by Bill Hagerty
Americans have come together in the fight against the invisible enemy, but this situation has been made worse by some politicians who seek to take advantage of this pandemic and our recovery while so many are suffering. President Trump has been working around the clock to slow the spread of the Wuhan virus and get the economy going again, but Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer have used this crisis to push their radical socialist agenda and grow the size of government. Twice now, Nancy Pelosi held American families, workers, and businesses hostage for days by delaying relief funding in the name of securing tens of millions of dollars for the Kennedy Center, pushing her Green New Deal, changing voting laws, and growing government to advance her radical socialist agenda.
Even more recently, there have been calls to give handouts to failing state and local governments, not because of the coronavirus, but because these states have been mismanaged and run irresponsibly. The American taxpayer should not bail out state and local governments for the reckless fiscal decisions made before the coronavirus.
Taxpayers in Tennessee, which has the strongest balance sheet in America, should not be forced to bail out far-left politicians in New York, Illinois, and California. Tennesseans shouldn’t be stuck with the bill of corrupt Illinois politicians, nor should they get the tab when California mismanages its infrastructure spending to the tune of hundreds of billions of dollars. Tennessee taxpayers certainly should not have to bailout New York when they recklessly spend on a litany of liberal priorities including solar projects, health care to illegal immigrants, and more.
States are stretched by the Wuhan virus, but we shouldn’t incentivize more bad decisions at a time when every dollar is needed in the fight against the virus. We’ve already spent trillions of dollars. Of that, billions have already gone to state and local governments. Republicans now need to hold the line. The more we spend and the higher our deficit grows, the longer our recovery will take and the harder it will be to address the long-term implications for our economy.
As President Trump said, “We cannot let the cure be worse than the problem itself.” Democrats and special interests are already taking actions that are going to slow our economy’s recovery. We should pursue stronger liability protections to stop frivolous lawsuits aimed at punishing our nursing homes, hospitals, and manufacturing plants, all with the goal of making trial attorneys richer – with a chilling effect on our economy. We have to be diligent in lowering our deficit and stopping these lawsuits because Democrats are not taking their foot off the pedal. They will stop at nothing to massively grow the size of government and insert it into every aspect of our life while siding with trial lawyers who shouldn’t be allowed a litigation “Bonanza” at the expense of those on the frontlines fighting the virus.
Former Obama Advisor Rahm Emanuel is infamous for saying: “Never let a crisis go to waste,” and that is truly the most disturbing thing about Democrats’ recent pushes. Their actions are not about helping people; in fact, they are harming the American people for generations to come. They are seizing on this crisis to grow the size of government, bail out political special interests, erase state and local government sins of the past, and implement their radical socialist agenda. Enough is enough.
Our focus has to be on the American people. I’m proud to work with President Trump as a member of the White House economic recovery task force: the Great American Economic Revival Industry Groups, to reopen our economy safely and as soon as possible. President Trump has endorsed me for the U.S. Senate because he knows I will work with him to stand up to the Democrats who put themselves and their special interests ahead of the American people.
We need to get help directly to American families and businesses. Now is not the time to give bailouts to bureaucrats and send free money to feckless politicians, and it’s offensive to see Democrats trying to do exactly that. As Tennessee’s next Senator, I will work with President Trump to drain the swamp and put the American people first.
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Bill Hagerty served as the United States Ambassador to Japan in President Donald Trump’s administration. He is running for Senate in Tennessee, with President Trump’s “complete and total” endorsement. You can learn more about him at teamhagerty.com.
Photo “Bill Hagerty by Bill Hagerty and “Closed McDonald’s” is by Dan Keck CC2.0.
