Marilyn Musgrave takes questions from NCBR

FORT COLLINS – One of the stops on Fourth Congressional District Rep. Marilyn Musgrave’s April 12 tour of downtown Fort Collins was the offices of the Northern Colorado Business Report. Accompanied by Fort Collins Mayor Doug Hutchinson, members of her staff, reporters from other publications and interested citizens, the Republican congresswoman answered a variety of questions from the NCBR editorial staff.

Question: What are you hearing from business owners and operators as their greatest concerns?

Answer: They want to talk about the cost of providing health-care benefits for their employees – that is probably No. 1. They say, ‘To keep good employees we need to offer them benefits and the cost of health insurance is going up every year.’ Association Health Plans – which I helped co-sponsor on the federal level – would allow folks to come together in a trade association and purchase health insurance at a lower cost. I’ve also been very involved in Health Savings Plans – HSAs – trying to bring down the cost of health insurance. I think you’re going to see those taking off more and more.

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Tort reform is something else we’ve done. It did not pass in the Senate and we’re still working on that. But nationwide, that’s one thing we must absolutely do to bring down the cost of health insurance.

Q: Do you support subsidies for farms earning over $1 million?

A: I think it’s ridiculous when we talk about saving the family farm and millionaires are getting subsidies. It’s an affront. Not only that, but we have to remember that there is a finite amount of money the federal government has. And you might have a Farm Bill that says this is a safety net for farmers – well, millionaires don’t need a safety net.

Q:  On the topic of immigration reform, do you favor building a wall between Mexico and the United States?

A: I have supported legislation that would allow physical barriers to be built. I traveled to El Paso, and I had the opportunity to meet with border sheriffs. They emphasized to me that physical barriers do help them do their job. Even a chainlink fence makes their job easier.

Another thing that is important to me is to try and address the methamphetamine problem in this country. I really believe that if we control our borders, we’re going to do a much better job of that. During this time in the District I met with some law enforcement folks and they all say that they believe most of the drugs, methamphetamine in particular, have been coming from the other side of the border.

I do want to say that I am very supportive of the guest worker program – people who come into this country legally. Clear back in the ’60s we had a brasseros program that worked very well, and I think a lot of people want to work in this country that don’t even want citizenship.

In my office very often, we deal with people who are going through problems with immigration. We also work with people who are trying to obtain citizenship. To me, it would be very difficult to justify to these people who have been going through the legal process – many of them, well, eight years trying to obtain citizenship – I’m very supportive of legal immigration.

I have been supportive of lifting quotas for H2B workers and trying to streamline the process with H2A. We need workers for the agriculture sector. We also need workers for our hospitality, landscape, construction, ski industries, and there’s a lot of competition for those workers.

Q: Why do you think it takes so long to go through the citizenship process?

A: I don’t know. It should be an easier process. When you talk of eight to 10 years before someone can become a citizen in this country, I don’t think that’s right.

You can be a legal worker without going through the citizenship process. And another thing we need to do is allow workers who come back year after year to have that process cheaper, and I’m all in favor of that.

Q: Do you think the federal Basic Pilot Program needs revision in light of the Swift & Co. ICE raids?

A: Well, it does. An employer can verify now with the Basic Pilot Program that a Social Security number is valid. What they can’t verify is how many folks are using it. So, they can’t go very far in trying to determine if a person is a legal worker without risking being discriminatory. So, there’s kind of a fine line an employer has to walk. And it’s amazing to me that we do not have communication between federal agencies so we can determine if a Social Security number is being used multiple times.

Q: Do you support some regulations for the mortgage lending industry?

A: Colorado does have an inordinate amount of foreclosures, and there is a combination of reasons. The growth that we have, interest-only loans and all sorts of products that perhaps have caused people to get into situations where when a balloon comes due, or whatever, there is no way they can make the payments. There have been some bad actors in there and I believe the mortgage lenders are very agreeable to having the state legislature rein in the bad actors. But I think we may see some more regulatory issues coming from the feds, and some things coming from Congress this session.

Q: Do you think that would be helpful or do you think it’s better handled at the state level?

A: Well, I would like to see it handled at the state level. We can overall be healthy, but have pocket areas where there are a number of foreclosures. What happens then, not only is it a tragedy for that individual, but the home owners in the area see the value of their homes come down. I think there will be regulatory reform again coming from Congress. And I think I will support that – I don’t know what form that will be in. We’ve got a lot of attention, and the Fourth District has a high number of foreclosures now, and it’s bad for the whole region, so we want to do what we can.

Q: More businesses are recognizing domestic partnerships for the purposes of benefits…

A: Let me just say right off, that’s up to the businesses. If they want to do it, then I’m all for it. It’s a business decision.

Q: You’re best known nationally for your stance on gay marriage. Do you think you’ll be spending more or less time dealing with that issue?

A: I’m not introducing anything this session, OK? I’ve actually spent a lot of time on small business issues, agricultural issues, veterans’ issues, and you don’t read that part in the paper, but it’s a big part of my job.