Politicians often lament they can “campaign in poetry” but have to “govern in prose.” It’s always easier to make promises than laws, after all. But with our politics today poisoned by partisan rancor, 2023 is the perfect moment for lawmakers to unite our divided country around an agenda to grow our economy.
That is what Hispanic voters want, according to polls. And indeed, it’s what all Americans want if you look at the results of the November midterms. People care more about jobs, wages and the cost of living than political rhetoric.
And with good reason.
The most recent federal jobs report, for December, once again showed signs of concern. The unemployment rate fell overall, but it rose for Latino men and Black women. The economy is trying to climb out from under COVID-19, but many industries — and millions of workers — are still lagging behind. Inflation is coming down, but so did wage growth. Reading all these tea leaves, some economists continue to predict job losses and an outright recession later this year.
The natural temptation for Republicans and Democrats will be to sit back and blame the other side when things go south. But the American people — Hispanics especially — are more interested in preventing the bad news from arising in the first place. They want Congress to step up, not point fingers.
The good news is there are commonsense policies close at hand to meet these challenges while uniting the country in a common cause by helping one another.
First, inflation. As prices keep rising faster than wages, any economic recovery will only be on paper, not in people’s wallets. And as long as Washington spends $1 trillion more than it brings in every year, inflation will continue to steal workers’ income.
To get federal spending back under control, Congress should adopt a unified budget that combines policy goals, spending and tax revenue into one process. For decades, Washington’s fiscal left hand has not known what its regulatory right hand was doing, creating accountability gaps that invited inefficiency and dysfunction. Closing those gaps and forcing Congress to once again direct, fund and oversee the programs they create would go a long way to getting wage growth back above the inflation rate.
Next, Congress must step up for the small businesses that do most of the growing, hiring and innovating in our economy. How? First, by making the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act permanent, to remove the specter of snap-back tax hikes now looming over the economy. And second, by ensuring small businesses access to capital.
Two bills — the Small Entrepreneurs’ Empowerment and Development Act and the Unlocking Capital for Small Businesses Act — would work to accomplish the task by lowering regulatory barriers to small businesses looking to take out micro-loans.
Another overdue reform is the Employee Rights Act, which would guarantee workers’ rights to secret union elections and to opt out of any union political contributions to causes and candidates they oppose.
None of these bills touch hot-button cultural issues. None would create much buzz on social media or cable news. All they would do is create and protect jobs, spur entrepreneurism and innovation, and help recession-proof vulnerable sectors of our economy and communities in our society. Oh, and help reunify the country by lowering the overheated temperature of our politics.
Unlike Beltway activists, Hispanics and all Americans are not interested in left and right, just up and down. Too often, government policy is why hardworking people are separated from the opportunities they have earned: high taxes, inflation-fueling spending and outdated regulatory barriers. Rather than trying (and failing) to be the engine of the economy, Washington should instead get out of the way and let investors, entrepreneurs and workers take the wheel.
That may be harder for politicians than tweeting memes and hurling talking points. But it would do far better for themselves, the country and the upwardly mobile communities that will determine America’s future.
