Government spending must decrease, Chaffetz says

OREM — Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, is running hard for his 3rd District congressional seat in this year's national election, even though no one has come forward to challenge him.

"I'll just keep the pedal to the metal," Chaffetz said after speaking to a group of students at Utah Valley University Wednesday. "That's the best way to keep any challengers scared."

Chaffetz was scheduled to speak again Wednesday evening at a town hall meeting. Tuesday night he held a similar event at Salt Lake Community College in Taylorsville, after making an appearance on Fox News with Neil Cavuto.

Wednesday's appearance, sponsored by UVU's Center for the Study of Ethics Democracy Project, was billed as a lecture on American democracy and limited government. But the main topic was familiar territory for Chaffetz — limiting government spending.

"My biggest concern moving forward is the lack of fiscal discipline in Washington," Chaffetz told the group. "We have to figure out how to make decisions and say we can't be all things to all people."

Chaffetz said it is a major concern that Chinese interests hold $1 trillion in U.S. treasury notes.

"We have put our country in peril, and our future in other people's hands because we have lacked the fiscal discipline over the last several decades to maintain a reasonable level of spending," he said.

The result has been erosion in confidence that the country can continue to pay back its growing debt.

"If you look at the amount of money that we are throwing into the market place, you have to seriously question our county's ability to live up to those obligations," Chaffetz said. "The numbers are so astronomical, that in the end you have to sit back and say, OK, what are we going to do about it."

Part of the answer, he said, is to cut spending and raise revenues, and at some point the government is going to have to make some difficult decisions.

"I think at some point we are going to have to cut the federal payroll across the board," he said.

He also said the government needs to create an atmosphere where small businesses can thrive.

"It's not the role of the government to grow jobs," he said. "We spent an extra trillion dollars and where are the jobs? The economy did not come roaring back. The reality is we did not change the atmosphere for the entrepreneur."

Chaffetz also said the problems that created the current economic crisis can be traced to missteps by members of both major political parties.

"I've been critical of the Republicans as well as the Democrats," he said. "This is a bipartisan challenge, but it's also a bipartisan opportunity. We have to make more difficult decisions now because of the lack of making hard decision in previous administrations."

e-mail: mhaddock@desnews.com