Smith touches on farm bill, ACA during Sidney visit

Representative Adrian Smith touted the benefits of small government yesterday during his visit to the Cheyenne County Community Center. Some of his policy concerns relating to big government were passage of the Farm Bill and worry about the Affordable Care Act.

Smith, as well as some of those in the small crowd of area residents gathered at the center voiced concern about Obamacare.

"It's a mess," Smith said.

It worries the congressman that some Americans who thought they'd be able to keep their insurance are being dropped from it. The Nebraska representative has heard stories of those who lost policies that covered pre-existing conditions because the government thought these policies weren't sufficient. He thinks U.S. citizens should be able to choose what amount of coverage works best for them. Implementation of the current health care law is experiencing so many issues that Smith thinks that Congress should have an alternative at the ready.

"We need to be prepared with a plan that can step up when there are further problems detected with the current approach," Smith said. "It's simply not working."

The president told citizens that they could keep their doctors and health plans if they liked them and this was not true, he added.

"There are even more problems today than I anticipated there would be," Smith said.

Although he claimed the health care bill was the most significant legislation to come out of Congress in years, he does not find it effective in solving health care issues for the American people.

"I'm quite honestly surprised that the rollout of the health care bill went so badly," Smith said.

Smith's most significant beef with the ACA is the individual mandate.

"This individual mandate makes it illegal to take care of yourself," Smith said.

He admits that the issue of how to deal with insurance coverage for members Congress is a complicated one, but he doesn't think they should receive different coverage than other federal employees.

Smith thinks a one year delay of the individual mandate would be beneficial to everyone, regardless of political philosophy.

"These are real lives, real issues, real health concerns that are being impacted," Smith said.

Big government and too much spending go hand in hand, according to Smith.

The nutrition portion makes of 80 percent of Farm Bill spending, Smith said. Both houses of Congress proposed spending reductions to the bill. The House proposed a $4 billion per year reduction, while the Senate's proposed cut is one tenth of that. A conference committee recently began meeting to work out the discrepancies between the two houses.

"The conference committee meets to iron out the differences between the House and the Senate and come up with a compromise that can get enough votes in the house and senate to pass again," Smith said.

The most important portion of this bill to local farmers is maintaining crop insurance, Bernie Fehringer, a Sidney resident said. He also voiced concerns about the nutrition portion of the bill.

"There are a lot of people that are collecting food assistance and I can't get anybody to work on the farm because they can get enough from the government that they don't need to work the kind of labor I do," Fehringer said. "I think if we had a little less government assistance we'd have a lot more people wanting to work."

Smith agreed that the U.S. government should foster its citizens' financial independence.

Smith also expressed some concern about more rules and regulations coming from federal programs including the Environmental Protection Agency. He thinks that organizations like the EPA wield too much power. Some of those in the crowd shared Smith's concerns.

"The most important to us is regulation by the EPA," said Tim Lindahl, general manager of Wheat Belt Public Power District.

Wheat Belt is particularly worried about regulation of Co2 emissions.

Local governments should be in charge of local water and environmental issues, Smith said.

"We've got a lot of good things going," he said. "Obviously there's a lot of attention, for good reason focused at the federal level, and we want the American people to engage. We also don't want to take for granted many things that are working at the local level that really move our country along."

Despite the fact that aquifers and streams often cross district and state lines, he scoffs at the idea that the federal government should have power over local waterways or the approaches that local governments take to water conservation and flood control.

"You need to have the agility to respond and be prepared and so forth and not have the federal government questioning your every move," Smith said.

Dams are necessary to manage river flow, to prevent flooding and to exploit the water and use it for irrigation, he said. Smith doesn't believe that flood prevention should be dampened by concerns about endangered species.

Smith's ideal version of tax reform would include closing loopholes and bringing down rates. The economic conditions that these reforms would foster would increase revenue through a better economy which would reduce the deficit, he said.

"I don't think we can cut our way into balance," Smith said. "I don't think we can tax our way into balance."

Smith continually reminded those present of the benefits of small federal government.

"We have government because of the human condition," Smith said. "We also need limited government because of the human condition."

Some of those present agreed with Smith's affinity for small government.

"For the most part, he's in favor of limited government, as am I," Fehringer said.

Fehringer thinks that at least 30 percent of federal departments could and should be terminated.

"It's a huge balancing act, but I see time and time again where the federal government further complicates matters, even with the goal of trying to help," Smith said.