23 May 2020 “Clear-Eyed Proposals Grounded in Constitutional Principles” for COVID-19 Recovery

To restart the American economy after the devastation of COVID-19 lockdowns, National Center Senior Fellow Horace Cooper declared that “[n]ow is the time for clear-eyed proposals grounded in constitutional principles and guided by fiscal restraint and concern for America’s posterity.”

But, assessing the $3 trillion “HEROES Act” recently passed by the U.S. House of Representatives, Horace explained that “the left’s answers to the thorny questions presented by the COVID-19 crisis remain true to form: more government control, more government spending, more national debt.

“Across the board,” he wrote in a commentary published by Issues and Insights, “these are the wrong answers.”

The federal government can do better than bail out states that foolishly spent themselves into deep debt and incentivize able-bodied workers to collect generous unemployment rather than go back to their jobs.

Horace remarked:

If policymakers in Washington are serious about turning America away from the economic and health strangulation it is experiencing, there is a better way. One that relies on the principles that have made America exceptional.

Many ideas for getting the nation back on track and better prepared for the future are found in a new report from the National Center, “Beyond COVID-19: Blueprint for Restoring Liberty, Rebuilding the Economy, Safeguarding Public Health and Responding to Crises.”

These include:

• “[The] U.S. Department of Justice should establish an office dedicated to investigating COVID-19-related regulations that may violate constitutional rights.”
• “Congress should end, not extend, the Paycheck Protection Program.”
• “Congress should limit new government-to-government assistance to collateralized loans.”
• “Several significant changes to America’s relationship with China are needed.”

The report contains 54 recommendations over 14 issue areas. Horace is one of the four authors of the report.

To read all of Horace’s commentary – “COVID-19 Solution: Pelosi’s $3 Trillion Wishlist vs. American Exceptionalism” – at the website of Issues & Insights, click here. To read the National Center’s Beyond COVID-19 report, click here.

Issues and Insights was created by the former editorial page staff of Investor’s Business Daily. It is described – by that staff – as “unapologetically free market and for limited government.”