Wilson: Cut Taxes, Reduce Regulation To Spur Growth

WASHINGTON — Republican U.S. Senate candidate Heather Wilson suggests a multipronged strategy for reining in America’s skyrocketing federal debt: lower taxes, reduce business regulations and increase bipartisan cooperation in Congress.

The former Republican congresswoman from Albuquerque said she’s skeptical of proposals to turn Medicare into a voucher program — a proposal championed by House Budget Committee chairman and GOP vice presidential nominee Paul Ryan to help slash the nation’s roughly $16 trillion debt.

Wilson also said she could neither endorse nor flatly reject proposals to increase the eligibility age or implement financial means testing for Social Security or Medicare recipients to reduce federal spending. She said any such proposals would need to be considered in the context of other structural changes to those programs.

Meanwhile, Wilson said the U.S. tax code is too complex and federal regulations are choking businesses that could be creating jobs.

Solving the nation’s debt problem will take congressional compromise, she said.

Outlook requires bipartisan action

Bipartisan debt-reduction proposals offered by former Sen. Pete Domenici, a New Mexico Republican, and Alice Rivlin, longtime congressional and presidential staff budget expert, offer a possible blueprint for congressional negotiations, Wilson said.

“We need to get substantive reforms in place to control runaway spending and debt, because right now that is the biggest threat we have to our economy,” Wilson told the Journal.

Wilson said Congress should first extend the current tax code — including tax cuts enacted under President George W. Bush — for one year and use the time to craft comprehensive reforms. She said cutting taxes and streamlining the code would reduce the debt by encouraging higher levels of compliance.

“The whole point here is economic growth, so you want tax policies and regulatory policies which spur economic growth, and when you have economic growth, you bring in tax revenues,” Wilson said. “The tax code is now so complex that it is now itself an impediment to economic growth.”

Wilson, an Air Force Academy graduate and Rhodes scholar who served on the Armed Services Committee in the U.S. House, said looming sequestration rules would devastate the Pentagon. Sequestration provides for $1.2 trillion in across-the-board reductions to domestic budgets and defense spending if Congress can’t compromise on a debt reduction plan by Jan. 2.

“We’ve got numerous leaders from the military — including the secretary of defense himself — who say the sequester would be devastating to our national security,” Wilson said. “I’m very concerned about that. We may see the sequester leading to reductions in defense compromising our security and leading to job cuts here in New Mexico.”

Health care and Ryan budget

While many experts contend Medicare spending is the single-greatest long-term threat to the federal budget, Wilson said Medicaid poses a similar problem. She proposes that Medicaid be restructured to place more emphasis on preventive care.

“Medicaid generally starts with episodes of serious illness among those in poverty, and it doesn’t do very well at managing chronic disease, so you have escalating costs,” Wilson said. “You also have long-term care expense exploding in Medicaid.

Wilson did not take a definitive position on the budget proposal put forth by Ryan before he joined the GOP presidential ticket.

“I was concerned about some of (Ryan’s) approaches to Medicare,” Wilson said. “I’m always very careful and cautious about programs that are vital to New Mexico. Medicare is a very successful program, and I have some concerns about turning it into a voucher program. I think we can orient it toward improving health status and managing chronic disease, and that will help control costs.”

Wilson rejected Democratic claims that she supports privatizing Social Security.

In 1998 — when the federal government was sitting on a budget surplus — Wilson told the Journal she would consider allowing Americans to invest a portion of their Social Security earnings into “personalized pension funds.”

“I have never supported privatization,” Wilson said in the recent interview on her Senate candidacy. “I do not believe we should invest Social Security in the stock market. It’s a safety net for retirement security, and it should continue to be a defined benefit program.”
— This article appeared on page A1 of the Albuquerque Journal