Congressman Cook tells Utah lawmakers federal priorities include Social Security, transportation and tax reform

Congressman Cook addressed the Utah House during a Committee of the Whole, outlining several federal priorities and taking questions from legislators.

Cook said Social Security reform and protecting Medicare were top priorities for the new Congress and expressed support for individual-retirement-account-style reforms while stressing the need to protect trust-fund integrity. He highlighted transportation funding as another key area, noting the Transportation Equity Act (T21) reauthorization should deliver increased appropriations and pointing to roughly $90 million already directed to Utah for Olympic-related transportation projects.

On health care, Cook said long-term-care and Medicare protections would receive attention, and he described ongoing hearings on mental-health parity as making positive progress even if full parity was unlikely to pass in the current year. On tax policy, he said the House majority planned to pursue structural tax changes and cited a proposal to sunset and revisit the federal tax code within a set period as one approach under consideration.

Members asked about transportation funding predictability, mental-health parity, and the federal interest in state-managed tobacco-settlement funds. Cook said he supported keeping tobacco funds at the state level and opposed federal efforts to reallocate those dollars. He also discussed challenges associated with Olympic-related federal funding and the need to ensure projects meet federal criteria.

After fielding questions, Cook thanked the Legislature for the invitation and emphasized his continued attention to Utah issues in Congress.