Former Vice President Mike Pence on Wednesday released an economic proposal to tackle high inflation that includes cutting government programs, the Environmental Protection Agency and President Joe Biden’s incentives aimed at curbing impacts of climate change.
In his first policy proposal as a presidential candidate, Pence’s four-part plan includes halting the “deficit spending spree,” bringing more supply chains back to the US, increasing domestic energy, and ending the Federal Reserve’s dual mandate of maximum employment and price stability by making the latter its sole focus.
The proposal comes as Pence has struggled to gain traction in a GOP field dominated by his former running mate, Donald Trump. Of the Republican candidates who have met the Republican National Committee’s polling threshold, Pence is the only one who says he has not reached the fundraising threshold to participate in next month’s debate.
His proposal would freeze non-defense spending, repeal new spending approved by the Biden administration, and cut government programs deemed “unnecessary” and reform “mandatory programs.”
In campaign speeches, Pence has called for the elimination of the Education Department and pushed for reforms to entitlement programs including Social Security.
His proposal unveiled Wednesday features an “initial list of major savings that have been pinpointed for reduction,” arguing that it would save American taxpayers more than $1.2 trillion.
Pence’s plan would eliminate the EPA, tax credits for electric vehicles, Biden’s “residential clean energy credit” and repeal Biden’s subsidies for automakers to make electric vehicle batteries.
He would end Biden’s student loan forgiveness program, roll back new funding for the Internal Revenue Service and shut down the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the agency created after the 2008 financial crisis.
Pence’s proposal would also rescind $66 billion in the bipartisan 2021 infrastructure bill that went toward passenger and freight rail transportation, most of it for Amtrak.
“Government cannot spend its way to prosperity, and yet Joe Biden is set on dismantling our once great economy and hurting families who can no longer afford food or find a good paying job,” Pence said in a statement. “My top economic priority will be to renew American prosperity by cutting wasteful government spending, restoring the value of the dollar, building resilient supply chains, and restoring American energy independence.”
“Unfortunately, many Republican presidential candidates are too busy catfighting amongst themselves to develop a plan that will bring inflation under control,” his campaign’s one-pager on his plan reads.
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