Bill Galston and David Brooks (among others) offer some thoughts today on what President Obama should do in 2011. But what about congressional Republicans?
As the lame-duck session finally draws toward an end, the circumstances that will confront the incoming 112th Congress—with its Republican House and (more narrowly) Democratic Senate—are becoming clearer. When that Congress begins it work, the Bush tax cuts will have been extended for a couple of more years; there will be no 2011 budget but only a continuing resolution into mid-winter; and large questions about health care, entitlement reform, and discretionary spending will hang in the air. Given the new power they will have, but also their continuing constraints, what should Republicans in Congress seek to do, and how?
In the Winter 2011 issue of National Affairs, James Capretta offers them some advice on how to navigate the new terrain, begin to contend with our massive fiscal problems, and advance the cause of an effective, limited government that lives within its means.
The issue (with essays on the new Congress, the crisis of the states, the obesity debate, rethinking redistribution, Lincoln and the Founders, and much more) will be in stores and online right after New Year’s—or you could always subscribe here. But here for now, as a preview and enticement, is Capretta’s essay.