AFP's Tim Phillips says GOP Congress is having a "lousy" year
Americans for Prosperity's Tim Phillips thinks congressional Republicans are having a "lousy" year, he told CBSN's Elaine Quijano on "Red and Blue" Wednesday. While he praised them for passing tax cuts and Veterans Administration reforms last year, this year, he could point to no similar wins. If the GOP is "then taking 2018 off, Elaine, that's not going to work." They've got to keep accomplishing things for Americans, Phillips said.
And further, their "failure this year to actually rein in spending" could cost Republicans their majority this fall, he believes. "The only thing they've done is jack up spending," he said. The Congressional Budget Office estimated that although the economy is growing, the U.S. will reach a trillion-dollar deficit earlier than expected, by 2020, as federal spending hikes and tax cuts take effect. Phillips says Republicans are "undercutting the tax cuts and tax reform" by failing to also reduce spending.
Immigration is another area where Phillips thinks both parties are failing, in particular, for not coming up with a fix for the Dreamers and the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, which allowed undocumented immigrants brought to the U.S. as children to remain here on renewable permits.
"Dreamers deserve certainty. We get that immigration is a charged issued, but with Dreamers, it shouldn't be," Phillips told Quijano. He blames both the president and Democrats for the failure to come up with legislation to solve the problem. President Trump has put "poison pills" in broader immigration language -- limiting or cutting legal immigration, but Democrats he said, are also at fault for the DACA stalemate because there were moments when "a lot of Democrats had political gain by not doing a deal."
Phillips is also unhappy about the Trump administration's approach to trade policy and tariffs. "You're being tough on our most vulnerable Americans when you engage in trade wars," he said. Still, although the Koch-backed group didn't support Mr. Trump in 2016, Phillips says that Kochs have developed a "workmanlike" relationship with the president. But he deflected a question about whether Kochs will back Mr. Trump during his re-election bid, saying it's too early to talk about 2020.
