Unintended consequences from acts of Congress and campaigning occupied U.S. Rep. Scott Tipton on Tuesday during a visit to Durango.
“I think it’s important we’re in contact with our community leaders, particularly now,” Tipton said.
Tipton, R-Cortez, focused on the concerns of his daily legislative work when meeting with La Plata County commissioners.
A bill introduced last week in Congress, he said, would help direct some royalties from future growth in natural gas and oil to education. The money would go to the states and have no earmarks, he said.
Moving onto concerns, Tipton said the “unintended consequences” of complicated legislation are piling up – to the point that it seems “mean-spirited” at times.
Parts of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, he said, could overburden the nation’s mom-and-pop businesses by requiring overly complicated accounting procedures that, if not adhered to, could result in a federal withholding that would separate some businesses from a substantial percentage of their money for up to a year.
“It’s so hard for small businesses right now to even exist,” Tipton said.
And dealing with the “changing dynamic” of more Americans driving fuel-efficient and electric vehicles also poses a challenge, he said, as it causes gas tax revenues to decline.
Officials will need to build a new funding system to pay for road infrastructure and maintenance in the coming years, he said.
He told commissioners the biggest challenge hindering local governments, residents and businesses from solving important issues such as transportation now is uncertainty in Washington: “Nobody knows what’s coming.”
Earlier in the day, Tipton spoke at the Southwest Republican Women’s meeting. Tipton told the gathering that society needs to make sure the American dream would be available for coming generations.
“By the grace of God I’ve been able to live part of the American dream. I want our children to be able to live out the American dream,” he said.
“Let’s create those opportunities for those young men and women to live that dream that is our birthright.”
Tipton told his fellow Republicans the country is at a crossroads, and who wins the 2012 presidential election may well determine America’s path for 20 years.
The 2012 race, he said, is part of a two-cycle election to get the country back on track, with the first part completed with the Republicans’ wining a majority in of the U.S. House of Representatives in 2010.
Jobs will be the election’s focal point, and it’s the topic Republicans should be focused upon. Tipton said job creation and providing incentives to hire is common sense.
On health-care reform, Tipton said he believes the country’s health-care system needs an overhaul, but the Democrats’ plan that earned President Barack Obama’s signature was the “wrong program at the wrong time.”
“Government shouldn’t be getting between the patient and the doctor,” he said.
Tipton will face state House Minority Leader Sal Pace, D-Pueblo, for the 3rd Congressional District seat in Congress in the 2012 election.
