Events inside and outside of Washington this week set up a fascinating political juxtaposition on the issue of jobs and outsourcing. Campaigning in the key battleground states, Democratic presidential candidate Sen. John Kerry concluded his “Jobs First Express” bus trip yesterday. Continuing his chorus of complaints criticizing President Bush’s jobs record, his refrain is beginning to sound a bit off-key given the growing evidence of economic momentum. Nevertheless, Mr. Kerry’s self-absorbed stammering persists as he sprays rhetorical roundup on an increasingly rosy scenario.
Inside the Beltway, House Republicans yesterday offered some economic fertilizer of their own. “We’re tired of being on defense on issues like outsourcing,” a House Republican leadership aide told me. “Particularly since many of the policies the Democrats promote cause the problem.” Republicans emphasize that costly and unnecessary economic regulations, tax policy, energy prices, health care costs and lawsuit abuse are just a few examples of why outsourcing has become pervasive. They argue that Democrats have not only misidentified the economic blight, but that John Kerry and his allies in Congress triggered its spread.
Hoping to go on offense on the issue, House Republicans offered a startlingly different vision of both the problem and the solution. Debating their counterproposals will dominate the agenda of the House of Representatives between now and the August recess.
No one is under the illusion that these initiatives will become law this year given the obstacles in the closely divided Senate. Moreover, some items have already passed the House in other forms or are repackaged initiatives.
Nevertheless, ideas matter and the Republican initiatives are noteworthy for several reasons. First, for those interested in the congressional agenda, the plan is a thumbnail sketch of how the House will spend its time during the next three months. Considering one of these issues every week between mid-May and the August recess, lawmakers will introduce, debate and pass critical legislation. These measures will provide health care security, terminate bureaucratic red tape and support lifelong-learning initiatives, trade fairness, tax relief and simplification, energy self-sufficiency, and research and development, and rein in lawsuit abuse. They will be considered between mid-May and the Democratic Convention in late July.
The package creates powerful defensive and offensive alternatives to the Kerry attacks this week. Defensive because it offers a reasonable alternative to the Democratic criticism; offensive because it highlights that Democratic policies pandering to trial lawyers, labor unions and environmental activists are the major cost-drivers leading businesses to choose outsourcing.
In a meeting of potential outside supporters in the Capitol last week, Commerce Secretary Don Evans, along with White House and Senate leadership staff, heard House Majority Leader Tom DeLay of Texas laud the plan as an example of the maturing Republican majority. Mr. DeLay noted that when he came to Congress he spent a lot of time fighting things he was against — the task of those laboring in the minority party. This competitive agenda represents “what we are for,” he said, the culmination of nearly a decade of majority control in the House.
GOP leadership aides tell me they will augment legislation each week with daily floor speeches, hearings in coordination with congressional committees and Washington events highlighting how costly regulations, health care, taxes and abusive lawsuits affect ordinary citizens and hamstring American competitiveness.
In the war of ideas this election year, the “competitiveness agenda” provides Republicans useful ammunition. Democrats are in the unenviable position of supporting many of the policies that actually undermine the U.S. jobs environment.
Mr. Kerry’s economic proposals remind me of what Fareed Zakaria, in “The Future of Freedom,” suggests is a formula for economic and ultimately democratic failure — putting the power of the state above the power of the entrepreneur.
His litany of government programs empowers the state and its quest for equality over individual freedom and liberty. It’s bureaucratic jobs vs. entrepreneurial careers.
No doubt the media will downplay the significance of this project, saying it’s just a publicity stunt using repackaged initiatives. None of these ideas will become law, they will note, because Democrats stand in the way. Arguing that Democrats are foiling efforts to lower costs, improve American competitiveness and create careers here in the United States is a smart way to fertilize the ground for undecided voters and grow the next generation of entrepreneurs.
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