Despite President Obama’s preference for Washington-based solutions to everything that worries Americans, some believe there are alternatives. President Reagan in the 1980s, and congressional Republicans in the 1990s, promoted the devolution of money, power and influence out of Washington and encouraged answers closer to home. At the time they called it the “new federalism.” Twenty years ago congressional Republicans worked closely with GOP governors in states like Michigan, Wisconsin, New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, and Texas to shape innovative reforms in a variety of policy areas. But after electing a Republican president at the beginning of the 21st century, “new federalism” got lost in the euphoria unified GOP control of all the levers of power in Washington. Democrats now face a similar temptation to play the “Washington knows best” game. But maybe after spending trillions on federal programs for health care, energy and education, someone might ask: “Doesn’t anyone outside of Washington have ideas better tailored to local needs?” Last week, House Republicans rolled out a new project called “State Solutions” to do just that. It’s based on a common sense, enduring conservative theme: Not all wisdom about fixing public problems resides in Washington, D.C., or some White House domestic policy council. Dave Schnittger, Deputy Chief of Staff to the House Republican Leader explained the purpose of the new State Solutions project this way to me in an email:
Check out the new State Solutions website here.
