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The agenda, called the "Commitment to America," claims to show
voters how Republicans would address problems they blame on
President Joe Biden and the Democrats, should they succeed in
winning the House majority.
Elements of the plan, which lawmakers spent months crafting,
began to appear online on Thursday.
Much of the agenda entailed policy objectives such as curbing
wasteful spending, supporting U.S. troops, putting parents in
charge of their children's education, protecting the unborn, and
preserving women's sports for those whose gender assigned at
birth was female.
On the issue of crime, the agenda aims to put 200,000 more
police on the streets by providing federal funding for
recruitment and retention bonuses.
The agenda also pledged a host of investigations on issues
including fentanyl addiction, COVID-19's origins, Big Tech
"censorship," the U.S. Afghanistan withdrawal, "politicization"
of the Justice Department and the border crisis.
But the plan offered few specifics and little detail about how
Republicans would expect to achieve their goals while the White
House - and possibly the Senate - remain in Democratic hands.
Control of the Senate is up for grabs in November. But
Republicans are favored by nonpartisan election analysts to
erase Democrats' 221-212 House majority. Doing so would give
them the power to block Biden's legislative agenda and to launch
potentially politically damaging investigations into his
administration.
Democrats' fortunes have improved in recent weeks. A national
Reuters/Ipsos poll concluded on Sept. 12 found that 37% of
Americans would prefer to vote for a Democratic congressional
candidate, with 34% preferring Republicans and 15% still
undecided.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, the chamber's top
Democrat, poured scorn on the emerging agenda on Thursday,
warning that Republicans wanted only to ban abortion nationwide,
cut Medicare and Social Security, and raise taxes on working
Americans.
(Reporting by David Morgan; editing by Jonathan Oatis)
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