华盛顿对“进步”有着奇特的定义。新项目是一项成就，新法规是一种行动，新的联邦办公室意味着终于有人在做事了。这就是为什么，共和党人本届国会所做的最重要工作之一，就是推翻这种所谓的“进步”。几十年来，华盛顿一次又一次地通过看似合理的决定积累权力。国会将权力下放给一个充满无名官僚的机构，该机构制定了一项规则，而这项规则就变成了另一项需要办理的许可、需要承担的开支，或者是华盛顿某人已经替你做出的决定。
Washington has a peculiar definition of progress. A new program is an accomplishment. A new regulation is action. A new federal office means somebody is finally doing something. That is why some of the most important work Republicans did this Congress involved undoing that so-called “progress.”For decades, Washington accumulated authority one seemingly reasonable decision at a time. Congress delegated power to an agency full of faceless bureaucrats. The agency wrote a rule. The rule became another permit to obtain, expense to absorb, or decision somebody in Washington had already made for you.
政府就是悄悄地这样增长的，自由也同样悄悄地消失了。第119届国会的共和党众议员来到华盛顿，怀着这样的理念：政府能做的最重要的事情，就是将自由还给美国人民。是的，本届国会我们通过了900多项立法，是美国历史上第二多，但这远不及投票之后所发生的变化重要。众议院共和党人通过《国会审查法》推翻了23项联邦规则，这是历史上最多的一次，成功废除的数量超过了以往所有国会的总和。
Government grows quietly that way. Freedom disappears just as quietly. House Republicans of the 119th Congress came to Washington with the idea that the most consequential thing government can do is return freedom to the American people. Yes, we passed over 900 pieces of legislation this Congress, the second most in U.S. history, but that matters much less than what changed once the votes were cast. House Republicans have overturned 23 federal rules through the Congressional Review Act, the most in history and more successful repeals than every previous Congress combined.
在一个会期内，我们将一项鲜有使用的监督法，变成了华盛顿最强大的工具之一，用于永久地将联邦监管机构的权力归还给被其监管的民众。华盛顿习惯于单向旋转的棘轮：政府扩张，官僚体系调整，每个人都学会与新的基线共存。我们让棘轮向后转动。民主党人本会让2017年的减税政策到期，从美国人钱包里拿走更多钱。
In one session, we have turned a little-used oversight law into one of Washington’s most powerful tools for permanently returning authority from federal regulators to the people they regulate. Washington is accustomed to ratchets that turn in one direction. Government expands, the bureaucracy adjusts, and everyone learns to live with the new baseline. We turned the ratchet backward. Democrats would have let the 2017 tax cuts expire and taken more money out of Americans’ pockets.
而我们让这些减税政策永久化，对小费和加班费减税，为老年人提供新的减税，并恢复在美国投资和建设的激励措施。美国人已经领取了超过820亿美元的个人减税。
We made them permanent, cut taxes on tips and overtime, delivered new relief for seniors, and restored incentives to invest and build in America. Americans have already claimed more than $82 billion in individual tax relief.
十年来，我们制定的税收变化预计将把4.6万亿美元返还给家庭和企业，而制定的法律将预计的联邦支出削减了大约1.1万亿美元，这意味着华盛顿将拿走美国人更少的钱。当人们知道更多的回报仍将属于自己时，他们会敢于冒更大的风险。机遇正是如此不断积累，国家也得以成长。但机遇只有在自由受秩序保护、规则仍有意义的地方才能繁荣。
Over the decade, the tax changes we enacted are projected to give $4.6 trillion back to families and businesses, and the laws enacted cut projected federal spending by roughly $1.1 trillion, meaning Washington will take less of Americans’ money. People take bigger chances when they know more of the reward will still belong to them. That is how opportunity compounds and how countries grow. But opportunity can only flourish where freedom is protected by order and the rules still mean something.
有限政府并非弱政府。它做的事情更少，但把最基本的事情做好。它必须保卫国家、执行法律、保护基本权利，并制定让自由社会运转的规则。保障国家边境安全是政府最基本的职责之一。民主党选择拆毁我们的边境，将无法无天变成政策。共和党扭转了局面，16个月来没有允许任何一名非法移民被释放进入美国。本届国会在整个经济领域将有限政府的理念付诸实践。
A limited government is not a weak government. It does a smaller number of things, and it does the essential ones well. It must defend the country, enforce the law, protect basic rights, and establish rules that allow a free society to function. Securing a nation's borders is among the most basic responsibilities that government has. Democrats chose to dismantle our border and turn lawlessness into policy. Republicans flipped the script and have not allowed a single illegal immigrant to be released into the country in 16 months. This Congress put the philosophy of limited government into practice across the economy.
我们为小企业提供税收确定性，以便其招聘和投资。我们清除了监管障碍，让制造商能够扩张，释放更多美国能源，并使建设更加容易。这些政策都不规定美国人该如何安排自己的生活。它们扩大了美国人可以为自己做的事情。另一种选择是政府凭许可证进行治理。华盛顿决定哪些行业值得发展，哪些产品人们可以购买，哪些能源来源是可以接受的，以及工人的成功有多少属于他人。
We gave small businesses tax certainty to hire and invest. We cleared regulatory barriers so manufacturers can expand, unleashed more American energy, and made it easier to build. None of these policies determines what Americans must do with their lives. They expand what Americans are free to do for themselves. The alternative is government by permission slip. Washington chooses which industries deserve to grow, which products people may buy, which energy sources are acceptable, and how much of a worker’s success belongs to somebody else.
政府从人民那里获得的权力，与美国人应当保留的自由之间，需要有一条界限。这就是第119届国会过去两年一直在打下的基础。基础并不光鲜。
There needs to be a line between the power government is granted by the people, and the freedom Americans deserve to keep. That is the foundation the 119th Congress has spent two years laying. A foundation is not glamorous.
没有人会走进一栋完工的房子，欣赏其下的混凝土，但地基之上的一切都取决于地基是否坚固。税收确定性。监管松绑。边境安全。美国能源。降低犯罪。更多工作、建设和投资的空间。这些并非完工的房子，而是让接下来的一切成为可能的基础。我之所以称第119届国会为最成功的一届，并非因为它产生了多少文件，而是因为我们改变了国家的方向。
Nobody walks through a finished house admiring the concrete underneath it, but everything built above depends on whether the foundation is strong. Tax certainty. Regulatory relief. A secure border. American energy. Lower crime. More room to work, build and invest. These are not the finished house. They are what makes everything that comes next possible. I don’t call the 119th Congress the most successful because of the paper it produced. I say it because we changed the direction of the country.
华盛顿有足够多的纪念碑，纪念政府能建造什么。我们在这一届国会期间，致力于为美国人能建造什么创造空间。政府不知道你的生活应该是什么样子。我也不知道，而这恰恰就是重点——你才知道。丽莎·麦克莱恩是众议院共和党会议主席。
Washington has enough monuments to what government can build. We spent this Congress creating room for what Americans can build instead. The government does not know what your life should look like. Neither do I, and that’s precisely the point — you do. Lisa McClain is chairwoman of the House Republican Conference.