Colorado Springs, Colo. — The success conservatives have had at the state level pushing for right-to-work policies and other reforms should encourage politicians in Washington to be bold as they consider healthcare and tax reform in the coming weeks, according to one of the leaders of Americans for Prosperity.
Sean Lansing, the chief operating officer of the Koch-backed group, said conservatives have run off an impressive string of state-level victories in the last few years. Lawmakers in Washington should take note that voters have rewarded those decisions by voting them back into office, he said.
“We’ve seen an influx change at the state level, almost solely to the fact that you have a number of governors and state legislators who ran on big, bold reforms and they kept their promise,” Lansing told the Washington Examiner here Sunday.
He said his home state of Wisconsin is a prime example.
“You have Scott Walker elected, you have Republican majorities elected, they took on some pretty big ticket reforms that were controversial,” he said. “Voter rewarded the governor and the assemblymen and the senators time and time again. Gov. Walker was elected three times in four years, and now he’s up again in 2018 and the Democrats can’t find a single person to run against him.”
“What we’ve seen at the state level and what we hope they recognize in Washington is that voters are willing to reward you for bold reform and for making good on your promises,” Lansing added.
He made that comment as Republicans are continuing to wrestle with how to pass a healthcare reform bill in the Senate, and how to structure tax reform. But the healthcare bill has disappointed conservatives, who so far are warning that it wouldn’t do enough to bring competition back into the health insurance market. The tax bill has been another struggle, in part because Republicans are hoping to take the savings from the healthcare bill in order to provide greater tax relief.
Two of the senators who oppose the Senate bill so far, Sens. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and Mike Lee, R-Utah, were in Colorado Springs this weekend for a gathering of politicians and donors to the network of groups backed by Charles and David Koch. Meeting organizers predicted they would raise between $300 and $400 million for the next cycle and all other network activities, including issue education and grassroots work.
