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STATE BILL COLORADO
DENVER — Republican Jane Norton told 9News’ ‘Your Show’ on Sunday that she’s running for the U.S. Senate because over the summer she became “more and more concerned” about the direction of the country, citing the federal stimulus, cap-and-trade legislation and the president’s recent health-care reform proposals.
“I couldn’t stand by and not get in the race,” Norton said.
Norton, a former Colorado lieutenant governor who is vying in a crowded Republican primary for the right to challenge either incumbent Democrat Michael Bennet or would-be senator Andrew Romanoff, told the program she agreed with one viewer who called the stimulus “spending insanity” and said she would shine a light on earmarks and let Congress vote up or down on them. She would also look at emergency spending bills that get laden with “all sorts of nonemergency provisions.” Colorado has a single subject bill requirement that Norton said she would extend to Congress. She would also not authorize spending that’s not part of an appropriations process; by some estimates, that spending totals $100 billion. Finally, “it might be good for the nation” to have line-item veto powers enjoyed by 43 governors, Norton said.
Congress isn’t listening to what the American public is saying about being thrifty during the current downturn, Norton told ‘Your Show’ host Adam Schrager.
“We want a stimulus that’s going to be job-sustaining growth, not these one-off infusions of cash,” she said.
Asked the best way to reduce reliance on petroleum products, Norton said would advocate for an “all-of-the-above” strategy that calls for nuclear power, car electrification, and additional research and development. “Cap and trade is not the way to do it,” she said.
Schrager received a number of questions about illegal immigration, and he posed the issue to Norton, as he said he’s done with other candidates.
“We need to secure the borders,” Norton responded. “We also need to enforce the laws we have on the books right now. … We have to design a verifiable and efficient temporary worker program so employers, especially our hospitality and agricultural sector, know when they want to employ someone … they are here legally.”
On the issue of the Afghanistan war, Norton said America needs to stay in that country “and get the job done.”
“We can fight it here, or we can fight it there. I think it’s better to fight it there,” she said.
She also said she doesn’t advocate an arbitrary timeline for departing from the country.
Regarding small business growth, Norton called for a basic health-care program that would keep costs low. She would also give tax breaks — “tax equity,” she called it — to people who buy their own health care. She also believes tort reform will control runaway health-care costs.
Montana Sen. Max Baucus’ bill, which lacks a public option, is a “step in the right direction” but still would lead to huge government spending.
Finally, Norton called Colorado’s 2010 U.S. Senate race a “referendum between big government spending or can individuals achieve in this country?”