Congressman Matheson Supports Cache Democrats
Congressman Jim Matheson questioned the wisdom of President George W. Bush’s $1.6 trillion tax cut proposal in a 20-minute speech to Cache County Democrats Saturday night.
Matheson was the keynote speaker at the Jefferson-Jackson fund-raising dinner for Cache Democrats at the Copper Mill restaurant in Logan. Matheson represents Utah’s 2nd District, but he came to Cache County to thank the people who supported him in his recent campaign for Congress. He said he believes most Americans are tired of partisan bickering in Washington, and he complimented Bush, Cheney and Utah’s congressional delegation for setting a conciliatory tone.
“I want to take my hat off to the rest of the Utah delegation. They’ve been very welcoming to me, although I’m sure they’d just as soon see me go in 2002,” said Matheson – Utah’s only Democrat in Congress.
During his campaign, Matheson said he sought to focus on his own centrist positions, particularly his fiscally conservative beliefs, rather than attack his opponent. Matheson made reference to his own campaign as evidence that voters have had enough of negativity in politics. He said voters were ultimately not influenced by the flood of negative ads run by organizations supporting his opponent, Derek Smith.
In questioning Bush’s tax plan, Matheson reflected his position as a cautious spender. He said the plan relied on projected surpluses over the next 10 years, which may not materialize if the economy slows down. He added that more than 70 percent of surpluses are projected in the second half of that 10-year period.
“I’m a cautious person by nature, and I believe most Utahns are,” Matheson said. “I think it’s important for us to try to take a longer view on this issue. It’s hard to make predictions on the future, but I’ll guarantee one thing – in a few years, the baby boomer generation will start to retire, and pressure will be put on Medicare and Social Security. Do we want to deal with that now or do we want to wait until we have fewer options?”
Matheson also brought up the example of the current president’s father, former President George H.W. Bush.
“In 1990, George Bush broke his ‘Read my lips – no new taxes’ pledge, because he saw that the deficit was running out of control,” Matheson said. “He spent some political capital to do what was probably the right thing. It cost him the election in 1992. My concern is that if we don’t pay down the deficit now, when we have the chance, we’re going to repeat the mistakes of the last 20 years. Democrats have been accused of being big spenders. I reject that. The truth is that both Democrats and Republicans need to take a hard look at what we’re spending money on.”
He added he supported a tax cut, but needed more information before making a decision on the amount. He said not all the facts about the tax cut were on the table. He said not using the $1.6 trillion to pay down the deficit would have a hidden cost – more money would have to be spent just on interest toward the deficit.
“President Bush hasn’t even submitted a budget yet,” Matheson said. “In a business, you usually plan your financial input and output together, but we don’t even know what our output will be.”
At the beginning of his speech, Matheson mentioned his press secretary, Alyson Heyrend, was a Utah State University graduate. He said she wanted to make sure he mentioned her in his speech. After his speech, Matheson said one of the things that surprised him about Washington was the young ages of most congressional staff people. “It’s a young person’s game,” Matheson said. “There are a lot of very bright young people in D.C. At 40, I’m just about the oldest one in my office.”
Matheson also discussed the energy crisis in California.
He said he has paid particular attention to the issue and is on an energy subcommittee.
He said before new power plants can be built – which takes around three years – “We need to take a hard look at conservation measures.” In the long term,
Matheson said we need to build new power plants and look for new energy technologies.