Leave jobs creation to business, says congresswoman

Hailed as “a breath of fresh air” by a listener in her Westchester business audience, Rep. Nan Hayworth said she”™ll work to shrink federal government and slash federal spending as part of the new House Republican majority swept into office by voters in the November election.

Hayworth offered no details as to where in the federal budget those cuts will be made other than that she voted to eliminate funding for National Public Radio, long a budgetary target of conservatives for its perceived liberal bias.

“The significance of this election is that the American people want to see a different philosophy of government,” Hayworth said. The public wants to see business and enterprise “empowered,” said the Bedford resident.

Hayworth, an ophthalmologist and former partner in the Mount Kisco Medical Group, defeated two-term Democratic incumbent John Hall for the 19^th District seat in the 112^th Congress. On the same day that she and 95 other freshman lawmakers on Capitol Hill were to meet President Barack Obama in the White House, she addressed The Business Council of Westchester at its Key Bank Speaker Series breakfast at Abigail Kirsch at Tappan Hill in Tarrytown.

In a rapid-fire summary of Republicans”™ counteroffensive to Obama”™s and Democrats”™ reform and economic stimulus measures of the last two years, Hayworth said shrinking government must be done “as expeditiously as possible, because we feel we don”™t have time on this.”

At the federal level, “We have to have fiscal discipline,” and states will have to do the same, she said. “If we don”™t do it in this Congress, we”™re never going to do it.”

Hayworth said jobs creation, a primary goal of the two-year, $787 billion federal stimulus program, should be left instead to private business. “To me, the best thing the federal government can do is stop trying to create jobs,” she said to mild applause. “Let you all do what you do best ”¦Government doesn”™t create jobs; you do.”

Questioned by a Realtors leader about her position on the proposed elimination of the mortgage interest tax deduction for homeowners, Hayworth said eliminating it would increase taxes, which Republicans oppose. She did not rule out its elimination as part of a sweeping overhaul of the U.S Tax Code. “Don”™t touch it until you”™ve got the whole thing in place,” she said.

Hayworth said she favors a flat tax to simplify the tax code and cut what she said was its $250 billion annual cost to administer. “I would like to see the tax code flattened so we could have more money in the marketplace,” she said. Flat-tax legislation, though, is not in the works, she said.

Questioned by a construction-industry executive on needed federal investment in infrastructure, Hayworth said interstate infrastructure is “a well-defined function” of the federal government. Federal officials should help fund the estimated $16 billion Tappan Zee Bridge replacement project, she said.

Hayworth, a member of the House financial services committee, said the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act must be repealed in part because of its “very problematic” impact on the financial services industry and on smaller banks outside its too-big-to-fail protection. The law indemnifies bad corporate risk with taxpayer dollars, she said.

Hayworth joined her House colleagues in their largely symbolic vote to repeal the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. The repeal has little chance to pass in the Democratic-controlled Senate. House Republicans will act swiftly on alternative proposals for reform to achieve the goal of affordable health care, she said.

“Of all the elements of the budget that threaten us for the future, Medicare is the single biggest problem,” Hayworth said. The nation has obligations to the Medicare and Medicaid programs “that the federal government really does need to honor.” While funding those, Republicans will be looking at “compensatory cuts” in other budget areas, she said.

Hayworth said health savings accounts should be the norm in a new system of affordable care. The country needs a system “that links consumers and providers and makes everyone aware of the costs,” she said.