A 12-Step Freedom Agenda for the New Congress

So-called “12-step” programs are intended to help people addicted to alcohol or drugs break the grip of their addictions.

Similarly, with the imminent departure of President Obama, who was regrettably addicted to growing the size and reach of the federal government, America now has the opportunity to reclaim the personal liberties and financial freedoms diminished by his liberal policies over the past eight years.

With a Republican in the White House, congressional Republicans no longer have excuses for inaction. Here’s a 12-step freedom agenda for Congress that would help President-elect Donald Trump make America great again.

1) Repeal Obamacare and replace it with a patient-centered alternative that promotes health care freedom. It’s disconcerting that after vowing to repeal the Affordable Care Act for five years, and even holding repeated show votes in the House, congressional Republicans still haven’t agreed upon and submitted a replacement. Politics, like nature, abhor a vacuum. You can’t beat something with nothing.

2) Enact pro-growth tax reform that simplifies the tax code and promotes fairness. We should start by lowering the U.S. corporate tax rate, which is, according to the nonprofit Tax Foundation, at 39 percent, the third-highest in the world after Chad and the United Arab Emirates. Lowering the corporate tax rate to, say, 15 percent, would result in those profits being repatriated and generate $150 billion or more in tax revenues that could go toward balancing the budget.

3) Abandon the so-called “Chevron deference” doctrine, the Supreme Court precedent that since 1984 requires courts to defer to the interpretations of statutes made by federal agencies in the absence of clear legislation from Congress.

Courts should decide cases that challenge federal agency regulations based on their merits, not in a way designed to protect this shadow fourth branch of government. Sen. Mike Lee, Utah Republican, has put forward legislation, the Separation of Powers Restoration Act of 2016, that would end the Chevron deference.