Remember back a couple of months ago, when mainstream media types were saying the new Republican Congress wouldn’t get anything done, and really wasn’t all that important?  

Well, turns out, just after a few months, the GOP Congress is important, and is getting things done. 

One of the things the House Republicans are doing to rescue the economy is to put together the Lower Energy Costs Act, H.R. 1, which is scheduled for a Thursday vote.  

This by itself is a very big deal. It will lower inflation, and increase growth.  

It’s going to turn the fossil fuel spigots back on with permitting reform, opening the door for critical minerals, a return to the one federal decision approach of the Trump years, reopening the door to the Keystone XL pipeline, streamlining the Clean Water Act, producing fertilizer to get food prices back down, promoting LNG exports, and any number of related things. 

As I’ve said many times before, we find petroleum products, which have become very costly under President Biden’s war against fossil fuels, permeate virtually every nook and cranny of the economy. 

And, by the way, permitting reform in H.R. 1 will help renewables, allowing the production of minerals for electric vehicle batteries without having to rely on China, as the Interior Secretary, Deb Haaland, acknowledged today that America depends on China.  

Can’t have that. This bill would stop it. 

Mr. Biden’s already threatened to veto it. That’s how important the bill is. That tells you what a positive impact it would have on the economy. A Biden veto is a leading indicator of decline. 

The Republican Congress is doing a lot of other things as well. Oversight committees on censorship, parents and education, Hunter Biden’s laptop, the weaponization of Joe Biden’s federal law enforcement. All these excesses are being investigated. 

The Ways & Means Committee is looking at tax cuts, the new Budget Committee is drawing up a pro-growth balanced budget plan. In other words, a GOP beehive of activity. 

Of course, Mr. Biden is still in denial about Republican conservative principles coming out of the House. 

So, just today, Speaker McCarthy is turning the heat up on Mr. Biden to have a second meeting to discuss a new debt ceiling with additional budget savings. Just as in the past, the two are inextricably connected. 

Mr. McCarthy emphasized that the best way to reduce the national debt is to limit spending, save taxpayer money, and grow the economy. He has offered to sit down and discuss a variety of means to do so, but, so far, Mr. Biden won’t cooperate. 

I want to personally highlight Mr. McCarthy’s suggestion of the importance of strengthening work requirements, as was enacted under President Clinton, and which Mr. Biden, then a senator, voted for. 

Workfare is such an important principle, essential to the American ideal of the dignity of work to climb the ladder of opportunity. 

We’ve seen a lot of polls recently showing tremendous voter pessimism — on the economy and on traditional American values like patriotism, religion, childbearing, and culture.  

But the root of all these social issues seems to be closely linked to a declining economy besotted with high inflation. 

Energy independence is a tremendous first step out of this malaise. 

A strong budget deal coupled with debt ceiling adjustment would calm financial markets and promote economic growth. 

Why is Joe Biden resisting?

From Mr. Kudlow’s broadcast on Fox Business News.