Category Archives: U.S. Congress

No ‘I feel your pain’ answer from Cotton

By Steve Brawner

© 2019 by Steve Brawner Communications, Inc.

May 16, 2019

We don’t do politics like we used to. Exhibit A would be President Trump and his trade policies. Exhibit B would be Arkansas’ junior senator.

Trump won the presidency as a Republican despite counteracting some long-held Republican beliefs, particularly about trade.

Republican officeholders have been internationalist free-traders, even while many of their voters weren’t. In many cases, those voters stuck with Republicans, or started voting for them, because of cultural issues like guns and abortion.

But now Trump has come along and spoken to their economic anxieties as well – by initiating a trade war with China, and by making illegal immigration his primary issue.

The trade war has alarmed many Republicans and people who support Republicans. Continue reading →

Let’s talk politics – for 2022

By Steve Brawner

© 2019 by Steve Brawner Communications, Inc.

May 14, 2019

Next year’s politics will be dominated in Arkansas by the presidential race, despite Sen. Tom Cotton’s already contested re-election race and several interesting ballot initiatives.

It’s in 2022 that the focus will be on Arkansas races. Sen. John Boozman will be up for re-election, and the state’s most prominent statewide officials will be term-limited.

It’s early, but let’s speculate. Continue reading →

One solution: Make them legal, and make them pay for it

By Steve Brawner, © 2019 by Steve Brawner Communications, Inc.

The head of the Arkansas State Chamber of Commerce hears often from employers who can’t find workers, so here’s his solution: Let those workers come from south of the border, make them pay for a work permit, and use the money to enhance border security.

That plan produces many winners, Randy Zook told me.

First, there are 7.1 million open jobs, but not enough Americans who are available to work, want to work, and/or have the necessary skills. Immigrants can help farmers, construction firms, and employers like the Peco Foods chicken plant in Pocahontas meet their labor requirements. Business and industry would do much of the vetting to ensure immigrants are job seekers, not drug dealers.

Meanwhile, immigrants could pay for a work permit – say $2,500 for two years. That’s a lot, but it beats paying a coyote to make the dangerous journey across the border. Then they’d be legal, though not citizens, and wouldn’t have to worry about being deported. Continue reading →

Surprise! Money did not grow on trees

tax, taxes, debt, deficits, spending, trillion, State of the Union, deficit hawks, balanced budget amendment, Jonathan Bydlak, immigration, $98.8 trillion, $970 billionBy Steve Brawner, © 2019 by Steve Brawner Communications, Inc.

There’s nothing more annoying than someone saying, “I told you so,” and it gives me no pleasure to do so. Well, maybe a little, but I’d much rather be wrong.

This bittersweet moment is inspired by March’s wholly foreseeable news that the federal government’s February budget deficit was the biggest ever for that month – $234 billion.

For the year, the Trump administration projects the deficit will be $1.09 trillion, a number last seen in 2012. (The Congressional Budget Office earlier projected $897 billion.) One trillion is about $3,300 for each of us, and it all will be added to the $22 trillion national debt. Your share of that amount is a little more than $67,000 – and growing by the minute.

In fact, the Trump administration projects $1 trillion deficits for each of the next four years, but even that may be a rosy scenario. Now that we’ve reached this plateau, there’s no plan to bring us down.

Last year’s deficit was $779 billion, which was bad enough. So how’d we get from there to here? Continue reading →

No State of the Union? Who would miss it?

Shutdown, impeach, Ryan, No Labels, SOTUBy Steve Brawner, © 2019 by Steve Brawner Communications, Inc.

It just keeps getting worse and worse. That was my initial reaction after reading in the newspaper that Speaker Nancy Pelosi had blocked President Trump from giving the State of the Union address because of their disagreement over the government shutdown.

Upon further reflection: If it doesn’t happen, will anyone really miss it?

If the SOTU were an annual description of national challenges and solutions, it would be worthwhile. Instead, it is boring and pointless political theater.

Year after year, Americans are subjected to the same show. The president makes his way through the crowded aisles. He offers a laundry list of policy proposals, most of which have no chance of passing and often serve mostly to satisfy his base or some political interest group. His party’s members interrupt constantly with standing ovations while the opposing party’s members sit stone-faced. Then the opposing party gets its own speech.

That’s an hour-and-a-half we never get back, and of course it must be followed by pundits – which I guess I’m one – telling us what it all means.

It doesn’t have to be this way, and it wasn’t for much of the nation’s history. Continue reading →