OPINION: Crapo says ‘no’ to Harris economics

Vice President Kamala Harris’ ambitious economic agenda would have two chances of making it through the next Congress. Slim and none, unless she’d happen to have a Democratic majority in the House and at least 60 Democrats in the Senate. 

It could happen, in theory, but not in reality. And the prospects of Idaho Sen. Mike Crapo voting for her economic proposals are absolutely zero. If he has his way, former President Donald Trump will be back in the White House next January and Crapo will be chairman of the Senate Finance Committee. All that, of course, depends on the outcome of the elections, and Crapo is among the Republicans who is slicing and dicing through Harris’ economic agenda and overall philosophy.  

Here’s how Crapo thinks it will go if Harris wins: “It would be like the Biden administration’s policies on steroids. It would be tax and spend and regulate while pursuing a left-wing agenda. The last four years have been an economic disaster.” 

Crapo points to the ever-rising national debt and high inflation as a couple of the lowlights of Biden’s three and a half years in office. And he thinks things will only get worse under Harris. 

“Regulations would explode even further and she wants to increase taxes by more than he does — which is saying a lot. He wants to increase taxes by a trillion dollars,” Crapo said. The “Biden experience” is a good indicator of what Harris would do as president, “but she would do more.” 

The senator might have a point. Even Biden has not talked about price controls, as Harris did in her vision for the economy. Price fixing has not proven to work in countries outside of communist or socialist regimes. 

Crapo predicts that, under Harris, regulations would skyrocket, trade negotiations would slow to a crawl, and the premature push for electric cars would continue. 

The senator acknowledges that the national debt went up during Trump’s four years in the White House, but a big part of the reason was the COVID pandemic. “And Congress, with Republican support, kept the country alive with deficit spending. Yes, it happened under his watch, but it happened under a pandemic.” 

The best hope for trimming the deficit, he said, would be with Trump as president and a Republican Congress.  

“Our deficit is in such a bad situation that it will go up regardless of who is president,” he says. “There is a way to solve it, but it requires Congress to stop the spending spree and get some control of the phenomenal growth of mandatory spending. But you can’t do that without 60 votes in the Senate, support from the House and a willing president.” 

Crapo says the president could start the recovery process by rolling back regulations, which Trump did during his term, and changing the tax code. If Crapo ends up as the finance committee chairman, he could play a role in extending the tax policies that were implemented during the Trump years. 

“The committee will need to work with him to extend, review and improve on what’s there,” Crapo says. “If we don’t get that done, it will result in a $6 trillion tax increase on Americans and it will hit those who make less than $400,000 a year. If it’s not extended, a large amount will be on those making less than $150,000 a year, or even $100,000.” 

The Trump presidency, Crapo says, produced “the strongest economy in our lifetimes. That one-two punch of tax reform and regulatory reform did it.” 

Crapo, as with other Republicans, is hoping that Trump will focus his campaign more on the nuts-and-bolts economic issues — opposed to leveling personal attacks or re-living the 2020 election. 

“We need to get refocused on the economy,” Crapo said. “The border also is a problem for our economy, and it’s something that President Trump can — and will — fix. The No. 1 issue, I think, is the border, but I think that the next issue is the economy.” 

He says that the charge of a new administration, regardless of who wins, is “to protect, strengthen and build on our economic security.” 

Crapo doesn’t see any of that happening with Vice President Kamala Harris in charge.

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Silver Valley native Chuck Malloy is a longtime Idaho journalist and columnist. He may be reached at ctmalloy@outlook.com.