GOP’s Promise to Aid Working Families: Unveiling the True Agenda!

As the Republican Party took control of Congress this week, with the U.S. President-elect set to assume office soon, Democratic representatives voiced concerns about the potential negative impacts of the Republican agenda on the working class, committing themselves to opposing it.

“The 119th Congress kicks off today. Our main focus for the next two years should be to advocate for working families and to confront corporate greed,” stated Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.), former chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, through a social media post last Friday.

“While the Republicans’ agenda for the coming years includes tax reductions for the wealthy and cuts to essential public services, Democrats will strive to decrease costs and increase wages for everyone,” Jayapal asserted. “We are here to fight for YOU.”

The swearing-in of Congress members occurred on Friday, during which most Republicans supported the re-election of Rep. Mike Johnson (R-La.) as Speaker of the House. Meanwhile, the Democrats criticized a rules package proposed by the Republican leadership earlier in the week.

“Their leadership will be characterized by centralized control, targeting of specific communities, and punitive campaigns.”

This rules package accelerates consideration of twelve legislative proposals covering various topics, including immigration reforms, measures against transgender student athletes, sanctions on the International Criminal Court, requirements for proof of U.S. citizenship for voter registration in federal elections, and the prevention of bans on hydraulic fracturing.

“Speaker Johnson claims this Congress will be significant. Today, through both Speaker Johnson’s speech and the Republican-passed rules package, the consequences of their governance have been laid bare,” said Rep. Delia C. Ramirez (D-Ill.). “Their first action was to advance a legislative agenda that misuses congressional power to attack trans youth in sports, withdraw federal support from sanctuary areas, target immigrants, undermine voting rights, and impose new penalties on those who provide reproductive care.”

“They are also attempting to make the Speaker’s role less accountable to Congress as a whole and restrict our ability to handle emergency legislation,” Ramirez continued. “Overall, they are using these rules to make Congress less transparent, less accountable, and less responsive to the American people. Their governance will be defined by centralized power, targeting specific communities, and punitive measures.”

On the House floor, Jayapal criticized the package, stating it “clearly outlines what the Republican majority will fail to address in the 119th Congress,” emphasizing that the twelve bills “do nothing to reduce costs or increase wages for Americans.”

“These bills also fail to challenge the major corporations and wealthiest individuals who benefit from high prices, unnecessary fees, and corporate monopolies that hurt Americans nationwide,” she noted. “And why not? Because these corporations and affluent individuals control the Republican Party for their own benefit.”

Jayapal pointed out the extreme wealth of the incoming president’s Cabinet nominees, just after the announcement of corporate lobbyist and GOP donor Ken Kies as the new assistant secretary for tax policy at the Treasury Department, soon to be led by billionaire hedge fund manager Scott Bessent. This comes as Republicans in Congress push for more tax cuts for the wealthy.

“Republicans also aim to implement substantial spending reforms to cut down on trillions in waste, fraud, and abuse, and to stop the misuse of government power,” Johnson stated in an extensive social media post on Friday. “Along with promoting President Trump’s America First agenda, I will guide House Republicans to diminish the federal government’s size and scope, hold the bureaucracy accountable, and steer the United States towards a more sustainable fiscal path.”

In response, the Progressive Change Campaign Committee (PCCC) remarked, “Mike Johnson is committing to cutting Social Security and Medicare to secure the Speaker’s position.”

Despite a narrow House majority and initial doubts about his support, Trump-backed Johnson was expected to fall short due to opposition from various representatives. However, following a behind-the-scenes discussion, key opponents changed their votes.

“Johnson made a secretive deal with those who initially opposed him, ensuring they would switch their votes. Now, he will obtain the gavel. In time, we’ll likely discover the compromises he made to secure his victory,” said Rep. Maxwell Alejandro Frost (D-Fla.) on social media.

“What concessions did Johnson make to become Speaker? Did he trade away Social Security or Medicare? Or maybe veterans’ benefits?” he questioned.

Citing a document circulated by Johnson’s conservative critics listing the “failures” of the 118th Congress, the PCCC noted: “It seems all of the above were compromised. But his dissenters prioritized Social Security in their list of complaints.”

Following the vote, Norman and ten other right-leaning colleagues issued a letter explaining that, despite genuine concerns, they supported Johnson due to their “unwavering support for President Trump and to facilitate the prompt certification of his electors.”

“To fulfill the historic mandate granted by President Trump to the Republican Party, we need to be organized to utilize reconciliation—and all legislative tools—to deliver on essential border security, spending reductions, growth-oriented tax policies, regulatory reforms, and to reverse the damages inflicted by the Biden-Harris administration,” they elaborated.

Politico reported that “House Republicans plan to initiate work on budget targets for key committees on Saturday—the first step in launching their ambitious legislative agenda focusing on energy, border, and tax policies.”

According to the report:

“The Ways and Means Committee will only be able to draft tax legislation based on the budget reconciliation instructions,” said House Ways and Means Chair Jason Smith (R-Mo.), who is spearheading efforts to extend Trump’s tax cuts.

“And once the conference decides on those instructions, we’ll be prepared to proceed accordingly,” Smith added, when questioned about the primary objective of a GOP conference meeting tentatively scheduled for Saturday at Fort McNair, an Army post in southwest Washington.

This followed a Thursday report by The Washington Post stating that Trump advisers and congressional Republicans “have started proposing ways to increase federal revenue and cut spending so that their plans for significant tax reductions and new security expenditures do not further balloon the $36.2 trillion national debt.”

As detailed by the newspaper, Republicans are considering ten policies including tariffs, the elimination of clean energy initiatives, unauthorized spending cuts, repealing the Biden administration’s student loan forgiveness, shutting down the Education Department, reducing federal food assistance, implementing Medicaid work requirements, discontinuing Medicare obesity treatments, ending the child tax credit for noncitizen parents, and slashing Internal Revenue Service funding.

“The GOP promised to make life easier for working families,” Rep. Katherine Clark (D-Mass.), the Democratic whip, stated on social media in response to the Post‘s article. “Now, they plan to cut your school budget, raise your grocery bills, and increase your energy costs—all to finance tax cuts for billionaires.”

“We will not let Republicans cut Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and food assistance to fund tax breaks for the wealthy,” she added on Friday. “No way.”