PRESS RELEASE: Heartland Institute Experts React to the 115th Congress Beginning Session

Published January 4, 2017

The 115th Congress opened its 2017 session on Tuesday. House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI) and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) will lead Republican majorities they kept in the November election. With President-elect Trump taking office January 20, major policy changes are in the works. Obamacare, for example, has been targeted for action on Day One of the Trump presidency.

The following statements from policy experts at The Heartland Institute – a free-market think tank – may be used for attribution. For more comments, refer to the contact information below. To book a Heartland guest on your program, please contact Jim Lakely at [email protected] and 312/377-4000.


“As the 115th Congress begins its session, including 52 new faces, lawmakers should remember why they have been chosen to represent their districts’ interests in Washington, DC. The American people voted for shaking things up and against a more familiar status-quo form of politics.

“U.S. Sen. Mike Enzi (R-WY) has already introduced a resolution providing for the repeal of the ironically named Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, commonly referred to as Obamacare. It’s time for lawmakers in Congress to go big or go home and make bold changes to the way the government does business, including tax reform and relief, regulatory overhaul, and other pro-taxpayer and pro-consumer reforms.

“The American economic beast is ready to be unshackled from the chains of big government, such as Obamacare, and it’s up to lawmakers to do what they’ve been promising to do for years. There’s no more room for excuses or delays. It’s go time.”

Jesse Hathaway
Research Fellow, Budget and Tax Policy
Managing Editor, Budget & Tax News
The Heartland Institute
[email protected]
312/377-4000

“During the presidential campaign, Donald Trump told his crowds that conservatives were going to win so much during his presidency that they would get sick of winning. Those of us dedicated to expanding freedom should keep our fingers crossed this will be the case, and that ground zero in this winning pandemic is the 115th Congress.

“There is much damage that needs to be undone from the past eight years, and even more to do to turn the tide for liberty. Let us hope Congress has the courage to take the bold action needed to course-correct the ship of state, and let us also hope they have learned from the excess of prodigality of the last united Republican government as well as the excess of hubris of the last united Democratic one.”

Tim Benson
Policy Analyst
The Heartland Institute
[email protected]
312/377-4000