Republicans consider last-ditch affordability effort ahead of midterms
House Republicans are gathering in Doral, Florida this week to strategize ahead of a sprint to the midterms. As affordability remains a top concern for Americans, Republicans are mulling a second budget reconciliation, a second big, beautiful bill, that looks to deliver on affordability and other priorities of President Donald Trump.
“One of the things that we’re certainly going to be talking about is reconciliation 2.0,” Rep. Riley Moore, R-W.Va., a member of the House Appropriations Committee, told the Daily Signal.
Other Republicans have signaled their desire for a second reconciliation package, too. The Republican Study Committee, the biggest caucus in the House GOP conference, has outlined some major reconciliation 2.0 priorities.
Republican Study Committee Chairman August Pfluger, R-Texas, told Fox News that “it’s up to congress to continue to codify the work that [Trump] is doing.”
“Our reconciliation plan, the Republican Study Committee, 190 members, is proposing that we take a look at the issue of affordability, housing, health care, energy,” Pfluger said.
Moore told the Daily Signal that his top priority for reconciliation 2.0 would be “trying to make things more affordable [and] getting people working.”
One of Moore’s proposals to deliver on affordability and opportunity is a program Moore started as Treasurer of West Virginia.
The Jumpstart Savings Plan is a tax-advantage saving account that “creates a savings account similar to a 529,” Moore said, “for when people get out of trade school or vocational school or union apprenticeships, and it allows them to save money in perpetuity for tools, equipment, licenses, certifications and new business startup costs.”
Moore has already introduced the Jumpstart Savings Act in Congress to take the West Virginia plan national.
The Jumpstart Savings Act would not be for education but “for after you get out of these training and educational programs, like an apprenticeship program or vocational school [or] trade school,” Moore continued.
Like a 529 account, this would be a savings account protected from capital gains tax. “These are unrealized capital gains so it’s not like we’re losing money,” Moore added.
Other states have already shown interest in importing the West Virginia model.
Ohio “really wants to move” on their own Jumpstart program, Moore said. Pennsylvania and Kentucky have also reached out to the congressman showing interest in this program.
Moore’s legislation has been backed by Heritage Action, the Associated Builders and Contractors, and the Teamsters union.
[Editor’s note: This story originally was published by The Daily Signal.]