Ken Cuccinelli: Republicans have only themselves, not Trump, to blame in 2018

Ken Cuccinelli: Republicans have only themselves, not Trump, to blame in 2018

by Ken Cuccinelli

| September 07, 2018 12:00 AM

If recent polls are correct, and Democrats take control of the House of Representatives, the hard truth is it would be the Republicans’ own fault. Unlike President Trump, who has fought tooth and nail to fulfill promises he made on the campaign trail working to create jobs, cut burdensome regulations, and lower taxes, GOP leaders in Congress have completely failed to do what they said they would do.
As candidates begging to be re-elected they campaigned as conservatives, yet after winning, they went back to their old ways and legislated as liberals. The grass roots were told that once Republicans controlled the House, then it was the Senate, and most recently the White House; it was only then that they would be able to enact real conservative policies.
Well, that has happened, and voters are still waiting.

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It’s not all bad news. The House does have a handful of principled fighters like Reps. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, Mark Meadows, R-N.C., and others who have allied with Trump to enact pro-growth polices that get government out of the lives of our nation’s hard-working taxpayers. But these conservatives needs more help and the buck stops with the so-called “leaders” of the House and their failed agenda. Speaker of the House Paul Ryan, R-Wis., Reps. Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., and Steve Scalise, R-La., have deferred to House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., at almost every turn, joining with her to support budget-busting spending bills, massive increases in debt, and a long list of liberal polices.
Take, for example, the massive omnibus spending bill that GOP leaders in both the House and Senate authored and passed earlier this year. It was an enormous betrayal of all of the voters who elected them. The bill is set to spend $1.3 trillion, which makes it the largest spending bill in our nation’s history! That doesn’t sound like something Republicans would want to write home about, and it certainly is not what they promised the voters.
What happened to Congress’s vow to fully repeal Obamacare “root and branch,” as we heard over and over again on the campaign trail? Why haven’t they funded the border wall to protect our country, or defunded Planned Parenthood, or even cut federal spending? Blaming a lack of accomplishments on the Democratic Party won’t work. The voters know that it’s the GOP that controls both spending branches of government, and they expect answers — not excuses.

Washington needs leaders who honor their oath to support and defend the Constitution and who will not hand our country over to the liberals who will immediately enact terrible policies and destroy our freedoms. It’s time for leaders in Washington to keep their promises and fulfill their commitments to taxpayers.
It’s time for Congress to do what they said they would do and lead the way to smaller government and more freedom.
Ken Cuccinelli II (@KenCuccinelli) is president of Senate Conservatives Fund and Senate Conservatives Action and the former attorney general of Virginia.