Republican Policy Proposals Look Backward As Usual, Not Forward

You probably missed this because the news has been totally dominated by Trump’s racist rhetoric and the reactions to it. But on Tuesday, poor Paul Ryan, in at least an attempt to make it look like the Republican party actually has some policy proposals, put forward his latest proposals about poverty, national security, the economy, the Constitution, health care, and tax reform. Sadly, the only proposal which has any substance is the poverty plan – any details on the others will apparently be coming later. His proposals on poverty are the usual combination of pushing more people to work, devolving more responsibilities to the state while somehow still maintaining careful oversight at the federal level, combining and better coordinating existing programs, and perhaps increasing the Earned Income Tax Credit. This is pretty much a repeat of a plan he offered last year when it looked like he might jump in the Presidential race.  And, even for Republicans, it seems a pretty weak effort and much of it has already been discredited. For instance, the plan leaves it up to local communities and charities to deal with the problems of child care, transportation, and housing that inhibit recipients from being able to work. The plan offers nothing to help solve those problems.

But Jordan Weissman over at Moneybox uncovered the best tidbit of all hidden in Ryan’s plans.  You may remember the Department of Labor recently announced a new rule requiring financial advisers to act in the best interests of their clients. Previously, advisers only needed to provide recommendations that were “suitable” which could include plans with higher fees or where the adviser would receive a higher commission. Now, you might think that would be something that should have been in place a long time ago. But apparently Paul Ryan believes that having financial advisers act in your best interest “will make it harder to save and plan for retirement”.  It takes a lot of nerve to put in a provision that is a total sop to Wall Street in an anti-poverty program, but Ryan is willing to go there.

And yesterday, tea-party darling Jen Henserling unveiled a Republican plan to essentially repeal the major elements of Dodd-Frank – eliminate the Volker rule restraining risky proprietary trading, prevent the Financial Stability Oversight Council from designating a “too big to fail” bank, and changes to structure of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau that would essentially gut the agency. In its place, Henserling  would allow banks to exempt themselves from certain liquidity and regulatory standards if they have enough capital to maintain a 10% leverage ratio. Needless to say, this proposal is going nowhere not only because Democrats are sure to block it but also because it appears that Wall Street itself is not terribly supportive of the plan. Having already spent millions to get in compliance with Dodd-Frank and raised a significant amount of extra capital, it would take another huge effort for Wall Street firms to raise even more billions to reach Henserling’s 10% leverage ration, something they seem unwilling to do. Well, at least it’s not another attempt at repealing Obamacare, but you have to wonder how far House Republicans have lost their way when even the industries their proposals are intended to help won’t support them.

I’m starting to sound like a broken record, but repealing whatever has passed during the Obama administration is not a forward-looking agenda. The same old tropes of tax breaks for the rich and repealing regulations burdensome to industries that have, time and again, proven unable to regulate themselves will not win elections any more.  These ideas are only slightly more serious than getting Mexico to build a wall or deporting 11 million people. It is high time for the Republican party to put together some proposals that actually deal with the serious problems the citizens of this country face today and going forward.  If they want to become the permanent minority party, they can continue to try to go “back to the future”.