RSC Chairman Pfluger Makes the Push for a Second Reconciliation Bill on the Scott Jennings Show
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Republican Study Committee (RSC) Chairman August Pfluger (TX-11) appeared on the Scott Jennings Show this week to unveil RSC’s framework for a second reconciliation bill. The framework, titled “Making the American Dream Affordable Again,” is a comprehensive plan to tackle the affordability crisis due to the failed policies of the Biden-Harris administration. It focuses on lowering housing, energy, and health care costs that have left Americans with less money in their pockets.
Highlights from RSC Chairman Pfluger are below:
RSC Chairman Pfluger on the RSC’s Push for a Second Reconciliation Bill: “Well, Scott, I'm not sure I can say it any better than that video, so I will summarize, but Making the American Dream Affordable Again, this is the framework you saw in the video. But what are we really talking about here? We're talking about, if we don't do this, this is political malpractice. We have a tool. Let's get after the things that Republicans have long sought to finish and to do. Let's carry over the wins from 2025. We're looking at housing, we're looking at energy, and we're looking at health care as the three main pillars that really have policies that deconstruct what Biden tried to do to kill the economy. They deconstruct this overburdensome regulatory environment, and they just make it easier for Americans to have choices in health care, to put some money back, tax-free, to buy their house, to lower the age of home ownership from 41 down to, you know, mid-20s, for first-time homeowners, and just to live the American dream. So very excited about the provisions. We had a great press conference this morning with lots of people talking about their specific bills, but this is the starting point, and it is time to go.”
RSC Chairman Pfluger on the Energy Provisions in the RSC’s Reconciliation Framework: “Number one, refilling the SPR, the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. And one idea that has kind of percolated in the last week or two is: let's take some of the Venezuelan oil at a discount because they stole from American companies, and let's refill the 350 million barrels that Biden drained for political expediency. Let's get that refilled for true emergencies. Number two, when it comes to permitting energy projects, it takes eight or nine years on average to permit major pipeline projects. We haven't had a new refinery in such a long time, but even roads, bridges, and highways kind of fall in this same category. So we believe that we can react in the Senate, and that it can pass the Byrd rule, because there is a budgetary nexus which is required for us to do reconciliation. But these projects will actually lower the cost of everything, not just energy, because energy is foundational in the economy. But if we can get this through, which we think we can, it will lower the cost of everything, but permitting is at the heart of all of this. As we know, our economy runs on energy.”
RSC Chairman Pfluger on the Urgency for a Second Reconciliation Bill: “We have to move with extreme urgency right now. We only have a couple of months before you kind of get into that window where now it’s campaign season. We're in a two-minute drill. Yes, people have questions. Can we get this done? But I'll tell you, when the American public sees us coming together, unifying, and they know we have a one seat majority, when they see us coming together with solutions, not reasons why we can't do it, but with solutions and why we can do it, they are going to give us another chance to continue to maintain the majority in the House, to maintain the majority in the Senate, and they know they've got Donald J. Trump at the helm in the White House, and that we're going to continue towards prosperity. So I think the outlook is very good. There's a thousand reasons why we can't, but I'll tell you, America is depending on us. It's political malpractice not to do it.”