When
the President gave his State of the Union address this week he certainly
didn’t say everything I’d hoped to hear. However, I do think that he
struck the proper tone and I got the clear impression that he’s starting to
hear what I’ve been hearing all along from people out in rural Minnesota –
“cut spending, focus on the economy and jobs, and work together to get things
done”. That’s exactly what we need to be doing to get our country back
on track and if he’s serious about that then I think Congress will do its part
too.
Spending
is out of control and we absolutely have to get that stopped. By itself
the President’s proposal to freeze discretionary spending for three years
isn’t going to solve our larger problems but it’s a step in the right
direction and I think that if we can keep other committees from diverting our
mandatory money most agriculture programs will still be OK. Maybe we
should consider freezing spending for more than three years, but for now we
should all support a three-year spending freeze and help get it done.
The
President called for a Debt Commission and I agree with that, but more to the
point we need one that can actually work. The sad fact is that Congress
won’t deal with this debt reduction issue no matter which party is in charge
– all you have to do is look at the record to see the proof of that. I
supported Senator Conrad’s idea of a legislatively created Debt Commission and
although Senate Republicans and Senate Democrats voted that down I’m still
hopeful that we can get this done using the Executive Order approach that
President committed himself to. It can work, but it absolutely must be
done right.
The
President mentioned a few ideas he has for increased spending on some specific
programs that at other times and in other economic circumstances most of us
might consider very worthwhile – but when we’re already in debt beyond
anything we’ve ever seen before I don’t think this is the time for any
“new” spending proposals.
I’m
still not so sure that the President has gotten the people’s message on health
care. If he’s been listening – and I hope he has been – he knows
that people are skeptical to say the least. No matter who’s talking –
the government, the media, lobbyists, Republicans or Democrats -- you can’t
tell people “this is not going to affect you, it’s not going to add to the
deficit, and we’re going to cover 30 million more people” and expect them to
believe you. You can’t get something for nothing. People know
there’s no free lunch. Cost shifting is a reality in health care,
especially here in
But
with all that said most of the Republicans and Democrats I talk to about health
care really do want to get something done. I’ve told the President that
he should back off a bit and focus on specific problems, like getting costs
under control, fixing geographic disparities, covering pre-existing conditions
for kids and letting them stay longer on their parents’ insurance policies.
Incremental progress in the right direction is something we can accomplish so we
should figure out what most of us agree on and get that done. I think that
if the President is willing to scale back his agenda and lead in a bipartisan
manner Congress can pass meaningful legislation to make positive changes to the
system that most people will support.
The
President needs to keep working to convince Minnesotans and Americans in general
that he understands what they’re most concerned about. If he can do that
then perhaps we can all set aside our ideologies and our political agendas and
get back to working together to accomplish what the citizens of this country
need.
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