FREEDOMWORKS 10/11/2017 MITCH McCONNELL MUST STEP DOWN

1. Conservative Groups Demand McConnell Step Down as Senate GOP Leader - via Fox News

The leaders of several conservative groups called Wednesday for Mitch McConnell to step down as Senate majority leader, arguing the Kentucky Republican and the rest of his team should be ousted from their posts because they have not implemented the conservative agenda they promised.

“We call on all five members of the GOP Senate leadership to step down, or for their caucus to remove them as soon as possible,” Ken Cuccinelli, the former attorney general of Virginia who now leads the Senate Conservatives Fund, said at a Wednesday press conference on Capitol Hill. Read more here...

2. Corporate Tax Reform: Complete So We Can Compete - via The Hill

For more than 125 years, Merck, an American company, has been a leader in drug discovery and innovation. While Merck’s impact in improving patient health outcomes is global, Merck has created jobs and grown America’s economy in the process.

We’re optimistic about our future, too, but we’re also acutely aware, as are many in our industry and throughout the American economy, of the urgent need to reform our tax code. The world has evolved, but America’s tax code has remained stagnant. Read more here...

3. The Great Regulatory Rollback - via National Review

One by one, the artifacts of President Barack Obama’s rule by administrative fiat are tumbling. The latest is his signature Clean Power Plan, which Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt says he will begin the arduous process of unwinding.

The first year of Donald Trump’s presidency has been characterized — despite his bumptiousness — not by executive overreach, but executive retrenchment. Trump the populist has operated within constitutional lines better than his technocratic predecessor, who used tendentious readings of the law and sweeping bureaucratic actions to impose his policies on immigration, health care, college campuses, and the environment. Read more here...

4. Conservative Groups Call for Mitch McConnell's Ouster: 'You Have Done Nothing' - via Washington Examiner

A group of conservative organizations called on Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and his leadership team to step down on Wednesday, citing the GOP's failure to pass a bill to repeal Obamacare, which has been a top Republican campaign promise.

"You and the rest of your leadership team were given the majority because you pledged to stop the steady flow of illegal immigration," the group said in its letter. "You've done nothing. You pledged to reduce the size of this oppressive federal government. You have done nothing. You pledged to reduce, and ultimately eliminate the out-of-control deficit spending that is bankrupting America. You have done nothing. You promised to repeal Obamacare, 'root and branch.' You've done nothing. You promised tax reform. You've done nothing." Read more here...

5. Forgiving Debt Would Hurt Puerto Rico - via The Wall Street Journal

Estimates vary about the cost and time required to rebuild Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria. And the territory’s excessive debt burden will only make the recovery more complicated.

President Trump suggested during his visit last week that erasing the Puerto Rican government’s debt would free up scarce dollars to pay for the island’s reconstruction. But this isn’t the answer. Wiping out Puerto Rico’s debt would do a disservice to the territory’s creditors, many of whom are Americans. More important, it would hurt the Puerto Rican people by delaying the real, long-term recovery the territory needs. Read more here...

Jason Pye
Vice President of Legislative Affairs, FreedomWorks