June 1, 2017
In one of my columns earlier this year, I gushed about how President Donald J. Trump’s victory and the Republican Party’s takeover of the administration and both houses of Congress would pave the way for a flood of pro-business and pro-manufacturing policies. In fact, in my last column (see March/April BoxScore, Page 8), I called the speed with which the new administration was acting on certain “truly inspiring.”
The Trump administration has taken some strong actions in the first 100 days, such as the order directing the secretary of the treasury to review the 2010 Dodd Frank financial regulatory law; the orders reviving the Keystone XL pipeline and Dakota Access pipeline; and the “Energy Independence Executive Order,” which revoked the Obama administration’s Clean Power Plan and the emissions limits on new and existing coal power plants.
Your congressional representatives need to know your thoughts on these recent developments. That is the only way a democracy works.
All these initial achievements have been eclipsed by the internecine fighting within the ranks of the majority party.
All these initial achievements have been eclipsed, however, by the internecine fighting within the ranks of the majority party, which essentially doomed what I considered to be a credible replacement to the Obamacare fiasco under which we have been living for the past eight years. It is hard for me to imagine how a Republican administration, working with Republican majorities in both houses of Congress, could let such an opportunity slip through its fingers so easily. In a recent Wall Street Journal article, columnist Gerald Seib said that mere partisanship was no longer the problem. “The danger at the moment,” he wrote, “is that the capital could be sliding into a kind of tribalism.” Some of the “tribes” he refers to are the “Freedom Caucus,” a successor to the tea party candidates of earlier days; the “Trump Tribe,” whose loyalty leans more to the president than it does the party; and the “Governing Republicans,” who actually want to get things done and see the necessity for compromises. Compare these with the “Never-Trump” Democrats tribe and the very small tribe of “Maybe-Sometimes-Trump Democrats.”
Come to the 2017 Print & Packaging Legislative Summit
As we approach the dates of our 2017 Print & Packaging Legislative Summit (June 20–21 in Washington, D.C.), let’s take a stance of support for governing from “the middle.” This is especially important for us as business owners because none of the Trump administration’s aspirations for regulatory reform, pro-business tax policies, and even Supreme Court nominations can succeed without treading on the middle ground, and seeking accommodation and compromise.
I hope you will be joining us this year. We need level-headed, determined business constituents to unify the “tribes” in our nation’s capital.
John Forrey is president of Specialty Industries and NuPak Printing in Red Lion, Pa., and is Chair of AICC’s Government Affairs Committee. He can be reached at 717-246-4301 or jforrey@specialtyindustries.com.
