The continued jostling over who should be speaker has distracted House Republicans from the central challenge of crafting an attractive, attainable governing agenda—one that recognizes the limitations of a narrow majority, the need to reach across the aisle, and the lessons that their disappointing midterm performance should have taught them.

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Having fared better in the midterms than expected, Democrats feel emboldened. They will continue to push race and gender essentialism, deride the shortcomings of free markets, and decry inequality.
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Defending Donald Trump is a fool’s journey. Pursuing Hunter Biden aggressively may prove poor judgment, too. Moderate voters may believe President Joe Biden’s policies to be too extreme, and at 82, he would be too old to serve a second term, but that does not mean they dislike him.

Democrats Double Down

Opposing Biden on taxes and spending is not enough to hold on to power.

Having fared better in the midterms than expected, Democrats feel emboldened. They will continue to push race and gender essentialism, deride the shortcomings of free markets, and decry inequality.

Republicans need to change the terms of the debate by offering a salient message of One America and a pragmatic legislative agenda.

Too often, conservatism is reduced to lower taxes, deregulation, and free markets or a reflexive defense of traditional institutions and mores.

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Republicans must offer a positive vision for a united America as a counterpoint to the Democrats’ story line of an unjust America.
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The challenge of adequately financing a military that is ill-prepared to take on Russia, Iran, China and North Korea; the threats to financial stability posed by the cryptocurrency; and the damage wrought by trade with China lay bare the inadequacy of that simplistic distillation of the conservative imperative.

Equally, the dysfunctional public schools, rampant crime and collapsing infrastructure illustrate the bankruptcy of Democrats’ obsession with critical race theory, nihilism to civil disorder, and patronage politics.

A Positive Vision

Republicans must offer a positive vision for a united America as a counterpoint to the Democrats’ story line of an unjust America that instills misappropriated assertions of entitlement and sows divisions.

The America of Thomas Jefferson, Andrew Jackson and Franklin Roosevelt bears the same relationship to 21st Century America as does ancient Rome and 19th century nation states to the modern European Union. On their continents, both ultimately enabled modern democracies but engaged in terrible campaigns of conquests, slavery and internments. That’s history, and not our generation’s sins.

Civic and political institutions have adequately rewired, and the value of meritocracy is deeply embedded in the American consciousness. For example, Americans oppose racial preferences in college admissions.

House Republicans should repeatedly state they are in the business of promoting One America and pick three or four issues where they can find allies in the Senate.

The GOP should unapologetically refuse to write legislation with preferences and set asides based on race and gender and instead embrace the narrative that America is about an equal chance not entitlement.

Fiscal Rectitude

Even Biden acknowledges that bringing down the budget deficit is important for defeating inflation. All new spending should be funded with either additional taxes or savings from existing programs.

Families should have a floor under the resources available to raise children. Democrats want to resurrect the expired refundable $3,600 per child tax credit, but that should be considered in the context of consolidating the present CTC, earned-income tax credit and dependent-care tax credit into a single support package.

Additional funding should be accomplished by reimposing work requirements for food stamps and as Sen. Mitt Romney has proposed, closing some tax loopholes.

Fix the Border

Since Biden took office, too many illegal immigrants have entered America. We need better border security. But also, we need more workers and not necessarily those sneaking across our southern frontier.

Challenge Sen. Chuck Schumer to create a bipartisan group of eight members from the House and Senate to draft a bill both sides can accept that secures the border, resolves the DACA issue, and establishes a point system for legal immigration based on workforce needs. Report back in 60 days so that committees in both chambers can debate and mark it up for floor votes.

An important element of the student debt and labor-force challenges is that we send too many young people to college. The Labor Department certifies private-sector internship programs that lead to good-paying jobs after a year or two but high schools continue to channel young people to community colleges and universities.

Jobs, Trade and China

The federal government should redirect aid from schools and universities to establish a national training network and enable high school graduates to travel and live in places where one- and two-year training programs are offered. And build on more affordable, job-waiting programs offered by private firms.

We can’t completely disengage from trade with China, but the House should take up proposals to limit our vulnerability by realigning tariffs to compel balanced trade with China. And re-examine negotiations for free-trade agreements with allies such as the United Kingdom, the EU and in the Trans-Pacific Partnership to spread the costs of R&D and accomplish economies of scale.

All those would broaden opportunities for American workers, strengthen our institutions and families, and promote shared prosperity.
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Peter Morici is an economist and emeritus business professor at the University of Maryland, and a national columnist.