Published: January 27, 2009 12:06 am      

POLITICS: An interview with Rep. Christopher Lee

It’s been a busy few weeks for Amherst businessman-turned-congressman Christopher Lee. Since winning election in November, the Republican has taken office and received a choice committee assignment.

Lee, now serving on the House Financial Services committee, has found himself at the legislative epicenter of the economic problems facing the nation.

The congressman sat down for an interview with the Tonawanda News editorial board to discuss the economy, his first few weeks in Washington and what he hopes to accomplish over the next two years.

QUESTION: What are your feelings about how the stimulus package has shaped up so far?

ANSWER: To be honest, I think there’s too much on spending that’s outside of what the initial mission statement was for, and I’d prefer to see more dollars going back to small business and individuals. Let them decide where they want to spend those dollars or stimulate the economy. But the challenge we’ve had is the president had his own plan, then the Democratic-controlled Congress under (House Speaker Nancy) Pelosi has come out with another plan, but all of these have just been coming out in drips and drabs.

The one thing that I’ve seen that worries me is that ... over $130 billion is earmarked for 32 new federal programs. And as you know, once you start a federal program, whether or not they’re good or bad, it typically means they have to continue to be funded. To me a stimulus is supposed to be a very ... fast-acting thing that’s going to creates jobs, which I’m a big believer in. We need a stimulus, it just has to be the right stimulus.

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Q: Do you see that committee setting any kinds of standards and rules on the money that’s going to the banks?

A: Unfortunately I voted against it last week, the second half of what they call the TARP, the Troubled Asset Relief Plan, which used to be the stimulus. They’ve released it and I was able to sit through one hearing and it was really talking about the first half. We’re trying to digest that. And out of that there are still hundreds of bills that are unaccounted for on the balance sheets of those banks we gave it to. We have since then approved, and another $350 billion is going out to fund it, and there have been some restrictions but not nearly enough. I think we should have waited.

The economy is in trouble, but in terms of that part of it I think we should have spent a little more time trying to ensure we had some transparency in it. One point that’s being overlooked, if the stimulus goes through, and what our budget deficit is, and this TARP, the US government in 2009 will have to float $2 trillion in (treasury) bills to pay for what we’re borrowing, That’s never been done on this planet.

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Q: If there are things that are wasteful in the stimulus package, what would you see go?

A: I actually brought a list of a few that I uncovered here. ... There’s $1.1 billion on research to compare the effectiveness of medical treatments. It might be a nice program, but I’m not sure if I would consider that stimulus. There’s a $726 million for an after school snack program. Again, it’s wonderful, something I think maybe we should put in our regular budget, but I think this falls outside the stimulus. $400 million for habitat restoration, $200 million for fresh sod for the national mall, $600 mill to prepare, this one worries me, to prepare our country for universal health care.

These are just some of the ones I’ve been able to dig up in the last couple of days. I can tell you, it’s accelerating in terms of what the earmarks may be. At this point I’m still undecided which way I’m going to vote on it, but if it gets out of control, I’m here to try to protect the taxpayer, the best I can.

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Q: So you’re saying Democrats took what was supposed to be what was a quick stimulus by name and built in these, basically, pork items?

A: I think the president had some good ides to begin with, but another statistic. His big idea was we need to really rebuild the infrastructure in this country. Only 3 percent of the stimulus is tied to that, $30 billion for roads and highways, so it’s a very small percentage.

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Q: When it comes to the stimulus and aid to states, much has been made in New York about the significant budget shortfall here, as in something like 40 other states. If there isn’t enough aid to states in the stimulus, don’t we run the risk of cutting taxes at the federal level only to see them double at the state level?

A: You’ve got to find balance here. Coming from a business background, I think it’s going to be a couple of tough years ahead of us. My concern is those people who are really struggling, that’s why parts of the stimulus, I think unemployment benefits for those who are really struggling is a positive. We have to make sure we take care of them. The state level’s got to make sure they start getting their house in order. I think the federal government, where they can help they should, but it shouldn’t just be an excuse to hold off what’s inevitable, to make some tough decisions.

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Q: When you’re talking about spending in excess of $800 billion, it stands to reason that some of it is going to be questionable. What is the Republican plan? What is the alternative?

A: What we’d like to see is less spending on programs that fall outside of three parameters that I’d base it on. Is it swift, is it something that’s going to turn around and help create jobs in a short period of time? Does it pass that test? Is it effective, is it targeting those areas that we want to target, that we think are in trouble with the economy? And then three, is it fiscally responsible, is it spending our money wisely on the areas that have been focused on?

Probably the biggest difference between Republicans and Democrats on this is the fact that what percent of total stimulus should be tax relief for the middle income, small business, entrepreneurs. Republicans want to have a much higher percentage versus the Democratic bill where they want to take the balance of the dollars and push those into various programs. I think there’s consensus on certain programs that we want to make sure that we fund.

There’s areas where people are struggling. Those who are unemployed, and we’re going to have a chronic unemployment level here for a while, so people getting the basic necessities we have to make sure is taken care of. How we gain the stimulus is the different approach.

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Q: About a year and a half from now you’re going to be gearing up for a re-election campaign. I’m curious to know, what do you want to take to your constituents two years from now and say “this is what I’ve accomplished?”

A: Well, it’s multi-faceted. The first day on the job, and I pushed my team hard, we had all three of our offices, our D.C. office, our Buffalo office and our Rochester office that were open, running, had our computers up and running, had staff ready to start solving problems. ... I would hope people would say that “this was a guy who listened to me,” and I’m getting very positive feedback. Last week I sent e-mails out to 9,000 people in my district asking for their ideas on the stimulus package. I got a huge response and I took a lot of those ideas and I’ve met four times now with this team of 12 Republicans and I’ve kicked around various ideas. I’ve always believed this in business, the best ideas come from the people around you. If you think that you know it all when you get there, you’re wrong. So I’ve been doing a big outreach. ... What I want to do is over-communicate, give people in the district opportunity to give me their ideas.

Getting back to your point ... in my position now being on financial services, which is an A committee, is hopefully be a watchdog in terms of how we’re going to re-regulate an industry that is sorely in need of it. And it’s imperative that we do it correctly, because if we do it wrong we run the risk of these jobs leaving New York state (when) we’re already in a fiscal mess. I’m glad I’ll have an opportunity to help the push on that.

The other subcommittee I’m on is housing, and that’s an important one to try and ensure that we can keep affordable homes for people in this area. But make sure before someone is pushed in a home make sure they can afford to pay for it. That’s part of the problems we’ve had.

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Q: Are there any specific policy initiatives that you look to advance that maybe don’t tie into your committee assignment?

A: ... I got together with Brian Higgins. He and I have been working well together. ... I know when I was here, I was frustrated as a potential congressman with the lack of cooperation that we have in upstate, in terms of our (House) delegation. And Louise Slaughter, Congresswoman Slaughter, took it to heart, and she organized it, and I very much appreciate it. We’ve already met twice with the delegation of 11 (representatives) in all upstate. ... We talked about issues in the area and that’s what I wanted from the get-go. I could care less about partisan politics. It’s what’s right for the district.

So far, in less than three weeks, we’ve had some good success. I’ve been well-received and I’m pleased with the direction. I’m not here to be wallpaper.

Contact reporter Daniel Pye at 693-1000, ext. 158.