Baucus hears range of political thought at forum

Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., wrapped up his Columbia Falls small business roundtable Friday with a humorous observation that applied well to the more than two-hour session.

“All of American political thought can be summarized in two sentences,” he said. “‘Get the government off my back,’ and ‘There ought to be a law about that.’”

The crowd of more than 50 people gathered at Glacier Discovery Square leaned a little more to the “get the government off my back” side but also included a fair share of people seeking help for a variety of business and personal issues.

Edwina Bergen of the North Fork fired the first shot across the senator’s bow by parading out front with a sign that said “No spend and tax.”

Bergen said she had tired of sending e-mails that the senator most likely never read.

“I thought I’d come down and express myself simply,” she said. “We don’t need the role of government increased.”

Inside, the meeting started with Barry Conger of First Best Place introducing Baucus by saying hard work and the senator “go hand and hand.” Baucus was recently honored as a hard-working senator, second only to Sen. Charles Grassley, a Republican from Iowa.

Conger asked the audience to engage in a civil dialogue, which was honored by most. A few exchanges bordered on contentious but most people remained respectful.

Baucus made brief opening remarks, asking people to throw their toughest questions at him and to make the most of the session. He said he was spending August in Montana talking to people and figuring out where to go from here.

“Unemployment — It’s been devastating here in the Flathead,” he said. “It’s tough here and I know that.”

According to Baucus, job losses in the timber industry have reached 20 percent and industry revenues declined 30 percent. He said people need to work together to boost the state’s economy.

He said the federal government has done some things that have helped, including the $8,000 first-time homeowner’s tax credit, a revolving loan fund for business and the stimulus bill that pumped $82 million into the Flathead and a billion into Montana in tax cuts and dollars for education and construction.

Baucus said the Small Business Jobs Act of 2010 expected to pass in the Senate provides a tax break that allows small businesses to expense $500,000 of equipment purchases and larger businesses to expense 50 percent of capital expenditures in the first year. The bill also provides improved SBA loan guarantees.

The senator pointed to a lack of confidence at all levels and insufficient predictability as road blocks to recovery. He said there is no silver-bullet solution.

“Uncertainty as to what is coming next tends to high-center us,” he said.

Baucus said the best way to get around those problems is “not do anything stupid” and “just work with people and listen to people.” He said the country has become way too polarized with people refusing to hear people not aligned with their political viewpoint.

He heard from a steady stream of people of all political persuasions who came to the microphone and a few who piped up from the audience. The first at the microphone was Chris Holding, a gallery/ antique store owner, who criticized stimulus jobs as short-term and said a better approach was helping developing markets for Montana products for permanent jobs.

Baucus encouraged him and others to consider attending an economic development summit he is hosting on Sept. 13 and 14 in Butte. The event, one of several so far, networks Montana businesses with out-of-state companies to open new markets and find investment dollars.

The senator mentioned an effort to develop a new industrial park at the now closed Columbia Falls aluminum plant. He said changes are needed in the tax code to provide incentives for manufacturing in America.

“Other countries are taking advantage of us,” Baucus said. “ A big one is China.”

Several other speakers told the senator about roadblocks from the National Environmental Protection Act in expanding opportunities for hikers, bikers, cross-country skiing and other eco-friendly tourism on national forest land and around Hungry Horse Reservoir. The act requires a needs assessment by the Forest Service which has no money to perform one.

Stimulus money can only go to “shovel-ready” projects, not planning efforts.

“I guarantee we’ll be on this big time,” Baucus said. “Most people in public service try to do a good job but arteries harden a little in some of these agencies and it’s taking way too long to get things done.”

A woman speaker complained about new “onerous” requirements on businesses for filing 1099 forms for expenditures of $600 or more in labor or goods. Baucus said he was aware of the change that was part of the health-care bill and suggested increasing the amount to $5,000 and excluding businesses with 25 or fewer employees.

More than a few people expressed grave concern about the growing federal deficit and Baucus said he shared their concern. He said one source of revenue to address the deficit is to collect $500 billion in taxes owed the government.

“My view is we should start collecting those taxes — that’s a big number,” he said. “A lot of that’s overseas.”

The next person mentioned an article in the Billings Gazette about plans to increase taxes on oil and gas resources. She asked how we could encourage more drilling and exploration for natural resources with high taxes and pointed to the booming exploration in the Dakotas.

Baucus agreed that the state taxes were low in the Dakotas, saying that was an issue for state representatives. He said one way of raising more revenue that he supported was raising the excise tax on large companies drilling in the gulf.

According to Baucus, the tax now is 8 cents on a barrel. He said raising the tax to 40 cents a barrel (40 gallons) would make a big difference in revenue.

“We’ve got to make choices here,” he said. “There are no free lunches.”

Dave Renfrow, chairman of First Best Place and owner of a construction company, told Baucus that Columbia Falls needs to add value to wood products if it wants to prosper. He suggested harvesting low value trees to make various products like insulation.

“At one time, Columbia Falls was the largest exporter in the U.S.,” he said. “We know added value to wood products is our future — more jobs from one tree.”

He cited a German company with expertise in this field might be interested in developing that industry at the industrial park but it needs infrastructure such as sewer, water and paved streets. Baucus said he would help in any way he could.

“I would like to get on the phone and talk to the CEO and say, ‘We want you here,’” he said.

Before the meeting wrapped up, the senator said he wanted to clarify some misunderstandings about the health-reform bill, specifically that businesses with 50 or fewer employees don’t have to purchase health insurance. He said that 97 percent of those with more than 50 already provide health insurance.

He added that the legislation provides tax credits to help the businesses who must provide it now because of the new law as well as others who just want to provide it.

Baucus said some news outlets, specifically FOX News, reported the reform bill cost at a trillion dollars. He said the Congressional Budget Office analysis finds it “cost neutral” because of cuts in reimbursements to hospitals and pharmaceutical companies and cuts to the Medicare Advantage program.

A woman in the front row challenged Baucus as he referenced reforms to the health insurance industry, saying a family member’s policy had increased 40 percent due to the reform act. Baucus said that premiums would go up more slowly because of the bill, but the woman said 40 percent was not slower.

“It takes time to get things done right,” he said, adding that he would like implementation of changes to go faster.

Mac Bledsoe of Parenting with Dignity complained that he had to lay off  five employees after assisting over 5 million families in all 50 states and 72 prisons. He said he had to lay off employees because of insufficient revenue and asked why Baucus, as chairman of the finance committee, wasn’t held to the same standard.

“I’ve never seen you vote for one bill that reduced spending,” Bledsoe said.

Baucus said he never approved the full budget requested by the president and that he could provide him with a list of legislation that reduced costs. He added that one area that needed consideration was cutting defense spending.

“We as Americans spend more than all other countries combined,” he said. “Do we want to keep doing that? What do we do about that?”

The senator asked for a show of hands from people who wanted to solve the deficit through cuts alone and those who favored increasing revenue (taxes) as well as cuts. Baucus discussed choices ahead on whether to allow all the Bush tax cuts to expire or just those on the highest income groups.

He told the gathering that he was serving on the deficit reduction committee which will make a report in December.

“Believe me, I take it as seriously as you do,” Baucus said.

He urged people to educate themselves on the issues by listening to both liberal and conservative perspectives.

Reporter Candace Chase may be reached at 758-4436 or by e-mail at cchase@dailyinterlake.com