Opportunities for Reform in 2018: The Domestic Agenda

The second session of the 115th Congress is underway, and congressional leaders have to address a number of wide‐​ranging and contentious issues before the midterm campaign and election season begins. Among those, the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program expires early in March, and whatever happens in the short term will still leave reform opportunities for policies that satisfy both the security and labor needs of the country and that ensure the just and equitable treatment of noncitizen residents. Also, by the end of September, America’s agricultural agenda will need to be codified as components of the “farm bill” are again up for reauthorization. An opportunity here involves the United States Department of Agriculture’s sugar program, which contributes to problematic effects for American consumers as well as having knotty international trade implications. Furthermore, from the White House come promises both to tackle “welfare reform”—the contours of which have not been outlined by the president or GOP agenda setters—and to pass a new infrastructure program, thus fulfilling a significant campaign promise. Divisions exist on each of these topics between the parties, within the parties, and between Congress and the Executive branch. Join us as our panel of experts explores these issues and outlines common‐​sense solutions to how these problems can be adjudicated while preserving principles of liberty, fiscal responsibility, and the economic well‐​being of the nation.