Cooper: Fleischmann on challenges of 2016

Staff Photo by Dan Henry / The Chattanooga Times Free Press- 1/18/16. Congressman Chuck Fleischmann speaks during the dedication of the $200,000 M.L. King Blvd. mural project on January 18, 2016.
Staff Photo by Dan Henry / The Chattanooga Times Free Press- 1/18/16. Congressman Chuck Fleischmann speaks during the dedication of the $200,000 M.L. King Blvd. mural project on January 18, 2016.

Congressional Republicans would like to steer the country back toward the constitutional way of governing the Founding Fathers created, U.S. Rep. Chuck Fleischmann, R-Chattanooga, asserts.

That idea was one of five topics on House Speaker Paul Ryan's agenda at the recent GOP "Congress of Tomorrow" legislative retreat in Baltimore.

It was a topic that particularly resonated with Fleischmann, the third-term congressman who currently has no opposition for a fourth term in November.

The Founding Fathers created a three-part system of governance, the executive, legislative and judiciary branches, with checks and balances. Most recently with President Barack Obama and his executive orders, but going back to presidents of both parties and as far back as Woodrow Wilson a century ago, the executive branch has attempted to usurp powers, he said.

What the Congress must determine, Fleischmann said, is whether "we going to try to get some of that power back" and "how do we want to go ahead."

The balance of power has tilted so far to the executive branch that many people now believe that's the way it was intended to be. That, in turn, has led to administrative agencies under the thumb of the executive branch burdening businesses and individuals with numerous regulations, he said.

"We need to have that discussion - in a bicameral way, in a bipartisan way - so all Americans can have some input," he said.

How much, if anything, will be done toward that end is up in the air in an election year, Fleischmann acknowledged.

Yet, he said, task forces are expected to be appointed to evaluate the path forward, and the effectiveness of that path, in order "to effectuate more representative government."

The fact it is an election year, according to conventional wisdom, offers the expectation that little can be accomplished, Fleischmann said. But GOP leadership has said it is not going to accept that premise and will offer an aggressive legislative agenda, he said.

"I think even this [presidential] administration might be receptive," he said.

One of those areas where Fleischmann hopes there may be movement is corporate tax reform, maybe even as a part of overall tax reform.

The corporate tax in the United States, he said, is the highest in the industrial world and is a major competitive disadvantage.

Beyond that, Fleischmann said, "I hope to see a very robust approach to ISIS and the Middle East. We can't afford to sit back and not be aggressive in ways to do with this. We will look at all the available options, all the pathways to deal with this, and come up with a comprehensive [plan]."

The U.S. response should be strong and comprehensive but "done in a way the vast majority of Americans want."

Even with a new president less than a year away, Fleischmann said, it will be important for Republicans to articulate possible replacements for the Affordable Care Act, the repeal of which, after six years, the party finally got on Obama's desk earlier this month before an expected veto.

"The inherent frailty of Obamacare is causing it to fail," he said, ticking off the higher health insurance premiums it has wrought and the number of individual policies that have been dropped. "So many Democrats cling to this out of loyalty, but we're going to have to address this sooner rather than later. The president, sadly, doesn't want to."

It's important for the GOP presidential nominee "to see these different ideas [for replacement]," Fleischmann said.

We would suggest the Republican Congress put as much sound legislation before the people - and before Obama, if possible - that it can. Let the people see the plans the GOP has for governing. Show the candidates of both parties that it won't tolerate a top-down agenda. Ensure the agenda voters consider in November is one of ideas - tax reform, health care replacement, criminal justice reform, job stimulation - versus the program of wealth transfers being peddled by the left.

In general, Fleischmann said, both houses have committed to take up 12 appropriations bills instead of winding up with an end-of-year omnibus bill as in the recent past. Indeed, the last time the government was funded through 12 appropriations bills was 1994.

Of course, such action will require the cooperation of Democrats, and that is no given, especially given their recent recalcitrance in the Senate from 2011 to 2015 under Majority Leader Harry Reid.

But Fleischmann says he and others in the House "have a renewed sense of optimism" and are "listening to their constitutents. People are much more vocal," he said. "They're paying attention. And it's important to listen and then try to articulate that, both in my policy and in my voting record."

And as the only member of Tennessee's U.S. House delegation on the powerful Appropriations Committee, he'll be in the thick of things.

"I'm in a position to step up and help deal with this, for the 3rd District and the country," he said. "I'm looking forward to the challenge."

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