Sen. Bob Bennett fields questions in Utah House on stimulus, regulation and economic priorities

U.S. Senator Bob Bennett addressed the Utah House in Committee of the Whole on Feb. 20 and took questions about the federal stimulus package, regulatory priorities and efforts to attract federal energy research funding to Utah.

Bennett opened the floor to questions and said his primary test for large-scale measures is pragmatic: "My criteria is will it work?" he told members, explaining he voted for some measures he believed would be effective and against others he judged unlikely to succeed.

Representative Draxler asked whether Utah could be the location for an Advanced Research Projects Administration for Energy; Bennett said he would ‘‘do whatever I can to try to get some of those activities done here in Utah’’ and asked stakeholders to send information on what would be needed.

On the broader stimulus debate, Bennett said details were changing rapidly during the congressional process and that timing of spending concerned him: congressional analysts had estimated only a small portion of some packages would be spent in the immediate fiscal year, which reduced the stimulus impact during the near-term recession, he said.

Bennett also described listening tours and meetings around the state and said small businesses and producers repeatedly cited taxes and regulation as their top federal concerns. He urged careful use of public funds and said he favored steps that would restore market confidence and credit flow without expanding long-term unsustainable commitments.

The House thanked Bennett for the briefing and gave him an ovation before returning to regular business.