Opinion

OPINION: Pennsylvania’s Economic Renaissance Is At Risk As Midterm Elections Approach

REUTERS/Leah Millis

David Urban CNN Commentator
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Can there really be too much of a good thing?

Not when it comes to Pennsylvania’s economy, which has been booming lately with no end to its growth in sight.

Yet Pennsylvania’s flourishing economic recovery will be in dire jeopardy if obstructionist Democrats win control of Congress this November.

Instead of supporting the policies that have unleashed America’s economic potential, the Democrats have done everything in their power to hobble the White House agenda.

This blind partisanship is unfortunate because the president’s policies have had a rejuvenating effect on the Pennsylvania economy, helping the Keystone State recover from economic woes and securing a bright future for its workers.

After less than two years of the Trump presidency, Pennsylvania’s unemployment rate has declined to 4.2 percent — its lowest level in over a decade. Local communities in the state are now growing at a healthy pace, as well, with some adding jobs at nearly twice the rate of the rest of Pennsylvania.

Having visited Pennsylvania with the president on two recent occasions, I can attest to the transformation the Commonwealth has undergone in just two short years. And things are only going to get better if Trump is able to continue implementing his transformative economic policies.

Last week, for instance, House Republicans passed new legislation designed to make the original Trump tax cuts permanent. Pittsburgh-area Rep. Conor Lamb clearly sees the handwriting on the wall: He was one of just three Democrats to vote for “Tax Reform 2.0,” despite having called the original tax cuts a “betrayal” of the middle class.

Most Democrats, though, are already salivating over the prospect of getting more of your money back into their own big government hands. They’re already coming up with new ways to spend it.

Predictably, instead of supporting the new Republican tax bill last week, the Democrats were quick to call it a “tax scam” that only helps the rich.

“I guess their giveaway to the ultra-wealthy wasn’t enough the last time around, so they’ve come back for round two,” said Rep. Linda Sánchez, a Democrat from California. “When the bill finally comes due, I’m terrified Republicans will pay for it by cutting Social Security and Medicare.”

Typical. Democrats start by claiming that tax cuts will hurt the economy. Then, when the tax cuts fuel unprecedented economic growth, they try to scare people with class-warfare rhetoric and lurid predictions that my parents will no longer be able to afford a meal at Eat’n Park. This is the height of demagoguery.

A Democrat-controlled Congress would spell disaster for Pennsylvania’s booming economy, swiftly reverting it back to its feeble, Obama-era state.

Those were certainly not the good old days. A year before President Obama took office, Pennsylvania’s unemployment rate was hovering just under 5 percent. The rate nearly doubled just two years into his presidency, peaking at 8.8 percent in 2010 and remaining high for many years thereafter.

Multiple American industries, including the manufacturing sector that is so critical to Pennsylvania’s economy, were also hit hard by Obama’s anti-business policies and remained on life support throughout much of his presidency.

This doesn’t have to be our fate though, as Election Day provides Pennsylvania voters a chance to keep our newfound economic growth on track. Voters can further fuel the state’s growth by helping keep the GOP majority in the House and expand the GOP majority in the Senate.

Keith Rothfus, Mike Kelly, and Guy Reschenthaler are all desperately needed in the House of Representatives, as well as Lou Barletta in the Senate.

If Democrats take control of Congress, Pennsylvania’s economic boom will surely be brought to a halt by their tired, misguided policies.

You should vote as if your job depends on it, because it very well may.

David Urban, a native of Beaver County, is a commentator for CNN. He served as a Senior Adviser for the 2016 Trump campaign.


The views and opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the author and do not reflect the official position of The Daily Caller.