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On March 27, 2020, the House of Representatives passed the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act via a voice vote. The bill amounted to trillions of dollars in aid for hospitals, businesses, and individuals affected by the coronavirus. An overwhelming majority of membersleft, right, and centersupported the initiative, but it was not unanimous. Rep. Justin Amash (L-MI), a Republican turned Libertarian who opposed the bill, took to Twitter to blast his former GOP colleagues for hypocrisy. Just ten years after the Tea Party movement, he wrote, Republicans in Congress are defending a $500 billion corporate welfare fund for a select group of large companies.1

Thisviewthat Republicans had betrayed their principles by supporting a large,deficit-financed relief packageis hardly the majority opinion on the right,but it is nevertheless worth asking if it is true. Just as there are noatheists in foxholes, are there no economicconservatives in a national crisis?

The answer inevitably depends on how one defines the phrase economic conservatism. As Amash understands it, it implies a commitment to minimal government involvement in the economy, regardless of the circumstances. Amashs view, while no doubt honestly held and certainly worth consideration, has never been the dominant understanding of economic conservatism in the Republican Party. And while conservativism can mean virtually anything to anybody at any point in time, there is a voluminous historical record of speeches, party platforms, and laws that clearly establishes the parameters of Republican orthodoxy on economic conservatism.

Republican economics, as we might understand it, has had a strong and consistent orientation toward business. It sees the success of American business as the key to national unity, domestic prosperity, and international security. In that view, supporting business is an essential government function. The party has never really advocated for a minimalist government but rather a government that supports private industry.

The intellectual origins of this approach stretch back to the period before the Republican Party existed, in the political philosophies of leaders such as Whig Henry Clay and Federalist Alexander Hamilton. After the collapse of the Whig Party following the Compromise of 1850, ex-Whigs in the North combined their economic policies with a free-soil approach that restricted slavery in the territories to form the Republican Party. The triumph of the Union made the free-soil position obsolete, but the party continued its commitment to Whig economics.

While the specifics of Republican policies have often changed since the Civil War, the partys core commitment to supporting business has remained consistent. Indeed, the evolution of many policy positionsfor instance, on the debate over free trade versus protectionismhas closely tracked American business changing needs. While there is no doubt a lot to criticize about the connection between the party and business interests, Republican support of the CARES Act was consistent with its historical beliefs.

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'Reasonable encouragement to our home industry': The Republican Party's response to the coronavirus - American Enterprise Institute