If there were ever any doubt that the Bush tax rate reductions have been successful, they were dispelled earlier this month when the federal government reported that during the first quarter of the current fiscal year, which began Oct. 1, federal tax revenues rose 8.8 percent from the first quarter last year. And if there were ever any doubt that top marginal tax rates must come down further to preserve competitiveness and maintain the current economic expansion, it was dispelled recently when America's premier computer chip manufacturer, Intel, decided to invest $3.5 billion in a new plant in Israel, citing specifically as a reason for the move that the company will have to pay only a 10 percent tax on corporate profits.
Third, the House needs to fix the fatally flawed Medicare prescription drugs program that just went into effect and is wreaking havoc among seniors. It must become the incubator of wide-ranging Medicare reforms that will improve coverage for seniors and halt the increase in costs predicted by the Congressional Budget Office - almost tripling under conservative assumptions from its current level of 3 percent of GDP to 8.6 percent by midcentury.
Finally, the House must restart the debate on transforming Social Security into a worker-based retirement program in which individual workers have the option to invest a significant portion of their payroll tax contributions in personal retirement accounts.
As to lobbying reform, there are clearly some areas where the law can be tightened up, but it would be a huge mistake - and counterproductive - if the Congress were to overreact to today's congressional corruption the way it overreacted to corporate corruption a few years ago with the cumbersome, confusing and costly Sarbanes-Oxley legislation. One of the best ways to prevent future congressional corruption is to limit members' opportunities to sell legislative favors through appropriation earmarks.
I wrote recently about the need to revive the conservative movement as a movement of ideas by rejuvenating conservative think tanks as havens of free thought and fierce debate. The pending House leadership elections offer a golden opportunity for Republicans to begin rejuvenating their party by making it the party of ideas once again.