators and tell them to skip the August recess to repeal and replace Obamacare, pass the Trump budget and put a pro-growth tax reform package on President Trump’s desk.
This article was originally published at ConservativeHQ.com. Used with permission.
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