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Koch Group Nostalgic for Clinton Era
Koch Group Nostalgic for Clinton Era
1/15/15
Americans for Prosperity, the free-market advocacy group created by Republican energy executives Charles and David Koch, is looking backward to the Clinton era for inspiration.
At a press conference Thursday, AFP President Tim Phillips couldn't stop talking about the great things that happened during Clinton's eight years in office, when the Democratic president worked with the Republican Congress "to accomplish a lot for the country on the economic freedom front."
The dynamic duo passed NAFTA to foster trade among the U.S., Canada, and Mexico. They also balanced the budget and reformed welfare.
"It made a difference for the nation," Phillips said. "We were healthier economically because of that cooperation across the lines."
That era—not entirely cooperative by any stretch—should show the new Republican Congress that it's possible to achieve free-market priorities, he said, like repealing at least the most controversial parts of the health care law and promoting job creation through more lenient energy policies.
In some ways, Phillips argued after the event, the same dynamics are there. (He was Virginia Representative Bob Goodlatte's chief of staff in the 1990s.) President Barack Obama, like Clinton, is thinking about his legacy. That's why welfare reform got done. And Republican lawmakers now, as then, must prove they can govern. "There was plenty of partisan rough-and-tumble, but at the end of the day, look what they got done," Phillips said...
https://www.bloomberg.com/politics/articles/2015-01-15/koch-group-nostalgic-for-clinton-era
1/15/15
Americans for Prosperity, the free-market advocacy group created by Republican energy executives Charles and David Koch, is looking backward to the Clinton era for inspiration.
At a press conference Thursday, AFP President Tim Phillips couldn't stop talking about the great things that happened during Clinton's eight years in office, when the Democratic president worked with the Republican Congress "to accomplish a lot for the country on the economic freedom front."
The dynamic duo passed NAFTA to foster trade among the U.S., Canada, and Mexico. They also balanced the budget and reformed welfare.
"It made a difference for the nation," Phillips said. "We were healthier economically because of that cooperation across the lines."
That era—not entirely cooperative by any stretch—should show the new Republican Congress that it's possible to achieve free-market priorities, he said, like repealing at least the most controversial parts of the health care law and promoting job creation through more lenient energy policies.
In some ways, Phillips argued after the event, the same dynamics are there. (He was Virginia Representative Bob Goodlatte's chief of staff in the 1990s.) President Barack Obama, like Clinton, is thinking about his legacy. That's why welfare reform got done. And Republican lawmakers now, as then, must prove they can govern. "There was plenty of partisan rough-and-tumble, but at the end of the day, look what they got done," Phillips said...
https://www.bloomberg.com/politics/articles/2015-01-15/koch-group-nostalgic-for-clinton-era
Related~
How Bill Clinton’s Welfare “Reform” Created a System Rife With Racial Biases
May 2014
http://billmoyers.com/2014/05/12/how-bill-clintons-welfare-reform-created-a-system-rife-with-racial-biases/