Labrador concerned by spending

SANDPOINT — Congressman Raúl Labrador said the presence of mandatory expenditures and absence of payments to offset the loss of tax revenue on federal lands are what prompted him to vote against the omnibus spending bill.

“We’re increasing spending substantially,” Labrador, a Republican U.S. representative for Idaho, said during a stop in Sandpoint on Thursday.

Labrador contends Congress still refuses to make tough choices that will keep the nation’s financial keel in the water and avert a future debt crisis by spending $45 billion above the budget caps established in 2011.

The 1,582-page spending bill is bloated with pork and ineffective programs, according to Labrador, who also opposes the lack of appropriations for payments in lieu of taxes on federal lands, which help rural communities cope with the loss of tax revenue.

“I don’t see PILT as pork,” he said.

In the 2013 fiscal year, Idaho received $26.3 million in PILT funding and Labrador said he would rather see the program as a standalone bill.

Labrador is also advocating for the return of federal lands to state control and sponsored the Self-Sufficient Community Lands Act last year to establish a pilot program to demonstrate that federal lands can be more effectively managed under state forest practices rather than federal ones.

“If we could get the lands back, we could do a much better job in managing them,” Labrador said.

Labrador also sponsored the Idaho Land Sovereignty Act, which would prohibit the enlargement or establishment of national parks without express authorization by Congress.

Both bills are being debated and have not passed through the House of Representatives yet.

Labrador also continues support the repeal of the Affordable Health Care Act due to its impact on businesses and consumers. He also contends that health care costs can be decreased through market-based policies that increase competition among care providers.

Labrador withdrew from the so-called Group of Eight bipartisan immigration reform effort because it would not have made illegal immigrants responsible for their own health care costs.

Although health care and federal funding tend to crowd the spotlight, the Smarter Sentencing Act of 2013 is receiving less attention in the media.

The bill would keep low-level, nonviolent criminal offenders out of the sagging prison system.

“It’s got broad support,” Labrador said of the bill. “It shows that both sides can work together.”