August 18, 2011: Rotary Log (Congressman Guinta)

After finally getting rain that we so badly needed at the beginning of the week, today was beautiful, sunny and warm.  Once again, Portsmouth Country Club is batting 1,000 by having the beautiful set-up for us and a great lunch.

            We had visiting Rotarians Nichell from the Seacoast Club, Considine from the Hampton Club and Jarman from the Mesa, Arizona Club.

            Outstanding performance by our venerable Finemaster, Butch Ricci.  In honor of our meeting now at Portsmouth Country Club, our Finemaster fined every member of the Portsmouth Country Club in Rotary one dollar;  your Editor and today’s log writer got fined $10.00 for 10 days in England and Ireland; members were fined one dollar for use of cell phones at Rotary (the Finemaster’s cell phone was buzzing at the exact same time that he was issuing this fine); and Rotarians who get their pictures taken with their business signs or logos in the background were fined for shameless promotion of their business.  The Finemaster wondered, out loud, what kind of backdrop would be behind Dr. Gray if his picture were in the log or in the newspaper…

            Stella introduced today’s speaker, United States Congressman Frank Guinta.  Congressman Guinta has been an Alderman, a State Representative and a Mayor and lives in Manchester with his family.  He comes back from Washington, DC every weekend and every 5^th week for the week so that he can maintain contacts with his constituents.  When he is in Washington he holds telephonic town hall meetings which usually last an hour and he takes questions from everyone.

            Congressman Guinta is on the Budget Committee which focuses on trying to get a balanced budget amendment passed; the Transportation Committee which deals with the distribution of federal funds related to transportation; and the Oversight Committee reviews how dollars are spent with an eye towards efficiency, financial reform and Medicare and Medicaid Reform.

            Congressman Guinta is concerned with the deficit which this year is $1.6 trillion dollars and that discretionary spending only accounts for $1.1 trillion dollars annually and the biggest areas of the Federal Budget are the mandatory spending, including Social Security and Medicare.  Guinta believes that there needs to be some combination of spending cuts and revenue enhancements to balance the budget.  Congress needs, he said, to be respectful of each other and focus on the issues, not the personality fights.  The House came up with a reasonable Budget, but it could not get passed because of the debt ceiling debate.  This country needs real, long term changes in tax and regulatory matters with significant budget cuts and a major overhaul of the 1974 Budget Act which allows those with seniority in Congress to have more power over the Budget than the rank and file.  The Congressman observed that there are 100 new members in Congress this session and nothing can get done without the cooperation of those new members and they ought to have as much say in how this government is run as the people who have been there a long time.  These new members want an open, frank discussion of the issues and then votes.

            Bill Hurley read questions from the audience (and agreed to save the “softball” question for the end).  The first question was what Representative Guinta was going to do to correct the economy after the market dropped 500 points.  Representative Guinta said that there are many reasons why the market fluctuates, but that the market generally wants consistency in government and the only way to get consistency is to get the Budget under control.  There is a record drop in start up companies and small businesses and those, taken together, are the largest employers in the country.  He said we need three things:  (1)  Predictability in tax and regulatory policy to close loop holes; (2)  Repatriation Bill to bring corporations back from offshore and giving companies incentives to locate in this country instead of countries that tax significantly less; and (3)  There are 80,000 pages of new regulations in the last two years including, get this, regulation of “dust” in the Midwest (the Rotary Log would love to see that regulation and would like to have it adopted in his home).  Reasonable regulations are fine, the Congressman observed, but over regulation is killing business.

            The next question was whether the auto bailouts where a mistake.  Representative Guinta replied that he argued against them when he was campaigning and still believes that they were wrong.  He thinks that the automobile companies should have followed Ford’s role and gotten their house in order without federal money.  He questioned whether, if there were a significant drop in people eating out, would restaurants be entitled to federal money.  What about casinos in Las Vegas with decreased business?  And by the way, he observed, Chrysler has not paid us back 100% of the dollars that had borrowed, despite the headlines.

            And here comes the softball question:  who are your political mentors, dead or alive?  Congressman Guinta said that the easy answer is Ronald Reagan but it was his philosophy that Guinta admires:  a reasonable solution to challenging problems, recognizing that everyone won’t be happy.  In a show of his willingness to reach across the aisle and be reasonable, Guinta pointed out that a couple of the Congressman that he works well with are Representative Barney Frank (who he worked with in helping the fishing industry) and Dennis Kessenich (who he worked with to keep us out of Libya).  References to Barney Frank and Dennis Kessenich sent a moan around the room, prompting the Congressman to give the above explanation.

            Our Fine Master, ironically, won the raffle (and when I asked for a return of my fine from his abundant winnings, I was dismissed without so much as a nod).