FIVE months after the GOP retained both Houses against the odds, Congress looks unlikely to cut taxes, end race and gender preferences, or even eliminate the National Endowment for the Arts. But this mean season for conservatives will be brightened if the American Community Renewal Act is passed. Providing their own leadership, two young Republican congressmen are promoting landmark legislation that seeks to revive faith, private enterprise, and charity in the nation’s poorest neighborhoods. And in a rare example of bi-partisanship that is not code for a GOP surrender, they have been joined by members of the Congressional Black Caucus.
It began last month when Reps. J. C. Watts of Oklahoma and Jim Talent of Missouri introduced a bill that all but reverses the government’s thirty-year-old approach to poverty. Instead of creating new programs, subsidies, and specialists, their bill reduces taxes, regulations, and licensing rules. The bill is supported by scores of conservative groups, including Americans for Tax Reform, the Family Research Council, the Christian Coalition, the Institute for Justice, the Goldwater Institute, and the Hudson Institute.
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