Today, considering Mike Lee's campaign promise fulfillment from 2010. The campaign seems to have maintained the same campaign website between 2016-2022, however they stopped making promises – and just talk results. That website – maybe next time.
2010 - Fulfilled or at least attempted:
Ending deficit spending - I think he has tried to do what he can to end deficit spending. The only blemishes I can see, is the 2014 vote to kill the Ryan budget and the vote against the No Budget, No Pay Act. From what I understand the reasoning for killing the Ryan budget was a resistance to any tax hikes on the wealthy to achieve the goal of deficit reduction (I’m not sure that is really an issue, there are better deficit options other than tax hikes).
I find the vote against the “No Budget, No Pay” act more problematic. Sure, the bill may have been childish, but so is Congressional stonewalling and bickering. Decreasing Congressional pay with maybe a reduction in Congressional sessions (to a month or two) could do wonders to reducing the Federal deficit.
Strengthening National Security – For me, this one is more difficult to define as succeed or failed so I will leave it in the tried category. There are some national security paths he has taken that I find distasteful (his approach to immigration for one) but there are some items that I can applaud (like voting to stop Trump from acting against Iran without Congressional sanction). I cannot say I believe he has pursued any policies that are prone to damage national security.
I may caveat here, that I think his alignment with Trump (and I’ll be honest I have no tolerance here) 2020 election conspiracy theorists is arguably one path he took that either damaged, or had the potential to damage, national security. He (at least initially) sanctioned Eastman’s wildly unconstitutional January 6th plan – which is unforgivable for a “constitutional scholar”.
Reform the tax system – Whether or not he can be credited (in any manner) with the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, that tax change was a reformation of the tax system. There are some things I think may bite taxpayers in future years (like the loss of exemption deductions) but it was a positive tax change for now. I could see it being costly under a wrong president who has a firm and amicable congressional majority.
Reduce government regulations – This is a mixed bag. Economic regulation (which, to be fair, seems to be the focus of this promise) he has arguably succeeded. There are other types of regulation where his votes are a mixed and sometimes Putin-esque bag. In 2013, he voted against a Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act (have not read the bill, but it reminds me of the Kremlin legalizing wife-beating a few years ago). He voted for a 20-week abortion ban; this Federal bill would be unconstitutional under the recent overturn of Roe. He also voted for the border fence.
Illegal Immigration – Although I disagree with his approach and much of his rhetoric (the fondness he has for the term “anchor babies” comes to mind) I would have to say he has pursued the policies that he promised to pursue.
2010 – Failed, or no effort
End the era of the lifetime politician – One of Mike Lee’s 2010 pitches was that Bob Bennett had been in office too long, and that lifetime members of Congress (like Utah’s two senators at the time) was a problem that needed to be rectified.
The runaway growth of the federal government will continue as long as we retain a system that assures the existence of lifetime politicians. A career member of Congress inevitably will come to believe that that body has the answer to all social problems. The Constitution should be amended to limit service in each house of Congress to 12 years.
I agreed with him then, it was one of the only things that made the ousting of Bennett (a centrist like me) more palatable. I still agree with that sentiment now.
It seems like he has sense changed his mind on that. This was noticeably absent from his current campaign website is the assertion that there should be 12 year or 2 term limits for senators.
2010 – Items not addressed by me.
The 2010 issues page listed an additional 11 items. Most of them, I have not covered. The list includes illegal immigration, health care, US-Israeli relations, Afghanistan, entitlements, education, fiscal responsibility, abortion, gun rights, public lands, and energy. I addressed the illegal immigration item earlier.
Some items were simply right-wing window dressing. You will not go anywhere as a GOP candidate if you don’t support Israel, overturning Roe, gun rights, and cheap oil policies. I did not feel the urge to analyze Lee’s influence on most of these items.
One item I agreed with him on here was his position of Social Security. He seems to have been advocating social security means testing or phase out of Social Security. I have not seen much success on this type of reform or if he has really tried to push it.
The 5 main campaign promises have had successes on all but term limits. Term limits seem like it may have been a bait and switch promise (at worst) or just a concession he made because no one in their right mind would ever try to limit their ability to hold power. He could never get it to pass, so why try. From what I can see, it looks like he made this assessment very early.
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