U.S. Rep. Dean Heller, R-Nev., told business leaders in Carson City that most of the questions he is getting from constituents are about jobs and the economy.
Speaking to the Nevada Business Connections breakfast Wednesday morning, Heller said the electronic town hall meetings he does every Monday when he is in Washington, D.C., allow him to connect with more than 5,000 voters every week, and it's clear what they are worried about.
"I would say 60 to 80 percent of the questions I get in these town hall meetings are about the economy," Heller said. "People want jobs. Health care is secondary if you don't have a job. Energy is secondary if you don't have a job. Card Check is secondary if you don't have a job. You can solve a lot of problems in this country if everyone is employed."
Heller said that the stimulus bill passed earlier this year isn't working, and that government should get out of the way and let the economy fix itself.
"I'm a low-tax, small-government, reasonable-regulation, free-market capitalist. That's what I am," Heller said. "Being that kind of person, I am very optimistic that this economy is going to turn itself around, if the government will let it."
He cited America in the 1930s and Japan in the 1990s as examples of where increased government spending failed to improve economic conditions.
Heller said that if he was in charge of economic policy, he would cut payroll taxes in half for two years, and also cut corporate tax rates that he said are the highest in the world.
When it comes to health care reform, Heller talked about his amendment he tried to include that would have forced members of Congress into the public option being touted by the White House.
"Do we need health care reform in Washington, D.C.? The answer is yes. But I think we begin that reform by requiring Congress to be a part of that process. If they want a government-run program, then Congress has to be a part of that."
He also said that any serious effort to reform health care would have to include tort reform.
"In the studies I have seen, the easiest, quickest, simplest way to reduce 20 to 25 percent of health care costs in this country is to pass meaningful tort reform," Heller said.
Heller has proposed medical school debt forgiveness for doctors who serve in under-served areas, such as rural Nevada.
He is also championing another provision that would allow doctors to get a tax write-off on the cost of treating indigent patients in their offices.
"It costs five times more for a patient to go to an emergency room than it does for them to go to a doctor's office," Heller said. "This could save a tremendous amount of money, especially for some of these hospitals that have to deal with these enormous costs."
But Republicans and Democrats both are opposed to that amendment, and were upset at Heller for calling for a role call vote on the measure.
"They believed that if you do that for doctors, you should do it for lawyers, too, for their pro bono work," Heller said. "I said they don't see patients, and we are talking about health care, and we have a health care crisis. I don't think we have a pro bono crisis in America today."
