Amodei: Outlook grim for a balanced budget

In an election year, chances are slim that Congress will pass any budget, let alone one that begins to deal with the deficit and mountain of debt the nation faces.

So said U.S. Rep. Mark Amodei, who spoke Wednesday to members of the Carson City Area Chamber of Commerce at a luncheon at the Gold Dust West casino.

President Barack Obama has presented his proposed budget, and the House will present its plan in the next week or two. But Amodei pointed out that the Senate hasn't passed a budget in more than 1,000 days - and the politics of an election year isn't going to persuade that body to act anytime soon.

The Carson City Republican said he understands that the federal government can't balance its budget in just one year - but he doesn't see any real effort to begin that process.

He said two-thirds of the federal budget contains elements such as Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security, which are pretty much impossible to cut in the short term.

Only one-third, he said, is discretionary spending.

"When you talk about balancing the budget, when you talk about paying down the debt, you can't do it in one-third of the budget," he said.

He said the proposed budget will be upside down by more than $1 trillion, added to the $16 trillion debt.

Amodei said the question for Congress is, "What are you going to do about it, and when are you going to do it?"

"The answer to every question is not more federal spending," he told the audience of about 80. "The answer to every question is not a federal program."

As for the two-thirds of the budget, Amodei said Congress could at least begin making some incremental changes. He said that maybe people not yet 50 shouldn't be eligible for Social Security or Medicare until they are 68 instead of 65.

"Nobody's talking about pulling the rug out from under people already in these programs," he said.

But he said changes have to be made if those programs are to survive.

He said the federal government spends $10 billion to $12 billion a year on unemployment benefits for people in prison, about that much for illegal immigrants, and a similar amount to write those checks for millionaires. Cutting those people off would save nearly $40 billion a year, he said.

Amodei said he doesn't see the issues facing Congress as Republican or Democrat.

"The issues we face are only partisan if you're looking for politics," he said.

He added that attitudes in Washington, D.C., are part of the problem in getting people to work together.

"There are some egos back there the size of Jupiter," he said.

Amodei said that if Congress and the president begin to deal with the issues instead of kicking the can down the road, they could probably balance the budget in five years.

He said he is more optimistic in other areas, such as a bill to eliminate some wilderness areas "that don't make sense" and a recent transfer of federal lands southeast of Yerington to make way for the Pumpkin Hollow copper mine project.

He said he will soon introduce a bill to simplify the process of getting small blocks of federal land to auction within 12 months and has high hopes for that legislation, as well.

Amodei defended his previous statements that the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste project isn't dead yet. He was sharply criticized for those comments by Richard Bryan, former Nevada governor and U.S. senator.

"The people of Nevada are being told by some that it's dead," Amodei said. "When you hear it talked about every week in the House, it's not dead.

"I didn't say we want a nuclear landfill, but it isn't dead, and we ought to be talking about it."

Amodei is spending the week in Nevada meeting with constituents and civic and business groups.