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New Year, New Congress 2025

It’s a new year, and fortunately for the American people, it looks like it will be completely different from last year.

With new dynamics in Washington, D.C., Congress has an opportunity to pursue bold reforms that can grow the economy, protect the truly needy, and make government more accountable to the American people. Happy New Year, indeed!

New year, new Congress, so here are three New Year’s resolutions Congress can actually keep this year:

#1: Reduce taxes, spending, and regulation.

America is on an unsustainable path. Our national debt is more than $36 trillion. Inflation is pricing American families out of buying groceries, let alone pursuing the American Dream. And voters clearly want a change.

Congress can be a part of that change by overhauling federal spending and closing the purse strings for out-of-control bureaucrats.

For example, to rein in the runaway spending at the federal level, Congress needs to pass an improved version of the REINS Act and require congressional approval of any new regulation (including guidance) with a $100 million price tag.

We have government spending to thank for inflation. Congress can and should roll back the worst of the Biden administration’s spending, including undoing the unlawful food stamp expansion to tamper these rising costs.

Finally, extending the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (Trump Tax Cuts) will be essential in 2025 to avoid raising taxes on American families. With this, Congress could simplify taxes even further by introducing a 20 percent flat tax rate.

#2: Ensure welfare goes only to those who need it.

The elderly. Low-income children. People with disabilities.

These are some of the individuals that America’s welfare programs were designed to serve—the truly needy. Unfortunately, by waiving work requirements and blocking integrity efforts, the Biden administration has put the truly needy at the back of the line behind a historic number of able-bodied adults and non-citizens who are here illegally.

One of the most significant steps Congress can take to bring sanity back to America’s welfare programs is to implement work requirements in the food stamp program and in Medicaid. Work requirements work—prior to the pandemic, some states had reinstated work requirements with great success. When encouraged off the sidelines, workers saw their incomes triple and found work in more than 1,100 unique industries.

Congress should also close the loopholes that have led to illegal aliens qualifying for the Child Tax Credit and the Earned Income Tax Credit and stop the unauthorized ObamaCare and Medicaid subsidies many have been receiving. It hasn’t been cheap—America dedicates about $2.7 billion a year to cover the cost of the Child Tax Credit for illegal aliens alone.

2025 should be the year to eliminate waste, fraud, and abuse in welfare programs.

#3: Bring accountability and efficiency to the federal workforce.

DOGE (Department of Government Efficiency) is all the rage these days, and Congress can play an important role in “draining the swamp” and making government more accountable to the American people.

Did you know that it can actually be really difficult to fire federal employees, even if they’re bad at their job? It can take months, even years, depending on if there are appeals. Congress has had to step in and make it easier for agencies like the Department of Veterans Affairs to fire bad employees—like a nurse who participated in surgery while intoxicated—because civil service rules can leave agencies with little flexibility.

To help bring accountability and efficiency to the federal workforce, Congress can make it easier to remove unproductive federal employees and codify any executive efforts to remove vacant or non-essential positions to prevent unnecessary public sector growth that reduces efficiency.

At FGA, we don’t just talk about changing policy—we make it happen.

By partnering with FGA through a gift, you can create more policy change that returns America to a country where entrepreneurship thrives, personal responsibility is rewarded, and paychecks replace welfare checks.