20110118 Rep Chaffetz TeleTownHall

This was a telephone conference call that I participated in. I listened and missed a bit of the last portion. It was good to get an update on what Representative Chaffetz is working on in DC.

Question: What can we do?
ANSWER: You need to get involved in any form of the communication.
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I was in the minority back then and in 24 months the world changed because you all started being part of the solution not the problem. You chose to participate. You put in your voting card. It means a lot!
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Very important
Question: Dick of Saratoga Springs: Guys I want a job and want to work. What can they do?
ANSWER: The impediments in the face of businesses and entrepreneurs is stunning. Our federal government is in the way. EPA, Dept of Interior and other rules and regulations. There is a role, but a limited role. So much here should not be done and should be done at the state level or not at all. I want to pull as few dollars out of your pockets.
I will vote to repeal Obamacare tomorrow. One of the requirements is the 1099 requirement. It is ridiculous and untenable. This won’t help grow and expand our economy. This won’t move us forward.
It is people that grow jobs, it is people and businesses. The government has barriers and uncertainty now. The businesses are uncertain and that has just gotten worse, so businesses don’t want to hire.
Taxing, borrowing and spending too much in DC. I want to cut things and stop spending.

Question: George King of Orem: Read in DesNews that Cheney is convinced of one term president. What do you think?
ANSWER: I am an optimist and will have to agree with that. I disagree with the president on a number of issues. My job is not to be a lap dog, I am supposed to be a watch dog. I agree occasionally with him but I also speak up against him when he is wrong.

Question: Merrill of Provo: We are concerned about spending but what else can we do about the spending here?
ANSWER: People have to be as educated as they can and get involved. It is amazing how few people “raise their hands.” Those few who do make a difference. You are represented by a lot of people at different levels and you need to talk to them. You need to be educated and not just get your ideas from Jay Leno but get informed and involved.

Question: Jackie of ?: I like what you do but are your going to raise the debt limit?
ANSWER: Let’s talk about the debt ceiling. My gut says no we can’t do that and without taking a hold of this crisis we won’t change. I won’t vote for the lift of the limit unless we prove we can start the stopping of growth. Our treasury collects about 2.2 Trillion. We have mandatory spending for a lot of programs which is now at 2.0 Trillion. We have a budget of 3.5 Trillion and we are now growing upside down by 1Trillion/year and have 14 Trillion now accumulated in debt. We have to pay our obligations.

Question: Paul of Spanish Fork: Vote down retirement and health care. And reduce government by 25%.
ANSWER: Amen. Here are some numbers. I have a budget to run Provo, West Jordan and other offices here. We have 1.5 million. There are 535 members of House and Senate. I have returned over $600,000 to the Treasury. We came in over 20% under budget. I believe that we will have to make dramatic cuts. Our federal payroll is 447,000,000,000.00 annually. A good Chief Executive would say we are spending 447B and should only spend maybe 400B. They should find a place to cut. That is what you would do as a business. The government has over 2Million employees. Boehner reduced committee budgets by 5%.
Some things are hard to cut, Immigration, Defense and Criminal. In 4 years of Pelosi we went from 8.7T-> 14T in debt. Deficit grew from 161B->1.3T/year. The spending was out of control. We still have unemployment and didn’t grow the economy.

Question: Maurice of Pleasant Grove: What can be done to reign in things like Net Neutrality and other ways the president is using Agencies to avoid Congress?
ANSWER: This last weekend we met as Republicans in Baltimore. One person spoke there, George Will. He spoke about the Federal Registry vs Congresses Register. It is supposed to be difficult to get through the process lest one person tyrannically takes charge. You are right that they have been using their rule making authority.
On December 23 at 3pm the Interior Department came out with Wild Lands decision. The EPA did the same thing. They pushed through rules of Cap and Trade and it was terribly disturbing.

Question: Ken of Springville: Are you willing to sponsor to abolish or defund the agencies that are killing the country (EPA and TSA, BATF, DEA, Dept of Ed)? The Republicans say that they are going to trim. Easily cut departments and not missed by anyone.
ANSWER: I would first repeal NCLB. There should not be a Dept of Education. There are thousands. We hired 100s who are making over 6 digits. Department of Transportation. For interstate commerce early on we needed it. We don’t need someone building a new network and each state should join with their neighbors. This is a huge waste.
I tried to cut a subsidy of 15 million for Ireland. And 1 million/year for Mohair. We weren’t able to cut it then. I will try again. I would go after Education and Transportation.

[I missed a bit here]

Thanks for all that you do. Just taking part and getting educated is a lot.