A New Washington

Statement

The American people have spoken, and the power structure in Washington, D.C., has been turned on its head. I congratulate President-elect Donald Trump on his victory and look forward to working with him.

With Republicans holding the House, the Senate, and now the presidency, we will have a unified government which can work to reverse many of President Obama's overreaches and pursue greater freedom and opportunity for all Americans. Though we do not have the supermajority President Obama enjoyed when he first took office, and we admittedly hold only a narrow majority in the Senate, I am optimistic we can overcome many of the hurdles we are bound to face and begin to restore the separation of powers.

We now also have the chance to fill late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia's seat with a conservative jurist committed to upholding the Constitution.

Mr. Trump supports many policy changes which I have also championed as vital to Nebraska agriculture. He has discussed rolling back the Environmental Protection Agency's dangerous Waters of the U.S. rule (WOTUS) and supporting the Renewable Fuel Standard. He has also called for bringing an end to the Death Tax which threatens so many family-owned farms and businesses.

The Obama administration's endless roll of red tape has choked our job creators, and Mr. Trump has extensively discussed the need to reverse it. For the past three years, I have been working on my Regulation Rewind initiative to fight back against government overreach. It will be refreshing to work with the Trump administration on regulatory reforms and policies to encourage economic growth and opportunity.

Additionally, I am optimistic about pursuing comprehensive tax reform. Our current system makes it easier to cheat than to comply, and it is past time to fix our broken tax code and make it simpler and fairer for all. On the Ways and Means Committee, we have already drawn up a tax reform blueprint and hope to move forward in 2017.

We also finally have the opportunity to relieve Americans of the burdens of Obamacare. Only a couple weeks before Election Day, the Obama administration confirmed consumers will see a 25 percent average increase in their 2017 Obamacare premiums. In addition, 20 percent of people will only have one insurance plan available to them in the exchanges.

After hundreds of thousands of Americans were forced off the plans they liked, only to lose their insurance again due to the collapse of Obamacare's co-ops, these rising costs have cemented the unsustainability of the President's health care law. We must dismantle this failed law and implement true reforms which reduce costs, increase consumer choice, and put patients first.

In the coming months, I also look forward to working with Mr. Trump on crucial issues such as securing our borders and strengthening enforcement of our trade laws. I am hopeful he will affirm the importance of trade to our economy while working to make us stronger negotiators on the world stage.

Unfortunately, this election put the deep divides in our country on full display. As Mr. Trump prepares to take office, I continue to call on him to focus on bringing our country together. In his acceptance speech, Mr. Trump pledged to be president for all Americans. After eight years of division under President Obama, a focus on unity must be a key aspect of the Trump presidency.

On November 9, our country woke up to the promise of a new Washington. Over the past eight years, Americans have called on government to listen to them. With President-elect Donald Trump, we have the opportunity to make this call a reality.

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