Republicans in Washington have no agenda beyond confirming President Trump’s judicial nominees, and have not had one for all of this year. In 2017, they tried to make big changes to Obamacare and the tax code. They failed on one and succeeded on the other, and then they just gave up.
At the end of 2017, House Speaker Paul Ryan was pushing Republicans to take up welfare reform. The Trump administration talked up an infrastructure bill. The party compromised by not making a concerted effort on either.
But Republicans are asking for voters to augment that majority now, and they still have no agenda. Take a look at Republican Senate candidates’ websites. You will find many who pledge to vote against gun regulations. You won’t find much by way of explanation of what legislation they would try to enact if they win their races. They have returned to vague calls to repeal and replace Obamacare. They’re not touting any infrastructure plans.
Even on immigration, the Republican candidates don’t have more than a sentence or two to say. Many of them attack “sanctuary cities” that refuse to cooperate with federal immigration enforcement. But it’s not at all clear the federal government can do anything about those local governments. Only a few of the candidates have been willing to endorse the more serious policy of requiring employers to check the legal status of new hires.
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I am tempted to say that there is something, if not anti-democratic, at least contrary to the spirit of good government, in a political party so thoroughly abandoning the notion that it will tell us in advance what it will do if it wins an election. If it did that, voters would be able to judge its program in casting their ballots this time, and next time they would be able to look back and see how much of that program was achieved and with what results.
In the Republicans’ limited defense, however, they are probably giving us an accurate picture of what they would accomplish legislatively if given the chance in 2019-20. If they win and do nothing, nobody will be able to call them on broken promises.
