Risch: Debt a huge problem

COEUR d'ALENE - Republican U.S. Sen. Jim Risch is not done giving back and wants to continue his long streak of public service, and that is why he is seeking re-election.

He wants to ensure America continues to be a land of opportunity - the same one he benefited from, he said. Risch, Idaho's former governor, was ranked late last year by the Capitol Hill publication Roll Call as the 19th richest member of Congress, with a net worth of $19.18 million.

"What I will do over the next six years is do the same thing I've done over the first six years," he told The Press editorial board Friday.

He promised to continue steering the debate in Washington, D.C., in favor of limited government and personal responsibility.

His top issue is the national debt, which continues to grow at a scary rate, he said.

"Four years ago, the national debt was at $12 trillion," he said. "Since I've been there it has gone from $10 trillion to $17 trillion."

Idaho isn't the problem, he said.

"I've told people they need to adopt a congressional race - a Senate race or House race - somewhere outside of Idaho where somebody is struggling and it's a push race that might go one way or another," he said.

The reason the debt problem hasn't improved is because there has been no change in the political balance in Congress, he said.

Republican control of Congress would provide the party with great strength to cut federal spending, he said. He is cautiously optimistic the Senate might switch hands in the upcoming mid-term election.

While he wants federal government spending slashed, he doesn't support cuts to Social Security, Medicare or Veterans benefits.

"Those are, I think, legal and moral obligations," he said. "Those are things people earn."

He would like to do what he can to ensure the nation's jobless find work, but pointed out the government doesn't directly create jobs, he said.

"The government can certainly throw a wet blanket on jobs," he said.

Risch, the ranking minority member of the Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship, said the federal government hasn't done much right in terms of creating an environment for the private sector job creation.

"We've got some programs within the small business committee that indeed are job-creating programs that do not require taxpayers' dollars," he said. The programs involve underwriting that guarantees loans.

But, admittedly, those programs are just a "blip" on the scale of what's needed, he said.

"If there's something the government could do right now to put 42,000 jobs on the table, all (President) Barack Obama has gotta do is sign the Keystone Pipeline," Risch said.

The unemployment rate is at 6.7 percent, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported earlier this month. The rate hovered near 10 percent in 2010 and around 9 percent in 2011, and has steadily decreased since then.

The rate reached 6.7 percent in December, the first time it has been that low since October and November of 2008, according to the bureau.

Risch opposes an increase in the federal minimum wage.

"If I vote for the minimum wage, I'm immediately going put a half million people out of work," Risch said.