The Heartland Institute today released an “Action Plan for President Trump,” a list of 34 free-market policy recommendations on domestic policy. Many of the recommendations can be implemented immediately – and all would increase individual liberty, promote more rapid economic growth, and restore the proper balance of power among the federal government, state governments, and the people.
“President-elect Trump has a once-in-a-generation opportunity to reverse the tide of debt, excessive regulation, and crony socialism that has engulfed the nation since the election of President Barack Obama in 2008,” said Joseph Bast, president of The Heartland Institute.
“If President Trump surrounds himself with strong leaders dedicated to reducing the size and power of government – to ‘draining the swamp’ as he has said – then there is hope that the proper balance of power between branches of the national government, between the national and state governments, and between government and the people can be restored.”
Heartland’s entire plan can be viewed here.
For more comments or to book a Heartland guest on your program, please contact Director of Communications Jim Lakely at [email protected] and 312/377-4000 or (cell) 312/731-9364.
Some highlights from The Heartland Institute’s Action Plan for President Trump:
Energy & Environment
- Withdraw from the Framework Convention on Climate Change and the more recent Paris Accord and end funding for the United Nations’ biased climate change programs, in particular the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and Green Climate Fund.
- Replace EPA with a Committee of the Whole of the 50 state environmental protection agencies. Those agencies already have primary responsibility for implementing environmental laws passed by Congress and regulations written by EPA.
Education
- Eliminate the U.S. Department of Education. If this is not politically possible, then block-grant most or all of the department’s funding back to the states. Preserve and restore state and local autonomy by repealing federal regulations and red tape attached to federal funds.
- Withdraw the national government’s endorsement of Common Core State Standards by ending government support of the failed experiment and de-linking federal funding currently attached to it.
Budget & Taxes
- Support a plan similar to the Ryan Roadmap or Path to Prosperity plans to balance the budget in 10 years. A balanced budget is absolutely essential if we are to stop digging even deeper the hole created by recent massive deficits.
- Support the “A Better Way” personal income tax reform plan (simplification and flattening) to dramatically simplify the tax code and reduce rates for most Americans, fueling more work and wealth creation.
Health Care
- Repeal and replace Obamacare with long-debated policies that genuinely reduce health care costs and expand access to care – such as a universal health insurance tax credit, block-granting Medicaid to the states, risk pools for the uninsurable, and expanded health savings accounts (HSAs).
- Make prescription drugs more affordable by giving patients, with the approval of their doctors, access to new drugs as soon as clinical trials show they are safe but before they pass remaining tests for efficacy. Adopt the plan described in Free to Choose Medicine by Bart Madden.
Constitutional Reform
- Repeal many of Obama’s executive orders and all of them that stretch or exceed the constitutional authority of the Office of the President. Executive orders ripe for repeal include those affecting environmental protection, trade, health care, immigration, and foreign policy.
- Encourage Congress or the states to approve a constitutional amendment repealing the Sixteenth Amendment (income tax); support constitutional amendments imposing term limits on members of Congress and for allowing a majority of states to nullify any federal regulation.
The Heartland Institute is a 32-year-old national nonprofit organization headquartered in Arlington Heights, Illinois. Its mission is to discover, develop, and promote free-market solutions to social and economic problems. For more information, visit our Web site or call 312/377-4000.
