Daines cites 'fluid situation' in D.C.

Montana’s new congressman, Steve Daines, says there are upsides to the looming sequestration spending cuts and he predicts that gun control legislation will not pass Congress.

Not quite two months after being sworn into office, the Republican freshman from Bozeman said “it’s a fluid situation” for Congress regarding the automatic across-the-board cuts that will take affect March 1 if some action is not taken.

“It’s coming to a rapid conclusion given that the House is not in session this week,” Daines said Wednesday during a visit with the Inter Lake editorial board.

That leaves just a few days for Congress to come up with an alternative to automatic cuts that are intended to trim $85 billion from this year’s spending.

Daines said he would prefer priority budgeting and targeted cuts just as he did while working in the private sector for 28 years.

But he adds that the upside of across-the-board cuts is that it takes the decision-making out of the hands of lawmakers who would otherwise use seniority or any other leverage they have to protect their preferred spending programs and constituencies.

And he asserts that “Washington isn’t making choices right now.”

Daines takes to task the “sky is falling” rhetoric coming from politicians about sequester cuts, particularly recent remarks from President Barack Obama about impacts to the capabilities of first responders.

“Emergency responders like the ones here today — their ability to help communities respond and recover from disasters will be degraded,” the president stated.

“That is a disingenuous statement,” said Daines, who contends that the president and federal agencies have the discretion and responsibility to ensure that the government’s emergency response capabilities are the last to be impacted by sequestration.

Daines said the government needs to “pivot” toward many practices that are used in the private sector to effectively deal with fiscal challenges.

While sequestration demands cuts of about 8 percent, half in domestic discretionary spending and half in military spending, Daines noted that in the private sector, annual spending cuts ranging from 5 to 15 percent are common at certain times.

As applied to the federal government’s total spending of $3.6 trillion this year, sequestration cuts amount to just 2 percent.

Daines recalled being sworn in just a couple days after Congress approved tax increases on the wealthy that are expected to bring in about $62 billion in additional revenue.

But only days later, Congress approved $60 billion in spending for Hurricane Sandy relief, legislation that Daines voted against mainly because he believes it contained unnecessary “pork” spending.

Having record-high revenue is not the problem for Washington when there is record-high spending, Daines said. “Spending is where the gap is.”

He acknowledged that payroll tax increases were implemented at the beginning of the year to the detriment of many low-income Americans.

But Daines said payroll taxes actually were restored to previous levels. The taxes were reduced as a short-term economic relief measure and restoring them “just needed to be done” because they support the country’s Social Security and Medicare programs that are in financial jeopardy, he said.

Daines touted legislation that was recently signed into law that would suspend pay for lawmakers if Congress does not pass a budget by mid-April. While the Republican-controlled House has passed a budget, it has not been acted on by the Democratic majority in the Senate, which has not passed a budget for the last four years.

“People ought to be very, very upset about this across America,” he said of the Senate’s inaction.

He said it has been highly frustrating for Republicans who find that they are “debating against speeches” rather than debating the merits of a tangible Senate budget proposal.

Asked if he thinks any of a slew of gun control proposals will pass Congress, Daines had a blunt response.

“I don’t think so,” he said. “There’s enough Democrats who are up for re-election in 2014 who will stop it or slow it up in the Senate and it won’t get through the House.”

Reporter Jim Mann may be reached at 758-4407 or by email at jmann@dailyinterlake.com.