Fann, Renner, Morse, and Phelan: Republican trifectas lead COVID-19 recovery

Conservatives at the state level advance priorities that empower American workers and families

Washington, DC -- Arizona Senate President Karen Fann, Florida House Rules Chairman Paul Renner, New Hampshire Senate President Chuck Morse, and Texas House Speaker Dade Phelan today penned an op-ed in the Washington Times highlighting how Republican-led states like theirs are leading our nation’s economic comeback. The piece notes that 18 of the top 20 states for jobs recovery since the pandemic have Republican-controlled legislatures that are working with their Republican governors to implement pro-growth policies that drive economic revitalization, empower small businesses, improve education, and increase community safety.

The RSLC is a major reason why these states have been able to enact these successful conservative policies, as it made strategic investments to hold or flip majorities in all of them in 2020. As the four state leaders noted in their op-ed, "Elections have consequences, and we’re proud to use our mandate to hold the line for our constituents and the conservative movement in the states."

Republican trifectas lead COVID-19 recovery
The Washington Times
Fann, Renner, Morse, Phelan
August 11, 2021

Democrat-controlled Washington is decimating our national economy. Crippling tax hikes, reckless spending, record-high inflation, overreaching lockdowns, defunding law enforcement, blue state bailouts – all are radical policies holding back a much-needed economic recovery. Thankfully, Republican legislative majorities in the states are holding the line on fiscal responsibility.

While we should be in the midst of a nationwide economic rebound, liberal policies in Washington have driven up consumer prices at the fastest pace in 13 years, gas prices continue to skyrocket. Federal stay-at-home payments have given us a devastating labor shortage that has forced small businesses to turn customers away at a time when they can least afford to do so. Equally as harmful, socialist policies have produced a crisis at our southern border. Over one million illegal migrants have already been detained just a few months into the year — more than double the number for 2018 and a 20-year high.

In Republican-led states, though, the story is much different. The Washington Times reported that 18 of the top 20 states for jobs recovery since the pandemic have Republican-controlled legislatures. Fortunately, state Republicans have continued to push back against Democrats’ radical agenda. They are working to ensure policies that benefit the American people are still being implemented on the economy, schools, jobs, and community safety.

Republican lawmakers in Arizona are cutting taxes, getting people back to work, and restoring the economy by ending federal programs that pay unemployment benefits, implementing policies to support law enforcement, and passing legislation to ensure small businesses and workers acting in good faith during the pandemic are protected from frivolous lawsuits.

Texas Republicans never lost sight of the fact that their constituents are better prepared to safeguard their health than the government. As a result, Texas employed reasonable benchmarks for COVID-19 reopening, unlike the draconian measures in liberal states. Now, unemployment numbers are plunging in the Lone Star State. GDP is greatly increasing, police officers are well funded and supported, and a Texas border city recently elected its first Republican Mayor in over two decades.

In Florida, Republicans are implementing a ‘Firewall for Freedom’ with tax cuts that allow their constituents to keep their hard-earned tax dollars in their own pockets, leading the way on economic recovery with a lower unemployment rate than the national average, expanding school choice to ensure every student has the opportunity to succeed and providing businesses with coronavirus liability protections to aid economic recovery.

In New Hampshire, where control of the legislature flipped from Democrat to Republican just last year, legislators recently passed a conservative budget that cuts taxes on employers and provides relief to property taxpayers. As a result of tax reforms championed by Republicans, New Hampshire’s economy is among the strongest in the country, and it has one of the nation’s lowest unemployment rates.

Republican trifectas in each of our states have made it possible to implement strong economic policies, enhance education, and provide more health care options than ever before. Our priority is to cultivate American competitiveness and create opportunities for families and workers.

When businesses and people can compete, our country is at its best, our economy is stronger, and life improves for all Americans.

During our country’s last economic downturn, the solution to the stagnant Obama-Biden economy was getting the government out of the way and allowing American workers to keep more of their hard-earned money–not an expansion of government control and reckless spending. The same approach is needed to fully recover from COVID-19.

The Republican Party’s–and Americans’–only line of defense against Democrats’ increasingly left-wing policies at the national level are conservatives in the states who advance priorities that empower American workers and families instead of government bureaucrats.

National Democrats led by Eric Holder, Barack Obama, and Nancy Pelosi spent a fortune trying to control our states in the 2020 elections, and thank goodness we stopped them. Elections have consequences, and we’re proud to use our mandate to hold the line for our constituents and the conservative movement in the states.