Walt addresses Idaho Legislature: calls for bi-partisan solutions

Walt Minnick - Right for Idaho

March 02, 2010

Boise, Idaho – U.S. Representative Walt Minnick addressed both houses of the Idaho Legislature today. Minnick highlighted the cooperation he values with Republicans and Democrats on the national level. He urged his fellow Idaho leaders to build bridges over partisan divides and be a model for Congress.

The speech:

For the House:
Speaker Denney, Majority Leader Moyle, Minority Leader Rusche.
For the Senate:
President Pro-Tem Geddes, Majority Leader Davis, Minority Leader Kelly.

I very much appreciate the opportunity to stand before you today and offer this report from that other Capitol, the one in the East whose decisions so often seem foreign, but whose money we rarely refuse. I must admit it’s a bit strange going there after a career as a businessman from the West.  And it has not always been smooth sailing.  Like those before me have said, Washington is not at all like Idaho.
After all, in Idaho we do know how to handle snow!

In fact, we in Idaho know how to handle a lot of things better than do the folks in Washington.  Those who get elected to the Legislature and other offices in Idaho tend to be proud and independent, not easily intimidated, and determined to stick up for what they believe.  (Too determined, the Governor might add!)  Idaho legislators are willing to stand up against their own leadership, are skeptical of big government, are determined to spend only what comes in and are anxious to make friends from across the aisle.

This determination to think things through and do what’s best for the people, regardless of which party proposes it, is too often lacking in our nation’s capital. While the vast majority of my colleagues are very bright, work hard, and care deeply for the districts they represent, they way too often let leadership do their thinking for them.
That’s unfortunate.  Because in Congress today, the leadership of both parties is very sharply partisan.  So partisan that blaming the other side has become more important than solving problems.  This doesn’t sit well with me.  Nor with most Idahoans.

Partisan battles have left our nation in a perilous place. Its legacy includes an out of control budget deficit that, ironically, both parties helped to create.  And runaway entitlements which will soon self destruct unless radically reformed.  The decisions required to solve these fiscal issues are so hard that they can’t be made unless both parties agree.  How to get this done before China stops buying our debt is the biggest single issue we in Washington must face.

But whether it is jump starting the economy and putting people back to work, reforming health care, rescuing Social Security or protecting our citizens from terrorism , Congress has defaulted to the partisan and too often failed to solve the problem . Those of us who have tried to stand firmly in the middle, focused on finding cost effective solutions, have had to duck the grenades hurled from both the left and the right.
To be honest, when I went to Washington a year ago I expected more statesmen—and fewer people acting like children.

But there is hope.

One of your former colleagues and my good friend, Congressman Mike Simpson, happens to be one of the most respected members of the House of Representatives.  Mike has applied the lessons he learned here in the Idaho Legislature – forging consensus, working across the aisle, getting things done– to become one of the select group of Congressmen who are deeply respected by their peers in both parties and across the political spectrum.

Mike’s given me valuable advice, and we have worked very effectively together.  Our partnership mirrors the work of many others in this Congress, from the two friends who serve as the chair and ranking minority member of the House Agriculture Committee to the kind words offered by Senator Orrin Hatch when his close friend Senator Ted Kennedy passed away last year.
Now it’s true Mike and I sometimes disagree. After all, we are members of different political parties, we have different backgrounds and we approach issues in different ways. But far from being a cause for friction, it is a source of strength for Idaho.  We learn from each other—and we work both sides of the political street.  When we run into each other on yet another uncomfortable flight back home,  suitcases at our feet and bags under our eyes, it is not about Republican or Democrat. It is not about who won and who lost. It’s about getting things done and what’s best for our state.
Staring, yelling and posturing at each other from across a chasm of political divide has gotten our country nowhere. It has grown so dysfunctional that the leaders of both parties now taunt each other, daring them to show “bipartisanship” by jumping in front of that freight train, by leaping into the abyss.

This must change.

The only way to deal with the chasm that has disrupted our political discourse is not to ask people to jump, but to ask for their help in building a bridge.
Here in Idaho there are many areas where we can agree.

One example is the importance of education.  For our kids to earn a decent living in the 21st century and for us to succeed as a nation, education must get better and be delivered in a more cost effective fashion.  Most of us agree it needs to start earlier, become more robust in K-12 and continue on through college or other technical specialized training.
As a businessman who looked carefully at the costs and the benefits, I came to believe firmly that our local school systems should be given the right to establish formal pre-k classes so that all kids start school equally prepared to learn.  And as a conservative who believed that the best government is that which is closest to the people, I also thought that local school districts and local governments should be given the authority to make and fund these decisions for themselves.  Now, as an elected official, I understand better why such change, which I still believe is critical if Idaho is to compete in the information age, must be achieved through bi-partisan consensus.

I also think we must beef up the requirements for high school graduation, especially in math and science, and give our schools the ability to access local sources of funding when, as now, state revenue is so limited.
Access to higher education must become universal by increasing scholarship assistance, expanding certificate programs and relying on enhanced broadband technology for delivery of content.  All of these changes, which I hope you will continue to evaluate, will require input and buy in from both political parties.

I know that times are tough, and that you face very difficult choices.  I will do what I can to help backstop your efforts by providing federal assistance where it is available.
There are other areas in which you can show the way for this Congress and our nation.  For example, your mandate to balance Idaho’s budget gives you ample reason to try some of the ideas that Congress is only just talking about.

For example, while we in Washington wait to implement a special commission to make recommendations on reforming out of control entitlement spending—an idea I very much support—you can act on this idea.  I suggest you might consider creating such a bipartisan commission of experts, appointed by the Governor and the Legislature, who would be tasked with offering ideas for closing next year’s budget deficit by taking a fresh look at both spending and our state’s sales tax structure.

Unlike the Congress, where we recoil at the idea of giving such groups real authority, you could specify that you will give the Commission’s recommendations a straight up “yes or no” vote in the next legislature.
So to the Majority running this legislature, I say to you exactly the same thing I do to the Democratic leaders in Congress: Reach across the aisle and bring your colleagues to the table.  Good ideas come from both Republicans and Democrats.  The loyal opposition may have different views and occasionally a different approach, but their constituents have the same needs as yours.

And, like you, your fellow legislators across the aisle love this state and have put their lives on hold to help make Idaho a better place.  And to my fellow Democrats, become part of the process, recognize that compromises have to be made in these tough times, and be constructive in your public comments.

The Idaho Legislature can show the rest of the nation the way.  Not through partisan bickering or headline-grabbing bills, but through the kind of quiet, colleague-to-colleague hard work that can effect real change for a community, a legislature, and a state.

So I ask for your help. I ask you to stand together and to work with the four us in the federal delegation to show the rest of our nation that while we may sometimes disagree, we share common values and can get things done.

We run as Republicans and Democrats, but we must govern as Idahoans.

It has been an honor and a privilege to speak to you today. Thank you for all you do for Idaho.