When House Republicans campaigned in 2016, we made the American people a promise. We said that if voters placed their confidence in us and entrusted us with a mandate to govern, we would lead on the tough issues and improve people’s lives with our ideas.
Two years later, I’m proud that we have upheld our end of the bargain. We passed more than 1,000 bills in the House that make a meaningful difference. Now, as we approach another critical election, it’s important that Republicans are given the chance to build on this success, keep the economy strong, and expand opportunity for even more Americans.
Think about how the American people are better off thanks to the policies we have enacted working with this president. Today, unemployment is below 4 percent, and there are more job openings in America than people looking for work.
After the stagnation of the Obama era, our economy is growing at its strongest clip in years. Wages and benefits are rising at their fastest rate in a decade. We’ve rolled back regulations that were stifling growth and have allowed American small businesses and job creators to do what they do best.
Families are feeling the direct effects of this growing economy. Thanks to tax reform, nine out of 10 workers are seeing their paychecks grow. At least six million workers have received raises, bonuses, and better benefits. Starting next year, the average family will save more than $2,000. And we simplified the tax code, doubled the standard deduction, and increased the child tax credit to allow people to keep more of what they earn and make filing easier.
All of this puts millions of Americans on track for a successful future. Other steps we’ve taken include creating opportunity zones, which will allow distressed areas to draw investments for decades and transform communities, and overhauling career and technical education programs, so that people will have the skills they need to get the jobs they want.
Beyond this, we strengthened our military and addressed the readiness crisis the Pentagon faced. Our budget delivered the biggest pay raise for troops in a decade and we worked hand-in-hand with Defense Secretary Jim Mattis and our generals to make sure they have what they need.
With young people dying from overdoses at a record pace, we passed the most significant legislative response to combat opioid addiction, increasing funding for treatment and prevention. We tackled human trafficking legislation, reformed the broken VA system, expanded domestic energy production, stood strongly with our allies, and fulfilled our agenda.
Republicans have delivered on our promises, and today we have a more confident and prosperous America. Democrats, on the other hand, are promising to roll back this progress and suffocate Washington in chaos and dysfunction.
Democrats have made it clear they want to repeal tax reform and hike taxes across the board on hardworking Americans to pay for their new spending. They want to paralyze Washington and drown the White House in frivolous subpoenas and investigations, ignoring the problems that their constituents face.
Their plan for healthcare is to abolish the private insurance market, removing all freedom and choice from individuals, and instead have a one-size fits all approach. That would jeopardize patients’ relationships with their doctors, centralize decisions in D.C., force people to give up health plans that they like, all for the whopping cost of $32 trillion. Single-payer healthcare is a singularly bad idea.
While the Democratic party is in the throes of an identity crisis, House Republicans are focused day-in and day-out on finding solutions that make people’s lives better. This has been our top priority over the last two years, and we will remain laser-focused on delivering more for the people that we serve.
We’ve gained a lot of ground in that fight, but it’s all on the line in this election. If you look at what we’ve accomplished, we have earned your vote. We stopped typical gridlock and have grown our nation’s economy. The military is stronger today. Opportunities are more prevalent. Even with all of those accomplishments, we have more we can do to make things better for millions of Americans, and we’re asking you for that chance on Tuesday.
Paul Ryan is Speaker of the House of Representatives and represents Wisconsin’s first congressional district.
