Congresswoman Heather Wilson, First Congressional District of New Mexico

Come, my friends,
‘Tis not too late to seek a newer world.
Push off, and sitting well in order smite
The sounding furrows; for my purpose holds
To sail beyond the sunset, and the baths
Of all the western stars, until I die.
It may be that the gulfs will wash us down:
(But). . . that which we are, we are;
One equal temper of heroic hearts,
Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will
To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.

And as we work on problems we face here at home, the dangers we face in the larger world, are not far from our minds.

Creating Jobs

New Mexico is one of the fastest growing states in the nation, but we need more and better jobs.

There are clear signs that the economy is recovering, but as long as there is one person out of work and without hope, we still have work to do.

Heather enters the N.M. House Chamber accompanied by Albuquerque State Representative Larry Larranaga.

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As I listen to New Mexicans, there is a continuing anxiety about the economy – people worried that theirs might be the next company hit by lay-offs, people worried that their 401(k) or IRA will be too small for them to retire.

Yet, there are good signs, too. Our unemployment rate in December was a notch lower than the national rate.

Home sales are up, as is consumer spending overall, driven by low interest rates.

A recent survey of Albuquerque businesses showed that 41% of them were planning on expanding and adding to their workforce -- a slight increase from the year before.

Government cannot create wealth, but we can create the conditions that allow business to create jobs. That means lower taxes, fairer regulation and rules that bring integrity back to the boardroom and confidence to investors.

Taking Care of Those Looking for Work

And we also have to help people through from their last job to their next one.

Marina Sisneros is a 24-year-old Albuquerque woman expecting her 2nd child any day now. Marina was laid off from the post office some 30 weeks ago, and her unemployment benefits expired in late December, just as the federal extension program also expired.

As a result of quick action in Congress, Marina’s now receiving an additional 13 weeks of federal benefits to help her bridge to her next job.

But as welcome as that check is, Marina wants a pay-check, not an unemployment check. That means spurring strong, long-term growth.

Federal Tax Relief

Today in Washington the debate isn’t about whether we cut taxes, but rather how we cut taxes.

We’ve passed two major tax relief bills in the last two years, and I expect we will pass a third this year.

My colleagues, Tom Udall and Steve Pearce, and I have already started listening to New Mexicans on what will help create jobs most. We hosted the first of three Economic Summits in Albuquerque two weeks ago where Representative John Heaton, among others joined us to share his view from a state government perspective.

Tax Relief in New Mexico is Now a Bipartisan Issue

In New Mexico I’m pleased to see the determination to lower taxes so that we can bring jobs to New Mexico has become a bipartisan issue. I commend Governor Richardson for making income tax relief on good paying jobs a priority and I ask all of you to support him.

For some of you, like Ted Hobbs and Stuart Ingle and your colleagues who have been fighting this fight for years, your pride might be a little hurt. The names on those bills are probably not going to be yours.

But there is nothing you can’t accomplish if you are willing to share the credit. We welcome Democrat support of tax policies that will help bring and keep good paying jobs in New Mexico.

And there are more direct things we can do to bring good jobs to New Mexico.

Working Together to Create Jobs

Last year, Sen. Shannon Robinson brought the Southeast Community Alliance (SCA) Business Incubator Project in his district to my attention.

Working together, we were able to bring a $50,000 HUD grant to this project that supports small business growth.

Double Eagle Airport on Albuquerque’s west side needs infrastructure to become an epicenter for job creation. Working together with Mayor Chavez, Senator Domenici and Senator Bingaman, we are bringing federal and local funds to make this possible.

The housing at Kirtland Air Force base is crummy, which is a problem for our men and women in the military and a black mark when we go through the next round of base closure. Working together with the Air Force, we’re now on track to bring a $150 million investment and hundreds of construction jobs to build almost 1000 new homes at Kirtland.

While I opposed it, there will be another round of Base Realignment and Closure in 2005. Working together with community and state leaders, we will keep Kirtland, Cannon, Holloman, and White Sands strong so that jobs stay here, and New Mexico continues to make its unique contribution to the defense of the nation.

Education

If we are going to create and keep good jobs in New Mexico, and give our children wings for their dreams, we must have a great public school system.

At the federal level, we’ve more than doubled the amount of spending on education over the past five years.

But you know as well as I do that the most significant amount of education dollars come from the state budget. And we pay property taxes to build and maintain the schools.

School Bond Vote for APS

Tomorrow the people of Albuquerque will vote on bonds and a mil levy to build schools. On Saturday morning I went walking door-to-door near La Mesa Elementary School. Alan Parks and I were there together at a town hall meeting there nearly a year ago.

Heather, surrounded by La Mesa Elementary students and staff, tells KRQE`s Derek Sciba why she supports the APS Bond and Mill Levy. On the left is Barbara Trujillo, La Mesa`s Principal.

La Mesa needs money to fix the roof and to repair the leaking plumbing in the boy’s bathroom. I am voting “Yes” on the APS bonds, and encouraging other New Mexicans to do the same.

New Mexico is growing, and we must be willing to build the public schools we need and maintain the ones we have.

Federal Education Agenda

But we have much to do at the federal level as well.

We`ve made tremendous progress with the No Child Left Behind Act that took effect one year ago, funneling an additional $57 million into New Mexico and changing the tools available to teachers and parents.

But I think we can do more.

We can support our teachers and give them the professional development they need to do their jobs.

We can improve early childhood education so we can give our kids a solid foundation to build from.

We can strengthen teaching in math, science, reading.

And we need to get art and music back into our public schools.

The education of children is my personal passion. It is the reason I got into public life and will continue to be a focus of my work in the Congress.

Amber Alert

And as we strengthen education, the safety of our children is always a concern as we see and read of unspeakable horrors happening to our kids.

I commend Representative Joe Thompson, Senator Richard Martinez, Senator Pete Campos, and many others here, for your leadership in moving legislation through this body to make the Amber Alert the law of the land in New Mexico.

Two years ago I asked New Mexico Broadcasters to work together with Albuquerque’s law enforcement agencies to launch the Amber Alert in Bernalillo County. As a result of their efforts, New Mexico was one of the models for what is now a national program.

Healthcare

The quality and availability of health care affects whether companies will bring their businesses and jobs to New Mexico. And it affects each of us when a family member or friend becomes ill.

Dr. Glen Delaney is a doctor in Presbyterian’s emergency room in Albuquerque. His mother, Faith Delaney, is a nurse at Presbyterian and has been for more than 20 years.

After years of caring for others, Nurse Delaney recently became a patient herself, diagnosed with a brain tumor.

When her situation became critical, Mrs. Delaney was told she would have to fly to Phoenix, Arizona because there were no neurologists available to help her. There aren’t enough. They’ve left our state. Just as they boarded the airplane for Phoenix, a neurologist became available and she was able to stay in Albuquerque, got the care she needed, and is now, I’m told, doing well. Others aren’t as fortunate.

Mothers facing high-risk pregnancies, or infants in need of intensive care, also have a hard time getting the medical care they so need.

Local high risk pregnancy doctors have to air lift pregnant women and critically ill newborns to Phoenix, or California, or Texas, for treatment because they don’t have enough nurses to help them with critical procedures.

A Healthcare Agenda – Equity for New Mexico

We must put a tourniquet on our hemorrhage of health care professionals.

First and foremost, New Mexico needs to be treated fairly by the federal reimbursement rates.

A doctor in New York gets paid more for every one of more than 7000 procedures than a doctor in New Mexico gets. The federal government’s archaic formula assumes it costs less to deliver medical services here.

I don’t buy that, and I know you don’t either. I am working to change it.

We don’t pay into Medicare based on where we live and we should not be denied access to health care because of where we live.

Ending the Gross Receipts Tax on Health Care

But it is not just federal reimbursement rates that make it hard to keep doctors.

I stood before you two years ago and asked you to repeal the gross receipts tax on health care.

Only two states tax health care – New Mexico and Hawaii. When our docs choose to leave New Mexico, they don’t have to go far. They love this area. They love the people. But, they can earn nearly 30% more by moving to Phoenix, or Denver or Lubbock.

I hope that this year we will find the political will and the creative thinking it will take to solve this problem once and for all. Our doctors, and the patients they serve, are counting on you.

But the challenges facing health care don’t stop there.

Prescription Drugs in Medicare

As we come to rely more and more on miracle medicines, there is a population among us who benefit greatly from small capsules of magic… Lipitor, Prilosec, Synthroid or Glucophage.

Heather recently visited with this senior at an Albuquerque Pharmacy and found out he and his wife cut their pills to cut costs.

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We are living longer, healthier lives because of miracle medicines. But the cost is too high, and nobody should have to choose between buying groceries or buying medicine.

I recently met a man in his 70’s at the Walgreen’s in Albuquerque. He had a hand full of receipts, all for his and his wife’s prescription drugs. Hundreds of dollars a month. He now buys bigger, higher dosage pills, then cuts them into as many pieces as necessary, to save money.

Dr. Komadina, you know more about dispensing medication than I do. I’m sure the idea of a patient guessing at their dosage by breaking pills into tiny pieces gives you some cause for concern. But, I guess it is better than not having medicine at all.

Seniors shouldn’t have to cut pills to cut costs.

I support adding prescription drug coverage to Medicare so that we can reduce the cost of prescription drugs for our seniors. A prescription drug benefit in Medicare must be voluntary, it must be available to every senior, it must offer choices, and must give the most help to those who are low income or very sick with high drug costs.

We passed a bill in the House twice, but the Senate did not act. This year we need to make a prescription drug benefit a reality.

National Security

Our economy, our public schools, and our healthcare system, are top priorities for me personally. And they have taken center stage for the President and the Congress.

But we cannot ignore the dangers from without as we attend to the challenges within.

Secretary of State, Colin Powell, in a Security Council Meeting, will lay out additional evidence that Iraq has failed to comply with U.N. Resolutions. For some, no evidence will be enough.

As for me, I have seen enough.

Iraq has chemical and biological weapons including mustard gas, sarin nerve gas and anthrax.

We believe he may have other deadly diseases, including smallpox, that he is making into weapons. Iraq had an advanced nuclear weapons program before the Gulf War and is seeking to develop nuclear weapons again.

Iraq is developing missiles that can hit neighboring states and is building unmanned aerial vehicles to spread chemical and biological agents. I am concerned that Iraq is exploring ways to use these aerial vehicles for missions targeting the United States.

I continue to hope that, faced with the military might of a united coalition led by the United States, Saddam will choose to end his nuclear, chemical and biological weapons program and disarm. I hope this will not require military action, but it may.

People who have served in uniform are often the most reluctant to go to war - and I am no exception to that general rule. We know the risks; we know the limitations; and we know many of the likely participants.

American Patriots

Our nation is defended by patriots. And New Mexicans are proud to be among them.

Angela Urban has a 5-year-old son and is 34 weeks pregnant. Her husband Steven, a member of Kirtland’s 377th Medical Group, was recently activated and probably won’t be here when his second child is born.

Before her husband left, Angela was told by her doctor that she should remain in bed because of complications. Angela, on her own now, has been unable to work and her 5-year-old son Braden faced a tonsillectomy.

The price of freedom is high and we need to support the families who support our troops.

None of us want our friends or neighbors, our husbands or wives, our sons or daughters to go to war. But we know that they will do their duty if called, just as Steven Urban is.

They are proud of America, and we are very proud of them.

There are great risks in this potential action. But those risks will not diminish over time. And there are also great risks of inaction.

We did not choose this challenge. But, faced with it, we cannot turn away.

Thank all of you for your service to New Mexico and to the people you represent. God bless you and God bless the great State of New Mexico.