Current and former conservative officials outlined an eight-pronged plan on Wednesday to encourage economic development under a Republican Congress.
The United States witnessed two consecutive quarters of negative output growth, while recent data from the Federal Reserve indicate that the economy will likely remain stagnant in the third quarter. The American Small Business Prosperity Plan, launched by Job Creators Network, called on various tax and regulatory reforms that Republican lawmakers ought to endorse, according to a press release obtained by The Daily Wire.
Among other elements, the framework calls for exempting small businesses from all new regulations, establishing able-bodied requirements for welfare recipients, and making the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act permanent. The law, currently scheduled to incrementally expire, is among the most important legislative accomplishments from the administration of former President Donald Trump.
“The Job Creators Network has put together a unified plan to help small business, fix the economy, and provide opportunity for all Americans,” former House Speaker Newt Gingrich said in a statement. “The current state of the economy is hurting hard-working Americans who depend on the economic engine that the small business community provides.”
The plan also calls for an increase in oil production. President Joe Biden has leased less federal land for drilling than any of his predecessors since the end of World War II. The national average price of gasoline was $2.38 per gallon when Biden assumed office and increased to $3.53 per gallon by the start of the Russian invasion. After surpassing $5.00 per gallon in early June, prices have subsided to $3.68 per gallon as of Wednesday, according to data from AAA.
“Tax certainty, regulatory certainty, an end to wasteful inflationary spending, and unleashing domestic drilling to lower energy prices are just a few key aspects of the plan that will especially help small businesses that are the economic backbone of our great nation,” former Kentucky Governor Matt Bevin added. “Every American should encourage and support the dignity and pride that comes from working. The health of our economy is not a partisan issue.”
The Biden administration has provoked criticism from conservatives by hiring relatively few high-level officials with significant business experience. According to a report from the Committee to Unleash Prosperity, the top 68 individuals in the administration have spent an average of 2.4 years in the business world, with only one in eight boasting “extensive business experience.” The median length of business experience for Biden officials is zero years.
“Surely we want our political class to have a diversity of backgrounds. We want lawyers, grassroots activists, those with political and policy experience, scientists, health experts, and academics with required specialties,” the report argued. “But we also want people who have experience running large operations with hundreds and thousands of employees and who understand logistics.”
Economic issues are particularly salient as Americans prepare to vote in the midterm elections. Inflation has reached levels last seen four decades ago, with price levels increasing 8.3% between August 2021 and August 2022, according to a report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Though year-over-year inflation slightly moderated, month-over-month prices for food, shelter, and medical services ticked upward, while core inflation — a metric that excludes food and energy prices, which tend to be more volatile — continued to rise.