The Southern Utah Independent - Pushing a Conservative National Agenda

Op-Ed

By Chris Stewart

This month not only marks the start of the new year, but it also represents the start of the new 114th Congress. The last few years have been a prime example of Washington Gridlock -- which was frustrating for all of us, especially members of the House of Representatives who passed almost 400 bills that died on Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's desk. These were good bills, many of which had strong bipartisan support.

Thankfully, the last election cycle provided a change. Americans are anxious, wondering how we will handle majorities in both the Senate and the House. While I understand their wariness, I am optimistic that we can - and will - do more than simply oppose the President. We'll be able to move beyond partisan gridlock and reaffirm constitutionally limited government where Congress, not the President, writes law and establishes national spending priorities.

We now have a historic opportunity to set a conservative national agenda. I'm in the process of developing a major legislative plan, which I'm calling the 12 in 12 Plan -- 12 legislative priorities to push in 12 weeks. These priorities will hold the President responsible for his unconstitutional actions, lead to greater economic growth, limit the size of the government and help create more jobs. A sampling of those priorities includes:

Approving the Keystone XL Pipeline - which the House passed this week
Defund Executive Amnesty
Repealing and Replacing Obamacare
Securing our countries borders
Reining in government regulations by passing the REINS Act (Regulations From the Executive in Need of Scrutiny Act)
Tax Reform
Appointing a special prosecutor to investigate the IRS
Protecting the lives of unborn children by passing the Unborn Child Act
Auditing the Federal Reserve
Protecting Utah's lands by passing an Antiquities Reform Act

In addition to these 12 priorities, I'm looking forward to using my position on the powerful House Appropriations committee to reclaim control over federal spending. For the last 6 years, the Democrat senate has abdicated this role by relying on continuing resolutions rather than passing a yearly budget. This year, we will return to the full appropriations process in both the House and Senate. Through this process, Congress can once again reassert its constitutionally mandated role of controlling spending.

Many of us have felt there has been a distinct lack of leadership in Washington. Now conservatives will fill that leadership vacuum by wisely using our congressional majorities for the betterment of our nation. But we will need the help of the other party, for our majority in the Senate is not filibuster proof and neither the House nor the Senate has a veto proof majority. I look forward to working with my friends from across the aisle to better our nation.

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