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Congressman Jim Matheson urges clarity on sequestration, Medicaid flexibility and workforce training
Summary
In a committee of the whole, Congressman Jim Matheson told the Utah Senate that reducing federal regulatory and fiscal uncertainty, supporting open trade and preparing the workforce are key to state economic growth; he also discussed sequestration, Medicaid flexibility, and high-skilled visa issues in response to senators’ questions.
The Senate resolved into a committee of the whole on Jan. 30 to hear Congressman Jim Matheson. In prepared remarks Matheson emphasized reducing regulatory uncertainty as a central policy goal to foster economic growth and urged careful, targeted action on taxation and regulation rather than ad-hoc, last-minute changes.
Matheson listed priorities he sees as important for Utah: lowering regulatory uncertainty, supporting open trade (including recent agreements with Korea), ensuring affordable energy supplies, and improving education-to-employment pipelines so Utahns can fill high-skilled jobs. He cited conversations with tech employers who reported thousands of unfilled positions and stressed greater access to highly skilled visas and green-card pathways for STEM graduates as part of a longer-term solution.
On sequestration and federal budget cuts, Matheson said he supported the earlier bipartisan package that set deficit-reduction goals but criticized across-the-board sequestration as blunt and potentially damaging; he said two-month extensions created more uncertainty. On Medicaid expansion, Matheson said Governor Herbert's approach seeking flexibility "is the right set of motivations," and welcomed the state trying different approaches.
Senators followed with questions about the budget cliff, immigration prospects in the House, and Medicaid; Matheson urged prioritizing spending cuts rather than blanket sequestration and said he was open to thoughtful, phased approaches. Senators thanked him for attending and the Senate returned to regular business following the exchange.
