ROGERS — Cuts in federal spending will help the country avoid economic difficulties like in Greece and strengthen the United States even more, Sen. John Boozman, R-Ark., said Tuesday.
“If we get our fiscal house in order, we have an opportunity to be stronger than ever,” he said.
Boozman, a former member of the Rogers School Board and U.S. House of Representatives, spoke at a Rogers Rotary Club luncheon meeting.
He noted the federal government has run up a debt of more than $14.6 trillion. “We have a problem of spending too much money,” Boozman said.
The debt, coupled with government regulations on developers, farmers and business owners, hampers job growth, he said.
Boozman said 90 percent of Americans believe Congress is not doing a good job. “You worry about those 10 percent that think we’re doing a good job,” he joked.
Higher taxes are not a solution to eliminating the federal debt, Boozman said. “The idea of taxing our job creators, I’m against that, and I think most economists are,” he said.
Boozman, an optometrist, defeated incumbent Democrat Blanche Lincoln in last year’s U.S. Senate race. He had represented the 3rd Congressional District since 2001. That seat now is held by former Rogers Mayor Steve Womack, a Republican.
Rogers Mayor Greg Hines, who attended the luncheon, said he was pleased to hear Boozman and Arkansas’ other senator, Democrat Mark Pryor, speak at Rogers Rotary Club meetings a week apart on federal debt reduction. Last week Pryor said federal spending on national defense, Social Security and Medicare and Medicaid will have to be reduced along with cuts to other programs if Congress hopes to get the budget under control.
“Everybody’s going to get cut,” Pryor said last week. “We’ve been living beyond our means.”
Hines said elected officials from both major parties are beginning to deliver a similar message.
“It’s nice to see they are starting to identify the serious problems and solutions,” Hines said.
Boozman said Social Security can be bolstered with certain adjustments, such as changing the minimum age for receiving benefits. He did not say what that age should be.
In an interview later, Boozman said cuts to federal spending can come in part by eliminating fraud and waste in programs such as Medicare. He also said the country can save money by cutting foreign aid to nations that do not support the U.S. He did not name those nations.
“We help a lot of people that don’t have a lot of use for us,” he said.