Alfonse D'Amato

It’s time for America to heal, and unite

Posted

Just half a year into the Trump administration, our nation, and its representatives in Congress, are at a crossroad. The divisiveness poisoning our politics has become so ugly and dangerous that it must be addressed now if we are to break the impasse stymieing progress on a number of important fronts.

For months, the viciousness and downright hatred directed at President Trump have gone way too far. A comedienne’s sick stunt depicted his decapitation. A Shakespeare play was adulterated to infer his assassination. And then a demented and disgruntled madman who has fed off such hatred attacked members of Congress in a hail of gunfire.

The vast majority of Americans — regardless of their political leanings — are appalled by this unsettling level of vitriol and violence. We must reach beyond our differences to find common ground on critical issues that are languishing in Washington. Everyone in the nation’s capital, especially, needs to learn a lesson from this recent turbulence to forge consensus on issues where more unites than divides us.

Let’s start with health care. Both political parties want to do what’s best for Americans’ health. Neither wants to leave sick people without care. But there are some very real problems with our health care system that must be addressed. Insurance costs continue to spiral upward, leaving many people unable to afford soaring premiums. In large areas of the country, insurance companies are abandoning the marketplace because they cannot survive financially.

The president has expressed genuine concern for those who struggle to afford or find decent health insurance, and has signaled that he is open to compromise on health care legislation currently stalled in Congress. A bipartisan deal could and should be struck that would allow people to keep their Obamacare if they want it, or move to different insurance options if that makes sense for them.

There should be the same bipartisan approach to tax reform. Almost everyone in Congress agrees that our tax code needs overhauling. But rather than get hung up on the divide between Democrats, who say we tax too little, and Republicans, who say we tax too much, how about reaching for a compromise in the middle?

Here we should start with ways the government could actually gain revenue. By lowering the U.S. corporate tax rate — which is among the highest in the world — and incentivizing the return of up to $2 trillion currently sheltered overseas, we could bring home major revenue to help jump-start a meaningful national infrastructure program. Roads, bridges, tunnels, rail lines and airports could be rebuilt, providing much-needed jobs and economic opportunity.

Another area of potential agreement is the so-called carried interest loophole, which allows billionaire hedge fund managers to avoid paying taxes at the rates most of the rest of us are subject to. Estimates of the revenue that could be gained by closing this loophole range from $18 billion to $180 billion over 10 years. Let’s assume that number is somewhere in the middle. That still means that up to $100 billion could be directed to reducing taxes on small businesses and working people over the next decade.

The earned-income tax credit — which provides tax relief to employed low- to middle-income taxpayers and is widely supported on both the political left and right — could be reformed into an effective payroll tax cut that would put real income in the hands of working people who would be most likely to spend it and help our economy grow.

Finally, when it comes to the simmering problem of immigration reform, there is growing pressure to find ways to allow those we need into the country while protecting ourselves from those who would do us harm through “extreme vetting” in problem areas of the world. As our economy nears full employment, many businesses are struggling to fill jobs in every arena, from high tech to the service sector to agriculture. Before the worker shortage becomes a national crisis, Congress and the president should strike a bargain, adjusting immigration policy to bring in these needed workers who can contribute to economic growth.

These are just a few of the areas in which Trump and Congressional leaders can and should forge a consensus to actually move America forward. Failure to do so would only feed the division that haunts America right now. Making progress on common ground could help bring us back together.

Al D’Amato, a former U.S. senator from New York, is the founder of Park Strategies LLC, a public policy and business development firm. Comments about this column? ADAmato@liherald.com.